Rock of Ages: Sunrise
by John McAuley
The fading moon was partially obscured by small clouds and tall trees, but I knew the narrow dirt path from memory. I let Billy walk behind me. Made him less nervous. Greed trumps fear in people like him.
That's why he went along with coming all the way out here with me.
"Your girlfriend mentioned you like classic rock trivia," I said.
"Yeah," Billy replied.
"Did you know Steely Dan was actually the name of a dildo in a William S. Burrough's story?" I asked.
"Yep. And Uriah Heep is named after somebody in a book by a guy called Dickens."
"That's pretty good. I'd forgotten that."
"Did you know Paul McCartney's first wife took the pictures for Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland" album?"
"I definitely didn't know that. I'm impressed," I said, as we came to the clearing.
Billy's face was more smirk than smile, "Well you can't know everything," he said, just before he saw his girlfriend's body on the ground.
"Billy, remember that song by The Steve Miller Band?"
"Huh?"
"The song, "Take The Money And Run." My boss says you and your little sweetheart took some money from the wrong people."
I waited just long enough for him to figure it out before I shot him.
I looked up at the reddening sky and put in my MP3 earphones.
Uriah Heep...Ken Hensley slowly brings the keyboards up to full volume...then a pause...David Byron's voice, bright and clear... "Sunrise..."
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9 comments:
Very clever framing with the song at the end. Admired the cold, clinical nature of this one.
Great execution! ;)
Cool. Very well written. Way to use classic rock.
a smartly written story :)
I liked this a lot. Shades of Bret Easton Ellis--the music trivia interspersed with murder. I felt pity for Billy, yet also scorn. It takes skill to make a reader root for the murderer. Nicely done.
Extremely well done.
Being a major Uriah Heep fan, and David Byron-era in particular, I give this one a thumbs up
Holy crow! I didn't see that ending coming at all.
Wow. Way to go!
Damn... how the heck am I going to narrow my faves down to five?!?
Angelique
this is really good! i love it!
Great motif to use the rock trivia! That would definitely get someone's guard down. Very well told.
Congratulations on the honorable mention!!
As an aside, the former lead singer of Uriah Heep married a woman from western Pennsylvania. Through family/friend connections, he came to an informal wedding reception I was at. He sang several songs, including Wizard. Very nice guy.
To honest, I didn't know Uriah Heep at all at the time.
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