War Backstory: The Honorable Mayor Blackwell

    Pete had just gotten off the boat when he saw Freddie running towards him. “Pete! Pete! You have to help! Bill the Bartender is gonna shoot James if somebody doesn’t talk him out of it!”

                Pete turned to his sons “Get the fish into storage. I got another fire to put out.” He said as he rushed after Freddie and got to the bar. “Stay out here Freddie. I don’t want you getting shot if Bill takes complete leave of his senses.”  Freddie gave a quick nod and Pete turned and walked into the bar.

                He threw the swinging doors open and allowed his massive frame to take up the doorway. Pete knew his size was one of his great advantages in dealing with people, standing well over six foot tall with broad shoulders and a barrel chest made him the biggest man in most every room he walked into. Age had taken away some of his strength and put some white into his raven black hair, but he still was very confident of his chances in a fight. The room went silent as he walked towards the bar where Bill had his gun in hand. “You are not shooting anyone Bill.” Pete said.

                “This piece of shit hasn’t paid his tab for over two weeks. He hid in the back of the joint and waited till he could flag down one of my waitresses and conned her into opening a new tab and getting himself a free mug of booze.” Bill’s voice was whiny and pleading, he punched the bar in frustration to really drive home his outrage.

                “And for the crime of scamming you out of a beer you’re going to kill a man? Really Bill, that seems like a good idea to you?” Pete responded to him.

                “Fucking bullshit this is. The sheriff in this town is a drunk who couldn’t give to shits if anyone here gets killed. The absentee King sends us all too all corners of the world just to take some land so those fucking God worshipping lunatics don’t get to it first and now here I am having to justify and defend myself to a fucking fishmonger. This world has lost its fucking mind.”

                Pete could hear people murmur in shock at Bill’s disrespect. “He’s fucking with the mayor, nothing good can come of that.” One voice muttered in the background. Pete smiled at Bill he knew the expression on his face was intimidating. He held his stare on Bill for a few moments before walking right up to the bar beside him and placed his hands on the bar, allowing himself to tower over Bill.

                Standing nearly a foot taller than the bartender Pete bent his head forward to stare down at him. Bill shuddered and then slowly attempted to lift his gun towards Pete. Pete grabbed the gun and ripped it out of his hands. “Did you seriously just try to point a gun at me? Are you out of your fucking mind?” Pete bellowed at him.

                “Fuck Pete. Come on man, people ripping me off and now I got you getting in my face. Fuck am I supposed to do? No fucking way to run a business in these lawless parts. I ain’t heard anyone try to stick up for me or tell me how I’m supposed to get restitution for my losses.” Bill blubbered. The man seemed on the verge of tears as he spoke.

                “How much does he owe you?”  Pete asked him.

                “Forty crownsmarks not counting the drink he stole tonight. So forty six.” Bill told him.

                Pete reached into his pocket and put down two hundred crownsmark bills. “There he’s covered and I’m buying a round for everyone in here.” Pete turned from the bar and looked at the crowd, pausing for a beat before finally shouting. “Hear that everyone? This round is on me!” The bar responded with cheers and celebration to Pete’s decree.

                Pete looked through the crowd that was rushing to the bar for their free drinks and found James. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked him as he grabbed James by the shoulder.

                “Getting my free drink. You just said this round was on you.” James told him, his eyes glassy and his breath stinking of alcohol.

               

                “That’s for everyone else, you’re leaving Bill’s bar and you’re never coming back. You ever set foot in this bar again and I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.” Pete said as he put a firm grip on James shoulder.

                “Fuck you man! I didn’t need you to talk old Bill down from shooting me, he was never gonna shoot me anyway. Now you’re gonna tell me where I can and can’t drink, fuck that shit! I’m an adult and I can do as I fucking please!” James said, his mouth spraying Pete with spit as he spoke.

                “Folks around here call me the mayor because I take care of problems. I take care of problems because I’m a man of my word. Bill didn’t shoot you and I paid your debt for you, it is only reasonable that you do me a favor and quit visiting this establishment.” Pete told him.

                “Fuck you mister fake mayor.” James told him as he pulled Pete’s hand off his shoulder and threw his hands up to challenge Pete to a fight. “You don’t scare me old man! You’re nothing but talk!”

                Pete made a great show of placing his hands behind his back and sticking out his chin. “I’ll let you take the first swing, but I want you to think about this really hard because if you do swing at me, we fight until I feel you’ve had enough and with the amount of disrespect you’ve shown me I’m telling you right now that if the folks in this bar don’t pull me off you that you might not survive what’s coming to you” Pete told him.

                James hands trembled as he stood in front of Pete. His chest started to heave as he began take deep breaths and his face got even redder than it was already. He made a horrible noise that sounded like a mix between a whimper and a scream as he wound up and threw a looping hook towards Pete’s chin. Pete caught James hand in mid-air. “You have five seconds to get out of this bar or this gets real bad for you.” Pete told him. “Five.” He counted down. “Four.” James yelped and ripped his hand out of Pete’s grip and stared at him pleadingly “Three.” Pete continued.

