Chapter 1: My Own Fault

I hit the door too hard. It bounced off the railing and on the rebound caught my back foot as I jumped off the porch. I landed at the bottom of the steps on my hands and knees and then on my face. The good news was that the door continued its trajectory and slammed shut which slowed down the guys who were intent on beating me senseless. The bad news was that my inelegant landing knocked the wind out of me. Through the paralyzing combination of pain and not being able to breath I heard the door slam off the rail again and judging by the profanity that followed smack someone full in the face. In spite of my current position that made me smile. It is possible to be in pain and scared and still find humor in a situation, just requires a certain disregard for reality.

I rolled over, glanced back to see a pile of arms and legs spilling down the stairs and scrambled to my feet. Having honed my theory of tactical withdrawal to near perfect practical application I knew that the next few seconds were critical. Not many people intent on teaching me a lesson were so intent as to continue the chase more than a few blocks. I headed left down Garner Street.

Within half a block I had regained my breath in time to start breathing hard. I glanced back. Bummer, the four guys had sorted themselves out and were starting after me. No matter, running was one of my things, I’d soon lose them. I ignored the shouting behind me and concentrated on my running. This was a residential neighborhood, so there was rarely any traffic, I stayed in the middle of the road, no need to have to dodge around trash cans and kids' bicycles on the sidewalk. I passed Dewitt and after passing Horner chanced another glance back. Damn, they were still following and while they had lost a little ground they were mostly less than a block back. Too close. I cut right on Arctor and they hadn't yet turned the corner when I cut down the alley halfway down the block.

I knew exactly where I was going. Months ago I had noticed that many of the row houses along this alley had garages, single car sheds really. Rickety wooden walls supporting corrugated tin or fiberglass roofs or even some without walls, just supports. Some even had rusting and dilapidated cars. Did anyone in this neighborhood really think they would be driving any of these heaps ever again? Meh, irrelevant to what I had noted so long ago. One of the garages was made of cinder block with a brick wall attached encircling the yard. The brick wall was recessed about two feet back from the front of the garage.

"Paul, alley! George, Ringo, around the block”, I heard behind me. They were splitting up, perhaps these guys were a tad smarter than I had anticipated. No matter, should still be able to make the getaway. I leapt at the cinder block wall, planted my left foot and pushed off, up and to the right. My right foot caught the brick, I pushed off again, the left foot slipped a little as I pushed off the garage again but it was enough to get my hands firmly planted on the top of the wall and swing my legs over. I landed in soft grass, rolled once and lay on my back trying to quietly regain my breath. I only had time to put my hands behind my head before I heard their footstep pounding past the garage. Suckers. For a few moments I lay there and thought about things: life, the future, the past... inconsequential stuff.

After a couple minutes I realized I didn't hear running footsteps anymore and that Sabrina was probably at the Moondrop by now. I needed to get back there and convince her to go someplace else before the goons gave up looking for me and went back to drinking. Things tended to escalate rather quickly when Sabrina was around. I got up, unlatched the backyard door and peered out. All clear. I retraced my steps without incident and within a couple minutes was walking back through the door I had very recently abused.

“Locki, you break my door you pay for it,” Pat, the bartender yelled across the room.

“Yeah, yeah, Pat, sorry, you know how it is,” I shrugged at him with a lopsided grin. He just scowled at me, cast a slightly concerned glance at Sabrina's back as she lounged with her back against the bar and headed down the bar.

“Getting in some trouble are ya,” Sabrina asked as I waded through the crowd. I glanced down at The Sword propped against the bar. Usually Sabrina didn't bring it out when we were meeting for a night of carousing. Wonder why she had it tonight.

I looked around. The girl was still there in the corner and she was still lovely, “Aye,” I replied, “she's the one in the corner over there, I think her name is Myra or Meerla or Mirna, starts with an M at least” I said as I walked up to the bar. Sabrina glanced over at the M girl who was obviously avoiding looking at us.

“She's just your type, beautiful skin and so much of it. How far did you get?”

“The lips,” I replied. It was true, the M girl was showing a lot of skin.

“Hmmm, almost there, eh,” she said as she turned back to me.

“Yeah, listen, her goon of a boyfriend, Lil John, didn't appreciate my poetry and neither did his three goon friends, I think it would be best for us to go someplace else, quickly.”

“I think it's a good idea,” she said looking over my shoulder, “but I think you're too late.”

Aw crap, I slowly turned around and saw the four guys I had previously ditched standing in the door breathing a bit heavily. Before I could duck into the crowd the largest of the four, Lil John, I knew him mostly by reputation, saw me. His face hardened and he started pushing through the crowd towards me.

This was not going to end well.

“Well Locki, you need to learn a very valuable lesson. Don't hit on the ladies who are taken. I'm going to finish my drink, when you're done we can go someplace else,” I heard Sabrina say behind me as I watched the goon and his goon brigade shoving people out of the way.

“Locki, remember what I said about pulling out those knives of yours,” Pat bellowed from the other end of the bar. Yeesh, my friends berate me as they throw me to the wolves.

This really was not going to end well.

Chapter 2: Fight at the Moondrop to be posted Saturday, September 15