Conversation · The Deserter

"Did you close the blast door?"

"I did," he breathes out with a wheeze. "And you opened it -- how?"

"How did you know I was coming?"

"Reactionary rock-and-roll music." He gestures north. "Playing on the water."

"Told you we shouldn't play Sad FM."

Say nothing.

"The fascists were right about rock-and-roll. It is degenerate... Hip-gyrating mental illness music."

"It was not rock-and-roll. It was Sad FM!"

"Sad FM, huh? I always hated that station. Phlegmatic, counter-revolutionary dirges... Sadness is a mental illness, a weapon of the bourgeoisie."

"That wasn't even ordinary rock, it was..."

"Ssssssh! You're making us look like shit."

"It was not reactionary. It was cool."

"But you didn't say that, Kim."

"I did."

We have entered a world where he said you shouldn't. It is the only world.

"You didn't say that, Cuno. You weren't even on the boat."

"Fucking old man... couldn't keep his rock in..." he whispers, agitated.

Technically this wasn't traditional rock. It was more independent melodic.

"I told you not to play shitty rock."

"The boat engine." He gestures north. "On the water..."

"I fuelled the generator. Then used the console."

"I should've burned that console down..." He shakes his head.

"Sir, I need you to put down that gun so we can talk further. I'm with the police." (Proceed.)

The lieutenant pulls his pistol from the holster.

"You're a glorified night-watchman." He looks you in the eye. "This is a service rifle. I can only lay it down before an enemy commander of corresponding rank."

His elbows rest on the frame stock, calmly for now, but he may still get it in his hands. Looks like he knows the weapon...

You don't see a magazine in the well.

Yell at him, now! LOUD!

"You don't even have a magazine."

"You're right. It's a good thing I got one in the chamber."

Oh, wait. Yes.

Look at him raise his bushy brows. That's a lie. He's empty.

"Well, guess what? I am an enemy commander."

"A big time operator of the pederast army. How about I keep it, huh? Hand it over to a real killer. A briscade."

The lieutenant aims his pistol square at the man's forehead.

"Put it down now, sir."

"Or you're gonna blow my brains out before you question me?" There's a moment's silence. "To hell with it. It's a walking stick anyway."

"It's out of bullets." The old man lays the rifle down, carelessly, then looks at it lying there.

Like an amputated limb in the sand.

He stares on, his wrinkled mouth moving without a sound -- a strange sadness, like a song.

Let it be.

The old man pulls back the hood of his plastic cape and looks up into the sky.

"What did you say?"

"The future teaches you to be alone."

The present...

"The present..."

"The present to be afraid and cold." The old man pulls back the hood of his plastic cape and looks up into the sky. It's blue grey, the same colour as the sea.

Let him say it.

"No fucking way, not on Cuno's life..." he mumbles. With his finger pointing at the deserter -- through his jacket pocket -- the kid turns to the old man.

"Officer Cuno's got his Kiejl A9 pointed at your fucking head and he's gonna blow it clean off if you don't drop your weapon right now!" His pointed finger is moving inside his pocket.

Even with the intensity he's putting in those words, and the fidgeting in his pocket, the kid is unconvincing.

"Disarmed by a kid..." He smiles to himself. "To hell with it. It's a walking stick anyway."

Not in a million years does he believe Cuno is armed. Perhaps it's the best end he can hope for?

"Okay, you can keep it -- but keep the gun down while we talk."

"You fasces are pathetic when you're alone..." He snorts. "To hell with it. It's a walking stick anyway..."

"It's out of bullets." The old man lays the rifle down, carelessly -- then stares at it, just lying there.

"I'm looking at another windbag who's got a problem with homo-sexuality."

"Did I offend your moralist sensibilities? You beat people to death with a baton, you fucking dog!" The old man spits.

"What's a briscade?"

"Clearly not you. What do you want from me anyway?"