                “Don’t. Please.” James said.

                “Two.” Pete continued. James turned and ran for the door. “One!” Pete shouted at him as he ran through the swinging doors and into the street. The crowd began laughing and cheering once again as the customers went back to ordering their free drinks from Bill. Shouts about the effectiveness of the mayor came from various voices in the crowd.

                Pete gave a nod to Bill and walked from the establishment. The confrontations and problems of the town and his work on the fish boat were a pleasant distraction for him from what awaited him when he got him. He opened the front door and his wife stood before him. Jen leaned hard on her cane to keep herself upright he could see her arm shaking as she fought to stay on her feet.  Her face was sunken and the wrinkles seemed to get worse every day, as if the disease that was killing her was also aging her. Pete hated seeing her like this and rushed to her and gave her a gentle hug. She fell into his arms as he reached for her.

                “Had yourself an issue at the bar.” She asked him, already knowing the answer. He knew she enjoyed his stories and that she knew he enjoyed telling them. He nodded and gave her a brief recap of his handling of the issue at the bar, leaving out the threats to beat the shit out of James since she didn’t care for him threatening violence to fix things.

                “How badly did you threaten James?” She asked him, she knew him so well that he couldn’t bullshit him.

                “I was going to kill him.” Pete told her.

                “Oh Pete. “ She said as she withdrew from his hug. “I supposed a stupid drunk needs the threat of an asskicking to get the point. I just wish people were more reasonable.” She shook her head and then placed a hand on Pete’s chest. “It was bad today the pain really has been getting to me. I’ve been dying for months now and it’s almost over. I’m so sorry Pete. I guess I’m the one problem you can’t fix.”

                She fell back into his arms and they cried for a while. “People die. They always will die. I’ll die one day same as everyone else.” He reached out and ran his fingers through her stringy white hair. “The bravery you show in the face of death is something I hope to have when my day comes.” He told her.

                “I’m not brave. I’m just a realist. I’m sick and this is the end of me. I get to find out if the Believers are right I guess.” She said with a laugh. “That’s what religion is for isn’t it? Comfort people on their way out give them something to hope for other than oblivion?” She closed her eyes and squeezes her hands into Pete’s sides. “Let me tell you, the way I hurt, I more than welcome oblivion.” After a few moments she leaned away from him. “Are you really leaving this place when I’m gone?” she asked him.

                Pete nodded. “I have to go to Midpoint. I have to do what I can to help. It’ll be good for my brother too, get him a fresh start again.” He tried to continue but Jen put a finger to his lips.

                “Two nations that have been planning on killing each other for over a hundred years and Pete Blackwell is going to keep them from tearing at each other’s throats? You must think yourself a pretty remarkable man if you think you can pull that off.”  Jen smiled weakly as she finished.

                “You know the Kingdom is trying to make this fail. It’s why they have sent Thad as the leader of our group. That drunken fool will ruin everything. I bet the Believers will be sandbagging it much the same way.” Pete told her.

                “Pete, the town is named Midpoint for crying out loud.” Jen told him.

                “Well we wanted to call it Explorers Outpost and the Believers wanted to call it Serenity or Tranquility or something friendly sounding, all their town names all sound the same to me unless it’s the name of one of their holy men.” Pete interrupted her to explain the name.

                Jen gave him that look that told him to shut up and he stopped talking. “Midpoint isn’t a town name it’s the name of a military objective. We must secure Nearpoint to be able to launch an attack upon Midpoint and once that is taken we shall reach out and crush enemy resistance at Farpoint! This whole farce is an excuse for both sides to say that they tried to stop the war from coming so they’ll feel better about killing each other when the war does happen.”

                Pete kissed her forehead and held her face in his hands. “You are the smartest woman I’ve ever met, that’s why I married you.” He told her.

                “And my ass. I had an incredible ass when I was younger.” Jen replied and they both laughed.

                “You sure did.” He told her as he kissed her forehead again.

                “Mayor of the White Sands Pete Blackwell, off to become the Mayor of Midpoint. I do hope you know what you’re getting yourself into. Midpoint’s not going to be a town full of drunks and small time hustlers trying to score a few crownsmarks. It’s going to be real serious people who want to get about the business of killing each other. Both sides have raised armies and they’ll be looking for any excuse to use them.” Jen said.

                Pete held her and the two stood in silence for a few moments. “If nobody tries to stop it then the war will come. You said Midpoint was the lie both sides will tell themselves to feel better about what they do when the killing starts. Maybe if it’s an honest effort instead of a lie then the killing will never have to start.”

                “I hope you are right, but I fear nothing can stop it.” She clutched his shoulders and he felt how frail her fingers were. The bags under her grey eyes showed the tiredness in her. “Our sons have bought me a bunch of nice big sheets. When I go please wrap me in them and weigh them down and throw me in the ocean. We’ve made our living feeding people all the various fish of the sea, it’s only right that they get their revenge upon me.”

                They both laughed and then held each other and cried. Four days later Pete gave his wife to the ocean and then made his plans to head to Midpoint to try to prevent the war everyone was sure would happen.