The Gentleman

My name is Thomas Atwell Guy. So if you say “That Guy” I won’t take offense. I’ll even lift up my head to see who you are. If you see a somewhat elderly good looking for his age guy looking around, it’s me.

Let me give you a little backstory about me. I was born in a small town called….let me change the name for those who live there, a town called Smallwood. When I turned 18, I graduated from school and quickly joined the military. Telling my age a bit, but my first tour was in ‘Nam. I was only there for one tour because we left Vietnam not long after. From there, I got back in the states and joined a special military outfit called REDACTED. Now before you get to thinking what I think you’re thinking, it’s not actually called that. REDACTED is supposed to be a secret. Any way. I served with REDACTED for a number of years in many capacities before I retired. After retirement, I moved to a city not far from where I grew up called Mobile. Not the real name either.

Mobile is not what many would call a metropolitan city, but it has the right kind of ambiance that a guy like me who used to travel the world for REDACTED and Uncle Sam could hope for. It’s a fine city. Even more so since I was kid. I moved into an apartment in the more modest area of the city. Made it cozy and finally settled down.

Now since I was a boy, I loved reading and hearing other people’s stories. I have a guilty pleasure for the strange and unexplained. My time with REDACTED gave me a chance to hear stories from all over. Of course if I told you all of them…well let’s not go there. Any way. My time in the service I saw my share of strange things and heard stories of others who have. A good chunk of them could possibly be explained away, but there’s a small number that can’t.

Now I don’t just go up to people and drag a story out of them. I’m too modest for that. Instead I found a sneaky way from my time with REDACTED that enabled me to…well, eavesdrop on others’ conversations. Now I know in today’s world that’s not a thing you do. Well I’m old, single and quite harmless. Plus I can keep many secrets. You don’t retire from REDACTED without them being sure that you can keep a secret. Any way. I got this hidden listening device made out to look like a clunky old hearing device. Everyone who’s near me is none the wiser. I can go almost anywhere and single out any conversation I want with it. I get to hear all the juicy stories. Sometimes I hear more than I want. Despite being in REDACTED all those years, there are some things that can still rattle me. In fact, this story I’m about to tell is one of those stories.

Since moving to Mobile, I’m in walking distance of an old diner that I used to go to when I was a kid. It was a popular hang out for kids of my generation. Used to get fries and milkshakes when my family was in the city. These days it’s become a fixture in the city for its longevity and world famous chocolate cake. People from out of town and even out of the country visit the diner. Gives someone like me fertile ground for people watching and eavesdropping.

About 5 years ago, I was at the diner having my slice of chocolate cake for the day and getting my fill of others’ conversations. You’d be surprised by what people say when they think you’re not listening to them. Who’s going to think twice about an old man with an antiquated looking hearing device eating chocolate cake by himself in a booth. No one. That anonymity got me to know about a young guy called Joe.

Joe was about 25, I guess. He was an average looking guy with a wife at the time and a kid on the way. Joe wanted to make it big in business one day. I’d listen to him talking to his wife or one of his coworkers about his business schemes to make it. What the kid lacked in knowledge and book smarts, he made up with heart and tenacity. He was a good well meaning kid working two shifts as a delivery man with dreams for a better life. About last year, the bottom fell out from his life. Both of his parents died within a month of each other and the delivery company he worked for was giving their employees notice that they were going to lose their jobs in a year. The company decided to move to China. With nothing but a high school education and few prospects, life was looking bad for the kid. I overheard a call he received here in the diner one day from the military telling him to stop trying to apply. Apparently he had a small heart issue they found that kept him from enlisting. Joe was in bad shape.

One day, the diner had a contest where a lucky patron could win millions of dollars if they had the winning numbers on their receipt. Of course I was there getting extra helpings of that delicious chocolate cake. In walks Joe. I tell you I have never seen such a defeated look on a young man. He sat in a booth by the window by himself and just looked depressed. I watched from my corner booth also by the window and felt sorry for the guy.

Now he was there for about 20 minutes or so when this gentleman sat in front of him at the booth. I couldn’t see his face, but he was tall wearing a black trench coat. His hair from the back looked like he was made of money. Joe and this guy were having a conversation that was not in earshot of me. The diner wasn’t heavy with customers at the time, but it was just enough to keep me from listening in naturally. So I turned my device on and listened in their direction while slowly eating my cake.

The gentleman asked Joe if he agreed to some terms on the contract he sent him.

Joe told the guy he would have to be crazy to accept it and that the answer was no.

Then the guy asked Joe would he agree if he simplified the terms and took away the part that he didn’t agree with.

Joe asked him what would that be.

The gentleman sat back more in his seat and simply in a voice that sounded scarily smooth to me, “Buy a slice of cake and it will all be yours.”

By this point I’m wondering like Joe what he meant by that.

Then he said, “Do it.”

I watched Joe slowly get up from his seat. He looked like he was debating whether to do it or not when he went to the counter. Just as he purchased the cake, an airhorn blew that scared me to death.

The manager came out from his office with a big grin on his face and went over to Joe. He congratulated him for being the winner of the contest. Joe was now millions of dollars richer.

While I was watching the crowd surround Joe with celebration, I noticed that the gentleman was no longer in his seat. Here’s where it got scary. I looked around from my seat as much as possible for the gentleman in the crowd, but didn’t see him. I turned to face the mirror and there he was outside staring at Joe with this almost inhuman grin on his face. Then he turned his attention to me. His eyes. His eyes looked like thin diamond slits like a snake. He scared me so much I fell out of my chair. I have never had some one scare me like that. In all my years with REDACTED ,I have faced some mean and scary characters. This guy emanated the closest to pure evil.

I could barely sleep for a week after that. That gentleman’s face in the window haunted my sleep. I stayed away from the diner and eavesdropping on others for over a month.

When I finally got the nerve to go back to my old routine, I went back to the diner. Coming back there after over a month, I wondered what happened to Joe. What was all that business he had that…thing. I got something of an answer that day. I overheard a conversation between the diner manager and one of his other regulars. Joe won the money and tried to use for his business ventures. Things fell through from there. Joe lost nearly all the money in a foolish attempt to make more. The stress of instant riches changed him from the kind guy I knew. So much so that his wife filed for divorce and took their child with her. A day before I came back to the diner, they found Joe dead in his home. Still waiting on the causes. After all, he was a young kid.

Now I wonder who that mysterious gentleman was. My rational mind is coming up with a ton of theories. My soul thinks that the gentleman was not a man at all, but The Devil himself.