Choice Shots

The Man and the Woman left the cinema after watching a film they had planned to see for a few weeks.  All in all, it didn’t live up to their expectations and they thought it was very average.  It certainly didn’t look as good as the trailers made it seem.  But the couple didn’t mind.  They were just glad to be in each other’s company eating excellent popcorn and having some fun.  It was dark when they left the cinema but that wasn’t a problem.  The night air was good on their faces after almost two and a half hours of stale and slightly sweaty in-door air from the cinema.  They cut off from the main street hand-in-hand and took a side alley.  It was risky in this city but tonight the Man and the Woman were wrapped in a blanket of euphoria; no-one could touch them.  It was just the two of them now, walking down this dank and dirty back-alley but two was about to become three.  Half-way through their path the Assailant jumped out on them and demanded their money.  The couple’s shock turned to fear when they seen the barrel of a small handgun that the Assailant was holding in his right-hand.  It shined gracefully courtesy of the slice of moon peeking out behind them.  The gun shook slightly as he spoke:

   ‘I said, gimme your money!’

   ‘It’s okay.  There’s no need to point the gun at us.  We’ll give you our money,’ the Man replied.  The Woman stood just behind him, frozen in shock.  Unable to do much of anything.  Sounds of a cop car wailed in the distance and the Assailant trudged up to the Man and placed the end of the gun to his belly.  ‘Hurry up!’ He demanded.  The Man slowly got his wallet out and gave it to the Assailant.  There wasn’t much in it and the Man could see that the Assailant was starting to panic.  That things were going too far and too fast.

   ‘Hey kid,’ he said, still with the butt of the gun pointed at his belly.  ‘It’s not worth it.  Not worth going to prison for.  Just let us be and run away.  We won’t call the cops.  We’ll just pretend this didn’t happen.’  He felt the gun press more into his stomach but continued trying to reason with the young Assailant.  ‘How about that, eh?  We all go home tonight without doing something that we regret for the rest of our lives.’  He heard the Assailant murmur under his breath: ‘Can’t…you’ve seen me…I’ve gone too far.’

   ‘You haven’t.  You still have the chance to turn around and walk away.  We all get chances in life to change.  Walk away, throw the gun in a river, and turn your life around.’  The Assailant’s grip on the gun wavered slightly.  If the Man was quick enough he could have grasped it out of his hand.  But the Man was not playing games.  He was a person who believed in second chances.  He gave the Assailant the benefit of the doubt.  To make his own decision.

   ‘Make your choice, lad,’ said the Man with some finality.  Braver than he felt.  He closed his eyes and made his face as serene as possible.  He felt the butt of the gun leave his belly, and when he opened his eyes again, the Assailant was gone.  The Woman stumbled towards him. 

   ‘Are you okay?’ she asked him in a low voice.

   ‘Fine,’ he answered.  ‘I’m just glad blood wasn’t spilled tonight.  The kid was a fool but that’s all he was.  Hopefully he’ll get rid of that gun and go down a different path in future.’  The couple hugged each other as the light of the moon shone down upon them.

The Assailant got a few streets away before throwing the gun into a nearby ditch.  He hadn’t hurt anyone so there shouldn’t be any inquests about it.  He thought about what he had almost done tonight.  There was a need to pull that trigger, even though the Man and Woman didn’t have any serious cash.  In his head the trigger was pulled and the man slumped forward to his feet below him.  But that didn’t happen.  The Man’s words persuaded him not to act.  He was given a second chance.  A chance that he aimed to take.

But the image fades like a badly remembered dream.  The three faces re-emerge in that dimly lit alley and the play is still going.

   ‘Make your choice, lad,’ said the Man with some finality.  He closed his eyes and faced his fate, whatever it may be.  He didn’t get a chance to open them again.  A noise went off in the distance, a shot was fired and a Woman screamed.  The Assailant had panicked and pulled the trigger.  The Woman screamed and ran to her lover.  The Murderer lost all bearings of the situation and shot out again as she ran towards him.  Killing her instantly.  Slipping over and falling down slightly, the Murderer threw down the gun and ran.  The light of the moon shone down upon the Woman, dead as could be, and the Man slowly bleeding to death beside her.  He would join her very soon.

Many people showed up at their funeral service.  They were good people who made friends easily.  While the coffins were lowered and family members sobbed, the Murderer was doing the same himself in his prison cell.  He had been caught easily by the police.  In some ways, too easily.  Almost as if he wanted to be caught.  He had made his final decision though.  Stepping onto a chair in the middle of the cell he proceeded to hang himself using his belt.  Everybody has choices but all choices have outcomes.  And these outcomes can be very different depending on the choices made.