LEFT OF SINISTER

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Candy stood himself with a shudder and was given to stretch his tired bones. The fact that it was still dark outside a storm raging, always in Earl's perception a circumstance conducive to wanting to recline and listen to the soothing violence of the tempest. The knowledge of being comfortable and snug in your bed is thus a certainty guaranteed to relax a person and lure them into the comfort of slumber and dreaming and was in Earl's opinion tempting enough to his brother.

And now once more Candy smiled at his older brother who himself exhibited signs of requiring rest a yawn escaping his mouth. Candy motioned for him to seat himself once again. "Well to that Earl I'll have to quote to you a thought from a more prescient observer of our world." he said as he also returned to his seat.

"While I'll admit this is only an excerpt I thought it spoke volumes in its simplicity." he said. And almost without pause he recalled it. "All forms of madness, bizarre habits, awkwardness in society, general clumsiness, are justified in the person who creates good art. That magnificent prose is courtesy of "Rooftop Soliloquies" by an American ex-pat writer in France named Roman Payne, I believe." he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Goddamn Candy when did you become so high fallutin' philosophical?" Earl asked with a derisive laugh.

Candy crossed his legs then and scratching his temple for a moment took on the posture of a man trying to recall something. "Well now Earl I don't rightly recall at the moment whether I was watching one of Jerry Springer's reruns or maybe it was Maury Povich, nevertheless that's when I came to the conclusion that any reservations I might have had about my avocation though most assuredly the product of a disturbed mind, my avocation if you will, of claiming souls, that they weren't the least bit justified. That my losing portions of my soul as it were through unfortunate circumstances beyond my control whatsoever fated me in some way to become a man to reap them, to reap as many of the unworthy proprietors of some souls as I can. You see being soulless I can look at it with a more discriminating eye. It's uncanny Earl, and once you come to terms with it you realize you have to do what you have to do. To do my part for humanity's sake. Watching those shows is "Shakespeare in the Round" for the mindless worms that pass for most of humanity Earl and I'm the wrath of this mythological god man has foisted on society and himself. I don't believe in him one whit Earl, but the fact of the matter is I'm his wrath in the flesh, just one more element of his quality control. I see a problem I eliminate it." he smiled and the look of self satisfaction on his face was beyond Earl's ability to grasp in its implications.

Earl pulled his hands to his face covering his eyes, and moaning sorrowfully, sounds that could still be heard despite being muffled by the lower portion of his hands. They were still able to escape his mouth. "My god Candy do you realize what you're saying to me?" he asked near crying now. "Most definitely." Candy said shifting in his seat as he did.

"Goddamn Freud would have a field day with you Candy–a goddamn absolute field day!" he said pulling his hands away from his face his eyes trickling with tears yet as wide as a child who might have just gotten the best dang present a kid could ever want his mouth agape in astonishment. He shook his head back and forth like a metronome for several moments. "A goddamn field day." he repeated in a near whisper.

"Indeed he no doubt would brother, but why stop with Freud, why not Jung or any of the other noted mind fuck doctors the world has seen?" Candy said rising now indicating for his brother to rise as well.

"What now?" Earl asked him. "Let's go for a walk–I think you need a few more drinks in you." he said smiling motioning him toward the den of the door. "Ah shit Candy don't make me get drunk–dying seems a bad enough idea without having to face it drunk on my ass." Earl complained. "Relax just enough to make you so sleepy that you won't mind the duct tape." he said from behind Earl as they went. "We'll smoke a blunt too maybe." Candy said now near giggling over it.

"Oh great drunk and stoned when I get to the Pearly Gates–what will Saint Peter think?" Earl said striding toward the door the air of rebellion about him. "That's the spirit Earl–I've always respected your pugnaciousness you know?"

Earl halted suddenly turning around to face him in the faint light of the room. He smiled at Candy then. "Well then Candy if that's so then you must know that sometime before you put a bullet in me that I'm going to do my utmost to stop you. Maybe you should just go ahead and do the deed now rather than jeopardizing yourself." he said in very sobering terms.

"Now, now Earl don't say that–I'm enjoying this exchange between us. And I'm also well aware that you were a ferocious opponent in the day, but you're on the eve of seventy and though I'm sure no less a fierce competitor you still have this obstacle of so many years under your belt. I'm not the man I once was either, but I'd wager I'm still more fit for physical combat than you. You've undergone surgery whereas I've only had stents applied to my fading ticker. So though, as I said, I admire your pugnaciousness I still recognize it is not enough for you to overcome a man four years your junior who also has the benefit of my genius." Candy said his sense of superiority blatantly obvious.

"Yada, yada, yada, I believe I've heard this kind of shit before." Earl said with a smirk turning around as Candy now instructed. "You have–where might that be?" Candy asked as they arrived at the door of the den.

Earl had a hand on the knob in the process of twisting it open. He looked over his shoulder at his brother a knowing smile on his face. "In books like Mein Kampf, Das Kapital, Atlas Shrugged, in laws like the Patriot Act, the Republican Party platform every election year. Oh and certainly on the a.m. dial of my radio, Fox News, on Sunday mornings in the goddamn mega churches of the cloying evangelicals. You're just one more self righteous prick Candy." he sneered. "So be it." Candy said urging him down the short corridor toward the living room.