Wicked's End

Pluto left Capricorn, but this Capricorn wasn’t in a fixed place in the heavenly zodiac sky. It wasn’t moving to the next part of the divided celestial dodecagon of the universe, to land in Aquarius for the next twenty years. That was for Galileo and Bonatti to muse over. Pluto was moving for more basic earthly reasons, he had no reason to know or reflect on Astrology, the future he knew better than the universe itself, and it was for the basic of all reasons. Any living creature on earth knew this deep-seated primitive instinct, and it was one word never found in the tomes of Nostradamus – the word was survival. Food was becoming scarce, the wild foxes as big as wolves were out hunting each night, either for the scraps from the human rubbish bins, or a tasty; days old feline dinner, Pluto’s young family were in constant nightly danger. It was time to move his family out of Capricorn.

Then came the final warning sign and last words from Wicked, it meant the end of residing in Capricorn, Pluto and his family must move on to survive.

Pluto had known Wicked all his life, born under the fragile shelter of a disused jetty, gradually rotting in all weather conditions, unkept, useless against the angry sea waiting to capture an illegally human made invasion on its natural shores. The moody frothing sea gloried in its destruction and the wooden remnants, the floating driftwood, was evidence of the sea’s victory over humankind’s industry.

Wicked found Pluto struggling over the stones, as the sea without mercy tried to capture and clutch onto the alien newborn land creature. Pluto’s mother was already dead giving birth to Pluto and the siblings, lost to the angry storm that night. The fury of the storm had claimed the lives of not only his weakened mother, exhausted after childbirth, but the other siblings. It was only the feeble cries of Pluto that alerted Wicked to his perilous circumstances, as the angry crashing waves, still hungry for more lives, dashed the feeble young newborn bodies against the coarse and jagged stones, killing them instantly. The sound of the stones crackling like evil witches around the noisy mayhem caused by the crashing surf, as the anger of the beating wind and waves reached a crescendo in the night’s stormy performance.

From the moment of his rescue in the caring hands of Wicked that night, Wicked became Pluto’s earthly guardian. It was more than a kind man taking care of a stray motherless kitten, summoned by a last gasp cry of help in the life-threatening grasp of the wild stormy sea. Wicked was a latent clairvoyant, he possessed a gift, knowledge to aid and benefit all, to help all living creatures in harm’s way. From a small newborn kitten named Pluto, to one of the many scantily dressed cabaret dancers needing a shoulder to cry on, after another bruised beating from her wealthy but vicious boyfriend. Wicked was always there for all creatures that had fallen on hard and lonely times.

Wicked was the quintessential meaning of excellent cool or being able to handle the most challenging of life’s dramas with the elegance and grace of an angel. He invented the meaning of the slang word, Wicked.

Wicked and the Capricorn nightclub were one and the same. No one at the Capricorn could ever remember a time when Wicked wasn’t the night guard, the father confessor for every living creature within the bounds of the property. The nightclub had seen better times, and now the ownership was set on running down the lease and the entertainment license. Time had moved on, only the patient lapping sea tides waited for the complete collapse of the building, it was ready to be torn down. The gigantic casino along the coast had eclipsed the Capricorn. Taken and sucked the life, the custom and most importantly, the income away from the Capricorn. People now had different lives, different tastes, the Capricorn was a stale forgotten episode in history, only lost souls, or vagrant ghosts lingered around the dark corners of the lounge bar. The soundless echoes through time of the last call at the bar, the forgotten drunken spirits lost in eternity, and the dregs at the bottom of stained unwashed glasses, these were the last bitter memories of wasted time at the Capricorn. All were ripe for a demolition bulldozer.

To look at Wicked, no one would see a dominant character, there was nothing that made him stand out in the crowd. He did not possess a radiant appearance, there was no heavenly aurora surrounding his body. Wicked may have been a clairvoyant, but he didn’t look anything special. He didn’t look pronounced in any shape or form; he was nondescript in appearance, and would be swallowed up, and easily submerged in a crowd. Small in stature; boyish, but his uniform was always clean. No one had ever seen Wicked in any other clothes, no one had ever seen Wicked without his clean blue uniform jacket, with the shiny silver buttons. Wicked could have been a cartoon caricature, a drawing, always spotless, well-presented with his ever-present blue uniform, silver buttons, black belt, and blue and black trimmed uniform cap. No one had ever seen Wicked outside of the boundaries of Capricorn. He was a sentry on continuous duty, with calm watchful eyes, and a guardian for so many.

He was a trustworthy and dependable soul, part of the furniture at Capricorn, a caring kindred spirit for all those that needed sound advice. The dancing girls, the cabaret singers, even the celebrity acts would often seek out Wicked, the ordinary night guard in the shadows of the building asking for his counsel. The girls in particular, had many challenges with the customers, the high rollers, those that bank rolled the Capricorn in its heyday. The glamourous girls were always getting knocked around by drunk overbearing men, but this was just the tip of the iceberg to some of the problems brought to Wicked’s office amongst the garbage bins, discussing the sins of the refuse of society.

