The Man Who Whispered In My Ear

"I wish you could know what I have to know:" he whispered. "Only extremists make it to heaven."

In the world he'd been knighted an Important Man. How true that really is I guess would be up to your estimation of the judgment of the world (here's a clue: lying is never important).  But I'm in a slim minority in that regard. Pretty much everyone I come across has latched onto something to make them feel safe. And that's how they get ya. Because, brother, I'm here to tell you safe is nothing but an illusion. But there's plenty of folks ready to take what you got just so they can feel a little bit safer - especially if it's your soul.

Safe is for the dead.

So what's your poison? Preacher, politician, or another power junkie? Whomever or whatever it is, it's nothing more than a dog chasing his tail. The game is up, the party is over. What you think is the beginning of your free ride is the ending of your real one - and the real one is all you got in this life, sucka. But you gotta get there on your own on this. Lay down your money and make your bet on what will save you - and God help you if you think this is a game. It's the furthest fucking thing from it.

So this Important Man whispering in my ear knows I'm trapped, cut off every which way I turn. He's surely making his bet and the odds are on his side. This is my time to look into the abyss and see nothing looking back. The offer is implicit: Do what you're told and there'll be a reward. And if you don't...you're hung out to dry - or worse. But like I said, that doesn't make him any less full of shit.

Channeling his inner Patton

You know what a uniform is? A mirage of the mind. A man in a tutu is no different than a man in a general's clothes. Would you kill on orders from a man in a tutu? But you would from a man with a chest full of metals [sic]! If so, go fuck yourself, you simple-minded sot. I ain't you. And the Important Man just made a bad bet. He's been getting his own way for too long.

"Homo says what?"

"Don't be impertinent! I'm not pissing around and you're in no position to argue. Believe me when I tell you that. " I check my nails and see they need clipping again. Crap, seems like I just did that. "I'll make this easy for you. There's a bad guy who needs killing. You're going to kill him. Do this and you'll have our full support."

I turned to face him with a wry smile, reveling on what had to be the funniest words I'd heard in a long time. Igor here really thinks I'm going to fall for this. Now, I certainly won't deny my life is a living hell tearing me apart and that my options have run out. But like I heard one man I admire say: "I may have lost everything - but not my sense of humor." That guy really was important. But this fucker in my ear gets all his worth from outside.

"Do your worst, buckwheat. I got no time for an orange nigger like you."

"You fool! It's not me you're screwing, but yourself. Do what we say and you'll have praise, glory, and most of all, our love."

Republicans have sanctioned Russian killings of Americans

"Yeah, you perverts always get that backwards. Who's a fart-sniffer like you to sanction anything? You don't honestly think you're smart enough to tell me who to shoot, do you?" I snorted.

"It doesn't matter what you think. Only what we think. That's how you give your life meaning! You need to serve a higher purpose. You better get with the program, mister, and God help you if you think there's not deadly consequences in store."

"I have no intention of getting with the pogrom."

"Apparently you live in a fantasy world, boy, devoid of reality. There's dangerous terrorists who need to be killed before they kill us. Are you a coward and a traitor? Now I'm going to iterate for last time. It's kill or be killed. Do you understand what I'm saying? Think of you're own self-preservation. Do you understand that killing needs to be done??"

I nodded my head and slowly whispered in his ear: "Now you will know what I have to know." Then I shot him dead.