People
the tragedy of a man
Knox Still
Part I
2
I.
Tace Gunther’s favorite day of the week was Tuesday.
Mr. Gunther had no idea why, however, Tuesday was always his
morning.
!
! Tace Gunther was not an early riser; which is exactly
this, he realized that the only way to keep from being a low-life
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evening shift, from 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM, everyday. On Sundays,
On the other hand, he did enjoy his late afternoon walk to his
job. During this walk, Tace took the time to observe the various
restaurant.
type of persona that he did not like, however, was the wealthy
his dislike for them while on the job and had came to the
! Tace sat up, got out of bed, and began busying himself
4
with the tasks involved in the preparation of the day ahead.
sometimes hoped that his life would end. He knew these morose
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! More times than most, Tace could not help but look to
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II.
The phone began to ring. I tried to ignore it.
Haferman.
7
! “Abby, I was wondering if you would like to possibly see
! “Yes, tomorrow.”
appear the same age as me, early twenties. But I could tell that he
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a half an hour early. I thought of the possibilities and decided to
give it a shot.
previous relationship....
“set up” with him by my best friend, Jill. She assured me that he
agreed with Jill. But we got closer and closer. I realized that he
with him was to have Jill tell him to leave me alone, I was too
man to the point where I could not even express my opinion out
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III.
! Tace Gunther smiled as he pressed the end button on
However, Tace had not thought about how Abby would act
towards him now that the date had been sealed. He prayed that it
abundant time.
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layout closely resembled a chain hotel. Mr. Gunther appreciated
stairs en route to his floor, a feat that would have been near
Sullivan.
had recently moved to the city. Six months earlier, after finding
Abby was not mindful that the new employee was staring at her,
day on the job, Abby treated him no differently than any other
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coworker. Only until recently had Tace entertained the idea of
mustered his courage and made the phone call to Abby Sullivan.
But what Tace didn’t realize was that the call would be indirectly
himself and dressed himself in his work attire. Before leaving his
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IV.
I stood at the front door of The Haferman, craning my
Could I really not remember such a face that I had seen daily for
half a year?
shuddered at the thought of his name and all of the hurt he had
not think about any other man besides Robert at the time of our
dating.
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! I opened the door for Tace and we exchanged awkward
preparation for the business night. I did not know how the date
usually calm on dates, then again, I had never landed a date with
Tace Gunther. Tace was a man who carried himself with subtle
was feeling so strongly towards the man. I wasn’t sure that Tace
for comfort?
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V.
! For the most part, the night at The Haferman carried on
as normal.
her; he believed that she should come on with him, not vice-
versa.
the table.
! “Well, dear,” the man said with slight sarcasm, “If the
be ridden.”
ridden! I love him and he loves me. He might even love me more
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than you do.” The man turned away, pretending to be hurt. The
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customer was, especially in comparison to Abby. Yet, Tace
browse the dinner menu, despite the fact that he was irritated by
the customers’ naïveté. Tace stood at the table for nearly three
dish on the menu. Tace guessed that the woman did not feel like
reading the explanatory caption that was below every item. Tace
excellent service.
her nose located precisely between the most petrifying ice blue
eyes. Tace imagined her full lips, pulled back into a smile
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! Shaken from his daydream, Tace hurriedly retrieved the
search. Tace did not see that every few seconds, Abby would
abnormal was on his face, but decided not to. He did not want
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! Tace cut in.
difference.”
! “Thanks.”
alone in the center of the kitchen. Not knowing what to do, Abby
through her hair. Every time the doors opened, Abby caught an
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for emotion deep inside Abby. Abby compared the shifting
! The man took a sip and stopped. He let the taste settle
tranquil.
tell me before I drank it?” The man gripped the glass with tight
fingers.
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! Tace began apologizing for his error.
spilling the wine onto the clean white table cloth. “Get this away
from me.” The man crossed his arms and lean back in his chair.
in a feeble attempt to contain the man. The man got up, put on
! “My Lord, David! Why are you always like this? I try so
hard to make you happy, I do everything! But it’s just never right
is it?” Tears welled in the woman’s eyes. She looked like she
heart.
21
! “I’m so sorry.” The woman gazed into Tace’s eyes. A
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VI.
