The Barefoot Evangelist: (Book; Part IX)

The Confrontation

 

Jake’s friends will hang him

If they don’t, I’ll give him enough rope to hang himself

 

“Sure, I’m still alive,” returned Erik calmly. “Just think for a moment, when a man stands in front of his opponent holding a gun and he pulls the trigger and the gun doesn’t go off, even though the opponent escapes, to the eyes of the law the man who pulls the trigger is a killer and he is being punished accordingly. I know Gottner tried to kill me, and now I will take care of him.”

“Are you taking prison into consideration?” asked the young woman.

“No prison time, because it will be in self defense.”

“I am afraid you may just kill somebody to prove to the world that you are not afraid of killing, because you didn’t kill the man,” she continued, “You may be trying to tell the world that you have a heart of an assassin.— Oh, I am so damned confused, I feel as if my spirit of adventure is speaking to me and telling me to go away to some corner and stand and wait to see your thoughts coming to life and ruining everything, but I am still a fan of the right and just. I wished that I was an animal not knowing and not worrying about what is right and what is wrong.”

He then raised his head and looked at the young woman. His eyes began to tone down and he almost imparted an encouraging smile, “Dear fan of justice, do you think I would do anything to involve you?” he asked, looking away for a moment.

“If you were a killer you would,” she said. “But if you are a serious minded man and normal you would walk away. Let us assume that Jake is Gottner, what a serious minded man would do in this case, can you tell me?”

“Kill him. The answer is to kill him,” replied Erik, as if he were talking to himself.

“It is unbelievable. The whole thing is unbelievable.”

“It maybe unbelievable to you, but if you knew what I know you would see it with a different eye,” murmured Erik.

“Jesus, what ever your name is, why are you speaking so senselessly?” asked the young lady pleadingly. “Why are you speaking like killer? To me you don’t look like killer.”

“Miss, no killer looks like a killer. Right now I feel that I have to kill him. You don’t know the whole story,” repeated Erik still very calmly.

“First and foremost you are not certain that he is who you think he is.”

“I shall kill him. That is certain.”

“You know, I feel so helpless and confused, I am tempted to call the police, like you should.”

“Bear in mind if you’ll call the police, as you said before, even if you are right to remedy the unfair sometimes the cost is higher than the cure,” responded Erik. “No matter how you cut the pie, I am his assassin.”

“Do you really think you have the heart of an assassin?” asked the young woman.

Erik did not hear the question, he looked as if he had devoted all his attention on Jake and his followers. After a long what it seemed to be a meditation, he began to hear voices and see happenings of his past. He saw the fishermen fishing peacefully, then he remembered the turbulence of the boat, the angry water of the river banging on the side of the boat to get in, he saw everything around him floating on a dim fog, while the sun stood up from behind the mountain. He remembered the sky was clear and blue, the water of the river murky and angry. Everything flashed before including bodies of men stretched on the riverside motionless but their eyes were open. Even though he was confused and dizzy from what had passed in his mind, he was well enough to see and hear Jake standing close behind him.

Jake the horrible

“Cowboy, are you with us? Tell me where is your mind now and what is your logic telling you?”

“I am what I am and nobody can change that,” replied Erik, with the touch of a smile.

‘Maybe, Jesus, you do have the heart of an assassin, who knows?” said the young woman looking away as if she had given up pleading.

Suddenly, Jake caught her fiercely in his arms and put out an abominable laugh. “You are an assassin, Jesus?” shouted the man. He evidently had heard a part of the young woman’s remark. But sitting close to where Jake was standing, they didn’t mention his name.

“My name is not Jesus.  The woman you are holding is my friend,”  said Erik, getting onto his feet, walking along side the bar with his hands knitted  behind his head to exhibit and display a non-provoking stance, with his eyes and concentration divided between the big man and his followers.

“Oh, yes, you are the Knight with the Shining Armor on the white horse. Is that why you are wearing white boots? Excuse me you are an assassin on white boots. I can tell from your way of speaking that you are a foreigner,” uttered the big man with a smile as if what Erik had said was not important. “Are you a Spick?  Are you a Dago? You may be a Wet Back.”

“I am none of the above. I am Greek.”

Jake stepped backwards, but without letting go of the young woman and after gazing reverently around the room for a short time, beckoned his followers by a silent jerk of the head to gather around him.

