A Quarter Life

A Visionary

The yolk was quite a yellow delight.

He looked across the table. The old woman wasn’t there.

Bruno asked, 'Hey Mike, are you okay?'

He realized, he was in a conversation, 'Yeah, just got distracted for a second. So where was I?'

Bruno said, 'Well, I said that Reeve guy and you might be identical.'

Mike laughed, 'Right you are.'

Bruno frowned, 'But you got no photo of Reeve, how can you be so sure?'

Mike smiled, 'Luckily, I got one. I went to visit the address of Charles, and got his granddaughter. Charles and Reeve were quite close.'

Bruno didn’t care about the friendship, 'Are you sure you both looked identical?'

Mike laughed, 'Yeah, sure I know. Jenny got it noticed first. They had a group photo taken. Reeve was there.'

Bruno got up from the table, 'It can't be happening. It can't be.'

He got confused, 'Hey Bruno, don’t panic. Just sit down, finish your meal.'

Bruno sat down. He could see a look disbelief in Bruno's eyes. For what? Being identical? Weak reason. Then? Dream and reality connected? Maybe, but such a reaction?

Bruno finished his meal with a shock. They cleared the bill and went out, in the parking lot.

Mike pulled out a cigarette, lit it up. The smoke was quite helpful after a chit chat.

Bruno looked quite normal, quite recovered. They walked to the car, slowly.

Mike said, 'Bruno, are you okay?'

Bruno kept silence for sometimes, 'A-Are you sure that he was identical?'

He was confused, 'Yeah, except the beard maybe.'

Bruno was silent, again. He couldn’t understand why Bruno was shocked, was silent. The behavior was quite odd.

He asked him, 'So, what's your plan? Where are you gonna stay tonight? It’s quite late.'

Bruno realized, it was really late, 'I don’t know, maybe will go to some motel, just for the night.'

He laughed, 'That's nice, but why don’t we do one thing? Let's spend the time in the car. You sleep in the backseat. I have more than to adjust in the front.'

Bruno was convinced, 'Well, that's a really nice idea. Will save some money.'

We were in the car. The space was a little more than enough, a third refugee would have been in problem.

I was sitting in the front. The seat was quite comfortable.

Bruno was lying on the back, sleeping like dead. Well, after the tough day he had, he had to sleep like dead.

Mike thought, he also had a rough day, to be exact. The blow on the head in Jenny's house, the accidental interrogation by the guy named Robert, the almost kiss by the lady, it all was on this day, this very f*****g day.

He pulled out a cigarette. The cigarette was the last one, maybe. He lit it up, like this was the last one in this world.

He remembered about the manuscript. Was it all true? Why was Charles so obsessed with Reeve?

“Lieutenant was fuming, but was in shock also. Was I in shock? Yeah, of course, but not for the poison issue. I was shocked, because Reeve guessed it, accurately.

Reeve was not in shock of course. He calmly asked, 'Can you guys predict the time of intoxication?'

The guy was confused, 'Like, when the poison was put in the body?'

Reeve sighed, 'Okay, let's not make it hard. Please just find out whether there is any injective hole in the body.'

The guy said, 'Okay, sir.'

The guy left, we both were confused.

Lieutenant was furious, 'I knew it! I knew from the start. That investigator, that bastard, he played this game. I always doubted him. He was a German spy bastard. I will kill him.'

Reeve said calmly, 'Lieute, stay calm. Maybe it isn't like what you are thinking.'

Lieutenant frowned, 'Now what? It is clear, no one can give him poison, except that prick.'

I said, 'Is there any other possibility, Reeve?'

Reeve said, 'Well, there are two.'

We both sat down to hear the explanation.

Reeve started, 'Well, firstly, Hitler fears about his plans to be exposed. But, he has to share them to the army, who will execute them. So, in some troops, he secretly injects a lethal injection. That holds a liquid, which mixes with blood, but remains in a latent state for around 1 month. He sends his troops for missions in this one month. He already precalculates the time for completing the mission. And his lab team always makes the antidote with the liquid. When the troops return, he injects each one of them the antidote. Simple, but quite effective.'

I asked, 'But if some troops couldn’t come back in time?'

Reeve sighed, 'Then they die. Hitler doesn’t want that, so he tries to lengthen the duration. But eventually, some accidents happen.'

Lieutenant was in shock, 'Holy Jesus! That's homicide.'

Reeve laughed, 'Yeah, but not to him. He sees it as a tiny little sacrifice, to make this world a gem.'

I was curious, 'So, this was the first possibility. What was the next one?'

Reeve thought for a second, the second was like a lifetime to me.

He said, 'There are some army, you know, highly insane for the country, they won’t hesitate to kill themselves. Hitler uses them very usefully. They are given a crystal pill, containing sodium cyanide, sometimes potassium cyanide. They hide them in their jaws, carefully. When they are captured and in fear of the plan to be exposed, they pull out the pill, and gulp it down. It works slow but fine.'

We both were quite in shock. Hitler, that insane bastard, can plan so many things.

Lieutenant said, 'Man, you are so obsessed with Hitler.'

Reeve laughed, 'I am, truly. Hitler is my idol, to be true.'

Lieutenant said, 'You made a madman your idol? You like the homicides?'

Reeve laughed again, 'Okay, let me rephrase that. His techniques, his tactics are my idol, his philosophy isn’t. He hates some group of people, based on their race and religion. But me? I hate everyone, everyone who try to dominate.'

Suddenly we heard a knock on the door. It was that guy, again.

Reeve asked, 'What did you get?'

The guy said, 'There was some hokes in the body, but they were few, quite a few years ago.'

We got it. The pills were the plan.

The body was sent to the central forensic lab of the US army.

We had a night of rejoice. We won a mini battle against Germany. We were so much happy. We laughed, we ate to our full. We sang and danced by the bonfire.

But Reeve wasn’t there. I didn’t see him all night.

I went upstairs, to our rooms. I looked into the room, he was there, writing, thinking.

I came down, took a glass full of Bourbon, and two plates of beef steak.

I went upstairs.

I knocked on the door, 'Can I have the audacity to come in?'

Reeve saw me and laughed, 'No, you can't. Now will you go away?'

I replied, entering, 'No, I would rather make the audacity.'

We both laughed, to our fullest. I put a plate of steak and the Bourbon on his table.

He said, 'Boy, is that Bourbon well prepared?'

I laughed, 'What the f**k is being well prepared? It's just a simple whiskey.'

He denied, 'Then you should visit the world of whiskeys on day. I will show how to get a well prepared whiskey, someday.'

I laughed, 'f**k the preparation. You will gonna waste your liver anyway.'

We both laughed.

I asked him, 'So, what were you doing? What made you betray the feast, eh?'

He laughed, 'Ah mate, nothing sort of that. Just was confused.'

I laughed, 'The great Reeve, who was able to crack the dictatorship, was confused?'

He laughed, 'That's quite a praising, ya know. But I had a good plan on this.'

I was curious, 'What kind?'

He started, 'The German, they had many kinds of rifles, barrels and all that. But still, Hitler uses some chemicals, to make his order a habit.'

I nodded, 'Yes, like Fluorine.'

He continued, 'Yes, and that's an effective biological weapon you know. But, you need a Hitler to operate it. You know, like a human mind to operate them.'

I agreed. Truly, maybe without it, the weapon would be easily beaten.

He said, 'Why not make a weapon, that operates itself?'

I was surprised. A weapon with a brain?”