If By Chance We Should Meet

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      Devin sat on the floor in his empty house and stared at the guns spread out in front of him.  It was a modest collection, a Taurus 454 Casull, a Ruger .44 Mag Super Blackhawk, a Beretta Vertec Model 96, and a Glock Model 21. Add the home he was about to lose to the mix and is this was pretty much his net worth.

     One month ago he had a job, a family, and a life.  Then came that Monday he arrived at work and discovered that the company he worked for had literally disappeared over the weekend.  The company didn't get sold, didn't relocate, it just went away.  Fifteen years of his life, his pending promotion and raise went with it - the building was empty.  His wife loading their children into her brand new Ford Explorer and leaving a week later pretty much destroyed the year for him.  He should have seen the clues, but he was too busy believing that they loved each other.

     Just one month before his job disappeared, she pushed him for that new Explorer.  She claimed she needed a larger vehicle to haul the kids.  A vehicle that, thanks to her attorney, he will be making every payment on with the money he doesn't make working the job he doesn't have.  Jewelry, shoes, new clothes and furniture; yes he should have seen it coming for months.  She had been emptying their accounts, not leaving even a dime for him to hire an attorney with.  She got it all, took him to the bank.

     Now he has no job, a house he can't pay for, a small gun collection, and too much time on his hands.  Even his kids were gone.  He would get to see them every Wednesday for a few hours, and every other weekend, but for all intents and purposes - they were gone.  You cannot go from being a full time father to a every other weekend father in a day - or ever really, assuming you survive the initial shock.  Keeping up with a growing child is a day-to-day event - not every other weekend.  His entire life was broken - everything worth living for was gone.

     Tomorrow, he decided, he was going to rob a bank.  He was either going to be a successful bank robber that can pay his mortgage, or just another dead divorcee.  Robbing a bank was now his only hope to keep his house.  If it doesn't work out, and he doesn't survive; it didn't much matter to him.

     He looked back at the pile of weapons.  The object of the game, for him anyway, was to not hurt anybody in the bank.  He did, however, need to impress whomever he pointed the gun at; so the choice needs to be based on the intimidation factor.  Always best to go with the biggest, was his final decision - he picked up the 454 Casull.  He carefully loaded the gun and set it next to the pallet he made for himself on the floor.  Tomorrow will be the first day of the rest of my life, he thought to himself.

~*~

     Yesterday was the custody hearing.  After enduring a long divorce battle and losing everything she had worked for over the last twenty years, she also had to fight for the custody of their three children.  Her three angels, she used to call them - her reason for living.

     Penny looked at herself one last time as she headed for the door.  She walked out to her car with such intensity that one could almost see the dark storm that was raging inside her head.  This was a person that wanted somebody dead - anybody - today.  It didn't matter who it was.

     Countless lives were saved as she drove to work.  She would catch herself in the act of nudging her car over into the neighboring lane inch by inch.  Slowly moving close enough to bump the neighboring car out of control or into a concrete wall.  Then she would realize what she was doing and pull back into her own lane just in the nick of time.

     As it turned out, her three angels testified on behalf of their father.  "Why wouldn't they?" she thought.  Their father got the house, a huge settlement, alimony, and child support.  Why would they want to live in a lousy little apartment with their poor mother?  All the time that she was out doing the work of two adults, he had assumed the title of stay at home dad, the fun parent.

     The fun parent also managed to find the time to search out a new beautiful and young "mommy" for their children.  Her house was gone, her children were gone, and her life was gone.  As she swung her car into the parking lot she thought for a moment about just turning around and going back home.  The folks at work would understand, in fact, they had expected her to take the entire week off.  Staying home alone would do no good; she knew she couldn't hide from her feelings.  Scary as it seemed, she needed to be around people. 

~*~

     Later that morning, as Penny was shuffling through a pile of papers on her desk, she happened to glance up at the security monitors - just as Devin walked into the bank.  She followed him from camera to camera until he stopped in a teller's line.  She watched his body language for a few moments before she paged the security guard to put him on alert.  You don't work in a bank for twenty years and not know what a bank robber acts like.

