Part 10
“I thought you had to summon him first?” I asked Buster.
“Yeah, that would have been awesome,” he said.
“You dumbasses. He
wants to be here more than we want him here, more than likely,” added Sancho.
“What do you mean?”
“He means”, my mirror self interrupted, “I’m ready for my close
up”.
And with that, the environment around us began to shimmer as
the apparition we’ve come to know as Scooter once again tore its way into our
reality. Stepping out of the mirror onto
the lawn, he seemed more there than
ever, something I attributed to the magical energies at work in my back
yard. Walking to the edge of the circle,
he now seemed to be nothing more than a crude facsimile of myself. Once familiar features were dissolving into a
more ragged visage as he gained more strength.
Or maybe I’m just
really seeing myself for the first time, I thought.
And shuddered.
As he walked toward the circle, he reached out
with his left hand, testing the limits of our protection. The air seemed to ripple as he dragged his
fingers across the invisible barrier.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “Entry requires both hands.”
“Ohhhh, burn!” said Sancho, as he and my brother smirked.
“Hmmmm...” Scooter looked at the stump of his right
hand. “I’m gonna let that one go.”
I said, “Well, that very handsome
of you.”
“All right, enough.
You know why I’m here.”
“You’re looking for a handout?”
asked Sancho.
“Ok, that’s real funny, but now it’s time for bus-“
“Holy athame!” shouted Buster, as he threw the butter knife
at Scooter.
We all watched as it sailed harmlessly past my doppelganger
to land with a soft thud next to the mirror.
There was a moment of silence as we all turned to look at my brother,
who took this opportunity to study his shoes.
“Soooo….what were you saying again?” he asked.
Scooter responded, “I was saying, it’s time to end this
foolishness and get down to business.”
I stepped forward warily.
I knew that this had to end as well, as it had gotten progressively stupider
as the night wore on. The human mind can
only tolerate so much. But I had no idea
what to do. Looking him in the eye, I
asked “So, what happens now?”
“What happens now is you come out of that circle and join
with me. You won’t be completely lost,
just kind of put away. In a nice little
corner of our mind. I made a nice little
virtual room for you; its got a tv and an Xbox and plenty of porn, so you won’t
be bored. And you won’t have to worry
about anything else, ever again.”
“I already do that. I
fail to see the benefit here.”
“Don’t be so glib” he responded. “Think about it. You want this.”
“And what would you get out of this…arrangement?” I asked,
ignoring his last statement.
“A chance to live a real life.”
“What, like Pinocchio?”
“Uh, sure, like Pinocchio.
But –“
“Because I don’t know how that would work out for you.”
“…uh, well-“
“You know at one point he was turned into a donkey?”
“Ok, but ….well.. what?”
“The point is, I like my life the way it is.”
“Wait, how did any of what you just said have a point, and
how was…you know what? Doesn’t matter. Look, this is happening, whether you like it
or not, so just lay back, spread your legs and go to your happy place.”
“Yeah, well how are you going to get me? Huh?
Come at me bro! Oh, wait, you can’t
cross our circle, can you? Well, that’s jus
too bad, sucka.” And with that, I put my right arm straight out and opened my fingers,
staring bullets into my twin.
From behind me, I heard Sancho ask, “Did he just pretend to
drop a microphone in front of Scooter, like in that movie with that one rapper
guy?”
“Yeah,” said Buster. “But
I think he pulled it off.”
Ignoring everyone else, Scooter looks me in directly in the
eye.
“Alright, you want to do this the hard way? Let’s do it the hard way.”
To be continued. Probably.
Jrx