“A Greek? How nice,” responded Jake, with a sudden timid tone in his voice.

“Have you ever known any Greeks?”

“Oh, yes,” replied the big man, after a minute’s consideration. “I eat out all the time and in most restaurants I eat, have Greek cooks. Where is your restaurant, Greek?”

“I have no restaurant, Jake,” said Erik, raising his arms to expose his hanging pistol from its shoulder holster and most of the patrons ran for cover.

“Are you a cop?”

“No, Jake, I am a county constable.”

“Oh, no! Are you going to shoot me? Don’t scare me with that gun, Greek. I am a man of peace. I have no use for guns,” declared Jake solemnly. He then smiled. The subtle change in Jake’s manner became perceptible as if he had recollected something. “I would like to shake hands with you, but the gun is stopping me, Greek.”

“Never mind the phony stuff, Jake be kind once in your life and let the girl go. She is my friend.”

“Know something else, I don’t think you know, Greek, that I am a mad man and terrible.”

 

“Irish” was another bad man

“I know the likes of you, Jake, you are horrible, mad, but you are not a man. Do something daring so I can shoot you in self-defense, you blubber mouth. Make it easy for me! The time has come for you to learn something about men and manners.” Saying this he let his arms down to idle. “Everybody sees that I am not provoking you and my hands are away from my gun. If you are a man, go ahead and provoke me. Go, ahead, Jake! Make it easy for me!”

“Jake, don’t provoke him,” pleaded the young woman, looking straight at Erik. “He is an animal. He was a Green Beret, he has killed many men with his bear feet and hands. I know him for a long time. Don’t waste your life. Just let me go and I will take him away from here without an incident.”

Looking up and observing the big man’s frightful face, and seeing his determination in continuing the ordeal even after he heard Erik’s plea, and not knowing what Erik might do, she strove to flee to freedom, but Jake quickly overtook her, shook her, and dragged her behind him as he headed for the door.

“Jake!” shouted Erik, seeing him walking away dragging the young woman behind him “Let her go! We all know you are the king of the hill. Long live the king!” declared Erik in triumph.

“Oh, you know that, hey, Greek,…” began the big man, but a sudden kick on the sheens

by the young lady stopped him from completing his sentence. He looked and paid more attention to Erik and didn’t feel the impact on his sheen as if he had more important matters to attend than to complain or make a fuss over the kick. There was no surprise on Jake’s face as he turned to face Erik, after hearing the phrase. The next ten seconds might have been ten minutes or ten hours for all his recollection had to do with it. People might have been falling dead around him, houses crumbling, dogs going wild, he wouldn’t have known. He stood there and stared at Erik as if a strange sense of self pride began to creep into him.

“Hey, Jake, let her go, man, or I’ll shoot,” said Erik softly. “Jake, didn’t you hear me? Aren’t you afraid of death?” said Erik pulling out his pistol.

Hearing Erik’s last remark, Jake suddenly stopped. He stood still as if he were waiting for further instruction and still looking ahead.

 

 

“Death?” exclaimed Jake, turning around slowly and faced Erik. “Me, afraid of dying?  No, man, I am not afraid of dying because I believe in God. Now, Greek, shoot! Now you will learn my manners of men. If you’ll miss, I will kill you, assassin” returned Jake, still holding onto the young woman, “Avenge your self, Greek!”

The young girl felt her self seized by a fresh arms lift her up from the floor and held her tight by another man who looked like one of Jake’s followers.

 

 

“Irish, don’t do anything foolish, he knows his stuff. Look at the way he is holding his pistol. Irish, he is holding the way I do and I am quick and good.” said Jake, speaking with his eyes fixed upon Erik. “Look, he is holding it with one hand with a stiff arm. He can shoot many without having to turn his body and lose time, Irish. He is an army man. Aren’t you Greek?”

“He ain’t nothing to me, Jake,” returned the pot belly Irishman, jerking the young woman tighter.

“Just don’t tempt him, Irish! He is looking for trouble. He is a looser. A looser always is looking for trouble to regain what he has lost.”

“Watch the doorknob,” said Erik. He shot and dismantled the door knob to pieces that spread all over the floor while most of the patrons ran for cover, behind the bar, the booths and anywhere they had thought to be out of  harms way.

“The next one is for you, Irish. Your friend is right, Irish. I am a loser. A long time ago, I lost my nerve along with my pride, but they will comeback to me tonight. ”

“Hold onto the broad,” shouted Jake. The man called Irish seeing the destroyed doorknob, held her tighter yet.

