This is the End

This is the End



         “You’re not seriously buying into this doomsday talk are you Mick?” Reilly asked as he plunged another greasy French fry into the smeared blob of ketchup on his plate.  “I mean, tell me how in the hell a couple of Aztec astronomers from 10,000 years ago are going to predict the end of the world by looking at the stars.”

         “It was more like 4,000 years ago genius,” McCormick replied dryly without looking up from his coffee. “And it wasn’t the Aztecs, it was the Mayans.”

         “What the hell is the difference?” Reilly asked through a mouth full of fast food.  “There is no way that an ancient calendar is going to predict the end of the world.” 

         “I’m not saying that I think the world is going to end tonight my resplendent friend,” McCormick offered.  “I was simply posing a question.  What if it did?  It would certainly redefine my priorities.” 

         “Oh yeah?” Reilly said.  “Then tell me Mr. McCormick, how would you spend your last night on earth?” 

         “Well, naturally I would want to spend it in a shit hole Diner with my Neanderthal of a best friend.”  McCormick chuckled.

         “Come on now Mickey, I was being serious.  Let’s say that tonight was going to be our last night on this planet.  How would you want to live it?”

         “Well first off, I wouldn’t be drinking this crappy cup of coffee,” McCormick said.  “I would be sipping a glass of Johnnie Walker Black Label and chasing it with a hit of fine Canadian Sensimilla.” 

         “Well I hope you brought enough for everybody,” Reilly said as he leaned forward propping himself up on his elbows, and resting his chin on his closed fists. 

         “I hate to burst your bubble old pal o’ mine.  But seeing how this is my last night on earth, I’m afraid I’m going to require the companionship of the fairer sex.”  McCormick said with a sly grin.

         “Ah ha, the plot thickens,” Reilly exclaimed, more interested now.  “Anyone I know?” 

         “Do you even have to ask?” McCormick said, preparing for his friends inevitable reaction.

         “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Reilly half yelled before he was able to reign in his surprise.  “After what she did, you would go crawling back to her?”

         “Ah, you forget my good fellow,” McCormick answered, knowing he had his friend right where he wanted him.  “This is after all, our last night on earth.  If ever there was a time for reconciliation, I believe that it is tonight.” 

         “You still love her don’t you?” Reilly asked in a hushed tone.

         “Love is a word my friend, and nothing more.” McCormick said cradling his crappy cup of coffee, his voice trailing off into the distance along with his gaze. 

         “Look, Mick, I’ve been meaning to tell you something,” Reilly said shakily, “And you’re not going to like it.” 

         McCormick perked up, sensing the trepidation in his friend’s voice.  “Go on,” McCormick said, giving Reilly his full attention for the first time. 

         “I ran into Corrin the other day,” Reilly said meekly.  “And well, she was with her new Boyfriend.”  Reilly hesitated before continuing.  “She looked really happy Mick, happier than I have seen her in a long time.  Maybe you should just put it all behind you.”

         McCormick’s eyes drifted back down to the now empty coffee mug, trying to process the news.  He and Corrin had grown up on the same street.  They were playmates as kids and the friendship eventually blossomed into an awkward teenage romance.  They were inseparable through High School and they childishly pledged their eternal love to one another.  But like so many adolescent relationships, it did not survive the dreaded summer after graduation, and McCormick began his first semester at the State College alone and broken hearted.  I gave that girl everything I had to give, he thought, unconsciously fingering the charm hanging from a thin gold chain around his neck, and here I am three years later still hung up on her.  Sure there had been other girls since that fateful summer, but Corrin was the one.  She had always been the one, and McCormick had never really been able to let her go. 

         “Hello?” Reilly said in a sing song voice, waving his hand in front of McCormick’s face.  “Anybody home?” 

         The gesture abruptly ended McCormick’s reverie, and he looked up at his friend with determination in his eyes.  “Reilly my friend, you are absolutely right!” He said, loud enough that the study group two tables over looked up from their books long enough to give him an annoyed “Shush!”  “I do believe that it is time I put this whole mess behind me.”  He stood and pulled his leather jacket off the back of the chair.  “If this is going to be my last night on earth, I am going to face it with no regrets.”

         “What are you going to do?” Reilly asked with obvious concern on his face. 

         “I’m going to do what I should have done a long time ago,” McCormick said as he dropped a couple of one dollar bills onto the table.  “I’m going to take this curse that has been hanging around my neck for the last five years and throw it in her face.”  He reached down his shirt collar and produced a small trinket that hung from a golden chain.  It was in the shape a heart which had been torn in two.  A jagged border on the left edge hinted that the other half was still out there somewhere.  He held it out so that Reilly could see the inscription.  From top to bottom it read simply: “ends All Time”.

