"Details" 2 of 2

"My girl, my girl, where will you go? I'm going where the cold wind blows in the pines, in the pines where the sun don't ever shine. I would shiver the whole night through. Her husband was a hard working man just about a mile from here. His head was found in a driving wheel. But his body never was found." - Lead Belly.

"Let me tell you a story" Lux told Nicholas as they sat at the bar, far away from the entourage that seemed to gravitate to him. "It's a sad, sad story. But it's not the story that really counts in life; it's the end. You can tell the most heart wrenching tale, just as long as someone is kissed at the end. Or not alone. That's the most important thing, Nicky Boy. Not being alone." Lux waved the bartender over. Placing his towel over his shoulder the bartender puts his elbow on the bar and sighed heavily.

"What now, Lux?" he asked.

"A drink for me and my friend here, if you please" Lux says with a smile on his face.

"I'm good" Nicholas says.

"Aren't we all?" Lux asks while turning to Nicholas. Nicholas turns away and takes the drink handed to him by the bartender. He has no idea what it is and no longer cares. Nothing is making sense to him. Is his wife dead or not? What did he do that caused him to be fired? What happened to time? "I mean, on the inside we are all born perfect. Barring the children born with deformities we're all brought into this world perfect. What happened to us, Nicky?"

"I don't know."

"I do, Nicky. I do" Lux says while lightly tapping the side of his glass. "Did you know that thousands of years ago we all lived to be hundreds or years old? Imagine that."

"I don't believe that" Nicholas says while wiping his chin. "It's impossible."

"Oh, I believe it" Lux says with a smile on his face. "The problem is that since you live for such a short amount of time, you attempt to squeeze as much as you can into such a small amount of time. Look at marriage." Nicholas visibly flinches when Lux speaks of marriage. "Say you live to be, oh, say, 75. Say that you never divorce after getting married at, mmm, 30. More than half or your life is spent with one person. The same face every morning. The same conversations over and over and over again. Back when people lived longer you'd have maybe one hundred years to get your shit together. But now? Please. Now you spend the first eighteen years being taught what you should be. Add maybe ten more if you go to school. The next ten are spent making sure you made the right decisions. The next ten hopefully you found the answer. Now that you're close to 50 it's time to start planning for retirement. Hopefully. Around 60 your body just ain't working the way it used to. The old Wedding Tackle doesn't work the way it used to. You know? Those good years you spent in school and married to the same old ball and chain. Now you're in your 70's and nothing makes sense to you. 'What did I do with my life?' you ask yourself. What's your biggest fear, Nicky?"

"Stop calling me 'Nicky'" Nicholas says. His nearly slides from his stool. Lux catches him. "Thanks."

"No problem, Nicholas" Lux says. "I'm always here to help."

"My biggest fear is eternity" Nicholas says.

"That's silly" the bartender chimes in. "I'd love to live forever!"

"Who asked you?" Nicholas slurs.

"Easy there, pal" Lux tells Nicholas. "This guy here is my friend. Aren't we?"

"I'm everyone's friend" the bartender replies as he walks away to help out an attractive blond at the other end of the bar. "We're all friends here!"

"Mnemophobia" Lux says as he sips from his glass. He leans back and smiles.

"What are you talking about?" Nicholas asks.

"It's the fear of memories" Lux replies. "Everyone has fears, Nicholas. Even I."

"What are you afraid of?" Nicholas asks. "It sure as hell isn't tattoos!" Nicholas laughs loud enough to cause dirty looks from many at the bar.

"Oh, you know" Lux says. "The usual. Heights. Falling. Things like that."

"That's funny" Nicholas says while slowly sliding from his stool. This time Lux does not attempt to help. Nicholas crashes to the ground and smashes his head. "I think I need to use the bathroom."

"Let me help you" Lux says as he throws Nicholas' arm over his shoulder. As they enter the restroom Lux releases Nicholas. He sees the filthy tile rushing towards his face but can do nothing to stop it.

Waking up in the center of a park Nicholas quickly gets to his feet, flinching in anticipation of hitting another chandelier. Sitting at a bench Lux feeds a group of ducks. The smile on his face in broad daylight is disturbing to Nicholas. He walks over to Lux and sits next to him. Lux looks over to him and nods.

"Good morning" Lux says. "Nice day, isn't it?"

"What day is it?" Nicholas asks. "Weren't we just at the bar?"

"Know what your problem is?" Lux asks. Nicholas shrugs. "You ask too many questions. But at the same time you don't look for any answers. You haven't mentioned your wife in years."

"Years?" Nicholas asks, sobering immediately. "What are you talking about, years?"

"I'd say, maybe, 208" Lux says. Nicholas laughs. Lux does not. "You really don't remember what happened to Nattie, do you? I swear I thought I'd get you by your 50th year, but, damn it. You just don't remember."

"Please tell me what you're talking about?" Nicholas pleaded. The ducks flew away as Lux finished speaking. The sky was a beautiful blue. A light wind blew causing a slight ripple in the lake that sat near.

"Ever hear the term 'The Devil is in the details?'" Lux asked. "Try to remember. Every single time you walked through a door something bad happened. Think, Nicholas. Think." Nicholas covered his face with his hands and tried to.

"I can't" Nicholas said as tears flowed down his cheeks.

"You don't want to" Lux replied. "Fine. Let me fill in the blanks. One night you came home drunk. Your wife was speaking to your brother James about your marriage which had been on the rocks for the past ten years. You got mad. You attacked your brother. Badly. You went after your wife but your brother tackled you to the ground. You fought him until your wife tried to break you up. You struck her. Hard. She hit her head on the coffee table. Ironically enough, the same coffee table you bought for her birthday that year. As she convulsed from the trauma to her brain you continued to fight your brother. He held you down until the police arrived after neighbors heard all the commotion. James lied for you. Said that you two found her dead on the floor when you two got home. The police believed you. But, man. Guilt can be a son of a bitch. You started showing up to work drunk. Fighting with your co-workers. You even attacked one because he asked how your wife was doing. He had been out on injury leave for two months and knew nothing about what had happened. Your were fired. Spent the next five years living off of your wife's life insurance. One day you wandered into traffic, drunk off your ass. You were killed instantly. And now here we are."

"And where is 'here'?" Nicholas asked.

"Where else would a wife killer end up, Nicky Boy?" Lux asked as his smiled grew until his skin tore at the cheeks. "Disneyland?"