“Now, Jake, you are locked in place. You move this way I’ll shoot you. You move towards the door, you can’t get out. No doorknob. You have locked yourself somewhere you can’t get out. How does it feel to be jailed with no jail bars?” said Erik.

Anyone who looked at Jake, after hearing those words of reality, saw that some kind of fear had come over him, worse than the fear of seeing a ghost standing before him. He wiped the cold sweat off his face with nervous hands, as terror rose from the bottom of his heels to the last hair of his head.

“What have I done to you?” asked Jake feebly.

“A lot; but you have done more to yourself. You see, Jake, I am a court constable that is why I am permitted to carry a pistol. I have taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and people’s rights. You have violated the young woman’s rights. If your friend does not let her go I’ll part his hair in a different way,” said Erik softly and with an ironic smile.

“The man is mad. He believes in what he is saying so let her go, man! Let her go!” shouted the big man. Irish, after a brief consideration opened his arms and the young woman escaped, rushed and stood next to Erik.

“Another bad thing you’ve done, Jake,” shouted Erik across the room.

“Go ahead Greek, let the world know what bad thing I’ve done,” replied Jake with a touch of a smile on his face.

“Do you remember the kid you threw out through the screen door, last October, a day before Halloween?”

“Is that it?” asked Jake with some kind of delight on his face. “So what? Are you related to him?”

“Do you remember him, Jake?” asked Erik in a lower voice.

“Yea, I remember him; the wise kid with black shiny boots; so what?”

“I am very happy to hear that you did me the favor to make the admission. The kid died three hours later from internal bleeding. He was diabetic, you animal. I don’t even think you knew his name,” said Erik in broken voice.

“You don’t even know his name,” remarked Jake smartly.

“Oh yes, I know his name,” said Erik shaking his head sullenly, “His name was Jason.  He was the family pride for being the first American born generation. He wasn’t a foreigner.” There he stopped and looked at the young lady and said softly. “You see, young lady, I told you that you did not know the whole story.”

“You can’t pin that on me. How would I know he was a sick kid?” Jake stammered.

“Tell that to the jury. There is nothing more logical that I can do to you at this time. You have till Monday to get yourself a lawyer, turn yourself in or leave town, which ever fits you best. I know you’ll go up the river and I know you’ll be another bigger man’s bitch,” concluded Erik.

“That’ll be the day,” mumbled Jake.

“That will be the best thing that can happen to you. You plunged into the world like a demon and you are going to go out like an angel; only without the wings. Thank God, I caught up with you, Jake. You see, I was looking for you for a long time now. The kid was so nice, he didn’t even want his parents to know that he had gone to a tavern, not to think badly of him, he told them that he had fallen off a stepladder, but he told me the truth right before he died. He didn’t even know your name, Jake. He was so sick he couldn’t even remember the name of the tavern. Just at the instant that he started to remember the name, he smiled hearing the ambulance arriving outside. He stretched his arms upwards, as if he were a child, for me to lift him up from the couch. I took him in my arms, I stood up with him in my arms and looked down at him. His face was drawn his eyes fatigued, his  tongue ceased to articulate, his head tilted and his arm fell to the side and hung there aimlessly; he was dead, Jake.  It is horrible for me looking at you, but it was more horrible for me holding the young man dead in my arms. Now it’s time for you to pay the piper,” said Erik.

The story was told in a gentle, plaintive tone. As Erik turned his face to look at the young girl, who was now standing next to him, she saw his flooded eyes, his trembling lower lip and she felt his pain. Jake stood there completely unaffected one way or another. There was a short silence, after which, Jake seeming to maintain his usual devil-may care swagger, turned towards the door and said boldly,

“Greek, I must admit that you can really spin a yarn,” responded Jake calmly. “Now are you finished with me?”

“Jake, what you have done is worthy of revenge without any compassion. You may choose to leave town, you may change your face and your name, but you will always be looking behind you for me. When you’ll turn the corner, you will look over your shoulder to see if I am there. When you go to bed at night you will check the house and under the bed to see if I am there. Wherever you’ll go, wherever you’ll turn, your fears and your doubts will be your best friends and companions. You will look behind you to see if I am there, but one day or night I will be there. I promised myself to find the man, who killed Jason and I did. You’ve made it easy for me. Now that I have found you, I promise you revenge one way or another.”

