Rantings of an Arranged Mind

The operating system on my computer has gone insane, so there might be a slight delay until the next post -- we are hopefully getting a new computer today/this weekend, and thus the problem shall be resolved. Sorry for the inconvenience, but things will be back on track by next week.

I watched as the leader of the robbery crew grabbed the manager by the hair and tilted her head back, pressing the tip of his gun against her cheek. I could hear her whimpering as she held her hands up.

“Please, please, don’t…”

“Listen and listen well. I want inside the vault. I want the money. You’d better think of something, or there’s going to be a lot of bodies.”

One of his men went to stand behind the first customer again, putting a gun to his head. The leader forced her to look.

I was scratching my head, trying to figure out what this group of bank robbers was doing. Coordinated teams that robbed banks were a thing of the past. That was more Great Depression era stuff, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde stuff. These guys were taking too long. What was going on?

I peeked my head through the wall. I found myself looking into a bathroom stall. Luckily, it was empty. I could only imagine how someone would react if they saw my head while they were dropping off a number two. Gross!

I stepped all the way forward and turned off the chronometer. I might need it later, but I didn’t want to risk using it around people unless absolutely necessary. I was inside the building, and that was what mattered. Now, I just had to see what the situation was and find Calla.

*** This is probably my next off-line project. No Man an Island started more than a decade ago, and only became an online novel because I wanted to get feedback on my writing. The Surprising Life and Death of Diggory Franklin is specifically an online story, designed for short cliffhanger chapters that run in a serial, it's not a complete novel but instead an ongoing story.

*** More of the Western that connects to NMAI, check my previous blog posts for chapter one***

The rough-worn cowboy led the priest to a local livery, striding through the open doors with a shaky swagger. He gave a loose salute to the hostler working there, shoeing a horse in one of the stalls. The gunman walked to a different stall, grabbing a saddle off a hook.

“If you’re coming with me, better grab that saddle and buckle up.” The gunslinger pointed at the next stall and the equipment there. Inside was a black horse, gently padding at the dirt, eager to be out.

I looked at the chronometer watch on my wrist. I was about to risk travelling through time to once again save the woman I loved. After all, she’d done it for me. I worried that it would adversely affect my memory, but it couldn’t kill me. I would just have to deal with the consequences after.

I hit the “settings” button and prepared to set the time. I only had to go back about ten minutes. Ten minutes to get inside the bank before Calla and I arrived, and then I could find a safe place to take her and avoid the bank robbers. Easy.

I could hear my pulse in my ears, insistently pounding and telling me to hurry. I looked up and down the alley, trying to see what I could do to get into the bank building. There were windows up higher, but no easy way to reach them. If there were fire escape doors, they must have been on the other side and would be impossible to open from this side. I didn’t have explosives. I didn’t have weapons.

I was the worst rescuer in history. Woefully unprepared, certainly.

“Crap, crap, crap…” I said to myself, brushing my fingers through my hair. What was I going to do?

The three men in coats went into the bank. The security guard stood to protect the door. He looked at me.

“Take a walk. You can have your girlfriend back in half an hour.”

I nodded, biting my tongue, and turned to walk away. I put my hands in my pockets against the brisk November wind and walked down about a block. The whole time I was thinking about what I had just seen.

It’s funny how little things, innocuous in and of themselves, can prove to be big mistakes. You don’t even realize there’s a problem until it’s blowing up in your face. In hindsight, you can say “Oh, yeah, I shouldn’t have done that, I should have seen that coming,” but what’s obvious on reflection doesn’t jump out at you in those first moments. Otherwise, people wouldn’t make mistakes.