Alli's Revenge

Alli took one last long draw on the back end of a mostly perished cigarette. An insufficient solace to the broken life of Allison Wong.

She remembered how she used to smile even when she was alone. Now the only thing that could make her lift the heavy corners of her stained lips was the promise of money, and even those smiles were lies. Long days of bitter sobriety and longer nights of painful regret was the collage of Alli’s life, but this night was different. It was different because she sat on the side of the street most of her body exposed to the cold bite of wet cement. Rich potential clientele rolled passed, picking up others more enthusiastic for a chance to earn a buck. Men in suits overlooking Alli as a junky.

As bad as things got, Alli never turned to the needle. She didn’t know what held her back, but she held back nevertheless. Alli had always seen crank or whatever else as the escape of a purposeless existence, and even though she didn’t know her purpose a tiny part of her hidden in the back of her brain knew there was something. Something more than the hours of perishing morals for the pleasure of devil’s children.

Alli lay on her back in the filth of the city streets, looking up at the drizzling rain. There was something enchanting about seeing rain run to meet earth. Finding purity in every drop before it met pavement.

A few desperate girls dwindled, but it was too late in the night and nobody who would pay was coming. The streets became empty and therefore dangerous. Yet, Alli stayed trying to find hope in the rain, but all she felt was wet and cold. Was this what breaking felt like?

“Uh, mam? Mam?”

Alli looked over to see a timid limo driver standing in the rain. Her eyes met his, and he looked relieved to see her responsive.

“Do you need help finding directions somewhere?” Alli asked.

“Beg your pardon mam. I’m sorry, but I was wondering if I might sequester your services?”

No one had ever apologized to Alli before. This man even looked genuinely sorry. Rex would be disappointed if Alli returned this late empty handed. She had to take him up on his offer.

“How much do you have, honey?”

“Please, let's dispense with the pet names. This is not becoming of our interaction. I have twenty, and I only ask for a night.” The chauffeur said. Alli thought she saw a tear run down his cheek, but who could tell in the drizzling rain.

“Ok, ho-. Ok.” Alli said, as she forced her stiff bones to begin moving toward the front seat of the limo.

“Please madam, if you wouldn’t mind, I would prefer if you got into the back of the limo?”

“I will only service you for twenty. I am not getting in the back with anyone else.” Alli said. She was surprised at her own words. For whatever reason, she was firmer than usual.

“It’s just me, mam. I promise no unpleasant surprises tonight. My name is Gerald” The chauffeur said as he opened the back door for Alli.

“That’s a nice name.” Alli said with a smile, trying not to look into the man’s eyes.

“I hope you’ll understand, mam” Gerald said from outside the limo. Alli liked how timid he was. “I’m quite nervous. I’ve never done this before. Would you mind if I drove you around for awhile?”

Alli just nodded.

As Gerald got into the driver seat. Alli got out her little black book, and started to write. It had become a religious habit. Each line had three facts about Alli’s clients. Usually a name. If a name couldn't be offered, she noted a personal bit of information that separated them from her other clients. What had transpired in as few deplorable words as possible, and finally how much they had compensated her for her trouble. Rex had told her a long time ago to “Keep your receipts.” Although Alli didn’t know what that had meant, she had kept this little black book for as long as she had been working for Rex. As small as the black book was, it had a lot of names and a lot of pain.

Alli found a plaque with Gerald’s full name and scribbled down the beginning of her receipt.

Gerald Jones. $20 ?

The two drove in silence for a long time. The orange glow of the city actually had a beautiful tint from the inside of a warm car. For a moment Alli forgot Gerald was even there, but when she remembered she knew she had a job to do.

“Want me to slip into the front?” Alli asked.

Gerald pulled the car over and turned around to face Alli with a warm smile. “To be honest, mam, I just want to talk. What would you think about that?”

“I would like that.”

So the two strangers did just that. Eventually Gerald slipped into the back and sat at the other end of the limo. He made Alli feel smart, as he listened with an intent to really understand. Alli did something she had never done before, and really got to know Gerald. The two of them laughed and cried through the night as they shared their stories. If anyone had been around to hear them speak to each other they would have thought these two unlikely strangers were the fastest of friends.

As the sun rose, Gerald brushed a happy tear away from his eye. “Thank you for tonight, but I’m afraid I have to go now. Let's talk about payment.”

Alli was slightly insulted, “After all that, you know I won’t ask for it.”

“I know you won’t, but see, this is not the first time we’ve met.” Gerald looked away as he spoke. “I’ve led too many evil men to your street corner, and it’s killed me inside for years now. In fact it probably would have killed me if the cancer hadn’t swooped in to finish the job.”

Alli bit her lip as a tear, as pure as the rain, fell down her cheek.

Gerald continued, “I’ve spent my life in the service of these men, and I have nothing to show for it except for what I am going to impart with you. It’s not much, but don’t rob me of a chance to leave some good in this world.”

All Alli could do was nod. The ride back to Alli’s corner was as silent as the drive away from it. She just stared at the floor until her door was opened by Gerald.

“Your stop, mam.”

Alli was determined to leave as cold-hearted as she had gotten into the limo, but her emotions got the better of her. Alli embraced her new friend with every bit of intimacy she had wanted to receive her whole life. The two held each other for as long as they could as this embrace warmed the coldest parts of Alli’s broken heart. Gerald eventually pulled away and slipped something into Alli’s hand. Wordlessly, the old chauffeur got into the limo and disappeared, like a ghost, into the city Alli had always hated. After she could no longer see the car, Alli looked down to a check for $20,000.

Sitting in the bathroom staring at her razor, Alli thought over her life. What could she do with $20,000? She never had the opportunity to contemplate a life with purpose. She was lost, but for the first time she was unafraid.

“Heard you did jack shit last night.” Rex was drunk again, and it wasn’t even noon. “Let me remind you that you need to turn the penny.”

Thoughtless as the lion ruling the jungle, Alli broke the blade out of her razor and walked to meet Rex. As he threw a clumsy fist at her face. Alli embraced the final impact of Rex’s abuse as she stuck the blade in the side of Rex’s neck and drug it as far around his lying throat as she could. Alli looked down at the carcass of her old life, and sighed with relief as a lifetime of victimhood washed off her shoulders.

Alli sat back amazed on how easy it was to omit Rex from her life. How easy it had always been. She didn’t know much. She knew that she was too good for this life. She knew, better than anyone, how much evil was in the world. And now she knew she could fight it.

Alli had her purpose. She looked to her little black book, and decided that justice would be served to every page of that awful diary.