All the agony those spoken words had created in Jake’s indignant soul, were too great to be endured any longer, so he darted towards the door, finding it impossible by the brutal attempt he made to open the door, he turned and screamed at Erik, coming a little closer to him, “What do you want from me now? Besides, Greek, I would like to know why you are putting yourself in jeopardy for a kid that you probably don’t even know?” speaking calmly now.

“That’s not the point. The point is that you left him there to die,” responded Erik shaking his head mournfully.

The kind tone of this answer, the humble manner, the absence of any haughtiness or displeasure, took the girl completely by surprise and she burst into tears.

“Oh, lady, lady,” said Erik turning towards her, “I told you, you didn’t know the whole story. But lady,” he continued with a calmer voice, “If there were more people like you in this world, there would fewer like me and Jake.”

Raising the pistol once again, Erik fired at the door and it opened. “You are free to leave for now.”

The bar scene

 

Without any further ceremony Jake headed for the door. Reaching the door, he turned his head and smiled at Erik. His brutal face changed into fake smile as he gazed at Erik an instant in silence; he then said softly, “Don’t let anybody fool you, you are an assassin, Greek. I shall see you, assassin; one more time.” After uttering those words, he imparted a feeble military salute and went out of the door.

No one in the whole place could explain Jake’s calm departure, whose lungs were always full of enough air to fill a small room with words, said nothing.

“The young woman, whose mind and thoughts were confused and serious, looked at Erik with an examining glance from top to bottom. The bartender whose eyes had seen much and his ears heard more in his station in life, he too looked astonished and ecstatic with his attention nailed on Erik.

“I still would like to know what great clue has brought you so far to suspect Jake was the man who killed the fishermen?” asked the young woman.

“It was my sudden intuition, but intuitions are wrong sometimes,” replied Erik calmly.

“You mean to tell me that you don’t think Jake is Gottner?”

“I don’t know for sure. I told you people change.”

“Why are you so angry with him then, is it because of the kid?” she asked. “Who was the kid anyway?”

He looked at her a moment with a compassionate air, then he looked down for a long time. His long glace resembled that he was dreaming. He then lifted his face and eyes as if the dream had ended and he said softly.

“The young man was my brother.”

The young woman looked steadily upon him, first in silence and then she placed her hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes for a long moment.

“What are going to do now, dearest Erik?”

“I don’t know,” returned Erik, without any thought or consideration.

“You don’t know? You mean you are going to let him walk away?” she asked with some indignant tone in her voice.

“I am not certain that man is Gottner,” replied Erik, as if he were talking to himself.

“You are not certain?” She uttered with some astonishment mixed with wrath. “Everything I heard from you and saw with my eyes describes Jake to a tee with Gottner.”

“What have you heard and what have you seen, miss?”

“Everything you said about Gottner; from the way he spoke to the way he performed any blind and deaf man would realize Jake is Gottner.”

“So, what do you want me to do, kill him?” asked Erik, looking at her with hard gaze.

“Do your duty. Don’t deny justice and overlook the right.”

“What is my duty at this point, Miss Fan of justice?” asked Erik with vague smile.

“Your duty is the defense of justice. According to you, he killed three German fisherman and left you in the boat to die, that is wrong and your duty is to right the wrong.”

“Justice defends punishment, but revenge demands it. What is the right punishment for Jake, assuming he is Gottner?” asked Erik.

“Are you playing with me, cowboy?”

“No, in the name of the lord, I am sincere.”

“Even the Holy Bible says “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”

“Please, quit talking like a six pack average Joe,” returned Erik rather suddenly. “Are you going to stand there and tell me the Holy Bible promotes killing? For your information That quotation came from the old Testament, which is cutoff  from The Hammurabi code, that states ‘An eye for an eye and an arm for an arm,” which means the punishment should not exceed the crime.”

“I am talking to you about a man named Jake, who grabbed me and dragged me across the room, as if were a tramp, and you are giving me a lesson in religion and philosophy,” uttered the young lady with anger in her voice.

“No, Miss Fan of justice; I am talking to you about right and wrong,” said Erik softly. “Ever since we met and throughout our talk, when I mentioned to you that I had in mind of killing Jake you did your utmost and applied your best efforts to change my mind, now because he grabbed you against your will, you want him dead, not caring whether he is Gottner or not. But that’s natural for us humans to want revenge.”

