GOIN' DOWN SLOW.

        ‘ jaysus. you look worse than i feel. ’ he offers out his pack of cigarettes. no lighter, though. ‘ look like you need these more than i do. ’ 

        ‘ you clearly haven’t met my boss. ’ frank can bullshit with the best of ’em, and jackie’s never had much of a choice but to get used to it. ord gets a look-over with a half frown after a second, and eventually, maybe just to get a rise of his own: ‘ anyway, i’m flattered, but you ain’t my type. you’re too tall-- s’unnatural. ’ 

       ‘ are you for fuckin’ real? ’ he almost shoves him, but refrains in the name of keeping himself in one piece. ‘ how the fuck did you get away with a bitty little scratch, you jammy bastard? ’ 

        ‘ just ’case you’re piss weak don’t mean i am. ’ but, considering he can’t even muster the energy to nudge chris in the ribs, he’s probably got a point. he slips a little further down the wall, and manages to find it in himself to light another cigarette. ‘ oh, ’ he says, suddenly, like he’s just remembered. bad time for it but, hey, they might not have another. ‘ thelma wanted me to ask you to come over for dinner on thursday. supposin’ neither of us bleed out before then, i mean. or get shot again. --you did kill them bastards, right? ’ 

there’s like 4 of y’all but hey who wants a starter

       ‘ gotta allow a fella his mistakes. don’cha? ’ jackie does not know a single person who will let a man make his mistakes without paying for it. not in this world, at least. in his other life, he’s willing to let people have a second take, a third if they really need it, but this isn’t that. ‘ why don’t we try a little respect here, eh? ’ 

      ‘ aye, to move this. but you didn’t say nothin’ about me not complainin’. ’ if he had the hand free, he’d take the opportunity to zip across his mouth. but he doesn’t. so he just grunts with the effort and grimaces. he doesn’t say another damn thing until they’ve moved the, er, rug a little further. and even then, it’s only because-- ‘ --company, mate. ’ 

       ‘ if you’re gonna pull the trigger, can you at least turn this shite off first, then? i don’t wanna go out listenin’ to the fuckin’ beach boys, y’understand. ’ 

         ‘ whatever happened to good old american courtesy? ’   

      ‘ well, that makes one of us. ’ he takes his cigarette and offers it out to chris, settling back against the wall with a grimace of his own. neither of them are doing too hot. ‘ ain’t gonna carry you all the way back, so don’t you be expectin’ it. take some of that and get ready for some walkin’. ’ 

      ‘ just sayin’. ’ jackie’s good at just saying, though he’s also good at just doing. which is for the best, in his line of work. so he puts his back into it, and helps haul the bag out of this shithole place to die. ‘ jaysus, ’ comes around the cigarette still between his lips, ‘ i’m a strong fuckin’ fella, but if this ain’t pushin’ it-- ’