         McCormick hurriedly pulled on his jacket and turned towards the exit taking long determined strides.  Upon reaching the door something made him stop and turn around.  Reilly sat motionless and McCormick could see the worried look on his friends face.  McCormick forced a smile.  “I’ll see you on the other side,” Mickey said with a wink. 

         So, this is how the world ends McCormick thought as he stepped out of the Diner and lit up a cigarette.  It seemed a night like any other.  The air was cold, and his breath swirled heavily as it slowly swam upward toward the stars.  There had been a lot of hype about December 21st 2012, especially over the last couple of weeks.  Today was the end of the Mayan long calendar, doomsday, Armageddon.  We had been hearing fluff pieces on the major news networks about this day all year long.  The phenomenon had turned into a sort of theme for the entire year of 2012.  The novelty had worn off by early spring but the approach of the day of reckoning had brought life to a resurgence of “Doomsday” rhetoric. 

McCormick took a long, slow drag off his cigarette before pinching the butt between his thumb and middle finger and flicking it into the quiet shadows.  The smoldering ember landed softly on a pile of dirty, compacted snow left over from last week’s storm, and softly hissed as it was quickly extinguished.  A faint smile pulled at the corners of McCormick’s mouth as he envisioned Mankind suffering a similar fate.  Rather macabre thinking Mickey, he thought to himself. 

He glanced at his watch and set out down the darkened street shoving his hands deep into the front pockets of his faded jeans.  As he walked his ears began to catch the far off sounds of the “Doomsday” parties taking place in the hills above the campus.  As he walked he wondered how many young women would use the night’s festivities as a rationalization to forfeit their virginity.  He laughed to himself as he envisioned all those awkward young men sprinting eagerly to second base to the sound of REM’s “It’s the end of the world as we know it”.

“And I feel fine”, McCormick quietly sang to himself as he journeyed down the deserted street.  He came to the corner and veered left down Houston Avenue. 

He knew where he would find her.  She had moved in with her sister after graduating High School, and he had spent the entire afternoon on the day of their break up pleading with Corrin on the front porch to give him another chance as her sister watched from around the kitchen curtains.  She promised that she would always love him, “just not in that way.”  She gave him one final kiss on the forehead as she presented him with the token he now bore around his neck, promising to keep the other half with her always, and that they would be Friends For All Time.  That was the last time they had spoken.

Houston Avenue took him west, away from the campus. In place of the old brick buildings with their signature Ivy covered facades the street was now lined with the remnants of a once bustling downtown business district.  The failing economy had the hit the country hard, but from where McCormick stood it looked like San Marcos had taken the brunt of the blow.  San Marcos had been a thriving college town known for its beauty, and shopping.  Nowadays however, the Main Street store fronts were mostly boarded up. 

A homeless man lay on a bus stop bench in front of what used to be an Army Surplus Store.  As McCormick passed he bent down and dropped some change from his coat pocket into the man’s overturned hat.  The clinking of quarters and dimes wasn’t enough to wrest the man out of his slumber.    As he looked up to continue his journey the light from an overhead street lamp illuminated a small sign which had slipped to the ground from the man’s sleeping fingers.  “The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand”, the sign read.  McCormick stopped to consider the sign for a moment and without knowing why, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.  It was a meager offering, only thirteen dollars, but it was all he had to give.  McCormick turned, straightening and tucked his wallet back into his jeans.  McCormick continued down the sidewalk.  A glance over his shoulder would have revealed a single tear streaking down the unshaven face of the sleeping man.  However, McCormick didn’t look back. 

McCormick’s mind began to wander, and he found himself thinking back on that summer before graduation.  He remembered a time when He, Corrin, Reilly and his younger sister Molly had borrowed the Jeep from Reilly’s Dad and spent the day swimming off the banks of Lake Belton.  McCormick and Reilly had found a trail leading up through the brush.  They followed it and eventually emerged onto a ledge overlooking the lake.  It was a sheer drop of about 40 feet to the rippled dark waters below.  The challenge was issued as if by providence as both boys simultaneously spat out, “I dare you to jump!”  Smiling at each other they both cautiously approached the edge, sizing up the jump.  Corrin and Molly cheered from their secluded beach below.  There was no backing out now.  McCormick would never let Corrin see him chicken out, and though he would never admit it; Reilly had a huge crush on Mick’s sister Molly.  After two false starts they finally jumped together on the count of three.  Each boy felt the exhilaration as they stepped into the void.  Realizing that the drop was much higher than originally perceived; McCormick panicked and hit the water at an awkward angle.  Everything went black. 



