\u201cPleasure doing business with you,\u201d Jon said to the strong man.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure,\u201d he returned. \u201cAnother?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Jon said, \u201cI have to go now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d the strong man said.<\/p>\n
Jon turned and started off with a slight limp, blood running down his leg; then he stopped and turned back and said, \u201cYou used to wrestle or something?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot since college\u2026,\u201d said the strong man.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see, I see.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd where\u2019d you learn to punch like that?\u201d the man asked, then spit. A trail of red saliva clung to and dangled from his lip, it glistened in the brightness of the day.<\/p>\n
Jon let a smile show clear on his face, then turned around and began to walk away.<\/p>\n
This is exactly how Jon would do it: he would go and find the biggest and dumbest\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cHey!\u201d the man screamed at him then. \u201cHey! Who do you think you are?\u201d Now he began to chase Jon. Jon was high-stepping, waving the money for the strong man to see. And the strong man saw and he chased Jon. He chased him and chased him. From the alley behind the bar, quick as his jab, Jon went off, ran straight across the road without looking, reached the far sidewalk nearly getting hit by a car, and then bolted to the next corner. There he turned, slowed down, and felt it was safe to walk.<\/p>\n
So, this is how Jon would do it. He would go and find the biggest and dumbest brute he could find, make sure they were self-assured of the notion that they could beat him in a street fight, challenge them to bet and fight for fifty dollars, then when they lean in to try to grab him or take him down\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cHey! Hey! Get over here!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jon made off again, this time he ran further, taking more elaborate cuts through the city. The idea was still fresh in his mind. He wondered if this plan could be improved. \u201cExcuse me,\u201d he said, once he had stopped running, but he was out of breath and apparently was not heard. He took another turn through a back alley and ended up back on the sidewalk proper and near a different bar. He went inside. \u201cExcuse me,\u201d he said to a man who looked big and dumb enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cHi there!\u201d this man replied. Perfect, Jon thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do they have to drink here?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I don\u2019t know exactly what all they\u2019ve got. But, hey, there\u2019s a menu right up there. Looks like it\u2019s got every\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think I don\u2019t see the menu right there? What, do you think I\u2019m stupid?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHuh?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you like to exchange fisticuffs? Do you have the pluck?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat? No! I was just suggesting\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just not going to work, Jon considered. Leaving behind the second bar, Jon went on in search of the next one. The afternoon was over, soon it would be dinner time and no one would want to throw hands with Jon. But he would be leaving the city the next day and he knew he could make another quick fifty dollars before then.<\/p>\n
It would be just like this, how Jon would do it: he would go and find the biggest and dumbest brute he could find, make sure they were self-assured of the notion that they could beat him in a street fight, challenge them to bet and fight for fifty dollars, then when they lean in to try to grab him or take him down, then, boom, and Jon would get the money and get the hell out of there. And if there was any trouble whatsoever with the money, or if somehow Jon\u2019s jab-cross-hook and then his haymaker both failed, then Jon would just settle for getting the hell out of there. If, on the other hand, he won fair and square but encountered any further\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cHey!\u201d the strong man yelled at Jon. Again, he chased Jon, but the big, strong man was of no match for Jon\u2019s swift-footed stride, and this was all a part of Jon\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n
Arriving at the third bar, after running all the way there, Jon took a seat at the bar. There he asked for a cold glass of water; then he waited, thinking. Into his hands went the glass, tall, dripping, clambering with ice. Upon receiving the water, Jon turned and dumped all of it straight onto the square head beside him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, hey. Calm down. Calm down.\u201d Jon reached into his pocket as he spoke, pulling out a wrinkled twenty-dollar bill. \u201cI can give you money for a new shirt.\u201d The wet man, now just as red as he was wet, reached out to take the money. \u201cOr,\u201d Jon said, pulling the cash back away from the man. \u201cI\u2019ll make you a bet.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, moments later, after the larger man pulled fifty dollars from the ATM, they came to the back alley behind this bar, just the two of them. The man seemed to be channeling some deep-seated, unrelated rage. He stood facing the wall, mumbling to the wall, beating on the wall with his hand. Jon stood behind him with second thoughts all on his mind.<\/p>\n
Jon imagined having a little angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other. He imagined what they would be saying. Maybe, he thought to himself, if I had a little angel on my shoulder right now, it would tell me to hit him from behind real quick, take the fifty bucks, and run. And Jon was certain that if there was a devil on his shoulder, it would tell him to do the same thing but take all of his money. However, just as Jon was considering this, the man turned back around. His face was cool. Stoic. He spoke to Jon like he was speaking to a brother or a very good friend. \u201cAh. I don\u2019t want to fight you, man.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry? What, did I do something wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI just\u2026 I just got fired from my job; I have not been myself lately.\u201d Now he spoke freely, bluntly, with his eyes cast carelessly down on the ground. \u201cI don\u2019t know what your thing is, man, but I think I\u2019ll just go back around and have another drink or two here and then\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
Boom. Jon caught him with the haymaker. But now, according to the plan, Jon was off and running before he had the money. And he didn\u2019t make it long before he tripped and fell on air. He picked himself up as quick as he could, embarrassed. People laughed. A voice called out: \u201cHey!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jon\u2019s spill didn\u2019t go unnoticed; there was a crowd of people waiting at a crosswalk not far from the last bar. They had all seen him fall, among them was the strong man. But Jon didn\u2019t see him. Not until it was too late. Both of Jon\u2019s knees were bloodied and he struggled to run away. Just when Jon was sure that he was free from the wet man, he kept on a little further and tried to hide behind a building, completely oblivious.<\/p>\n
When the strong man began beating Jon, Jon screamed so that people could hear him from four city blocks away. The wet man found them, he was less wet and more red then.<\/p>\n
Quite a while later and by some miracle, Jon returned from the black, metallic ether. He rolled over onto his stomach and spit red. He looked around. It was fairly dark by then, only the occasional car passed by. Jon winced as he stood up. He felt around in his pockets for his wallet. It was empty. There would have to be a new plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If he had a little angel on his shoulder right now, it would tell him to hit the guy from behind real quick, take the fifty bucks, and run. And if there was a devil on John’s shoulder, it would tell him to do the same thing but take all of his money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":25523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","writer-d-a-grim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24607"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25522,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24607\/revisions\/25522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}