ask for mister black and tell him red sent you - 16. the drawing

by nick nelson

part sixteen of twenty-nne

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barry’s hat came a couple of days earlier than he expected. he was glad he had not paid for any kind of expedited shipping. it had been described on amazon as a classic men’s structured herringbone band fedora, and so far as he could tell, that is what it was. it was a hat, that was for sure, just like you saw in old movies being worn by humphrey bogart or cary grant. and it was perfect for the purpose barry had purchased it for. but now that he had it in his hand, he felt just a bit nervous. not that he had any thought of not going through with his plan. when he made up his mind to do something, he did it. he was that kind of guy. he decided to do the drawing from the hat after he had his dinner - a plain cheese pizza, buffalo fries, and a diet coke. he had had a slightly trying day, with a lot of heavy traffic and having to bypass a couple of accidents on the freeways, and he wanted to be relaxed and well fed when he took the big step toward his new life. in considering the fourteen things he had written down on the fourteen pieces of paper, barry had a few misgivings. some of them might prove difficult to carry out in his spare time. like being a “wandering minstrel “. how far could he wander in his time off from work? there was no question of quitting his job. he had to eat! of course some of the others, like writing a best selling novel or starting a new religion, might pay their own way, and then he could quit his job with a clear conscience and not be some kind of bum or parasite on society. nor was there any question of backing down from what he had decided. he was not that kind of person. slowly he chewed the last buffalo fry and drained the last drop of his diet coke. the time had come. he put the pizza box and the buffalo fry container in the trash, and rinsed out the diet coke can and put it in his recycle bin. he found the fourteen slips of paper which he had prepared days ago and put them in the classic men’s structured herringbone band fedora. they were all exactly the same size, being pages carefully removed from a small notebook he had purchased years ago at walgreens for some reason he had completely forgotten. he shook the hat. holding his breath, he reached into the hat and gripped one, and only one, slip of paper. he put the hat down on the table in from of him. he unfolded the slip of paper. it read - 14 - to combine all the previous and existing religions into one so that was that. it occurred to him that of all the possibilities this would involve the most work, as he would have to do a lot of research before proceeding. at the same time he was a little relieved that he would not have to be a serial killer, or track down and kill child molesters and kiddie porn merchants, as he was not entirely sure of his ability to do those things. not that he would have shrunk from trying. he had delivered himself up to fate, and fate had spoken. 17. the first dream