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The Final Double Act

A fitting end to the twin brothers of sloth and gluttony

By KCPublished 3 years ago 7 min read
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It was a sigh, that came from deep within, when The Fixer checked on the happenings at the White estate and noticed the final act appeared to be underway. In fact, it was a final double act, if that were a thing, and The Fixer was relieved to see the beginning of the end.

They say a parent shouldn’t outlive a child, but sometimes there are exceptions to the rule, and Ophelia White was definitely the exception. She had been proving herself the exception to things for a long while. Her boys were a constant disappointment, she had tried again and again to cultivate something, anything redeeming in them. To no avail. Jonas and Samuel were in their late twenties, so she had been giving them second chances for quite a while. The twins were walking, talking proof that sometimes nature really did outstrip nurture, when it came to children developing into adults.

When the boys had been very young, only three years old, Ophelia had found the courage to leave her wastrel of a husband, Bradley Green, who had proved to be little more than a sperm donor and a constant thorn in her side. In doing so she struggled to keep a roof over all their heads, clothes on their backs and food in their stomachs. The boys were always feed first, no matter that it meant many a meal skipped by Ophelia herself. During those days Ophelia would picture the pear tree from her parents back yard and remember that even though there were times one couldn’t imagine it bearing anything, the seasons would change and a harvest would be gotten.

This fact of her past was not something she dwelt on, or something she made a big deal of, neither did she shy away from it, it was a fact she had moved beyond. To be fair her simple and honest way of dealing with her past was one of the things The Fixer found appealing about the woman, that and her work ethic.

Ophelia held down a job and managed to write her first book, then its sequel. It may have looked like a fairy tale around then, but it was hardly that. The books that made her name were not even close to the first books she had written, more like the eighth or ninth. As her star was ascending she met Adam Jackson.

Adam was new money, though not as new as Ophelia, his family had made their money from films. Theirs was a wonderful romance. He swept her off her feet and it was a glorious ride that lasted for eighteen years, only ending when he died.

The boys liked his money, but not enough to take his name, choosing when they came of age to keep green, not that they did anything to earn the mantle of Jackson. Like Ophelia, Adam gave them every chance, and it broke his heart every time the boys threw the opportunities placed in front of them away, but then only because it broke Ophelia’s. He tried to reason with them, but they just didn’t care enough to change.

Jonas fancied himself some kind of gaming expert, though the truth was, he more than kind of sucked, and even so barely moved from his couch. He was sloth personified, if he wanted food, he would call it through to the household staff. His twin, moved more, though not that you’d really know it because Samuel was nearly three times Jonas’s size, his weakness was food, he loved it in all its forms. Samuel was a glutton. He ate anything, anytime, anywhere. He picked on Jonas for his laziness and Jonas returned favour with jibes about Samuel’s weight.

They alternately loved picking on each other, and hating everyone else, looking down their noses at those who filled the world around them.

The day Ophelia changed her will was the day The Fixer’s plan went into action. Oh, The Fixer didn’t make the call regarding the will, they did however, suggest she let them know clearly what she was going to do (though after the fact of having done it – there was no reason to tell them everything.)

The Fixer’s plan was as simple as their brief, get the boys out of the picture. There were so many ways that could be accomplished, though The Fixer was rather partial to the boys taking each other out in one way or another. It was a long game, messing with the psyche, and one The Fixer relished.

It was a simple matter to work out what buttons the twins had to push, and how to push them most effectively. Leaked emails, faked social posts and emails. It was clever and subtle, but brutally effective. In fact, The Fixer was a little surprised it turned out to be so easy, deep down they would have liked for this game to go on for a little longer than it actually did, being the Puppet Master was a function that made them happy.

When it all came down to it, Ophelia was well out of the way, her alibi beyond solid. The last button was pushed on the afternoon of a big book launch. Some of the information The Fixer knew, after all they did have a ringside seat courtesy of the cameras placed all around the property, including in the barren pear tree at the edge of the frozen pond. Fitting, as in the summer the chair under that tree was a favourite place of Ophelia’s to sit and create. The symmetry of creation and destruction was not lost on The Fixer.

To the final actions.

Jonas had just received a message from an anonymous source saying they’d heard Samuel had been put back into the will, when he heard the doorbell. On answering it, he found a food delivery guy with a meal only for his brother. He was pissed, Samuel hadn’t thought to ask if he wanted anything ordered, so decided a fitting response was to take the food and put it out on the ice-covered pond. Then he video called his brother to have a laugh.

Samuel was hangry, and in no mood to be the butt of Jonas’s practical jokes. Before he lumbered out of the house he grabbed a harpoon gun off the wall, old but fierce looking, that was why he chose it.

As he got close enough to shout at Jonas, all he heard back was his brother’s laughter. Without thinking it would really fire, Samuel raised the gun and threatened Jonas.

Jonas in turn shouted back, ‘Who do you think you are, some kind of bad ass?’ before slapping his thigh in amongst gales of laughter.

Samuel moved forward, his momentum aided by the downhill slope, as he neared Jonas he tripped and the harpoon gun fired. The barbed shaft piercing through Jonas’s stomach, pinning him to the tree. Jonas screamed, which caused Samuel to laugh. The big man got to his feet and stumbled by his brother, ‘Ha, that’s what you get when you mess with the bull – you get the horns.’

They were the last words Samuel said to his brother, as he stepped out onto the ice, Jonas pulled a loaded gun out of his waistband and shot in the direction of Samuel. The bullet went right through the overweight man’s leg, and right into the ice next to the bag of food. It was like a bad comedy as far as The Fixer was concerned, the big man bent over to pick up his meal and the ice under his feet cracked, and he and the food plummeted into the freezing water.

By the time help arrived it was too late for Samuel, whose body wasn’t too be found, lost somewhere under the ice. Jonas had lost a lot of blood, and was half frozen, despite their best efforts he coded out on the operating table.

The Fixer had to admit they hadn’t quite expected things to end so cartoonishly, and it had been the perfect soother for the previous five sins they had to fix. They had laughed, a lot. Then they had informed Ophelia that maybe the fee was going to be reduced to the fact it took less time than expected.

Ophelia had refused. Come spring, after Ophelia had the pond dredged, and Samuel’s remains dealt with, she found herself sitting on her favourite bench seat, under the new growth on the pear tree, watching the ducks swimming. The weight on her shoulders was less, the new book was coming along nicely and her money was being used in places that needed it.

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About the Creator

KC

Book lover and writer of fantasy fiction and sometimes deeper topics. My books are available on Amazon and my blog Fragile Explosions, can be found here https://kyliecalwell.wordpress.com

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