The young man came out of the house in the same manner, he had entered. As he walked to his car, an older version of himself appeared at the gate;
“Michael, we need this union to work. If you do not marry that girl, you will have nothing to inherit.” The old man pleaded.
The young man shrugged his shoulders and entered his car. He started the engine and drove away in a squeal of tires and a cloud of dust.
He had not driven far before he was stopped by a group of waving torches. He slowed down as he drove closer. When he got to what turned out to be a vigilante checkpoint, he stopped and waited. Two of the torches came to him and peered into the car. They roved over the back seat before turning their full glare on him.
“Good evening sir, please can you state your business in this area at this hour?” the torch on the right said.
“I am Barrister Cole’s son. What is the problem?” the young man asked.
“Oh… Boss, my apologies. There have been a robbery in the next street and we are trying to apprehend the criminal sir.” The hand holding the torch on the left dropped revealing a man.
“Are you serious? Gosh… I hope nobody was shot?” the young man asked, genuine concern on his face.
“No sir. Everybody is fine. What was stolen wasn’t much; just some jewelry, phones, laptops and some cash, that’s all.” The vigilante on the right replied, his torch roving over the road.
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“Why do you say it wasn’t much? Do you have any idea what might be in those phones or laptops? Do you know what the cash was meant for?” the young man asked, his face hardening.
The vigilante man shifted his feet and swung his torch into the distance unwilling to speak or unsure of what to say. The young man looked at him then turned as a frog hopped passed his side mirror.
“What is this country turning into? No one is safe anymore. Well I hope you catch the thief, I have to get going if there’s no other matter.” The young man said.
“One more thing, if you see a young girl with a bag along the road, please help her to the nearest police station. She is a runaway and her father is worried as to her whereabouts.” One of the vigilantes said.
“I will definitely do that. A lot of things going on this night.” He replied as he started his ignition and drove away.
The hopping frog, possibly a brother to the soloist frog, stopped before a drain and stared at the water. A band of light reflected off the beam of the moon. The frog peered closely at the band; it was a gold band small enough to fit into a finger. The frog closed its eyes and croaked.
The thief was tired. There was no way he could carry the girl all the way to where he was headed. He was a man not a machine; he needed to rest and he needed transportation fast. He gently laid the girl on the ground and squatted beside her to check on her. He had torn one of the girl's shirt and used the strips to bind the wound. It was a temporary solution but at least blood had stopped flowing but she was still unconscious. He sighed and got up. He studied her for some seconds then he picked the gun. He walked some distance into the bush and threw the gun into a small stream that trudged passed on its way to join a river that fed the sea.
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The thief came back, passed the girl and walked on to the road. He stood there and studied the dark, silent macadam. Soon enough, he saw a car's headlights and heard the sound of a powerful engine coming towards him. He stepped back and adjusted his shirt then he stepped forward and held his hands in the thumbs up gesture.
The car slowed on getting close to him and the driver wound down his car windows;
“Where are you headed?” the driver asked. It was the young man.
“The nearest hospital sir. I have an injured girl just over there and I am tired of carrying her.” The thief replied, pointing to where the pretty girl laid.
“Injured! Where is she?” the driver asked, jumping out of the car.
The thief smiled and lead the driver to the girl. They carried her back to the car and they entered and drove away.
The frog rolled its eyeballs then it flicked its tongue and caught a firefly hovering around him carelessly. It munched on the fly as he waited for the crickets to get their orchestra back together. Suddenly, an owl’s hoot filled the night. The frog puffed its chest in annoyance; the owl wants to take his place in the solo. He would not allow that, so he croaked. The owl hooted and frog croaked and they made a duet while the crickets prepared their orchestra for the grand finale.
The young man turned to look at the back seat, where the girl laid. He watched her eyelids flutter and try to open. He turned back to the road.
“She is waking up. Is it a bullet wound?” the young man asked.
“Yes it is.”The thief replied.
“Interesting, a robbery gone wrong and a runaway. This night just got busier” The young man muttered.
The thief looked at him then turned to look at the girl. He sighed and turned away.
“I know where to take you. If you go to the hospital, you will be arrested before morning.” The young man said.
The thief looked at him then turned to look at the girl again then he nodded his head and folded his arms.
They drove to another estate, some miles down the express road and parked. The driver came out and helped the thief and the pretty girl out. The three of them would have made an interesting picture in the midnight darkness; a well dressed man, another poorly kept one and an injured young girl but only one frog and an owl in a duet, saw.
“Did you have to shoot her, you fool?” the young man whispered as they entered the house.
The thief grinned as they gently carried the pretty girl to a chair. The girl moaned and opened her eyes, to see two men staring at her, then she smiled
"Hi my love." She said.
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The duet was beautiful and even the moon came to see the orchestra play. The crickets did a stupendous job on the background vocals and the symphony was perfection itself.
As the moon returned to watch the restless sea dream of drowning ships and screaming winds, the crickets gathered their chirps, hopped on the road on a journey to another town, another scene at a play at a life, another ordinary night in this listless world.
This part of the story does not fulfil my purpose, I think. Nature still ends up in the background, a prop. I need to rethink this. What do you think?
You can read the first part of the story here; An Ordinary Night: Part One
Image Sources: pixabay
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©@warpedpoetic
art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics
I really enjoyed this conclusion. Again, you have a real gift in summoning vivid images. I somewhat agree that maybe nature is not quite the force you had hoped to create but it doesn't detract from the story. If you are keen to showcase how our environment shapes our decisions and actions, perhaps you could work that in when the driver picks up the thief and girl. Maybe he doesn't see them or wouldn't have seen them if it hadn't been for the moonlight or some other type of device. This would be subtle but it might still serve your intention. Thank you for sharing this!