Out of the shadows

The town centre was heaving. Guys and Dolls everywhere, like a prison breakout without the sirens. Anyone would think people had been locked up. Or down. I tried to keep a low profile, pulled my hat down over my eyes and my mask up over my face. It was only after walking into my third lamppost that I decided that maybe I needed to be a bit less discrete.

I was with my favourite dame, a raven haired sassy beauty with big eyes, the sort of woman who took no prisoners. Well maybe one. I’m not easy to pin down, bit of a loner, but this one had stuck around and gotten under my skin. For like twenty six years. Guess that makes us an item. 

Normally we’re inseparable but sometimes a man needs fresh air when a woman is buying makeup, so I took myself off and tried to merge into the background. That was when I saw this sinister figure emerge from the shadows, a mean looking dude in a trench coat with a flat cap and a bulge in his threads where there shouldn’t be one. I guessed he was carrying a Saturday Night Special, in which case he was a few hours early, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was waiting for someone; he had that look of a man who was ready for action. Sure enough a stiff looking broad emerged from Boots the chemist and they went off arm in arm. I would have followed to see what they were up to but I had to look after the shopping bags. I guess that’s another case we’ll never know the outcome of...