the dead man - 31. leave it

by nick nelson

part thirty-one of 31

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when the class was over, celia waited until all the other students had left, and then approached the teacher, ms waterson. hi, can i leave this with you? what is it? it is a novel i wrote - for extra credit. what? did we discuss this? no, it is just thought it was something i might - it is something i did on my own. ms waterson glanced out the window. it was a beautiful sunny day. all right, whatever. just leave it there. the end

the dead man - 30. the bum

by nick nelson

part thirty of 31

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hey, lady - are you talking to me, you smelly bum? yes, ma’am. i was wondering - oh now it’s ma’am, not hey lady. let me guess - you were wondering if i could help you out. that’s it! i am a mind reader. but i don’t help out smelly bums. oh for god’s sake, con, why are you talking to this person? no good can come of talking to people like this. i am just so sick of it, and this character has bothered me before. if debra was here she would give you a lecture on helping the unfortunate. debra is not here, and i don’t need any lectures from her or from you. while con and marcie and alex had been talking, the bum had moved off. see, said alex. he is gone. nothing to get excited about. next

the dead man - 29. back home

by nick nelson

part twenty-nine of 31

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hi mom, it’s janey. janey! where are you calling from? i am back at missy’s. i just got back last night. oh! so you are not in montana or north dakota or wherever? no, i got back last night. is it all right to come over? of course. are you hungry? no, they had food in north dakota. and i will stop at burger king on my way over. do you want something? don’t be silly. i will make you something. thank you. so, how did it go, in wyoming? not that great. it was not as easy as i thought. i will tell you all about it. oh, that’s too bad. at least you tried. i might still try. i have not completely given up. all right, we will talk about it when you get here. how is the car? it didn’t break down, did it? no, the car was not the problem. next

the dead man - 28. little bird

by nick nelson

part twenty-eight of 31/font>

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i think we might have a little bird here who is in the wrong nest. i wasn’t trying to fool nobody. so you ain’t denying you is what i think you just might be. i can’t deny it. i don’t rightly know myself, one way or the other. so what are are we going to do with him. nothing. he ain’t worth doing nothing about. i’m sorry, fellers, i didn’t mean no harm. i am just ignorant. there is a big yard here. i think you can find another place in it. next

the dead man - 27. the deceiver

by nick nelson

part twenty-seven of 31

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it seems to me you have been misleading me, young man. i will let it pass, but others similarly deceived might not. but i was not trying to fool you, sir. i honestly do not know myself. i find that hard to believe. what do you think, citizen? it could be. i was wondering about him myself. hmm. and so you really do not know if you are one or the other. maybe he is an indian. or a chinaman. no, my mama was white. maybe your daddy was an indian or a chinaman. i never thought of that. but you say your mother was white. yes, she was. your daddy, she never probably knew herself. surely you can believe that, old man. in pharoah’s time it was the most important thing in the world for a man to know who his father was. i guess pharoah is not around any more. but you’re sure your mother was white. she was as white as the woman on the one dollar blll. no woman on the one dollar bill. george washington is on the one dollar bill. she was as white as george washington. you know, some white men might not like it either if they thought it was the other way around, you was pretending to be one thing and really the other. i know that. i been there too. next

the dead man - 26. down the road

by nick nelson

part twenty-six of 31

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lucas was hitchhiking through somewhere out west and he got picked up by a farmer in a pickup truck. the farmer did not talk much and lucas was glad to get the ride and just look at the window and look at the landscape which was kind of gray and did not change much. a lot of it was behind barbed wire. they saw a young woman standing by the side of the road with her thumb out. the farmer drove about fifty yards past her and pulled over and stopped. okay, son, the farmer told lucas. this is the end of the line for you. you want to go back and pick up that girl? you are a sharp young fellow. that is exactly what i mean to do. i think there is room for all three of us in this seat. don’t argue with me, son. just get out. all right, mister, thanks for taking me this far. you are welcome. lucas got out of the truck and the farmer put the truck in reverse and drove backwards to where the girl was standing. lucas watched as the man palavered with the girl. then the truck started up without the girl getting it, and shot past lucas who waved at it, but did not stop and was quickly lost to sight. lucas waked back to the girl. she was an ordinary looking white girl about twenty years old. she wore a denim jacket and blue jeans and there was a small backpack on the ground beside her. what was that all about? lucas asked her in his guileless way. i didn’t like his looks, the girl said. he seemed like a nice enough fellow to me, lucas said. not to me. what’s your name? lucas asked. blue star. that’s a pretty name. mine is lucas. well, lucas, i will tell you what. if the two of us are standing here together somebody driving by will think we are together and that will nor hep either of our chances of getting a ride. what do you say to that? that makes sense to me, ma’am. you stay here and i will get on down the road. i dod not mean to bother you in any way. have a nice day. next

