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DOOM MAGNETIC!!! - CHAPTER SIX:
STARMAN
William Pauley III
Sixty Mississippi…
I reach up and turn the dial. The static on the television screen fades to black. The pain searing throughout my entire body is almost too much to bear. I roll onto my stomach and try t’ pull myself up off the ground.
By the time I get t’ my feet, I can see from my peripherals that Lady’s got a pistol aimed right between my eyes. I try to catch my breath.
“Now what’s this all ‘bout, Lady?” I ask. Tears are leaking from her eyes, she looks terrified, like she’s starin’ at the ghost of her granpop or somethin’.
“Take off that bandana,” she manages to say as she sobs.
I look at her dead in the eye. Fear. Her eyes are full of it. She’s afraid of me. She’s afraid of what I’ve become.
She pulls back the hammer of the pistol.
“Now!” she shouts.
“Shit, calm your horses, child,” I say. I reach back behind my head, loosen the knot of the bandana, and pull it away from my face. Her eyes widen and she begins to cry even harder than before. The gun falls to the ground. She drops to her knees and buries her face in her hands.
I walk over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She springs up and wraps her arms ‘round my neck, kissin’ my cheeks and cryin’ into my shoulder. I let a few minutes pass before I ask her what the hell is goin’ on.
“You alright, peach?” I ask.
She looks up at me, wipes the tears from her eyes, and says, “Yeah, Maundin, I’m alright. I mean, now I’m alright. That was just one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”
I laugh. “You! How do you think I feel? Shit, girl, that was the hardest goddamn thing I’ve ever had to do. All you had to do was watch.”
“No, that’s not it. I didn’t even watch. I couldn’t watch,” she says. “I’m talking about afterwards. I couldn’t see your face. I couldn’t tell if you…” she pauses. “…if you changed.”
“Changed?” I touch my face. I feel a little swollen, but the pain is fadin’. I grab the knife from my bootstrap and angle the side of the blade toward my face so that I can see my reflection inside it. She’s right. I have changed. That goddamn television changed the hell outta me. The face starin’ back at me wasn’t my own, no not at all. It was the face of Z Starman. Well, I guess it was still my face, just now I had pale white skin, screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo, like some goddamn cat from Japan. A red lightnin’ bolt is now permanently etched upon my forehead and stretches down ‘cross my face, over to the bottom of the opposite cheek, tattooed in dark red ink. Then I notice my attire has changed as well. I’m now wearin’ a long, bright green, shiny jacket with a purple vest and matching purple dress pants underneath. My Stetson is still here, but now it too is made of the same bright, shiny green material my jacket is made of.
“If you didn’t change, I was instructed to…to…” Her tears start up again.
“Shhh, now. Don’t say another word,” I say. “We don’t have to worry ‘bout that now. I changed. I did exactly as you told me. I didn’t look away, even for a second.”
She pushes her face into my chest even harder and gives me a tight hug.
“You know what,” I say. “You were right. Watching that television screen made me want to do this, to continue my training and become the next Starman. I can’t let Doogan and Vonna die in vain. All of this had to be for a reason, for a purpose. I have to believe that. I think I know that purpose now. I can do this.”
Lady looks up at me. “Well, that’s good to hear, Maundin, cause you’re it. You’re all we got left.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean Z’s gone. We only have you now. You are our Starman.”
I push away from her. “What do you mean I am the Starman? I ain’t even finished trainin’ yet!”
“Yes, you have. This was your final test, the purple television. This was all I was sent here to do.”
My mouth drops open. I look to the sky, at the stars. It all seems so different to me now. It all seems to make more sense, our place in the universe—my place in the universe. That television helped me understand everything.
“And while we’re talking about it, I should go ahead and mention this,” she says. “Don’t ever tell anybody what you saw on that television. It isn’t anyone’s business but yours and it will only cause problems if you do. As soon as the secret of the purple television is out, then everyone will want it, want to feel your power for their ownself. We can’t have that.”
“I knew that sumbitch Z was lyin’ to me when he said it was just a lousy fuckin’ stage prop,” I say, laughin’.
“It’s true, the purple television is an incredible instrument, but in the wrong hands, it can be used to create the evilest of monsters. You must promise to protect it at all costs.”
“I promise to do all I can to protect it from gettin’ into the wrong hands,” I say, with nervousness in my voice. “But honestly I don’t even know where to begin.”
Lady looks up at the sky. A green blanket of mist is travelin’ quick across the stars. I squint my eyes and try to focus in on it. It’s getting closer, and the closer it comes, the more it resembles a swarm of flying ghosts.
Lady looks back at me and says, “start there.”
Paid subscribers! The next chapter of this story will be posted on June 13th! Stay tuned for Queen Bitch.
Starman
© William Pauley III, 2011
All rights reserved.
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