it?”
“ Is it illegal?”
“ Anything using the verb steal or any of its cousins—taking, purloining, borrowing without permission—is illegal. But you knew that.”
NINE
T wo hours passed and someone commandeered a seat right next to William who was back in the library. He was violated. Someone had invaded his space. He selfishly turned to look at the person, prepared to ask them to move. Of all the seats in this library you want to sit here .
“ What? My version not good enough?” Justice asked. “Have I misled you to date?”
“ Justice, what the hell are you doing here?”
“ This is a library at a public university, is it not? Don’t answer that. I’ve read your proposed manuscript, and I am still unhappy. It sucked. I gave you a perfect storyline, and you want to commercialize it, and you can’t get the ending as I told you it happened,” Justice said, never removing his dark shades or fedora. He went on, “I would never leave a city to go to another city on the run without a fake ID to at least thwart arrest after a routine stop and frisk. Secondly, I am not so pathetic to commit suicide by cop. You know, I am looking at your lame face, and you’re pathetic.”
“ I write fiction for my fan base and Hollywood.”
“ You don’t have a fucking fan base. I do,” Justice said, menacingly.
“ At any rate, Hollywood is who I write for. I write fiction to get the big bucks. You want to remain stealth then you need money. I write to get the money. You and I money, precisely. Please, let me do this.”
“ Let me be frank. You write for me!” Justice smirked, and then spat, “And I thought you were smart. You’re quite dumb. I can turn myself in and write the damn story myself. You’ve checked the Sentencing Guidelines yourself. The punishment will not be that harsh. Five-year tops. I’ve saved enough money from you and my books to live the glamorous life upon my release, too. So you listen here, clown, I gave you a tailor-made ticket onto the A-list, and I’ll have you scratched off faster than Milli Vanilli. I have been a discreet liaison letting you drive the car, but I will put a gun to your temple and kick you the fuck out going 90 miles per. I implore you to write the facts as I gave them to you.”
“ In my opinion, that would be suicide.”
“ This fine university,” Justice began, and then flamboyantly waved his hand in the air, and continued, “did not offer you an opinion with your degree.” He let that sink in and then said, “I’ll look forward to your revisions in a week before Jewel gets it.” He looked at the anger in William’s eyes and asked, “What? A week is not enough? Sure it is, the entire publishing world knows that you, I mean we, work quickly.” Justice said chuckling uncontrollably and stood to leave.
“ You’ll get your story all right. Boy, will you get your story,” William yelled to the back of Justice’s sport jacket, as he popped his collar.
William gathered the books he took from the shelves. He was approached by a library aide.
“ Excuse me?” She asked, lightly. “Is everything, okay?”
“ Everything is fine,” he told her.
“ I almost thought you were speaking to yourself.”
“ Actor,” William said, smiling. “I was acting out dialogue. Sorry for bothering you,” he said, and hastily bolted from the library.
TEN
L ater William entered the yellow brick building of a style widely used in the sixties and nodded to the security attendant. He jogged up the staircase to the fifth floor bypassing other busy entrepreneurs. Once in his office, he kicked off his shoes and scanned the wall that housed fire arms. He owned all sorts of rifles and archaic pistols, which accompanied plaques for sharp shooting. He had a four-by-four, one-foot deep aquarium with an assortment of tropical salt water fish suspended from the ceiling. He looked at the fish and then back at the rifles. Thoughts of
“ Is it illegal?”
“ Anything using the verb steal or any of its cousins—taking, purloining, borrowing without permission—is illegal. But you knew that.”
NINE
T wo hours passed and someone commandeered a seat right next to William who was back in the library. He was violated. Someone had invaded his space. He selfishly turned to look at the person, prepared to ask them to move. Of all the seats in this library you want to sit here .
“ What? My version not good enough?” Justice asked. “Have I misled you to date?”
“ Justice, what the hell are you doing here?”
“ This is a library at a public university, is it not? Don’t answer that. I’ve read your proposed manuscript, and I am still unhappy. It sucked. I gave you a perfect storyline, and you want to commercialize it, and you can’t get the ending as I told you it happened,” Justice said, never removing his dark shades or fedora. He went on, “I would never leave a city to go to another city on the run without a fake ID to at least thwart arrest after a routine stop and frisk. Secondly, I am not so pathetic to commit suicide by cop. You know, I am looking at your lame face, and you’re pathetic.”
“ I write fiction for my fan base and Hollywood.”
“ You don’t have a fucking fan base. I do,” Justice said, menacingly.
“ At any rate, Hollywood is who I write for. I write fiction to get the big bucks. You want to remain stealth then you need money. I write to get the money. You and I money, precisely. Please, let me do this.”
“ Let me be frank. You write for me!” Justice smirked, and then spat, “And I thought you were smart. You’re quite dumb. I can turn myself in and write the damn story myself. You’ve checked the Sentencing Guidelines yourself. The punishment will not be that harsh. Five-year tops. I’ve saved enough money from you and my books to live the glamorous life upon my release, too. So you listen here, clown, I gave you a tailor-made ticket onto the A-list, and I’ll have you scratched off faster than Milli Vanilli. I have been a discreet liaison letting you drive the car, but I will put a gun to your temple and kick you the fuck out going 90 miles per. I implore you to write the facts as I gave them to you.”
“ In my opinion, that would be suicide.”
“ This fine university,” Justice began, and then flamboyantly waved his hand in the air, and continued, “did not offer you an opinion with your degree.” He let that sink in and then said, “I’ll look forward to your revisions in a week before Jewel gets it.” He looked at the anger in William’s eyes and asked, “What? A week is not enough? Sure it is, the entire publishing world knows that you, I mean we, work quickly.” Justice said chuckling uncontrollably and stood to leave.
“ You’ll get your story all right. Boy, will you get your story,” William yelled to the back of Justice’s sport jacket, as he popped his collar.
William gathered the books he took from the shelves. He was approached by a library aide.
“ Excuse me?” She asked, lightly. “Is everything, okay?”
“ Everything is fine,” he told her.
“ I almost thought you were speaking to yourself.”
“ Actor,” William said, smiling. “I was acting out dialogue. Sorry for bothering you,” he said, and hastily bolted from the library.
TEN
L ater William entered the yellow brick building of a style widely used in the sixties and nodded to the security attendant. He jogged up the staircase to the fifth floor bypassing other busy entrepreneurs. Once in his office, he kicked off his shoes and scanned the wall that housed fire arms. He owned all sorts of rifles and archaic pistols, which accompanied plaques for sharp shooting. He had a four-by-four, one-foot deep aquarium with an assortment of tropical salt water fish suspended from the ceiling. He looked at the fish and then back at the rifles. Thoughts of
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