HOME | DD

Published: 2015-03-19 09:01:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 2531; Favourites: 34; Downloads: 27
Redirect to original
Description
"All the Things I Never Had": In a last act of courage, a shy old man overcomes his fear of “Acquiring Things” in life, just in time to get what he wanted most.
All the Things I Never Had:
"Well, you little Rube, you made it - are you pleased?” the tattooed woman asked.
He’d thought about that sentence for many years, and how he first came to know it. And it meant something to him.
Have you ever known people who just seemed to get all the things in life they wanted…well, maybe not all the things, but you know what this means, yes? These people who are smart and beautiful and they get the good-looking boy or girl – those people who seemed to have been unfairly gifted and talented by forces from above?
It was a thought that Robert had pondered all his life. How unfair it was for some people –that certain things in life…the good things, were so easily attainable and “acquired” by the handsome and the pretty - those over-confident automatons, bent on gaining the good life and all that’s in it for themselves.
Robert was neither handsome or confident. He never had the audacity to dare reach for the things he wanted, probably because he was scared of rejection. So, Robert became one of those people who are satisfied with melding into the backdrop of life – becoming invisible in his life…certainly invisible to the people he so wanted to impress, and now that he was so much older, he deeply regretted it.
Yet again, he thought far back, far back to when he first saw that tattooed woman…the woman who now symbolized all the things that were out of his league, out of his reach and all the things he missed out of in life, missed because he was not handsome, or confident, or ambitious enough, all because he became such a lonely loser.
He thought back to when he was a boy and his heart beat with excitement as he saw her emerge from behind a silken veil.
Robert Pinkerton smiled. He smiled so wide that it felt like his lips could stretch from ear to ear. All this merely from peeking into a carnival tent. He was only nine-years-old then, but the smell of a woman’s exotic perfume had lured him away from the big crowds outside the circus and into a cul-de-sac , where visitors were prohibited.
And there she was… that elegant tattooed woman. A woman of inked feathers and scales -- tall, slim, and beautiful in a slick and arcane way, much akin to the sense of mischief that was imbedded in him.
She spoke to him. One sentence really. It was the only sentence he heard from her before he’d been hauled out of the private sector. Still, those words on her voice were filled with a welcoming melody behind them…and it made young Robert swoon.
“Well, you little Rube, you made it - are you pleased?”
He nodded his head, not knowing what really made him fixate on the pale-skin redhead. She was a beauty to behold, decorated by a back and shoulder tattoo that seemed so vibrant with rich colors, it looked as if they could jump out of her skin.
After a long moment that seemed like a dance in slow motion, young Robert was grabbed by the nape of his neck and rudely thrust out of the sultry siren’s private tent-house and into the muddy walkway.
“…And stay out, you little mongrel!” yelled the fat lady that hoisted him from the alluring woman’s lovely nest.
He’d been kicked out of that traveling circus and wondered where the tattooed lady might be now. Right then and there, he vowed never to forget her lovely visage. But that was years ago. Albeit, many, many years ago. Now, at the age of ninety-seven, Robert Pinkerton was a bitter old man.
He’d spent most of his life as a cautious hermit of sorts, living his life in isolation for the most part…always feeling too scared and awkward to acquire the things he now felt he deserved.
Robert was now lying down on a cot in a big hospital. He’d been fighting cancer for months and it appeared death was at the front door…waiting…waiting…waiting for him to slip from this world and slide into the next.
However, Robert was not so easily satiated. He was still hungry, he wanted more life, more to laugh at, more to love with, and more live with.
As doctors passed by, watching him squirm from anxiousness and a high fever, he continued to think back in his life. He felt so utterly ashamed that he didn’t try harder to get the things he wanted. And he had a sudden revelation.
Whether this serendipitous revelation had to do with his rising fever or to the hallucinogenic effects from some anti-cancer meds was not known, but this was it.
It was a dire lesson he learned far too late, and now, only when dying from a disease that hijacked his body, Robert dared to do something about it. He wasn’t going to let the doctors dictate what he did in the last moments of his life.
Time was taking a toll on things, but it was still hard to get the ninety-seven-year old man to submit. He began to shiver and jerk. It was coming…the disease had thrown in its lot and death was now at hand…or was it?
Robert used all his strength to get up and walk. He pulled himself free from the tangled, annoying tubes of I Vs and headed down the hall. This quickly drew the attention of a female nurse and she ran after him. But she was startled to see the old man disappear into the long corridors of the hospital and into an older wing of the building.
Meanwhile, Robert huffed and puffed, having found himself in an abandoned part of the building. It was dark and dank and dirty, but this odd room had its charm. He had gotten away. Robert was about to feel good about himself, when he heard another set of footsteps coming toward him.
Once again he ran, this time to a dilapidated room, garnished with peeling paint on its walls and a medical cot, one that looked just like the ones imprisoned men were often given lethal injections on. It was disturbing, but still rusting away under a huge head-lamp.
And then, what he feared most began to rise. It was a darkness like a smoky, oiled ink. It filled up the room he was in and he felt himself smothering some, now he was forced to confront the doubt of darkness.
He turned around, wanting to run back to his depressing hospital bed in the next ward. But this time, he didn’t give in to his fear. He didn’t run and hide, or let shyness and cowardice oppress him.
This time, Robert Pinkerton moved forward and dared to step directly through the odd darkens that filled the desolate room.
His eyes grew strong and he marched on, passing through the black and when he did, he saw a familiar form and he smiled. He smiled from ear to ear.
There, sitting atop the rustic medical equipment was a living dream, an angel tattooed in feathers and scales, inked into this world with romance and color. Her slim body craned over to him and they walked into each others arms.
Not far, just a hallway away, Robert Pinkerton’s body was still. All this time it had never moved from its bedridden cot. The doctor standing over him shook his head and addressed the nurse next to him.
“Well, this one is dead. He expired just moments ago.” Someone should notify his family.
The nurse responded.
“He doesn’t have a family, he pretty much lived his whole life alone, or so I was told.”
“How unfortunate,” the doctor remarked.
As the doctor walked off to check on other patients, the redhead nurse leaned over Robert, so close now that their lips practically touched.
With a heartfelt warm kiss, she saw the very last glimmer of life fade away, as it lifted into the beyond. Her eyes sparkled and she whispered in his ear; “Well, you little Rube, you made it - are you pleased?”
END:
Story by Dark Riddle/Jesus Morales: Photo: Filipp and Model: Leili:
- Story inspired by the photo image "Doctor, is there something wrong?" by Filipp "Taphosarts" as seen originally here www.deviantart.com/art/Doctor-…
My big thanks to Taphosarts for letting me use such a cool image!!!
Related content
Comments: 2
Miss-MischiefX [2015-04-08 12:50:19 +0000 UTC]
I adore this! I'd love to see this set for Tattoo'd Lifestyle Magazine, our email is tattoodlifestyle@gmail.com
👍: 1 ⏩: 0