RIVALRY

An older man wearing a thick and dirty brown trench coat, a wrinkled button-down shirt and slightly soiled gray pants shambled up to a park bench to sit. As he plopped down, a cloud of dust erupted from his clothing. The man leaned back on the bench and took in the scenery. He watched as ducks swam in the man-made lake a few feet from his seated position. The sunlight danced joyfully over the waves caused by a slight gust of wind. The park was nearly empty and he enjoyed that. He looked over to his left and saw an attractive, curvy woman jogging along the path in front of the bench. The old man removed a tattered fedora from his head, revealing a thick head of white and surprisingly clean; hair. He greeted the woman properly and gave her a smile. The woman, obviously unattracted to the man, nervously waved to him and then picked up her pace, anxious to get away. He could faintly hear her utter “loser” as she trotted off down the path. He continued to look at the water.

About a half hour after the dirty man sat on the bench, a younger man dressed in a flawless black tailored suit approached the bench from the opposite direction of the young woman. As he approached, the sunlight, which seemed previously to be at one with the lake, began to dance off of his pristine alligator skinned shoes. He greeted the dirty man and removed his coat, revealing an athletic physique wrapped in a crisp red skin-tight shirt. He wore no hat, which allowed the wind to play gently with his jet black hair. The well-dressed man sat down on the bench to the right of the dirty man. Both looked at the lake for a while.

“Your late,” the dirty man said dryly.

“I apologize” said the well-dressed man, “you know traffic is hell coming from my neighborhood,” he rolled up a sleeve slightly, showing a glistening gold watch surrounded in princess cut diamonds. “Besides, I think I made good time, don’t you?”

The dirty man looked at the well-dressed man, “I suppose traffic is a little hectic, especially these days for you, is business good?”

“Business is fuckin’ amazing!” The well-dressed man replied, “I got so much inventory, I’m running out of places to put them! But you already know I plan to extend.”

“I do,” replied the dirty man calmly, “now why don’t you tell me why you wanted to meet.”

“Straight to the point? Oh, that’s so not like you, but fuck it right?” The well-dressed man reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an old, leather bound book. The edges of its pages were yellowed and slightly curled. The spine of the book was worn thin, with thread protruding from various areas. The well-dressed man leaned back on the bench and crossed his legs, flipping the pages nonchalantly.

The dirty man raised an eyebrow upon seeing the book, “And what are you doing with that?”

“The reason for this meeting,” the well-dressed man replied, “people are quite creative.” he closed the book and sat it down between the two of them. “How is it that you never told them?”

“Told them what?” the dirty man asked, looking at the reflection of the sun as it slowly began to dip behind the horizon.

“I have known you for my entire life,” the well-dressed man replied, “we have been through a lot of shit together, why is it that you haven’t told anyone that I’m really your brother?”

The dirty man looked at the well-dressed man. Both of their eyes locked, the well-dressed man with sharp piercing dark eyes, the dirty man with a weathered and pained look. The dirty man looked back across the water. “I did not write the book,” he said plainly “what people write is no concern of mine, nor should it be any concern of yours.”

“It concerns me a lot!” shouted the well-dressed man. His voice echoed across the park like a gunshot. He regained his composure and began to look at the ground, once he collected his thoughts, he spoke again. “This book, and books similar to this have me portrayed like some jealous offspring of yours, when we both know that I helped you every step of the way. I made everything with you as your brother. But you, YOU picked THEM over me. When there was nothing, there was me…. and you. You have the whole world thinking that I’m nothing! Because of you people hate me…I get blamed for shit that I didn’t have a hand in and to be honest, their hate for ME, fuels my hate for YOU!”

The dirty man sat and thought for a moment. “I’m sorry that you feel the way you do, but as I said before, I may make many things, but I haven’t wrote or said anything bad about you. I ask you brother, you say you get blamed for things that you had no dealings in, you mean to tell me that to get to the level of success that you are at right now, your dealings were for the good of mankind?”

“I’d say so!” the well-dressed man replied quickly “true, lies were told, promises were made that I couldn’t realistically keep, but how can you make an omelet without breaking some eggs? Although people see us differently though, we are actually very much alike.” He grinned.

“Oh?” said the dirty man.

“Yes,” said the well-dressed man, “look, I started with nothing after having my own brother turn me away and portrayed me like I’m a jealous bitch, so I lied to a few people, made deals with some people and now look at me! I’ve got a booming business! So much inventory I don’t know what to do with em all!” He picked up the book and patted the top of it with a manicured hand.