the dead man - 25. truth

by nick nelson

part twenty-five of 31

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the things that they want you to think, those are all lies. if you think them, they let you walk free. and anything they don’t want you to think, those are the things that are true. otherwise, why would they lock you up? why not just let you walk free? because they are afraid of what you know. you might ask, why don’t they just kill you if they are so afraid of you? why do they lock you up, and feed you, and keep you alive? because then they would not have anybody to have power over. and they live for power - it s the only thing they live for. so there you are - that explains it. osama bin laden, 9-11, kennedy, the moon landing - those things are just scratching the surface. you think jonah swallowed the whale? you think moses parted the red sea? you think columbus discovered america and lincoln freed the slaves and george washington cut down the cherry tree? i don’t know - i never thought about it much. they didn’t even have cherry trees in america when george washington was alive, they were all in china, what do you think of that? old man, will you stop torturing that poor boy with your nonsense? nobody wants to hear it. that’s all right, i like to hear what people have to say. yes, but the rest of us have heard it a hundred times. you want to hear something new? you want to hear something new? i got a million stories you never heard. save them for when you get out. i am not getting out. oh, that’s right, excuse me, i forgot. you forgot. you forgot respect, that’s what you forgot. now in phaoroh’s army, and in king david’s army, they taught respect. and in jesse james’s raiders, they taught respect. you forgot al capone. and john gotti, they were men of respect. you see, now you are talking just as much as i was, and with a lot more ignorance. you got a point there. i give up. so do you mind if i continue my exposition? just keep it down a little, that is all i ask. next

the dead man - 24. know

by >nick nelson

part twenty-four of 31

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jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar system, the pacific is the biggest ocean in the word, and mount everest is the tallest mountain . alexander conquered the world, but he didn’t live to tell the tale. buddha sat under a tree. but confucius was the wisest man who ever lived, and sun tzu wrote the art of war. noah built the ark, and jonah was swallowed by the whale. solomon was the richest man who ever lived, susannah was the most beautiful woman, and the queen of sheba was the richest woman. joshua fought the battle of jericho, and napoleon lost the battle of waterloo. andy jackson won the battle of new orleans, custer lost the battle of little bighorn, and sitting bull and crazy horse won it jim bowie was killed at the alamo, and so was davy crockett. grant surrendered to lee at appomatax, but the south would have won if wade hampton or quantrill was leading the troops instead of old granny lee. jesse james was shot in the back by that dirty little coward bob ford. delilah cut samson’s hair, salome cut off john the baptist’s head, and the lady in red fingered john dillinger. atlas shrugged, by ayn rand, is the greatest book ever written, not counting the bible. the stand, by stephen king, is pretty good too. johnny cool is the greatest movie ever made. goodfellas and the magnificent seven are second and third, respectively. the ballad of the green berets is the greatest song of all time. gimme shelter by the rolling stones is second. imagine by john lennon is third. mrs mary smith, of colorado springs colorado, was the nicest person who ever lived. take my word for it sheriff bill johnson, of wayward tennessee, was the meanest man who ever lived. i knew him all too well the kennedys killed marilyn monroe. that’s why the cia and the mafia killed jfk. the moon landing - it happened in paris arkansas .. i was there. 9-11 - televised in coral gables florida behind an animal shelter. i was not there but i knew a guy who was. soupy sales never died . george soros turned him into donald trump. and nancy pelosi is really zsa zsa gabor. i am telling you these things because i know. i know because i am the only person really alive, and the world is my dream. i told you what i know. now you tell me what you know. next

