Bad for your health

Sam was certain time stood still. It had been doing so since he finished his last cigarette.

He glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes to go, then he could light up. ‘Shit,’ he thought, glancing yet again at his watch. He looked at the still smoldering butt of his last cigarette in the car’s ashtray, wondering if it would count against him; re-smoking a used cigarette.

Taking up his binoculars, Sam scanned the park for his stooge. Nothing.

He glanced at his watch. Nineteen minutes to go.

Back to the binoculars...a squirrel sat on a park bench eating from the hand of an old woman. Two little kids were chasing a dog while a mom was casually burping her baby. No stooge.

Nineteen minutes to go. Not possible! He checked his watch. Tic…….tic…..tic…..the seconds dragged by.

There! By the water fountain, his stooge had finally shown up; a slumped over old man pushing a shopping cart from Target. As he passed the woman with the baby, the bum/stooge nonchalantly pulled a locket from his army surplus coat pocket.

That was the signal. The mother was the mark. Sam was out of the car in an instant. He casually made his way towards where the woman was sitting. He needed to get close enough to ensure a clean kill. He was not paid to wound people.

He heard the tell-tale click as he passed by the old woman on the bench. This was going to be a bad day all around.

He spun quickly but not nearly quick enough. Two slugs tore through him; one took out a lung and the other, an artery.

Sam stood quietly facing the old woman with the gun. His arms hung at his side.

‘I could use a smoke,’ he thought slumping to the ground.

Word count 300