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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Mystery
- Subject: Crime
- Published: 09/08/2016
The Man On the Park Bench
by
Glen Eker
It is a cold windy day. The sky is bleak and gray. He is a single, solitary figure sitting on a brown wooden park bench. He is wearing brown overcoat and grey cap. He looks forlorn and lonely. There is nothing special about him. He is everyman. He could be anyone and anywhere. He is the type of person whom no one notices.
He does not feel the cold because his mind is elsewhere. Many thoughts race through his mind. They are of his parents and how they have always supported him. They of his wife and two children and of the beautiful home that they have. He thinks back to his university days and his graduation from business school. He remembers how happy he was when his M.B.A. led him to a series of successful jobs including the position that he held until recently. They are happy thoughts. Thoughts that race through his mind over and over again.
More unpleasant thoughts now enter his mind. They are of a previous day and time that he does not want to relive. Yet he has relived them every moment and every second since the event occurred the day before. He was sure that he would never be found out. He would put the firm’s money back. He only needed it to pay off the men he played cards with and the men who owned gaming tables he was so bad at.
The confrontation the previous evening had not been a pleasant one. He was working late and at his desk when his superior called him in to his office. The company accountant had discovered the missing money and traced it back to him. His superior threatened police and imprisonment. There were only three people in the company offices that late evening. He apologized and begged for a chance to make things right. His superior would not hear of it. He could not let that happen he told himself. But he did not mean to use the knife. It was just sitting on his superior’s desk. He just lost control he told himself after it happened. He was not so sure, however, when he silently made his way to the accountant’s office carrying the same knife. This time he did mean to use the knife. He justified everything that happened by telling himself that he had come too far in his personal life and business career to have it destroyed by two narrow-minded men who thought nothing of wrecking his life. He was not prepared to take responsibility.
He now felt immobilized. He has been sitting on the wooden bench in the park since late last night. It is now early in the morning. He had intended to go straight home after the events at the office took place. However, he was seen leaving the building by a young couple he knew who were going to dinner in one of the expensive restaurants nearby. He did not know what to do or where to go so he came to the park. His home was no option. It is the first place the police would look. His parents’ home was out of the question. It is the second place the police would look. He is sure his family, business associates, and friends have been contacted. “How did I get myself into this mess.” is what races through his mind. He could never have imagined himself being in a situation such as this. Nothing in his background would have ever made it seem possible.
Yet he was. And he felt that there was no way out. Or was there? He took the knife that he had used mere hours before from his coat pocket. He had intended to dispose of it but when he was seen leaving the building he just didn’t bother. The knife was stained red with blood. Blood of two human beings whose lives he had taken to supposedly save his. He pressed the knife to his left wrist and made a deep cut. Blood gushed out. He then pressed the knife to his right wrist. More red blood gushed out.
He began to slowly fall into a deep silent sleep. Thoughts raced through his mind in the hours as this sleep took hold. No longer would he have to worry about what he had done. No longer would he have to worry about being found out. No longer would he have to think about the two men and their families whose lives he had destroyed. No longer would he have to worry about his reputation and what his family, business associates, and friends would think. No longer would he have to feel guilt over his actions. “If only the gamblers, his supervisor, and the accountant had been more understanding none of this would have happened”, he told himself in his state of semi-consciousness. Four hours later it was all over.
His troubles were now over. They were now left for his wife and children and his parents. The disgrace, embarrassment, and humiliation of his actions were now theirs to carry. They now had to be subject to the anger and despair of two brutal murders and a suicide committed by a man whom they thought they knew and loved but maybe didn’t really know.
When the police contacted them their first reaction was shock and disbelief. After all this was not the husband, father, and son whom they knew. There must be a mistake. It must be someone else. He simply didn’t come home because he was working so late and was tired and probably went to a hotel and forgot to call. He did not gamble, he did not steal, he could not harm another human being, he would never take his own life. It must be someone else. Some stranger. Some unknown person. Not Frank Barnes, successful investment broker, highly educated, socially conscious, involved in charitable work, loving husband, father, son, and friend to all who know him. No not him. But it was him and they now had to live with the realities of what he had done.