the dead man - 23. learning

by nick nelson

part twenty-three of 31

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i never learned nothing in school. you must have learned to read. how do you figure? i seen you reading a book the other day. not me, i wasn’t reading no book, must have been somebody else. he means a magazine, he’s from the woods, these country folk call a magazine a book. so you was reading a magazine - with pictures in it. yeah, i was looking at some pictures. everybody likes to look at pictures. why is that, do you think? i don’t know, they just do. the world is a picture, ever think of that? just look around, there’s a picture. so what do you have to look at a picture in a damn book for? i don’t know why. why don’t you tell me? because you have to pay for the book, that’s why. they get you because you have to pay for the book. books are cheap, compared to other stuff. and folks just leaving them lying around, or throw then away, so you can just pick them up. not like television. television used to be free. well, you still had to buy the television. and maybe pay the electrical bill. how do you figure? televisions are electrical. they are? i thought just lights were electrical. people say electric light, nobody ever says electric television. you have to plug it into the wall, don’t you? that makes it electrical. and if you don’t pay the electrical bill, it won’t go on. is that right? help me out here. what he says is true. refrigerators are electrical too. and washing machines, if you have one of your own. i used to go to the laudromat. you probably washed your clothes in a creek. a muddy creek. be all that as it may, you used to be able to just buy a tv and watch it. now you have to buy the tv and pay for all these damn subscriptions. so they got you coming and going. tyranny, that’s what it is. and capitalism. don’t start. you can still just buy a tv and watch it. some things, anyway. some things is right. nothing good. just shows for the ignorant. like us. next

the dead man - 22. in broad daylight

by nick nelson

part twenty-two of 31

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janey did not get much interest or encouragement from her fellow humans, including her mom or her teachers or her guidance counselor, in her desire to be a true crime author. but she was not to be deterred. through high school, she worked after school and on weekends at the local supermarket, and she saved almost all the money she made. she intended to use the money to investigate one or more crimes during the summer after she graduated. she knew she could not research and write a book in that period, but it would give her a start. then she would return and begin full time employment at the supermarket. mr perkins, the manager of the supermarket and a true crime fan himself. was amused by janey’s ambition, and was the one person in the world who encouraged her. janey persuaded her mom to give her her old car when her mom got a new one. the old one had no value except as scrap, and her mom warned her that it might break down totally at any time, but janey decided to take the chance rather than use up her money buying a used one herself - which could be a complete lemon anyway, or leave herself at the mercy of buses. how could anybody investigate a crime taking buses? besides, she had never been on a bus in her life, except a school bus, and just did not like the thought of them. as for investigating the crimes, she resolved to use the technique she understood, from reading her books, to be annette walker davis’s. just appear at police stations, and they would either help her out or they would not. she would take it from there. meanwhile, she went on line night after night, looking for promising cases. ones that had not already been done by some other true crime writer, famous or otherwise, but that might make interesting reading and that she might have some chance of success in. one case in particular intrigued her. a career public defender named hester johnson had been murdered, in broad daylight, in a public park on the afternoon of her last scheduled day on the job. the park was located across the street from the county jail where she had been interviewing, and bidding farewell to, her last clients. the case had never been solved, and no one had ever been arrested, despite the overwhelmingly large list of possible subjects - the hundreds of men, and dozens of women, that she had not very successfully defended during her thirty years on the job. although the crime had taken place ten years earlier, and in a city and state two thousand miles from where janey had lived her whole life, she thought it was a promising one. surely with so many suspects, she could come up with somethimg. and janey already had a good title - “in broad daylight”. next

the dead man - 21. "x"

by nick nelson

part twenty-one of 31

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“x” was the seventh child of mr y, the seventh richest man in the world, by his seventh wife. she lived in a big house on a big hill. the house was staffed by a hundred servants, of which seven were reserved for x’s personal use. x never saw much of either of her parents. her father was a busy man, and her mother, who had long since been replaced, was in prison for murdering one of her own servants - a chauffeur or gardener. x was not a happy child. an analyst suggested that she find some hobby or interest to occupy her time. such as music, or art, or a political or social cause. after being given a number of presentations on these subjects by accredited experts, x asked for time to make up her mind. this time was, of course, granted. but before she could make up her mind, disaster struck. the fortune of mr y, and his position as “seventh richest man in the world”, was based largely on his effective ownership of several third world countries. revolution broke out in not one, not two, but in all three of the countries. the dominoes began to fall. mr y’s vast fortune evaporated almost overnight. mr y disappeared. presumably with some fragment of his former fortune buried in some sorts of bank accounts somewhere, and with some suitcases of gold and jewelry. mr y had often been thought by his more conspiracy minded fellow humans to be an agent of some alien race, or a member of an alien race. be that as it may, the ex-wives and their offspring were left high and dry. what little they had left, most were inclined to spend on lawyers, to fight each other over the scraps. some spent on private detectives, to attempt to track down mr y. it was an unfortunate situation. some of the members of the younger generation of mr y’s brood decided to exit the fray, and strike out on their own into the “real world”. among them was “x”, who encountered the serial killer of highway ———, whom annette walker davis determined to track down. next

