Character Development Exercise

My hands are bound tightly to each arm of the chair I’m sitting in at the moment.  The knots are tied so that as long as I don’t strain against them, they won’t tighten.  As I begin to regain consciousness I realize my legs are bound in the same manner.  There’s something that’s happened to my eyesight.  I’m not aware enough to be sure if it’s a blindfold or an after effect of the drug I was slipped. If I make it through this I’ll have to remember to pay Marko a visit and thank him for buying me that last drink. 

Somewhere behind me a key hits a lock and a door swings open.  I think at least two people have entered the room.  My bearings are starting to return.  I’m starting to feel the pressure of a blindfold tied tightly around my head.  It is pressing hard into my swollen flesh around my eyes.  One of the people who entered the room must be big cause they are bumping against everything while coming towards me.  He moves down around the front of me and comes real close to my face.

“Hey, Mick, what’s shakin’”?  It was Vinny.  He worked as a strong arm for Mr. Mann. 

“I don’t know, Vinny, I’m a little groggy this morning, and I seem to be having problems seeing anything.  Think you can help me out”?  Dead silence is my only reply.

“Vinny, we ain’t gonna get much accomplished unless I can.” 

“Okay, Mick, let’s get that blindfold off.”  Vinny loosens the blindfold a little and then pulls it off my head.  It pulls out of my throbbing temples like Velcro.  Vinny’s large frame comes into focus first.  He looks like an extremely overweight man, but it’s muscle, not fat.  He’s wearing a pair of sharkskin pants and a muscle shirt that doesn’t leave anything to the imagination.  I try to look around the room a little when he draws back and strikes me square across the jaw.  My vision goes from bright white to a fuzzy black.  A shockwave travels through my head and I let out this weak groaning noise.  I think the fucker just gave me a goddamn concussion.  He did it to get my attention.  It worked.

“Don’t hold anything back, Vinny.” I managed to mumble through a jaw that didn’t seem to work anymore.

“Shut the fuck, up, you piece of shit,” a dark ugly heavy Italian voice said somewhere behind me.  It was Mr. Mann.  I didn’t know how many others were in the room.  I suspected at least one other, but my mind was so fuzzy I couldn’t be for sure.  “You, Darrel Stokes, and Lenny Marks took something that belongs to me and I want it back.  My personal friend here, Vinny, is going to persuade you to answer some questions that I have and you will answer as truthfully as you can.  You and Vinny know each other, so I’m assuming that you know just how good Vinny is at his job.”

They knew about Darrel and Lenny.  I locked eyes with Vinny.  I hadn’t noticed it before, but he had this vacant look in his eyes.  I knew that look.  I’d seen it in my own eyes before.  It was the look of a person who’d taken the life of people he liked.  Tortured and killed those same people he had just recently called friends. 

“Where’s Darrel and Lenny”?

“Unfortunately Lenny didn’t have much stamina and Vinny’s - uh - persuasion was too much for him.  That piece of shit is going to be planted up state tomorrow.  He’s going to become part of Interstate 80 that’s being built near Springfield.  Darrel has disappeared under some rock and we can’t find him anywhere.  We’ll be asking you about him shortly.  I’m going to give you one chance to make this easier on everybody.  Tell me where the fuck my money is and this ends before it even gets started.”



Lenny and I go back four years.  We ran numbers together in our old neighborhood until I started running as a bagman for Mr. Mann’s crew.  Lenny and I lost touch with each other, but I never forgot the old neighborhood.  The big thing in my life was my autistic sister.  My parents couldn’t afford any type of good professional care for her so, when they died I turned to a life of crime to give her a better life.  I hooked up with Lenny who had been running numbers for some time and he took me in and we worked together for a long time.  Eventually, though, it wasn’t enough.  I moved on to help finance more care for her and living expenses for myself.  Darrel was a distant cousin of Lenny’s that was a good thief down in Texas.  He had come up to visit with Lenny just before our last job and wanted to come along for the ride.  It cost him his cousin.

Vinny punches me hard in the nose.  My eyes water and pain shoots through my brain.  I hear someone talking but I can’t understand anything.  The bottom of my face goes numb and everything goes dark.  My last thought before I pass out is that maybe this is all a bad dream and it’s time for me to wake up.

I don’t know how much time I was out, but apparently they were tired of waiting.  I woke to being splashed with salt water.  I screamed like I’ve never screamed before.  My arms, neck, face, and upper body felt like they were on fire.  I strained uncontrollably against the ropes that tied me to the chair to the point that my hands and feet lost all feeling.  When the pain wore off I looked down at a small metal table that was positioned close to me and I saw among the utensils a razor blade that was very bloody. 

“Mick, just tell the man what he wants to know so we can all get the fuck out of here”, I locked eyes with Vinny.  He was a professional strong arm who was currently getting paid to put the hurt on a friend.  Maybe I could use that.

“How far do you and I go back”?  Vinny didn’t say a thing.  If I can’t get him talking then I don’t stand any kind of chance.  “Come on Vinny, we’ve known each other for more than ten years now.  Shit, man, we practically grew up with each other”, even I could hear the desperation forming in my voice.  Vinny just stared at me coldly.

“Just tell Mr. Mann where the fuck the money is and all of this ends”, Vinny looked me up and down for a few seconds.  “You’re looking really goddamn bad, bud.  I can’t tell anymore that your hair is dirty blonde.  and you’re going to have