Hearing these words, the young lady placed her face in her hands and leaned on the bar and stayed in that attitude for the longest time and Erik let her, without uttering one word of consultation as one might had thought.

“Sir,” said the bartender, bending towards Erik, he whispered in a deep hollow voice, “If I were you, I would leave right now, because I bet one to twenty, Jake is coming back armed. He just lives by the Green Tree tavern, in the attic of third house from the corner drug store which is not too far from here.”

Now, the bartender, who was well versed in local disputes and capable in forming an adequate opinion, having seen Jake’s behavior in other previous similar matters whereby he had always had to have the last word and this was told to Erik as emphatically as possible, but Erik, being another stubborn man, refused to bend, so the bartender turned to the young woman and urged her to use her charm in getting him out of there in hurry.

 

The young lady, a true representative of the female gender knowing well where it  hurts the male and what makes him feel like a man, ran her fingers up and down his spine and said softly, “Cowboy, I am sorry for my behavior, and I shall remind you again that you deserve wearing the white boots,” saying this she smiled. “You said, my lord, if you were Jesus you would legalize polygamy, therefore you have no guilty feeling of spending a night in another nest.”

“Do you have a good one in mind?”

“Like the song says, let the devil have tomorrow, but tonight you’ll have a friend. Come with me. I would love to spend the night with you at my apartment.”

“Well,” responded Erik, who seemed to feel better having vented some of his grief  “I can’t dance, I can’t sing and it’s too wet to plow, I might as well spend the night with a friend, then I can read your book. I must tell you that the unexpected I dread and I love; it always brings out the worse or the best in me. Look where my luck brought me; I came here today without a thought in my head; I shot and killed the crow, I scared the hell out of the vulture and I am going home with a pheasant.”

“A Polish pheasant,” she said, grabbing a hold of his arm, they both walked away.

“Oh, you are a Polack.”

“I am a Polish pheasant, not a sitting ducks, that’s for certain. You will soon find out,” she said laughingly.

“God bless all the birds on earth,” he murmured.

As they were leaving, Erik stopped and took the time to study the patrons who stood around, looking at him and the young lady. Most of them showed some astonishment, others showed contempt. The ones that showed contempt were Jake’s acquaintances. They were  persons without any friends, who made  haste to become  his friends and they gave a warm welcome to the  man who seemed to  have everything, looks, power and their  kind of charisma who had come into their midst. Jake was happy at the gratitude and respect shown him: but disconcerted at accepting it.

The applause he heard when he brutally shoved somebody to the side, the patting on the back he felt when he threw somebody out; the complements he received putting somebody down, those all were part and parcel of gratitude that reminded him how much more he had to do to hold on to those simple worshipers. That is how human gods and devils are created, Erik thought. Men who are made into gods, and not having the divine power to stay as gods, they often turn to do evil things which does not require any power from up above. So, according to Erik’s thoughts, success does not change a person, but the person must change with success or he or she is doomed to fail.  Jake could have been a kind man, but he became the victim of gratitude which he eventually needed to survive as the simple people’s hero.

“You are right, it isn’t certain in your mind whether Jake is Gottner or not,” she whispered.

“If he is, he will come to me, not for revenge but or for defense; then I shall take care of him, my way,” stated Erik soberly. “It is not my duty or my wish to kill him, but it will necessary to kill him for my defense. Something very important. His friends thought he was their god, but I cut their god down to his size and they will hang him the first chance they get. If they don’t I will give Jake enough ropes to hang himself”

 

Everybody turned his back on him already

“What do you mean by for revenge or defense?”

“Revenge for ridiculing him today will only be to beat me up, of course with some help, but defense will be to kill me not to spill the beans,” said Erik in a low voice, leaving his eyes on her as if you were waiting for a comment, but when that didn’t happen he continued in a deferent whispering tone, looking around as if to spot something.

“We cannot leave together somebody may follow us and notify Jake. I shall meet you at the fast-food stand on Westfield Avenue. They are not interested in following you they are only interested in me. I will shake them off.”

“How long will take you to get there?”

“Not more than fifteen minutes,” he replied.

“Cowboy, watch out for a red pick up truck, it’s what Jake is driving. Let me ask you a question,” said the young woman touching his arm at the elbow to delay him. “How old did you say you are?”