When he first heard it was going to happen, it seemed so far away. He’d carefully written it into his diary, in block capitals and red ink so that in the highly unlikely event that he forgot, it would stand out front and centre when he flicked through the pages. Normally with a big event like this, he’d work out how many weeks and days he had to count down, but because this was so many months away, he hadn’t bothered. That could wait. First he had to deal with the issue of his partner in crime.
He’d spent so many sleepless nights, worrying about how he was going to pull this off that he’d lost track of time. What had been months was now only a matter of days away and still he had no idea how he was going to convince his best mate to go through with it. They’d known each other since they were eight and through thick and thin, they’d stayed best of friends. He’d realised straight away that handled badly this could destroy their friendship, but he’d kill for this opportunity, it was THAT important to him and to pull this off he needed an accomplice.
He had two choices. On the one hand he could take his mate by the arm and lead him through the whole thing, make him an active participant. But there was a risk he’d say ‘no’ – in the cold light of day, the whole thing did seem pretty hair-brained. Maybe he could work it so that his mate thought it was was his idea? maybe if he was bought into it, he’d also want it to work. But the second option seemed far more sensible.....involve him but don’t tell him. Just let him roll with the situation as it developed. This would be better for him – no sleepless nights worrying about it - and knowing him, he’d probably make the right calls once everything kicked off. So explain everything and run the risk he’d say no, or keep him in the dark and spare him the anxiety???
He paused….he could hardly recognise himself. How could he be so manipulative? And with his best mate? And what if his mate sussed something was going on? How would he react to their friendship being abused like this? Then he realised one other thing. It seemed so obvious that he couldn’t understand why he hadn’t realised it earlier. He actually needed his mate’s involvement – there were things only he knew….the numbers, the papers…they were all his. So he had to spill the beans. He had to confide in him.
He tried not to sound too anxious when he called. “Up for a drink, mate? OK see you in half an hour.” There was a round waiting for him on the bar when he arrived. It didn’t cross his mind that it was unusual for his mate to be early – or to have got the first beers in. After the small talk and the week’s news were out of the way, he summoned up his courage and simply said “I need your help with something – something big - and we have only a few days”. For the next hour he ran through everything that was about to happen. For most of the time, his mate was silent, asking only the odd question, though none of the questions seemed that relevant. Maybe he should have spoken to him about this earlier? He seemed fine about the whole thing. He seemed to get the enormity of it - calling it the night the towers crumble, the mountains fall – but he didn’t seem phased at all. Almost as if he’d been expecting it…..
With a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach, he realised that his mate had been playing him for weeks. By themselves and spread out over all these months, the little things he’d said over the phone or the little prods he’d made when they were in the pub, hadn’t seemed like anything. But looking back and taking the whole thing together, it was clear his mate had planned this. Carefully checking him out, then reeling him in. He’d been taken hook, line and sinker.
Initially, he felt a wave of relief wash over him – all those sleepless nights worrying had been for nothing. His mate was in on this and clearly well up for it. The two amigos would be in the thick of it together – again. But then came a succession of more sinister thoughts. In setting him up like this, his mate had clearly been prepared to let him take the rap if something went wrong. Plus his mate surely couldn’t be doing this by himself. Who else was behind this? Who else had he been slumming’ down with to think this one up?
He’d spent all these weeks trying to protect his mate and now it was clear his mate hadn’t been worrying about protecting him. He stood up, all the excitement he’d felt seeped away and left him feeling cold and alone. The biggest event of his life wasn’t in a few days time, it was tonight, the night their friendship ended.
💚🐁💚🐁💚🐁💚🐁💚... love it!!!