Thursday, February 21, 2013

The Gun by A. Dacosta Brathway


                                                                            The Gun

 Another three weeks passed and still no word about Sharon. Tabitha was really worried now. Nothing like this has ever happened that was so personal to her. Sure, there was crime in Baltimore but this had a personal flavor to Tabitha. Sharon is her closest friend. Her confidant… Her co-heart in crime so to speak. They were as thick as thieves!

There was a buzz at their school. Nerves were on edge. The administration was being cautious and overly protective! The principal had the school on lockdown. The doors were being heavily guarded. When visitors came to the school, they were patted down and had to sign in… And out!

Tabitha was determined to find her friend. She sat by the stream in Springfield Woods and stared at the water every day after school. There was a neighborhood watch and amber alert. The police surveyed the area like clockwork. The cops did not want anyone to wander by the stream, but Tabitha was not having any part of that. She patrolled the stream looking for something, anything that would help her find her friend.

It was a Wednesday and it was drizzling. It was a fine mist. The day was grey from the clouds. There was a chill in the air that was annoying. After school, Tabitha strolled the stream looking for something… A clue, a sign, something… After about an hour, Tabitha found a space to just sit. The water was muddy, murky, slimy looking. She stared at it. The sound of the water, flowing, seemed to calm her. She just stared at the water and got real focused. “What the…?” She mumbled to herself as she reached down into the stream. There was what appeared to be a rusted piece of metal sticking up from the mud. Tabitha tried to pull it out but it did not budge, at first. She kept yanking it and pulling it… Tabitha stood up and bent at the waist. She dug her heels into the mud and pulled as hard as she could. She fell on her butt with the object in her hand. She stared at it, not knowing what she had found, at first. Upon further review, Tabitha unearthed a gun! It was rusty and like orange in color. It did not look like any kind of modern gun. It was old looking… A pistol!

Tabitha looked this thing over. The handle eroded away. The metal was eaten by the water. Tabitha inspected it like she had x-ray vision but found nothing… It was getting darker and it was hard to really see anything so she stuffed the gun in her jacket pocket and went home.

Tabitha had an uncle who knew a thing or two about guns so she took it to him to see what he would have to say about it.

“Where did you get this?” Her Uncle Bobby asked. “I pulled it out of the stream in Springfield Woods!” she replied. “Girl, you ain’t got no business being back there! Stay away from that place!” he warned. Tabitha promised that she would obey his wish. “Tell me what you think?” she asked him. “I’ll do some research on it an’ get  back to you.”

Another week passed and Tabitha had not heard from her uncle. She was nervous. What if there was a connection between that gun and a murder? What if she found some key evidence that would solve a crime?  She could not wait any longer. She called her uncle.

“Uncle Bobby, what’s up with the gun?” she asked without saying hello. “Girl, you ain’t gonna believe this! I managed to get some 411 on this piece. It belonged to some dude who once shot a kid in the head. He was never caught!” “Really?” she asked. “Yeah… And dig this: the kid that was shot lived and later became a plastic surgeon but there was something strange about the dude. It’s like he turned out to be real weird and started doing strange shit!” “What do you mean?” she asked. “I mean he like dumped his friends and did his practice out of his crib. He stopped being seen… I mean dude turned out to be weird!” Bobby explained.

Tabitha’s head was spinning! It seemed like Uncle Bobby was talking about that doctor Beldar, the guy that lived in Sharon’s apartment building. That could not be right. It was too coincidental. She told her uncle she had to go and to hang onto the gun. She hung up! Her uncle’s words echoed in her head. The more she thought about what he said, the more it seemed to add up.

Tabitha was about to go on a mission…

 © A. Dacosta Brathway, January 27, 2013

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