the dead man - 20. frodo

by nick nelson

part twenty of 31

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arthur hobbes clevenger lived in the big house on top of the hill, with his mother and twenty servants. his mother was very bitter that she had only the ine big house, and one summer house in cupertino and another in newport, and that she had so few servants, but her lawyers, although she paid them her life’s blood, could not get a better settlement out of arthur’s father. arthur had a tutor, and did not ho go school with, or have any contact with, the children in the town at the bottom of the hill. arthur had three friends - the gardener named joe, the chauffeur named moe, and the cook named flo. arthur wanted a dog, but his request for one was summariiy denied. moe the chauffeur gave arthur a pair of binoculars and arthur used them avidly to try to look down the hill and see what the people in town were up to. when arthur was four years old he encountered his first tutor, ms jones. she was young. arthur did not like her much and she did not like him, and arthur was glad to see her go after four years. but arthur did learn to read and write. ms jones was replaced by ms smith. she was older. arthur had no feelings about her one way or the other, and she had none for him. ms smith strongly encouraged arthur to be all he could be, and although he did not respond immediately or enthusiastically to this advice, it gradually seeped into his being and made a lasting impression on him. when arthur was twelve, ms smith was replaced by mr brown. arthur did not like mr brown, whom he thought was a drip. joe, moe, and flo did not like him either, and denigrated him and his lack of manly qualities at every opportunity. through it all, arthur continued to look down the hill through his binoculars, and to wish he could have a dog. arthur was given a sturdy back pack for his seventeenth birthday. he promptly filled it up with clothing and some food from the spacious pantry, and went down the hill to the towm and then to the outskirts of town and began hitchhiking. he did not tell joe, moe, or flo of his plans, or where he was going. next

the dead man - 19. annette

by nick nelson

part nineteen of 31

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when annette walker davis started investigating the death of rain, she discovered that cissy sawyer’s body had also been found in the area and listed by the police as a “possible” homicide. when she got on the case, she found that two more bodies had been found during the previous year, one of a young man and one of a young woman, along the same stretch of road. neither had any i d, and neither had been identified. the young man’s death was classified as by accident - he had apparently slipped into a ravine during a snowstorm and suffered “multiple injuries”. the young woman had perished in another storm, and her death was listed as by “exposure’. so, neither was considered by the local or state police to be the victim of a murder. annette walker davis was having none of it. she knew instinctively that all four deaths were murders, carried out by a single murderer. she checked into the red eye motel, and set up headquarters where she intended to investigate the murders. county sheriff bill brown listened politely to her when she called on him, but informed her that the investigations, if any , would be handled by the state police based on the evidence they had. the nearest state police headquarters were quite a way down the road from the sites of the deaths. annette spoke to a young woman, younger than herself, who identified herself as sergeant murphy. sergeant murphy explained politely to annette that as she, annette, had no interest in the case and was not even an accredited member of the press, there was no reason to share information with her, and that no information would be shared. annette was surprised. she pointed out to sergeant murphy that she had read many books in which the authors had thanked police departments, and individual detectives and police officers, for their generous assistance and cooperation. i don’t know what to tell you, sergeant murphy told her. they must have had their reasons. annette next thought to interview local people. she thought there must be some sort of gathering place or watering hole where she could find them and sit down and chat with them. she had expected to find some sort of cafes or dark bars where grizzled farmers and ranchers sat around endlessly gossiping and philosophising. but there seemed to be no such place and no such people. there were a couple of truck stops, but they seemed to be patronized exclusively by truckers and others just passing through, not by locals. annette attempted to strike up conversations with some of the truckers, thinking she might find some for whom the highway was a regular route. none of them showed any knowledge of, interest in, annette’s questions about the “murders”. some of them talked about themselves, and/or expressed a friendly interest in annette and her person. could one of them be the killer? annette had a vision of spending months trying to draw out one of the brutes, who would surely become proprietal and territorial - and to no purpose. she tried the waitresses at the truck stops. when they were not too busy, they were friendly enough in a weary way, but not helpful. annette asked one of them where the local people were - what did they do when were not working? what do they do? i suppose they watch television. some of them go to church. church! that did not sound promising or exciting. what about the young people? annette persisted. do they just watch tv or go to church? there aren’t any young people, was the reply. annette retreated to the red eye motel. she had already sounded out the proprietor and the one maid, with no happy results. she decided to work up provisional biographies of the two unidentified victims. she would call the young man “frodo” - he was almost surely a hippie - and the young woman “x”. next >

