Renegade T.M. Read Free Page B

into a pulp, clear ?”
     
    Pete nodded.
     
    “ It was delightful to have met you Pete ,” Bear said turning, before going back into the bedroom and closing the door behind him.
     
    Pete was alone. Jobless, loveless, and now homeless, he tried thinking of old proverbs that may describe his situation in a positive light, but remembering that his Mother used to tell him that the wondering star was lonely but round, only made him feel more confused and even more depressed. He decided that thinking was getting him nowhere, and resolved to get drunk instead. Casting a final glance around the place that he had called home for the last two year s , he wondered whether he should have stood up to Bear, but went on to realise the absolute futility of waging a war against the Bear man. This did not however, prevent him from instrumenting a minor skirmish, and kicking over Bear's cowboy boots, Pete left the field in triumph.
     
    Outside, the enormity of his depression fell on him, and as it started to rain, he drove away in search of nonsense alcohol.
    ***
    Pete sat on the wall that surrounded the top of the car park as night descended upon Sutton . He sat there going over the day's events again and again in his mind, and reached the quite drastic conclusion that today was going to be the last day of his life. He began to think of epic lines that he could say before he threw himself from the building into death's embrace, but twenty minutes later, recognised that he was losing his nerve and simply playing for time.
     
    “ Enough ,” he declared, stumbling to his feet.
     
    Standing on the wall, he peered into the black that stretched out around him. He would simply jump into the abyss and return to the darkness from which he had come, no one would grieve for him and the world would ignore his last statement. His parents were old and never recognised him anyway, Sarah had been the hands that would push him from this ledge, and the few friends he did have, would see him off by drinking excessively, and have a good time doing it. Okay, he might get a mention in the local press, or even on the TV , and people might nod slowly or tut emphatically, before paying any real attention to tomorrow's weather forecast. No, now was his moment, and as he tottered on the edge of the wall, his death seemed to beckon him from somewhere far below. Suddenly, the car park was flooded with light, and he found himself falling from the ledge.
     
    Pete landed not dead, having fallen from the wall backwards. He lay on the car park floor cursing his failed attempt at falling from a building and the second lease of life this had given him. Sitting up, he cast a weary eye over the car park, and noticed that his car was rather strangely the only car in sight. He stared at the little Nissan Micra and remembered all the good times that he had in it. The countless miles it had travelled obediently, only ever asking for a wee nip of petrol now and again. The time he and Sarah had driven through Wales in search of Welsh nationalist pubs and trouble. The home it had become when Sarah had kicked him out for not buying her some golden trinket. He looked at his little Nissan Micra, all alone in the world, and underwent a profound transformation.
     
    “ You'll never leave me will you ,” he said emotionally to the car.
     
    H e found that all thoughts of suicide had simply faded from his mind, and decided there and then that as long as he had his car, he would simply get in and drive, stopping only if anything got interesting. It would be just him and his trusty Nissan, and the rest of the world could just choke on their exhaust, as the pair sped through, looking only to go faster. So he stood up, brushed himself off, and deciding that he should call his little Nissan Micra “ Dave ” , until he had time to think of a better name, strode purposefully back towards his new life.
     
    H e had taken one life-affirming step forwar d, when Dave quite suddenly exploded.