McCormick awoke in a daze lying on his back and feeling the waves gently licking at his toes.  The Sun was bright, and it was aggravating the growing headache which he now felt pounding in his temples.  Molly’s tear streaked face came into view, partially eclipsing the blinding light.  McCormick was thankful for the relief, but mostly, he was glad that Molly was there with him.  She was only 11 months younger than He, and they had always been very close.   

“Reilly pulled you out!” Molly sobbed.  “I thought you were dead!  You hit your head on the water really hard!” 

“I’m fine.” McCormick half groaned, feeling a little embarrassed and trying to act tough. 

Reilly sat a few paces away with his knees to his chest and a beach towel draped around his shoulders.  He beamed at McCormick with his customary grin and chuckled.  “Thought for a minute you were going to die if I didn’t give you mouth to mouth.  You would have been missed.”  McCormick laughed despite his aching head. 

McCormick paused on the corner to light up a cigarette.  He was struck by the fact that in his moment of fear and uncertainty that day by the lake.  It wasn’t Corrin’s warm embrace, or Reilly’s witticism’s that he needed.  It was Molly and the unconditional love that shown through her tear filled eyes.  He wondered to himself where his priorities would truly lie if this really were his last day on Earth. 

He took a slow drag and looked up as he exhaled.  “Victorian Avenue” the street sign read.  No turning back now, he thought and turned right leaving a trail of blue smoke as he walked.  The night had grown quiet.  The shabby store fronts were now replaced by a row of bungalow cottages that lined both sides of the street, stretching into the distance. 

As he walked up the familiar street the memories began to flood his mind once again, this time taking him to that lonely summer just after High School graduation.  It was a Tuesday morning and McCormick had woken up late, taking full advantage of the lazy summer days.  He had plans to meet Corrin at her new place that she shared with her sister over on Victorian Avenue.  When he pulled up to the house in his 1984 Plymouth Sundance, Corrin was apparently waiting for him on the front porch.  “Hey good looking!” he announced as he bounded up the stairs two at a time. 

Corrin sat cross legged in a folding lounge chair near the corner of a low brick wall that enclosed the porch.  She wore a floral print yellow and white sundress.  Her dark hair cascaded past her shoulders.  On her face she wore a subdued expression as she nervously chewed on her lower lip.  It was a scene he would never forget. 

He stepped off the porch that day with a broken heart.  She had told him that they weren’t kids anymore and that they both had some growing up to do.  She insisted that they were too inexperienced to know what true love was, and that their relationship would never survive the looming college experience.  McCormick could muster no credible defense.  He drove home that day through a mist of tears.  The necklace she had given him glimmered in the light of the fading June sun as it slid across the dashboard.

McCormick was shocked out of his trance as his neglected cigarette burned the middle and index fingers of his left hand.  He had been so deep in thought that it took him a moment to realize where he was. He glanced up at the red brick cottage and immediately recognized the enclosed porch as the scene of his downfall. 

Yellow light poured through the front room window.  The curtains were pulled back revealing a small gathering of people inside.  It was then that he saw her. 

Her hair was shorter now but the young woman he now beheld was unmistakably Corrin.  She smiled and swirled the remains of her drink as she engaged in easy conversation with the others in the room.  She gave a yelp as a man snuck up behind her, wrapping her in his arms and planting a kiss on the nape of her neck.  She set down her glass and turned throwing both of her arms around his neck and kissed him lovingly.  They swayed slowly back and forth as if they were two teenagers at the High School Prom. 

McCormick seethed; gearing himself up for the final showdown.  How could she do this to him?  How could she be so careless with the emotions of someone she professed to love?  The rage swelled inside of him as he surveyed the scene.  McCormick focused upon the smiling face of his enemy with hatred and disdain, but as he studied the man; sizing up his foe, he noticed a familiar shimmer in his eyes.  Where had he seen this expression before?  What was this light that shone in her new boyfriends eyes? 

It was then that McCormick realized where he had seen that look before.  It was the way that his Father had gazed into his Mother’s eyes when they had renewed their wedding vows.  It was the look on Molly’s tear-streaked face as she sobbed over him that day by the lake.  And, had he looked back, McCormick would have seen that it is the expression a man wears when a stranger gives all he has to give to a fellow human being that might be a little down on his luck.  The look, was one of love. 

McCormick’s anger subsided and he was overcome with a feeling of peace.  He fell to his knees landing in a blanket of crusty snow.  He removed the totem from around his neck and studied the inscription one final time.  “ends All Time,” he whispered to himself.  The golden surface of the necklace caught the light as it enveloped him, and he was swept away singing boldly to himself.  “It’s the End of the World as we Know it, and I Feel Fine.”