A FLINT HARD MAN

Pyrus Dunbar was a flint hard man, as tough as his name, and about as unlucky as a rat in a rotisserie. He didn’t take to many, and most didn’t take to him. Maybe that was his problem, but he didn’t care. Get the point? It didn’t matter to Pyrus.

Poor Pi. Never had a chance. A father that couldn’t leave town faster than the mother, so he stayed. But not for long. So Pi saw the ugly side of welfare houses and foster homes, and was out of the system by fourteen. What good is a system that only causes you grief?

Got some street jobs, if ‘jobs’ is what you want to call ‘em. Mostly go‘fer work, delivering packages…you didn’t ask what. Worked his way up, and the work got ‘heavier’. Packages became people, and people became dead.

Pretty soon the heat got to be too much, so Pi skipped town. It was time he saw more of the country anyways. He got hooked up with a gent in Seattle. This ‘gent’ was tough on him, real tough. He had Pi doing the dirtiest of the dirty work, most often ‘wet’, but he grew to appreciate the fact that Pi never complained, and did what he was told. He liked that. He liked that a lot. He took Pi under his wing, and for awhile Pi flourished. But all things came to an end, when the gent, and seven colleagues, got gunned down at dinner. Pi was supposed to be there, but didn’t show. He could never explain that, but then, there really wasn’t anyone left to explain it to, was there? He was gone that night.

A freighter left port with him on it. It was bound for South America, but Pi had second thoughts, and settled for San Diego. San Diego suited him. He stuck to the streets. He knew the streets, just had to learn the layout, and that didn’t take long. Before you knew it, what started as a couple of guys…well, Pi had his own gang. Mostly, they roughed up sailors on shore leave, that was their thing. The thing ran real well, too…coupla’ years there, but no one lasts forever…it’s just a matter of time. Pi got shot up pretty good. His partner, Benny, was killed. After a spell in the hospital, Pi ended up in prison. Just as well, was his initial thought, but ‘wish I had it back…’ was the one that lingered. It would linger for fourteen years.  Years spent squandered.

They finally let him out, sayin’ the jail’s too full.

It all worked out, and that worked for Pi. He just found it too difficult to reconcile, so he remained vengeful. To his last dying day, he was.

V