A Mobsters Monologue

A MOBSTERS MONOLOGUE
By John Williams


Smoking in the darkness
Hiding in the shadows
The wind is salty
Coming off of the bay
Weaving its way through the billowing stacks of smoke
Coming from the factories
Mixing and changing
Till it reaches my nose
Making me remember my innocent days
Of playing on the beach

Jumping
Chasing the seagulls
Building sand castles
Walking along the shore
Just before high tide
Picking up sea shells
To listen to the sea

Those days are dead
They’re just a passing phase
That floats away
Hitch hiking on the tails
Of smoke
Coming from the Pall-Mall
Perched between my lips
Thirteen lay smoldering at my feet

Why I smoke them I do not know
I feel each one burning my lungs
Guess it goes along with the job
What else is a man supposed to do?
Waiting for a pick up
In the middle of the night

Oh well
Let’s light another
My face is illuminated momentarily

Sirens sound in the darkness
Are they after me?
Did they find the body?
Or did boss get caught?
Thompson fire and squealing tires answer my question
A car zooms past
There goes my ride
Guess I have to walk


All the bars are closed
Except O’Doul’s
Down the street
Maybe I’ll go in
Catch up with the owner
Collect on a bet I made with him
Get drunk to forget my life
Or meet up with Betty
Got enough money for her tonight
She won’t care
She loves me
I think
Maybe I’ll ask her
To marry me

Move to the country
Start a family
Raise some cows
Wake up at three in the morning
Go to bed at eight at night
Listen to the rooster
Greeting the morning sun
Sounds like a good plan

I turn the corner
People are standing in the street
Trying to get in
I could just walk in
No one would stop me
No one dare stop me
That’s the prestige
That goes along with the job
I decide not to go in
Just walk past

"Hey, man, you got a light?"
Someone asks
I turn to offer him one
When I hear the click of a revolver
A muscle grabs me by the arms
"Just keep walking buddy"
"What do you….?"

Crack!
Blackness
I see faces in the darkness
Don’t know any of them
Probably once did
But long forgotten now

I wake up
My wallet is gone
So are my cigarettes
I get up
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"That’s what you get ya’ lousy thief"

Will anyone come for me?
When they here the shots
Or does my title
Make people fear me
Afraid of me

Will they help me?
Or will they just stare
Eyes wide with shock
Hands trembling

One man whispers to his friend
"Let’s get outa here man!"
The other replies
"Yah man he’s a mobster
He don’t need out help"

Will Betty Come?
Will she say she loves me?
Or will she just go to work

Police cars drive past
Not even slowing down

I guess this is the end
Funny all the prestige
All the money
Doesn’t change the fact
That I’m dead
And no one will ever know
That when I died
I was a man
Not a mobster

-End-

 

I enjoyed the meandering normality of the beginning, but I'm afraid I did lose interest when the plot began to develop! Sorry bout that.