! I put on my best, most convincing smile, and headed
the baby grand piano. “May I get you anybody anything? Maybe
! “Right there?”
restroom.
the woman’s neck, a huge diamond ring graced her finger. I was
impressed with the fact that she could even hold her hand up
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with a stone that large. The dress hung on the woman like it was
Her and her husband laughed and held hands. The kids were
neatly folded.
be the mother who was still attractive, the woman wearing the
! And yet, I was the waitress on the other side. The nearly
but that’s what everybody else told me. I figured that the only
reason I landed the job at The Haferman was because the boss
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! At the moment, I needed something else from wealth. I
strong the moment the vehicle roared to life. However, there was
a noise I loved even more than the engine starting: flooring the
engine.
25
! My thirst for that adrenaline rush was quenched seconds
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! I searched for “Gs” in the phone book. I immediately
! The dial tone sounded once, twice, thrice, and then four
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! “Hey, Tace! How are you?” I immediately plunged into
my fabricated explanation.
just had to leave. She’ll be fifty-three years old next month. She
prove to him that I was not the dunce that I was acting like.
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! After a few brief moments of saddening, awkward dead
air, Tace spoke up and told me that he was very delighted, in the
agreed with him and ended the phone call with a simple and
Tace turned and slapped me across the face. His eyes were
knew that the way I was currently acting, voluble and immature,
knew that I must learn to filter what I was to say to Tace, only
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speaking important, thoughtful words. Tace needed intellectual
! I closed my eyes.
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VII.
! The day was Friday. The day that two young, restless
and changed the channel to the local news as he always did when
he was blessed with; it set him apart from most occupations. Mr.
Abby was anxious about seeing him, too. Tace feared that he
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could seem over-interested and as a result, averse emotions
Tace left his apartment and preceded to jog down the three
Of course, Mr. Gunther could only being doing one other thing
while running. His eyes were fixated upon the large flat screen
The program projected on the screen- the news -was yet again
capturing Tace’s attention. This was not the local news that Tace
airing.
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! Cheery, fake smiles were pasted on each anchorperson’s
face. Tace did not like the joking mannerisms that the people
news team made. It made Tace uncomfortable the way that the
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Strangely enough, Tace didn’t go outside very often, save his
him. Tace resisted the urge to slow down and take in the
fingers in their own. The girl kissed the boy lightly on the cheek.
With slight shock, the boy smiled at the girl and giggled.
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wondered why they were not talking quietly, respecting those
mother was holding a baby, cooing softly. The father had his arm
now knew that Abby was “laid back,” and not the uptight woman
that he thought she was. Tace believed that Abby did not care
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VIII.
! My alarm clock awakened me with an annoying
bed that night. I didn’t even remember moving myself from the
couch to the bed. I groaned, yawned, and hit the OFF button on
the top of the clock. The display read 11:28 AM. I had set it for
10:30....
! I was thankful that I had slept half of the day away. The
way I saw it was, the more I slept, the sooner 6:00 would come. I
was anxious to see how the date would turn out, to witness the
real Tace Gunther. But most of all, I wanted to know what Tace
would think of me. There was know way that Tace was as
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the date would be the definitive event in the course of my
emotions for Tace. If it went over well, I could truly say that I had
amorous thoughts.
way, they were right. I didn’t care, though. The piano had
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boating accident, he played a song for her, a ballad that perfectly
knew that my father would have been happy to instruct me. Now,
I had no one to teach me, let alone the money to pay for lessons.
I thought that maybe playing the piano could make up for the
Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out Daisy's light at the end of his dock.
He had come such a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have
seemed so close he could hardly fail to grasp it. But what he did not know was
that it was already behind him, somewhere in the vast obscurity beyond the
city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night."
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! I sat stationary for a moment, dwelling on the beauty of
one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that
you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to
would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely
still absorbing the text on the page. All of a sudden, my hand felt
ablaze. I looked down to find that I was not gripping the plastic
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handle of the pot, but the glass. I yelped. An expletive flew from
my mouth.
at the discomfort.
Their views were not as nearly detailed as mine. They had the
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found in the city. I beheld the flaws, they were in awe of the
my hand could pose an issue during the date that night. To solve
consumed but also irked that I still had nearly two hours to waste
choose to talk. Going deeper, I found that I liked the fact that
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Tace said little. It made me feel almost honored when he
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IX.
! Tace Gunther inspected himself carefully in the mirror
satin vest and jacket on, both issued to him by The Haferman.
! Finally, Tace fastened his watch on. After doing so, Tace
his apartment.
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! At precisely 5:16 PM, Mr. Gunther, with a duffle bag of
clothes to change into, walked out of his room and boarded the
general.