“These are your lies,” he continued, “books like these fill people’s heads with thoughts of you being some kind of hero. There’s stories about you doing horrific things to people just to “test” them. In this book you promise to better people’s lives but you have harmed countless people to maintain what you have. This work of fiction masks your misdeeds. It is written that your supposed to be some great leader, but if you look close enough, people that work for you eventually work for me! I’ll tell you why they do, because even if I lie, cheat and steal my way to greatness, I give them tangible proof that if they work for me, they get rewarded. You? Well, they just have to wait for you to get off of your ass to help. Or you do nothing and they praise your decision making regardless. Tisk, tisk. You’re no more than a charlatan!”

The dirty man’s eyes began to water. “It’s true,” he exclaimed, “there are things that I have done that I truly regret. Each day that passes I see more and more people hurt by my actions. The difference between us brother is that I believe that people will see my actions as a great good for them all. I want them to heed my words and understand that through me, their worries, pains and frustrations will be resolved. I cannot deny that I love people so much so that it has damaged my relationship with you and many others like you; however, if you were to join me again, we can right all wrongs, both yours and mine, for the good of all mankind.”

The well-dressed man chuckled aloud. “Bro,” he replied smugly, “between the two of us, who looks like they know what the fuck they are doing?” He got up from the bench and stood in front of the dirty man. “You could dress like me and live like me any time you want, but instead, you choose to look ragged and depraved. You’re so ashamed of who you are now that you dress like a damn beggar but you want ME to join YOU? Above all else brother, you are a businessman, like myself, I learned a lot from watching and studying you. You know that the path you are on and tactics that you use are bullshit. So I will provide a counter offer, how about you join me? I’ll let you keep your space and people will respect you more! I’ll just want one thing before this…merger…is to take place however.”

The dirty man cocked his head to the side looking quizzically at the well-dressed man.

“All I want,” the well-dressed man replied, “is your undying love and loyalty to me. I will no longer settle for a mere partnership, I want it publicly stated from you that although you will run your “area” (the well-dressed man made air quotes), I have the final say in decisions made. It seems like a fair offer really, given the condition of the world these days.” He smiled as he looked down on his seated brother. “Don’t you agree?”

This time, the dirty man laughed which caused the well-dressed man to scowl. The dirty man stood, now face to face with his brother. “Pledge my loyalty and love to you? It seems like you want to be treated like a king?”

“No brother, more like a…..GOD!” the well-dressed man interrupted.

“Ah!” The dirty man continued, “you always were ambitious, that’s something I admired about you from time to time. You will never lose my love, which is something that I offer to you in waves. My loyalty however, is to the people. I have let them down too many times to hurt them further, so to that request, I say no. As for this…..”merger”, as you call it; you have proven time and time again that power is something that you should have in moderation. If I give in to you, I know that the world as I see it, will be driven into lunacy and ruin. I know my greatest work will be squandered and abused by you. That is why I say no again to you.”

The well-dressed man’s cheeks flushed red with anger. “Fine!” He shouted, “you have left me no choice but to destroy you and everything you love! I’m done with this fucking conversation it’s getting me nowhere! I have tried to reason and bargain with you but you’re too full of your own shit to see what everyone else sees. I am better than you! I am better than your precious people!” The well-dressed man’s hands began to ball into fists as he spoke.

The dirty man wrapped his arms around his brother and began to hug him tightly. The well-dressed man did not fight or struggle against him, he simply stood there in his brother’s embrace. “I hate you,” the well dressed man continued, through clenched teeth, “one day, you will look up and see me standing over you, I promise I will make that day unbearable.”

The dirty man continued to hold his brother, unbothered by the statement. “I know you will try your best.” As soon as the two men separated, the well-dressed man began to walk away. He stopped for a second and shouted over his shoulder, “the next time I see you it will be war, as I said, I have a large surplus and I will expand the business, once I takeover Heaven my overstock of souls will be taken care of. Goodbye Jehovah.” A gaping hole appeared on the sidewalk. Sulfur and hell flames leapt from the crag violently. The well-dressed man entered the hole as if he was descending a flight of stairs.

The dirty man picked up the book his brother had brought to their meeting off of the bench, he slid his hand across the large gold cross on the cover. The words “THE HOLY BIBLE” stretched across the top of the beaten down book. The dirty man looked back at where the sidewalk hole was to discover that it had sealed back up and looked as though the concrete was never disturbed. “Goodbye Lucifer.” The dirty man said sadly. He began to read the book as he walked away.

END.