the dead man - 18. blue star

by nick nelson

part eighteen of 31

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when cissy sawyer suddenly left home and her home town after graduating from high school, everybody who knew her was surprised, because they all agreed that she was the most ordinary person they had ever known. cissy was not ugly or good looking, not particularly smart or stupid, and had always been a loyal member of the entourage of phyllis simmons, the third most popular and third best looking girl in town. everybody thought she would just get an ordinary job, marry an ordinary guy, and have one otr two ordinary kids. cissy’s mom, if anybody asked her, would say, yeah, i guess that is what i figured too. cissy was the second victim, after rain, whose body was discovered along the highway by sheriff jake brown. jacki kelly, the proprietess of the jacki’s donut shop, suggested to sheriff jake brown, that the two apparent murders might be connected, and the work of a serial killer. and that he, sheriff jake brown, should contact the state police for assistance. sheriff jake took a sip of jacki’s super hot coffee and said he would think about it. but he did not get around to doing it until the third victim was foind. a piece of lined paper was found in cissy’s backpack on which was written in bright blue ink: i am blue star i am myself but i am also everybody i am the sun the moon and the stars most of all i am the earth i am pleased to meet you even though you do not know me and you will never know me two more lines had been added but were crossed out and illegible. on the basis of this message, the state police classified cissy as a “hippie”, even though nothing else on her person, including her clothing, indicated that she considered herself such. reading annette walker davis’s account of all his, janey masterson was entranced. the book seemed to open out visions of a world she had never dreamed of, dangerous and yet fascinating… next

the dead man - 17. rain

by nick nelson

part seventeen of 31

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rain was born in what newspapers, when they took note of her violent end, called a “hippie commune”. rain’s parents, and their neighbors in the campsite on the outskirts of the little northwestern town, never called it that, and rain never heard the term “hippie” until she was forced to go to school, at the age of eight. a truant officer, or some sort of bureaucrat, showed up at the campsite, and told rain’s parents, and the parents of a couple of other children, that the children would have to attend the little school in the nearest town. the inhabitants of the campsite were peaceful sorts, and they agreed to comply. the children, including rain, starting going to school, though not every day. rain’s parents where called gandalf and moon woman. rain regarded these names as perfectly natural, like her own. gandalf and moon woman eked out an existence making wooden musical instruments, like flutes and mandolins and zithers, which they sold at local fairs, and by burglary. moon woman was very adept at spotting opportunities in this line, and planning for them. moon woman also set up as a reader of tarot cards, but the money she made from this was inconsequential. the children at the school regarded the newcomers with mild curiosity. they knew that “hippies” lived on the outskirts of town, and took their existence for granted. some of them were gratified that the hippies now had to suffer the imposition of school, just as they always had, and were no longer getting away with anything. rain was placed in first grade, with children most of whom were two years older than herself, but she was small for her age, and so did not stand out in that regard. rain made friends with a girl named sally. sally had envied the hippie children, and was sincerely commiserative with rain for losing her freedom. rain began spending her afternoons at sally’s house. sally’s house had two things rain had little experience of - snacks and television. sally. like rain, was an only child. her mom was an easygoing sort, who did not have a job, and who spent her days chainsmoking and reading detective novels. she did not watch much television , at least not during the daytime, and sally and the friends she brought home were free to watch anything they liked, on the four network stations and two local stations available. sally’s favorites were american bandstand, the flintstones, yogi bear, and gilligan’s island. rain learned to love them too, especially gilligan’s island. snacks. rain had been raised eating nuts, berries, and oatmeal. she had no concept of food as something to enjoy. at sally’s house she was introduced to sticky popcorn, wise potato chips, and ice cream sandwiches. sally’s mom was an irregular cook. on some days she did not cook dinner at all, just snacked. on others she cooked big dinners of hamburger patties, mashed potatoes, and canned peas or creamed corn. and she made herself sandwiches at any time of day, when the mood took her. one afternoon she made herself a fried egg and bacon sandwich and saw rain staring wonderingly at it. you want one of these, honey? here, let me make you one. rain bit into the greasy fried egg and bacon sandwich. this was the tipping point for her. how much better it was to live like this, watching gilligan’s island and eating fried egg sandwiches, than at her own home, gagging on incense and listening to moon woman and gandalf endlessly discussing, and occasionally arguing about, the fine points of astrology. rain never hated or resented her parents, but she resolved at this early age to leave the hippie lifestyle behind as soon as possible. next