The Man On the Park Bench(Glen Eker)
The Man On the Park Bench
by
Glen Eker
It is a cold windy day. The sky is bleak and gray. He is a single, solitary figure sitting on a brown wooden park bench. He is wearing brown overcoat and grey cap. He looks forlorn and lonely. There is nothing special about him. He is everyman. He could be anyone and anywhere. He is the type of person whom no one notices.
He does not feel the cold because his mind is elsewhere. Many thoughts race through his mind. They are of his parents and how they have always supported him. They of his wife and two children and of the beautiful home that they have. He thinks back to his university days and his graduation from business school. He remembers how happy he was when his M.B.A. led him to a series of successful jobs including the position that he held until recently. They are happy thoughts. Thoughts that race through his mind over and over again.
More unpleasant thoughts now enter his mind. They are of a previous day and time that he does not want to relive. Yet he has relived them every moment and every second since the event occurred the day before. He was sure that he would never be found out. He would put the firm’s money back. He only needed it to pay off the men he played cards with and the men who owned gaming tables he was so bad at.
The confrontation the previous evening had not been a pleasant one. He was working late and at his desk when his superior called him in to his office. The company accountant had discovered the missing money and traced it back to him. His superior threatened police and imprisonment. There were only three people in the company offices that late evening. He apologized and begged for a chance to make things right. His superior would not hear of it. He could not let that happen he told himself. But he did not mean to use the knife. It was just sitting on his superior’s desk. He just lost control he told himself after it happened. He was not so sure, however, when he silently made his way to the accountant’s office carrying the same knife. This time he did mean to use the knife. He justified everything that happened by telling himself that he had come too far in his personal life and business career to have it destroyed by two narrow-minded men who thought nothing of wrecking his life. He was not prepared to take responsibility.
He now felt immobilized. He has been sitting on the wooden bench in the park since late last night. It is now early in the morning. He had intended to go straight home after the events at the office took place. However, he was seen leaving the building by a young couple he knew who were going to dinner in one of the expensive restaurants nearby. He did not know what to do or where to go so he came to the park. His home was no option. It is the first place the police would look. His parents’ home was out of the question. It is the second place the police would look. He is sure his family, business associates, and friends have been contacted. “How did I get myself into this mess.” is what races through his mind. He could never have imagined himself being in a situation such as this. Nothing in his background would have ever made it seem possible.
Yet he was. And he felt that there was no way out. Or was there? He took the knife that he had used mere hours before from his coat pocket. He had intended to dispose of it but when he was seen leaving the building he just didn’t bother. The knife was stained red with blood. Blood of two human beings whose lives he had taken to supposedly save his. He pressed the knife to his left wrist and made a deep cut. Blood gushed out. He then pressed the knife to his right wrist. More red blood gushed out.
He began to slowly fall into a deep silent sleep. Thoughts raced through his mind in the hours as this sleep took hold. No longer would he have to worry about what he had done. No longer would he have to worry about being found out. No longer would he have to think about the two men and their families whose lives he had destroyed. No longer would he have to worry about his reputation and what his family, business associates, and friends would think. No longer would he have to feel guilt over his actions. “If only the gamblers, his supervisor, and the accountant had been more understanding none of this would have happened”, he told himself in his state of semi-consciousness. Four hours later it was all over.
His troubles were now over. They were now left for his wife and children and his parents. The disgrace, embarrassment, and humiliation of his actions were now theirs to carry. They now had to be subject to the anger and despair of two brutal murders and a suicide committed by a man whom they thought they knew and loved but maybe didn’t really know.
When the police contacted them their first reaction was shock and disbelief. After all this was not the husband, father, and son whom they knew. There must be a mistake. It must be someone else. He simply didn’t come home because he was working so late and was tired and probably went to a hotel and forgot to call. He did not gamble, he did not steal, he could not harm another human being, he would never take his own life. It must be someone else. Some stranger. Some unknown person. Not Frank Barnes, successful investment broker, highly educated, socially conscious, involved in charitable work, loving husband, father, son, and friend to all who know him. No not him. But it was him and they now had to live with the realities of what he had done.
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