     As she watched Devin on one monitor, she spun another camera around to watch the teller.  For a few moments she thought to leave the young pretty girl at the mercies of the soon to be bank robber, then had a change of heart at the last moment.  No, she had it with men willfully taking things from helpless women.  She was going to take this one on herself; she had nothing to lose. 

     She exited her office and walked out onto the bank floor.  Casually, she walked up to the teller and informed her that it was time for her to take a break. 

     "Next?" Penny looked directly at Devin.

     Devin was almost overwhelmed with anxiety as he quietly moved to the counter.  He was trying, but not trying, to make eye contact.

     "How may I help you today sir?" Penny asked happily.

     Devin looked up at her and said quietly and calmly, "This is a hold up.  Do not make any sudden moves. Do not push the silent alarm button."

     Penny smiled again and asked politely "Do not push the button, or what?"

     Devin looked blankly at the teller, wondering if this conversation was normal during a robbery, then continued, "Do not push the silent alarm or I will shoot you" He pulled his gun out and held it where she could see it.

     Something about the gun and the robbers attitude flipped a switch in Penny's head.  Anger flowed through her like lava as the last month of despair and hopelessness caught up with her.  Her husband left and took everything she had, her children, her home, her future, and her dignity. She wasn't brave enough to take her own miserable life and this looked like the perfect opportunity to let somebody do it for her.  She thought back to her drive to work and realized that perhaps she wasn't trying to end somebody else's life as much as she was seeking a method to end her own.

     She reached up and grabbed the panic button on her necklace and held it up so that Devin could see it, then pushed the button, "You mean, like this?"

     Devin was stunned, and for a moment, a very quick moment, all he could do was stare at the crazy lady.  This was not how he had played out the robbery in his head.  His version was much simpler, very much like the hold-ups you see in the movies all the time.  Adrenaline coursed through his body as he considered his options.  He decided he needed to exit while he could. 

     Penny became livid when the bank robber turned to leave.  This was her way out!  This was her escape!  How dare he just turn and walk away!   Devin had traveled less than three steps from the counter when he heard her voice behind him.  She shouted at him, "That's the way it works right?  When things get a little complicated, you just walk away?"  Anger that had been accumulating for the last two months overtook Penny and she wasn't talking to Devin anymore, when she looked at him, all she saw was her ex-husbands face.  "Sure, I see, run off and find another bank."

     Devin was frozen, and didn't know what to do next.  Something was truly wrong.  This was definitely no longer a bank robbery; it had transformed into something he couldn't readily recognize.  He had no idea what was happening, or why it was happening.  Too many events were occurring simultaneously and he couldn't think fast enough to keep up.  Was she talking to him?  Why had he stopped walking?  Why was he just standing there? 

     He stopped listening to the teller after the words "run off and find another bank" started echoing in his head.  He stared at the teller, knowing full well that she was not his ex-wife, but all he could see was his ex-wife.  Something about the way she stood or the tone of her voice touched off something dangerous in him.  All he could hear was the words echoing inside his head, "run off and find another bank . . . run off and find another bank" He thought about his ruined life.  He remembered that feeling one gets when everything is truly fine.  He remembered that feeling one gets when they are reduced to nothing, and then he looked straight at the teller.

     He raised his gun and pointed it at her chest, "This is all your fault" and pulled the trigger.

     While they were exchanging words, the security guard had moved within fifteen feet of the robber, parallel to the counter.  He was hoping that Penny could distract the robber long enough for him to move in and disarm him.  That plan was laid waste as the security guard saw the robber turn and take a few steps away from the counter.  The robber then turned back to the counter, and time seemed to stop for a moment - nothing moved, it was like looking at a picture.  He then pointed a large caliber weapon at Penny and started squeezing the trigger.  The security guard's weapon discharged just milliseconds after the robber's gun. 

     Devin stumbled forward and dropped his weapon on the teller's counter as he collapsed to the floor.  His last thoughts weren't about his life, his thoughts were still in the here and now.  He was confused about what happened to his simple bank robbery, and thankful that he had the foresight to put blanks in his gun.  He had seriously doubted  that he could actually shoot a person, but he wanted to play it safe.  Nobody is supposed to get hurt.

