Larry Redmond

Satan's Anvil Larry Redmond

This piece is written mostly in dialogue. It is set in present day Chicago, and is written in the second person singular. The viewpoint character is the Satan character. His name is Piano Man. The Christ character is called Juke Johnson. They are both in their sixties. The story opens with them playing chess at Juke's house and talking about old times. They were members of the same jazz quartet. Juke confronts Piano Man with photographs of Piano Man screwing a white woman. Piano Man can't remember when they were taken. When asked where the pictures came from, Juke says they were found under the bed of another now deceased friend of their's named Dempsey. Juke then admits for the first time in their friendship that Dempsey was his half-brother. He explains that his father had had an affair years ago, and that Dempsey was the result. Dempsey was put up for adoption, and when his adoptive parents died, he looked for and found his birth family. Piano Man was nonplused that Juke had kept this information from him all these years. They discover things about each other that they did not previously known. In particular, Juke learns that Piano Man had sexual affairs with the wives of all the other members of the quartet, including his. He pulls a gun to even the score. The gun changes hands a couple of times, and, finally, they both-- along with a third member who is introduced late in the story- end up shot. The revelation of Piano Man's character allows the reader to see how truly wicked one's friends could turn out to be. The piece is laced with some disguised and some not-so-disguised symbols.
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