Another Shot in The Dark

  “You should have shot him.” I heard the man say. I was lying in my bed with my window open. I had a third story walk-up apartment and he had the house behind me, and we had never met, and I could hear him in his backyard with whoever his acquaintances were.   

  “No, you’re supposed to shoot him.” He repeated. He had some European accent that I didn’t have the ear to pinpoint. “Maybe he kill you.”

   It was the second night of the east coast blackout, August 15, 2003. I couldn’t sleep because the air conditioning was dead. Because I kept worrying about the meat spoiling in my fridge. Because I couldn’t watch my rental movies. Because I couldn’t play my Super Nintendo. The blackout sucked.

   I got up and looked down from my apartment window. The man was barbequing. That was another reason I couldn’t sleep, I kept smelling steaks, and sausages, and bacon from his grill.

   “You should have shot him.” Another man said. Several other men, and a woman also spoke but their voices didn’t carry as well. I couldn’t make out any faces. Everything was so dark. No streetlights, no back porch light, only a few tea candles on a picnic table, and the burning coals in a hibachi, making them all look spooky.

   I watched their plates and utensils reflect the moonlight. They were eating. They were eating and talking about how Steve should have shot someone. Whoever Steve was. I looked out trying to see if anyone else in the neighborhood was hearing this, but I couldn’t tell. I might be only one who was listening. The only witness.

   I looked out my window and then I felt a panic and checked the bedroom light switch to be sure it was in the off position. I was worried I’d be looking out the window and the power would come back on, and the lights would come on and light up my silhouette like a Christmas tree. Then they’d know I was watching them, and they’d know what apartment the light was coming from, and then they’d come and get me.  

   I crawled back into bed with hope they would quiet down and go away. I couldn’t call 911 because the phone was dead. They could deny saying anything anyway. Then they might find out I had complained. They might figure out where the complaint came from.     

   As I lay on my bed, I could smell their barbecue. It smelt good. My nose wanted to eat and my stomach wanted to throw up.

   Then I heard the knock at my apartment door. I was sure it was Chloe knocking again to see if I heard anything about the power coming on.

   I opened the door to a meaty looking man in his fifties.

   “How are you doing?” He smiled.

   My legs almost gave out.

   “I’m Domizio. I live behind you there. I cooked too much food. I want to invite my neighbors over to share. I want to invite you. Come on, get dressed. You can help me out. Get dressed. What’s your name?”

   “Peter.”

   “Aw, that’s good. Come on. Come eat with us. You’re going to come? I’ll see you there? You’re not going to make me come back here for you?”

   “No.”

   He patted my shoulder, smiled, and left. I went and sat on the edge of my bed in the dark. But then everything was dark.

   There was another knock. I open the door only a little this time. It was Chloe.

   “Peter, there was a strange man at my door just now. He wanted to invite me to his house.” She came in, stepping pass me, and went directly to the bedroom. She was looking out the window when I joined her. “He said he had food for me. I don’t feel safe, Peter.”

   “Yea, okay, you can stay here.” I sat back on the bed. Why did he bother her? Why was he getting her involved? I laid back on the bed thinking. Maybe the man hadn’t seen me watching? Maybe he thought it was Chloe? How could he have seen anything? Maybe he couldn’t tell which apartment had which window? If I went alone, would he come back for her? Was she safer in her apartment? What if I went and she hid in my apartment? Would she be safe then?

   “You’re not expecting me to lie down with you, are you?” Chloe said, a bit too loud.

   “What? No, no.” I sat up. “You said we were over. It’s over. I’m over it. Us.”

   “I think I’d feel safer in my own apartment.” Chloe left.

   I didn’t go after her. I was worried if I didn’t go down to the barbecue, Domizio might come back and get me, and then he might not be so friendly. I dressed, hoping that if I went he might only give me a warning to keep my mouth shut.

   Outside there was a back gate from the apartment parking lot to the house. I went up to the picnic table that was over spilling with barbecued meats. Someone offered me a beer. Domizio put his arm around my shoulders. He was shorter than me but it was hard not to shrink under his arm.

   “I bought a big freezer. Lay down freezer.” Domizio began. “And it comes with half a cow. All prime cuts. Now the power goes. And now it been a couple of days and nobody knows when the power comes back. So, I start cooking. I’m cooking, and cooking, and cooking. Look at all this. You’re going to help me. Have something to eat.”

   He put a steak on a plate and offered me a fork and a knife, and a lawn chair. I sat, but I couldn’t eat a bite.

   “That’s a prime cut. Eat. Eat. I invited your girl, too.”

   “My girl?”

    “Yea, how come you don’t live together?”

   “We broke up. How did you know?”

   “I watch people. When I grew up everyone knew everybody. I've seen you together. I see everything around here.”

   “Well, we broke up. I don’t think she’s coming.”      

   “Oh, that’s so sad. You should make up with her. You want I could talk to her? I can invite her again. This time I know she’ll come.”

   “No, please, don’t.”

   “It’s not a problem.”

   Serious panic set in, then a uniformed police officer appeared at the back gate.

   “Excuse me.” I put the plate on the chair and bolted for the officer. I stepped outside the privacy fence and waved the officer to join me.

   “What is the food no good?” the officer said.

   When he looked at me, I froze. I realized I didn’t have any proof of anything. I was just scared. What if I started talking, and making accusations, and nothing happened, but then Domizio came after me later? I went to go back to my chair but the officer held my arm.

   “Are you alright? Did you want to tell me something?”

   “I stepped out for some air. I stepped away for some air. I needed some air. It’s a bit crowded for me.”

   The officer smiled. “Yea, they can be a bit scary.”

   I went back, sat, and tried to eat my steak. It was medium rare and well seasoned and it melted in my mouth despite the knots in my stomach.

   “Steve, how’d it go?” the uniformed officer called, standing beside me.

   “Alright, the Lieutenant wrote me up and put me on probation with an action plan. And I got to do some retraining in procedures.” Said Steve.

   The woman spoke. “Well, when the suspect doesn’t drop their gun, and you’ve done your warnings, you should shoot them. It’s not just for your safety, you got to worry about your partner.”

   Another spoke up, “You should have shot him.”

   “Hey, hey.” Domizio shook a finger to shush them and pointed at me. “We have a guest. It’s my neighbor. He’s not someone we work with, save that talk for the station.”

   “How’s your steak?” The uniformed officer asked filling a plate for himself.

   “It’s good.” I nodded with a mouthful. My stomach was easing now and much happier.

   “Yea, Domi’s a good cook.”