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down a well-lit
street with large potted plants where I felt the road should’ve
been, I noticed how my shoes reacted to the cobblestone as opposed
to the flat pavement, occasionally dipping into the ground. “After
my years of rest, I served in World War I and II, spent most of my
time in France and Belgium from 1915 to 1918, then Germany and
Japan in the 40’s. I did some mercenary work during the Cold War
and then went to Vietnam. As unlikely as it sounds I initially went
there to begin a new time of relaxation, study the many new things
the world had to offer. Psychedelics, music, food, I needed it all.
But after a few weeks the bullets went flying and I was put in a
position to bear arms again. '92 onward to '03 I did more contract
and operative work, mostly hits and whatnot.” A bright neon sign
was above a door made of glass read ‘Peter’s fish and chips’. There
was an image of a blue fish painted on one of the windows which
took up almost the whole wall.
    “This is the place.” We crossed
the street and pushed the door open to be hit with the strong smell
of fried goods and burning cheese. A young, blonde, bearded man
came running out from behind a large refrigerator filled with
various drinks and containers of what appeared to be chocolate
pudding. “How can I help you today?” His voice was low, although
somehow perky. I waited for Kate who was looking up at the menu,
“You want to order first?” she looked over at me, “Yeah sure, um,
could I get the beef burger with no cheese or onions, and a
chocolate thick shake.” I look over the menu once more and settled
on a meal, “Could I get a works burger and a medium chips.” I reach
into my pocket for my wallet and found a bank card with the numbers
‘7825’ written on sticky tape wrapped around it which I peeled it
off and stuffed in my pocket. Our server punched in the last of our
order and looked up at me, “Any drinks for you?” I pushed my wallet
back away, “Just water thanks.” He smiled and scratched his beard
lightly, a twinge of sadness fell over me as I remembered Pat doing
the exact same thing and how I would probably never see him again.
“That’ll be $12.50.” I shook off the slight depression, “Yep, just
on the card thanks.” He lifted a small EFTPOS machine and punched
in the numbers, “Just on savings?” I let out a small laugh while
involuntarily pulling a semi-deranged smile, “I don’t know, yeah,
let’s try savings.” He regarded me for a moment and slowly handed
me the machine, “Just… enter your pin… and push ok.” I swiped my
card, punched in the digits and after a few seconds the satisfying
‘Approved’ popped up at which point I put the machine on the
counter, “Rightyo then, I’ll go set that up for you, about ten
minutes or so.”
    “Thanks. You want to go for a
walk?” Kate smiled at me and nodded, “Yeah, a walk would be nice.”
We stepped back out into the cold street, I was slowly
acclimatising, we walked toward the road, I looked over to Kate and
caught her smiling over at me, “This is nice, not so fast paced as
the rest of life.” I began to cross the road just ahead of her,
“Yeah. Calm, peaceful.” I stopped halfway across the road and
gently grabbed her by the waist and looked into her eyes, she
smiled up at me as I lowered my head to hers where her soft lips
collided with mine, it felt so nice, so perfect, I couldn’t help
smiling slightly. We stayed that way for a few seconds before I
pulled away, “That was magnific…” I was stopped as I was hit by a
force as hard as a car and thrown a few feet in the air before
landing flat on my face, I struggled to turn my head to see, yes, I
was, in fact, hit by a car. My entire body felt sore, I could feel
I’d definitely fractured something; I must’ve subconsciously jumped
at the last second. I saw all four of the black sedan’s doors open,
producing four men in long black overcoats, a red cross sitting
above the heart, each