It All Started In A Bar...

March 5th, 2003

Canterlot Mississippi

My alarm went off yet again, filling my room with its droning buzz

"Time to start another day" I muttered as I slammed my fist on the snooze button.

I rolled over and pulled the blankets over my head. Five minutes later it blared again, this time I sent the clock across the bedroom, slamming it into the bedroom door knocking its batteries out. I threw the covers off of myself and sat up in the bed. My room was cluttered and fairly small, with boxes strewn about that wouldn't be as much of a problem if it were larger. But, this house is a single-wide trailer two bedrooms, one of them being more of a storage room than anything.

I got out of bed and walked over to my closet that I assume had a door at one point and grabbed a blue and white button-up shirt, putting it on over my undershirt. I then walked over to my dresser and slipped my striped pajama pants off and slipped on a pair of jeans. I grabbed a pair of black socks and my laced work boots, I slipped on my socks and laced up my boots. I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth, when I finished I looked in the mirror.

Hairs were started to show on my bald head and my black beard had grown thicker, I was a large bearded man, I wasn't fat but I had a bulky figure and still retained some of the muscle I had from my days in Bootcamp. I had been a soldier, I served during the Carribean war on Cuba, Jamaica, and one of the islands in The Bahamas. I left the bathroom and grabbed my belt off the door handle, I wrapped it around my pants and tucked in my shirt.

I walked over to the old yellow fridge and opened it, inside was half a block of cheese in a ziplock bag, a nearly empty half-gallon milk jug, and three Budweisers.

"Jesus Christ I didn't realize I was that poor" I muttered to myself "I'll just get something from the Super Stop"

I pulled out my old leather wallet and looked inside, two ten-dollar bills, two fives, two twos, my drivers' license, and an old Blockbuster gift card. I sighed and grabbed my .357 revolver with an ebony grip and its leather shoulder holster from the top of my fridge and put it on. I walked to the door and grabbed my old military jacket and truck/house keys. My front yard was small and surrounded by a chainlink fence, in it there was an old reel lawnmower and my Basset Hound Chester.

Outside was my short driveway, my red 1982 F250 that was faded and lightly rusted, and an old tractor with metal wheels that was overgrown. If you looked east, you could see the business district of Canterlot and the railroad tracks. If you looked west, there was Highway 54 and a large forest. North and south were pretty much the same, a continuation of the highway. I walked out to my truck, patting Chester on his head before opening the gate and closing it behind me.

I climbed into my cold ass truck and stuck my key in the ignition, I shifted it into neutral and turned the key. The engine tried to turn over and eventually did, letting out a low diesel growl. I shifted it into reverse and backed it up and then drove towards the highway, I stopped and checked to see if it was clear enough to go. I pulled out and drove north, towards Canterlot.

I drove to the intersection at Old Mill Road and turned right towards the school. The school was split into two buildings, the high school was a large, two-story building that looked sorta like the Capital Mansion in Montgomery Alabama, it had a dome on the top and the left and right wings stuck out forward. The elementary/middle school was across the road and was simply a one-story red brick building that was built far later than the high school section.

I turned down Birch street on the east side of the school and continued down towards the Business District. halfway there was Superstop. It was a typical gas station, a large orange sign with "Super Stop" written on it in blue, near the base was a price board, under the large pavilion were six pumps with two sticking out on each side and round signs with "Super Stop" written on them sticking out of the top and a building with large windows showing off the inside.

I stopped next to one of the pumps and shut off my truck, I walked through the glass doors and walked over to the open freezer where they kept prepackaged sandwiches, I grabbed two in an orange package and then walked over to the freezer and grabbed a glass bottle of RC Cola. I walked over to the counter and sat my stuff on top. The girl behind the counter rang up my stuff which went up to 2.50, I handed him a two-dollar bill and dug around in my pocket, pulling out a fifty-cent coin.

I walked out and got in my truck, started it, and drove off towards the Business District. The Business District was made up of two and three-story buildings that lined the whole of church street going east but went halfway going west until reaching a small group of Catholic, Parazan, and Baptist churches. I turned my truck left towards an empty lot between a clothing store and a flower shop. The lot was a large dirt-filled space with a small mobile office and several pieces of construction equipment nearby.

I parked my truck and got out, walking onto the lot and towards the building.

"whoa whoa, where ya goin' Abraham"

"Fuck" I muttered to myself and turned to face my boss Jeremy.

Jeremy was a spoiled bitch who had gotten a construction company from his rich father, he was twenty-one and short with blonde hair and a young punchable face. He always dressed in whatever the hell rich kids would wear and today was no exception.

"What the hell do you want Jeremy, and my name's Arron, not Abraham," I told him annoyedly

"Yeah that's great, I need you to flatten that pile of dirt" he pointed to a large pile of dirt near the center "with that bulldozer"

The bulldozer he gestured towards was old and rusted beat with an exposed engine and a large blade lifted by chains.

"You really expect me to move shit with that pile of rusted shit?" I asked him

"Yes, yes I do" replied Jeremy smugly

"I oughta punch that smile off your face" I proclaim as I ball up my fist

"Do it, I dare you, my daddy will sue you for all you've got" he exclaimed as he stood on the tips of his toes got close to my face.

"What will your 'Daddy' gain? The most I have is... Ya know what forget it, it ain't worth it" I stormed off towards the old bulldozer.

I won't go into detail on what I did to ready the bulldozer since it would take forever but I'll skip to when I started it. I grabbed the hand crank on the top and turned it really quickly, the engine sputtered to life, shaking the whole machine. I sat on the spring-loaded metal seat, shifted into first gear, released the brake, and pushed the handles forwards. The beast rattled forward, every rattle and pop digging its way into my brain.

I yanked the left lever back with all my strength, grinding the left set of treads to a stop and bring the machine into a sharp left turn. Then it began to smoke immensely and the engine sputtered to a stop.

"GOD FUCKING DAMNIT" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

I hopped off of the bulldozer and briskly walked over to Jeremy's office, slamming my heavy fists against the wooden door, producing a loud thump.

"Come in" called Jeremy sarcastically

I burst through the door angrily

"Oh Alan, what brings you to my office?" he asked with the sense of entitlement he always had

"THE COTTON PICKIN' RADIATOR'S LEAKING AGAIN!" I exclaimed angrily

"Just put some duct tape on it" replied Jeremy with a smirk

"What?" I replied

"Oh sorry" he cleared his throat "You take tape and put it on leaky water thing"

I stared at him in silence, trying to process what he said, I wanted to punch his perfect whitened teeth out of his mouth, I wanted to spit Skoal in his eyes, I wanted to kick him in the nuts so hard his grandkids felt it. I walked out of the office and to my truck. I drove back to my house and parked my truck when I entered my front yard I unchained Chester, allowing him into my house. I walked over to my fridge and pulled out a beer, twisting off the top, I let Chester hop into my lap and turned on the news.

It was around 8:00 PM when I decided to go to the bar. It was in the Black District on the southern edge of Canterlot, it was a rundown wooden bar like most buildings in the district, there was nothing really special other than it was the only place that served Jack and Coke. I walked in like usual and sat down at the bar.

To Be Continued...