Nonetheless the relationship that formed between Wicked and Pluto was the most unique and special. People often heard Wicked talking to himself, they were mistaken, he was talking to Pluto the cat.

That fateful night Wicked uttered his last words to Pluto, it was a warning, and yet a plan to leave Capricorn for good.

Wicked stared at Pluto with widened eyes full of love, full of care and respect. “Pluto, you have been gifted with many lives, you are a great leader of your clowder, a kind and caring mate and father to your many females and your many children, but the jaws of death fauces de la muerte are hungry, it is always hungry for creatures like you Pluto. It has a debt to settle with you Pluto. From the moment you were born, the night of the storm, when you were snatched from the watery jaws of death, fauces de la muerte has been plotting a revenge. The jaws of death have been searching for you, and he has gathered his forces on the land in the shape of those foxes as big as wolves in the surrounding hills. They have been howling with the wind and waves waiting for an opportunity, and on the night of the beaver moon, they will attack you and your family Pluto, when you are at your weakest. They will kill you, Pluto, and all your family. They desire a sacrifice, and they will get one, for it is the only way. But, Pluto, you and your family must survive. You must go on, and take your family away from Capricorn, it is part of the problem, but it is becoming too dangerous and powerful now. Fauces de la muerte has transacted a deal, a bargain, and you, Pluto, you are but a bargaining chip in this endless game. You must leave, take all your family to the domed houses; Kubbeli Evler on the hill above, it is a safe haven, and there is an old dog there named; Lady, who will grant you and your family sanctuary. Promise me, you will leave tonight!”

Wicked didn’t seek an answer from Pluto, Wicked was a clairvoyant with a special gift. He already knew what was about to happen, and he knew that Pluto would be safe and leave Capricorn that night.

The ambush occurred when Pluto and his daughter Venus were exiting the large rubbish bins, three foxes as large as wolves waited silently under the bright beaver moonlight. Pluto and Venus didn’t stand a chance, one of the foxes snapped its jaws into the soft fur of Venus, the fox gripped her tight enough to hold her captive in a vice grip, but careful not to break bones and kill her. Before the second fox could lunge forward and capture Pluto, Wicked appeared from the dark shadow of the large bin and swung an iron bar across the nose of the second fox, and then with a reverse sweeping move a second blow to the unprotected body of the fox gripping poor Venus between its fangs. The blow punched the breath out of the fox, as he involuntarily coughed up Venus, his mighty jaw opened in a gasp of agony.

Pluto and Venus fled, screaming and screeching into the night.

The third and final act of the night was fatal. The ambush by the foxes, the fauces de la muerte, as predicted earlier by Wicked, and then the armed and brave intervention by Wicked himself, but the third act by the hungry foxes would have the most damaging consequences. It would be the final act and end the combat that night. Before Wicked could release another blow with his outstretched arm heaving the iron bar, the third fox jumped, and bit heavily into Wicked’s arm. The jaws closed like a vice on the forearm, and the crunch of brittle bone could be heard in the dark of the night, as Wicked’s arm fractured. He immediately released the iron bar, but the immediate burning pain, combined with the sudden assertion of his brave defense of Pluto and Venus, caused a massive heart attack. He dropped to the ground, his body crumpled from its previous attacking posture, and his body lay prone and exposed on the moonlight floor. The three foxes, two wounded by Wizard’s blows with the iron bar, the third sniffed the prone body of Wizard, and then all three; the fauces de la muerte, turned, with two limping, the third with the remnants of Wicked’s uniformed jacket in his mouth ran off into the weeping moonlight night, back to the avenging hills.

Wicked was found the next day, and the police were called to investigate. They conveniently ignored the bloody wound on Wicked’s arm, the diagnosis by the medical team was that Wicked had died of a massive coronary. When they enquired about Wicked’s next of kin, they found no record, and they couldn’t find any address. Wicked; it was discovered had no next of kin, and no fixed abode.

The Capricorn had lost its heart and soul that night in the form of Wicked. Wicked was one of those few people in this world, that one only misses when they are no longer around. Wicked had been the guard, the guardian, the go-to-stranger for good advice, for those poor souls facing difficult life dramas and challenges. Wicked always knew the best advice to give under the circumstances, not only because he was clairvoyant, but he knew the order of things in the world, and he knew his rightful place in that world. If people are measured by their absence in this realm, not by their presence, then Wicked stood taller than a giant, amongst the masses. The balance of the universe had shifted, it had taken a setback, because his endless giving had out-balanced so many others in their taking.

It was Wicked’s end, but he will never be forgotten by many, especially Pluto the cat.