TFW WAR CH 1

The red moon above shined her lovely light over the quiet desertscape.  In the foothills, the night birds competed with bats for the errant flying insects.

The Sierra mountains stood solemn and majestic with their white crowns, as a herald for their beauty, and a wall to my home: The East.

Big Bryan struggled to pull Tellesco McGlinty up off the ground.  Tellesco, you as may recall, preferred to be called, “No One.” 

The weight of a dead person, or one who is unconscious, is heavy indeed.  It’s like lifting up a large bag of sand and trying to carry an armful of marbles. 

The connection to the Earth is mostly gravitational, but here, it was more than that.

Tellesco (No One) did not want to leave this place.  He dozed, perhaps intentionally, or not, because he could not leave the drowned mansion.  He had kin down below, in the graves beneath the behemoth, in the cellar.

He was their King.

King McGlinty.

Bryan said, “Will!  Come give me a hand with this big brute!”

I could not take my eyes off the red moon above.  I had never seen such a thing.  The moon rode high and huge in the night sky, and she looked as angry as the deep red flames of the kiln in the fires of Hephaestus himself.

Over the red-lit nightscape of the desert, I saw a blue spark appear.

And then I heard the sound a horse makes when it is about to jump over a fence.

Mayhem had come,

…and the Glinty had returned.

THE

RETURN

 OF

THE

GLINTY

Country Heroes   by Hank Williams III  

Indeed.

“Will!  We need to get the fuck out of here!”  Bryan was in a panicked state.

Do Not Panic.

I watched the tiny blue spark float down from above, from a desert cabin on the moon, and I felt the shivers.

Forces were at work about which I had no clue.

The spark landed below the foothills, closer to us than the mountains.  A bright light flared, like an errant meteorite coming to home. 

And then the night was deep red again.

You know, my friend, I would later discover where it had landed.  But that is at the end of these chapters, and I will tell you when the time is ready.  It’s quite soon.

(Hint: there once stood a cabin in the desert, with a garage behind.  A lock held by rust.  That location was a nexus.)

I turned back to Bryan and looked down at the wet bag of cement we knew as Tellesco (No One).

I knelt down and slapped Tellesco across the face.

His eyelids fluttered and he opened his eyes.  He sat up, he looked me right in the eye, and his eyes teared up.  He said, “Why did you slap me, Mr. Will?”

He looked hurt.  It wasn't from the hard smack of my hand.  It had gone deeper.

I said, “Stop being a pussy.  Sean wouldn’t like to see you behaving like this.”

Well, I tell you mister, that made Tellesco get right the fuck up.  He brushed the dirt off his back and got in my face. 

He said, “Don’t talk about me and Sean like that.”

I held my ground.  He was very large, and I thought he might punch the life out of me.

That was one of those moments when you have a decision to make.

Cut bait or fish?

Fight or flee?

Stand your ground or run to the hills?

Do you know, I found that I had no choice.  I couldn’t believe it.  I had nowhere to turn, nowhere to run.

I said, “You better get ready then.  It’s going to get nasty.  Are you up for that?”

Tellesco’s eyes faltered.  He looked away for a bit.

I said, “Did you hear me?!  Are you up for this?!”

He stepped back and looked down.

Now listen.  Whenever you look into another man’s eyes, the first one to look down is the pussy.  Never, ever look down when another man looks you right in the eye.

No matter what.

You can smile, you can wink if you have the balls, or you can look past him, eyes still straight ahead.

Never look down when another man looks at you.

I grabbed him by the burnt leather jacket and pulled him close to me.

He swung his head forward, looking down at me.  Fucking huge bastard he was.

I said, “You need to be a king here.  You need to stand your ground.”

Behind me, the light from a long trail of blue fire blazed down an old western trail where long-forgotten cowboy ghosts floated about.

The huge horse galloped forth, with a bright blue mane of fire, hauling a black hearse-carriage behind it.

Atop the old, dusty carriage sat a man holding the reins in one hand, and a shot gun in the other.

His eyeglasses were broken.

One lens had been shot in half when the bullet entered his brain and killed him ages ago.

The Glinty had returned.

Tellesco turned from what he saw behind me and whispered, “I will follow you, wherever you will go.  How do I be a King?”

That was the essence.

That is what a leader asks himself every day.

The answer exists in every single decision that you make.

God Help You.

God Help Us All.

---willies out.

 Slave to the Moon   by Nighthawks

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