Gerard Keogh Jr. | + Follow Poet |
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A Fugitive

A Fugitive
Bus Stop Overland Park, Kansas   7:35 PM

A furrowed brow and furtive eyes
that refuse to engage another,
striding quickly through the crowd
and putting people between him
and the police car.
He is hardly the drifter or the hobo.
His walk remains crisp, confident
betraying that of a professional man.
But his face is wary like
that of a hunted quarry
which he is…
Slicked groomed hair
tweed sports jacket
He brings back sad, even horrible memories
so I must accost him…
“I’m sorry, I’m…”
“No need to be, sir.
That was clumsy of me.”
Please don’t go, yet…”
“But I…”
“I remember seeing you before…”
His face is rigid fear.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know you…”
I grab his arm before he bolts
through the crowd.
“Don’t get on that bus
they’re waiting for you…”
“How do you know?”
“I was across the street that night
He ran out as you hit the brakes.
Quickly, get into this car
It’s gassed up and there’s money
Behind the visor and here’s the keys
Get going, quickly, quickly…”
His eyes are narrow lasers
surveying me like a hawk
“Helen wouldn’t listen to me about the 
alimony so I stormed out the door.
Remember now?
Yes, yes, you do…
she was my wife before you met her
Now into the car and be gone, Doctor.”

Ticket Office 8:45 PM

“And you still say you didn’t see this man?”
The obnoxious skull in the rumpled suit
pointed to the same old tired poster
he slowly unfolds from his pocket.
Lights flashing. Frenzy. 
Crowd milling around us.
Much hoopla about nothing.
“No, I never saw anyone like that… man”
He fixes his gaze on me and bores in.
‘Do I know you from somewhere?”
“Why, no, Lieutenant… Gerard, isn’t it?” 
“Have you ever been through Indiana?”
Persistent little pest.
No wonder the good doctor is so jumpy.
“I graduated from Purdue, but
I’m originally from New Jersey…”
I look to the west, pensive, with purpose.
His eyes follow mine as the bus pulls out.
Good, the fool took the bait…
“Small world, isn’t it?
Imagine meeting you a fellow Hoosier
all the way out here?
CUE MUSIC
NARRATOR:
A random meeting. A shared experience.
A woman they both knew senselessly murdered years before. 
Yet only one of them can help the other.
One has resolved to abet an escaped killer.
The other has accepted his help.
Help that allows him to pursue the real killer.
Help from the distant past that allows Richard Kimble to remain at large as …
A Fugitive…
MUSIC SWELLS   
FADE OUT

Copyright © Gerard Keogh Jr. | Year Posted 2016

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