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possibility, Tace decided to give the woman the benefit of the
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! Almost like imagining his own death, Mr. Gunther often
would be the result of. But before the end, Tace knew there had
stared at him.
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X.
! I slowly applied the brake in my car as I approached The
directly looking at him, but I knew that Tace’s olive green eyes
and walked around to the trunk, where I got my duffle bag out. I
hoped Tace didn’t notice that one of my hands was not being put
into use.
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! I casually slung the bag over my shoulder and walked
giggled, too.
! “Oh yeah!”
around him. I prayed that the ease would remain later that night.
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! “We just have to get through another night of listening
said.
forward to afterwards.”
Lucky for me, Tace and I were mostly assigned to tables on the
lower floor.
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! “Oh, cool. I’m excited about it!” I reminded myself to
! “Oh, really?”
him.
movie from what he had seen during the preview, I stared at him.
His glowing white teeth dazzled me. His strange green eyes
didn’t take note of the fact that I was fixed upon his absurd
beauty.
the wood, signaling the start of our shift. I looked up from Tace.
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! “Lets go people. Come on, we got hungry mouths to
in.
kitchen.
! “No. That’s not the reason I like the upstairs. The bar is
the place where unbridled thoughts are let loose. I love to see
shocking honesty.”
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! “Yes.”
telling the truth, one could say that those two people should not
be together.”
Abby.”
group.
anyone.
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XI.
! Tace Gunther arrived at the bar.
around to face Tace. Mr. Gunther knew that only alcohol could
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! “How ‘bout that?” The man gestured sluggishly to a
! “Mmmhmm, her....”
! “Is that right? Well....” The man trailed off and closed
his eyes.
! “I also hear that the man who is currently with her loves
her very much. He would do anything for her, as long as she still
liked him.”
back.”
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! Tace sat down next to the man. Fellow waiters, dressed
sincerely.
! “What?”
trying so hard?”
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! When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he stopped
why she always chose to serve patrons seated near the piano. She
laughed and the couple laughed along with her. Abby turned
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XII.
! Eagerness took control as my final group of customers
him and tapped him on the shoulder. His face practically lit up.
you upstairs.”
! “Abby,”
! “Yes?”
minutes.”
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! I changed clothes as fast as I could. My speed could have
couldn’t wait!
door.
! “Hey, Abby,”
! “Yep?”
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! “There is no way we can make it to that movie.”
! We both stopped.
come up.”
entertaining arising on the streets of our city. Over the few years
I had spent in the city, I concluded that the adage “a city that
quaint town, was the size of the area and the setting. It was
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! “Well, since we had that whole conversation about
! Tace agreed.
! “Really? Why?”
and-”
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! “Alright, I understand!” Tace said. “But between you
was his intense green eyes got me every time. When they
him.
! “The most?”
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! “Now you’re stalling!”
dog. A dog to retrieve his kills. He may have used that dog on a
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hunting trip in Maine ten years ago. His wife (now ‘ex-wife’)
could have accompanied him on the trip. That same dog could
have done something to make the wife realize that she didn’t
want to be the spouse of man who kills animals for profit. But I
weird right now, and I’m sorry for that, but, do you understand
observant.
novel?”
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ask them about their lives. On top of that, it’s rude. As a result, I
thought it was. Instead, I now knew that it was all of the strife
that he had endured during those nights alone. The allure in the
green of his irises had been cultivated by the hurt he had carried
the pain and misfortune that had become of his solitude was
instantly mine.
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! For the following half-hour, I gleaned some insightful
! “Tace?”
! “Yes, Abby?”
wimp.”
away. I sat down and sighed, the strain in my legs was alleviated.
sun had set and the night was defeating the light. Eerie purple
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boundaries of each. The ambiance of the lights that were on
wasn’t talking was the same as mine: that we both liked each
other.
! I shivered.
! “Abby,”
! “Yes?”
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! What was I saying? I was making it sound like I was fully
offer.
seated position.
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! In near noiselessness, Tace and I walked down the
the fact that Tace thought enough about other people’s welfare
longer any purple. The lights shining from the lobby in front of
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! Thankfully, he countered by also stepping towards me. I
raised my head to look into his eyes. Tace placed his hand gently
touch to mine. I raised my hands and held the sides of his head.
possessed was filled. Our bodies pressed even closer; heat from
on our first date. I instantly retracted the idea and focused back
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! I mustered a bleak laugh. Like the date, I didn’t want the
kiss to end.
that he did need me. I guessed that the kiss we shared was his
important matters than sex appeal. The irony of the situation was
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