     Penny stood frozen in fear.  The last thing that she remembered doing was goading the robber into shooting her.  She was looking down the barrel of the gun, and she remembered the gun going off.  She waited for the impact, almost willing the bullet to her heart, but nothing happened. Something had gone wrong.  She opened her eyes just as the bank robber collapsed to the floor.  She watched as his gun bounced seemingly in slow motion on the counter, then her gaze was taken away as she glimpsed the security guard checking on the robber.

     Penny was smoldering with fury when she realized that he had somehow missed her.  Missed her!  She was standing right in front of him and he missed.  Idiot!  First she got cheated out of a life by a jerk, and then an idiot cheated her out of death!  Seething, she watched as the rest of the bank employees reentered the lobby.  When she saw the young and beautiful teller returning to the counter she reached over and picked up Devin's gun.  She pointed the weapon at the innocent teller and snarled, "This is all your fault!  You ruined my life!" then she pulled the trigger.

     The security guard stood perfectly still, almost hypnotized by the last twenty seconds of his life.  The recent memory just kept playing over and over in his head, and every time it played he tried to figure out what had actually happened - with no success.  He was sure that he was witnessing a robbery, at least in the beginning.  He was sure that he saw Penny get shot, which was when he shot the bank robber.  He couldn't have spent more than three seconds making sure that the bank robber was no longer a threat, and when he stood up, Penny had the bank robber's gun in her hands, pointed at one of the tellers.

     The security guard pulled his weapon and watched her trigger finger.  Not knowing what her intent was, the security guard couldn't just open fire.  He watched helplessly as Penny said something to the young teller, and then abruptly pulled the trigger.  The security guard had no choice but to shoot.  In less than twenty seconds he had shot and killed a potential bank robber and the President of the bank.  He did not have a choice; it was what he had to do.

     The entire bank waited motionlessly and silently until the policemen arrived.  While everybody could explain logically how the dead bodies ended up being dead, nobody really had a clue why there were dead bodies at all - it was just a run of the mill bank robbery.

*If thoughts were colors, there would not be a white wall left in the city.

*The security guard never found out that he shot and killed two unarmed people.

Comments (8)

Posted by R.E.Potter 04-01-2008 04:15,   ,,, wow,,this had all kind of emotions stirring in me. First I hated women, then I hated men...man o man Tarman,,next time you post a story like this,,,warn me, Ill make sure I have a regular coffee mug in my hand rather then this styrofoam cup of hot bubbling coffee I just cruppled...Honey, get my lawyer on the phone. Great story with great flow...did I mention I really liked the crazy ending also.   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment...   Posted by lorislittlesecret 04-01-2008 06:00,   ... Wow...awesome story. This is definitely going into my favorites. Wow...I am still sitting here overwhelmed.....WOW!!!!!   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment...   Posted by R.E.Potter 04-01-2008 06:10,   ,,, seems we have a WOW thing going on here...lol   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment...   Posted by lorislittlesecret 04-01-2008 06:22,   ... WOW...yes...it's my comment and I can wow if I want to.....   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment...   Posted by thirteen 04-01-2008 09:02,   ... This is another new one on me.Got to say very enjoyable, felt sorry for the man, as its terrible too lose your kids.But anyway great story, kept me on the edge of my seat.   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment...   Posted by Roadkill315 04-02-2008 10:46,   ... A good reality check story; which means I would have gone with the Ruger .44 myself :-)    Seriously, the first six paragraphs were very well laid out, each adding a layer to the visual of the character and his plight. Then you defined Penny before firing a blank at her, "This is all your fault"... my favorite line of the story.    And how messed up am I, when Penny shot the other teller, I was cracking up!    Then I stopped laughing when the gurad did her in, that was the reality of the reality check. Good ending, and a great story. Minor minor afterthought, not sure the last paragraph, "The entire bank ..." neded to be written. My readers mind had already lived the description.    Thanks!   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment... » See all 1 replie(s)   Posted by gsaracen 04-07-2008 22:26,   very nice! very good story. ironic. twisty and hits home. Realistic thoughts and feelings.   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment...   Posted by ThomasP3 04-08-2008 15:10,   Wonderful! A large dose of anxiety topped with a bit of comic relief. I loved it!   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment...

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