Fiction from Fred

Do you know why everyone hates me? It’s because I tell the truth. And I won’t let people tell me what to do, or boss me around just because they think they’re more important. They all hate me and I just laugh at them. They can complain all they want about the price of electricity, but when it comes time to pay the power bill they had better shut up and write a check or they’ll be sitting in the dark with no tv and the freezer getting warm. They all hate me, but they need me.
The other day the Governor called my office. He was all kinds of pissed off, shouting about how hot his office was without air con. After three months of warnings and threats, I finally turned off the power to his office. What did he expect? Just because he’s the governor he thinks he’s god and doesn’t have to pay his power bill? So I asked him, “Do you think you’re god? Because this might surprise you, you’re not god.” Oh, that pissed him off even more. He said he was going to fire me. He said he was going to have me kicked off this island. He said he was going to make my life a living hell. I just laughed and reminded him that I don’t work for him or his corrupt administration. After a few very impolite words about my deceased mother, he hung up while threatening to sue me. Sue me? All I did was shut off the power to a customer that wasn’t paying his bills. Was I happy to do it? Sure. But I would have done the same thing to anyone else who hadn’t paid their bills.
After that, I felt like I really deserved a cigarette. I used to be able to smoke in my office, but after that auditor bitch complained to the regional board about second hand smoke I’ve had to go outside. Ridiculous isn’t it? I’m the manager of the entire island’s power supply and I can’t even smoke in my own office. Just cause some stuck up white lady from Hawaii thought it might be bothering the rest of the office. I’ve never heard anyone complain about it. But that old bitch insisted. She even made me attend that stupid three-day work place safety seminar. What a waste of time. At least I got a free trip to Fiji out of it, but now I have to go stand outside in the heat to smoke.
Anyway, I went outside to have a smoke and celebrate another customer complaint. I was only half way out the door when Rin got right into my face and asked me for a cigarette. I was so startled that it took a moment for me to see the blood on his arm and shirt. Normally, I would have just told him to get out of my way and stop bothering me, but it’s sort of hard to turn down a request from a man holding a blood covered machete.
But here’s the weirdest part. Aside from his blood speckled clothes, Rin seemed perfectly normal. Even when the police came running over and tackled him to the ground, he just continued to smoke his cigarette. He didn’t struggle; he didn’t fight or even protest. I remember watching the police put Rin’s machete into the back of their pick-up and then herding him off towards the jail. Only then did he try and resist the officers. He pushed one of the guys back and came walking straight towards me. By now, everyone from the office had come out to see what was going on. But Rin didn’t even notice them. He walked right up to me and before the police grabbed him he calmly spoke directly into my ear. “Fred, thank you for the cigarette.”