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The Politician
A Story Every Day in 2024 June 4th 156/366
He was relaxing in his deckchair when he felt the cold steel on his chest. He had been dreaming about a nubile young woman. It was less about who she was and more about the fact that she desired him, Bruno Jackson, retired MP. He had felt stirrings in the old boy as he dozed but was relieved that in this moment of vulnerability, he was barely tumescent. There were some positives to getting old or at least, where certain situations required it.
"I could kill you right now," a voice hissed.
There was menace in the voice, but years of suppressing emotion when making tough and necessary decisions meant that Bruno stayed still. He wasn't calm but he was the master of masking.
Bruno opened his eyes to squint at his potential assassin. The sun was behind them so not much to go on but using all his senses, he guessed male, early thirties, unshaven, smoker, drinker, wearer of cheap deodorant, white, working class.
The barrel of the shotgun was digging into his chest where its holder was determinedly pressing it. The deckchair choice was a hindrance; there was no leaping up, no element of surprise. The only thing overpowering today was the man's Lynx.
Bruno decided to break the silence:
"Yes, you could."
"I'm gonna!"
The barrel dug in further. It really hurt. Bruno gulped.
"Yeah, you're scared now, aren't you?"
He prodded again and Bruno winced. This seemed to be what the man wanted. Bruno thought he'd ask.
"What do you want?"
"Isn't that obvious? I want to kill you."
Bruno knew why but he asked anyway.
"Because you don't deserve to live."
Bruno sensed a route to saving his skin. He had always commended himself on his powerful rhetoric.
"Maybe not, but you do. Think of what would happen if you kill me and get caught? It would be the end of the life you have."
There was a pause.
Aha! thought Bruno. Gotcha!
"But's that just it. I don't have a life. People like you made sure of that."
There was the click of a safety catch and two window shaking booms broke the silence of the quiet suburb shortly after.
***
366 words
*Author's note: Lynx is Axe, for my North American audience.
Thanks for stopping by! If you do read this, please do leave a comment as I love to interact with my readers.
156/366
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Comments (9)
Nice work, short and easy. I like the way it is presented, how the cocky politician, so sure of his own skills doesn't even really have time to settle into panic at the thought of being powerless before the reality of it literally hits him full in the chest.
Lol, that line would never work on me because I don't have a life as well 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Loved your story!
Every sentence is captivating. You have a creative mind to shape a story like that…. i.e. the ending
Your writing is a treasure, please continue!
Gosh. I thought he’d worm and wriggle his way out of that one. Got to be honest and say - no matter how much I don’t like politicians, I wouldn’t want to be one either, not with the recent attacks/ murders. Jo Cox, David Amess - both on different sides of the floor but both slayed doing their job. Crazy times. Anyway this was great.
Rachel, you have me hooked on your daily gems!!! This one is superbly suspenseful, and I can't wait to read the next one tomorrow!!
Short and sweet! An attempt to save your skin, gone wrong! (But whose side are we on? Who's to say!)
Can’t always talk your way out of a corner especially if you constructed it! Great suspense and character development! And thanks for the Lynx explanation!
Words failed, obviously. Well written and suspenseful.