Chapter Forty-Six: Close to the Edge

Chapter Forty-Six

Close to the Edge

I hadn’t even bothered to take my super suit off.  I was on the folding chair, Jill and Jackie on the couch.  I had the bong, having just blown out my hit.  Peanut Butter Cookie strain tasted just like goddamn peanut butter.  How?  We had the Pandora running on the tv, and Yes’ 1972 epic, “Close to the Edge” was playing.  It was just starting.  The nature sounds built up and then the chaotic, jumble of notes and percussion exploded manically into the song proper.

“What’s wrong, Alex?” asked Jackie.  She knew me.

Jill grabbed the bong out of my hands, as I was about to explain my mood.  “It’s not a microphone,” she said.

“The shit I saw tonight,” I said.

“Like what?” Jackie inquired.  Jill took a hit off the bong.

“Nemo tricked Zorro into figuring out Platinum Man’s weakness for Mirsk.  Then fucking Russian murdered him.”  I spoke evenly and plainly.

“I thought he was invulnerable, or something.” Jill said, blowing out her hit.

Steve Howe’s lead introduced the theme in a clean, light tone.

“Fuck, dude!” Jackie exclaimed.  “No, killing!  Remember?”

“I didn’t have anything to do with it.  I just watched that shit go down.” I turned to Jill.  “Yeah, so did I. Apparently not”

“You couldn’t have run him out of there?” Jill wondered.

I was speechless for a moment.  Why would I even consider something like that?  And have the Secret Society of Supervillains on my ass?  The Faster-Than-Light Assassin was making things hard enough for me as it was.  I didn’t need that kind of heat.

“Why would I?” I demanded.  “What has that pompous fucker ever done for me?”

“He’s saved the planet from invasion twice.  Stopped a world-ending nuclear war.  I’m pretty sure, he’s saved you personally once or twice, if I recall correctly.” Jill listed matter-of-factly.

“That’s his goddamned job.”  That’s all I had.

Look, I felt terrible about it, obviously.  The guy was a righteous douche, but he didn’t deserve to be beaten to death.  I noticed even the Prankster looked away at the end.

There was a feeling I was feeling.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  I was close to something.  Something inside me.  An understanding or something.

I took another hit of peanut butter cookies from the bong.

I was close to something.

Close to the edge.

(c) Copyright 2020 Diana Hignutt