The Borio Singaldi Writing Anthology

Borio Singaldi and the Date That Goes West; Part 2

(And here is the second part of the story, the one in which the chase scene begins...)

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The convertible getaway car continued driving eastward, leaving this old Wild West town behind to take the frantic Borio Singaldi and his disgruntled butler Earnestwise Tomatopatch back into the shelter of conformist modern civilization.

"How did the date go, sir?" Earnestwise asked as if Borio hadn't leapt out the second story of a building into the waiting backseat based on their contingency plan to get out of there if things got too awkward.

"Things got, er... awkward," said Borio, twisting his mustache to get it at just the right curl once again.

"Oh, really?" said Earnestwise in an attempt to sound surprised. "What, did she talk about her ex?"

"Uh..." Borio said. And said nothing further. Earnestwise was used to eliciting only "uh"s from Borio when talking to him. The bored Tomatopatch assumed Borio had just gotten cold feet due to inexperience and ineptitude.

In actuality, Borio was wracked with guilt and terror now that he knew the identity of the woman he'd gone on this blind date with. The past was coming back to haunt him, the shame of what he had done to that rude man twisting his gut like an employee of Twizzlers twisting a strawberry Twizzler stick. The cold winds of remembrance buffeted at his face, chilling him to the bone. Or maybe that was just the cold wind of the outside air buffeting away at him because the convertible's roof hadn't been closed.

Borio twisted his mustache back into its proper curl once again and leaned forward to tell Tomatopatch to close it. But as leaned forward, he saw movement in the rearview mirror. Glancing curiously at it, he saw a horse-drawn carriage moving toward the mirror, growing quickly closer.

"Tomatopatch," he said without taking his eyes off the rearview mirror, "it seems others wish to travel on the same course as us. We should probably give them ample room to pass..."

The rest of the sentence died in his throat faster than a 23.95-hour-old fruit fly. The driver of the carriage was becoming clearer in the mirror's view as the thundering of hooves noised behind the convertible.

A woman dressed in a dress of all black, her gray-blond hair flying out of place when minutes before it had looked so neatly fixed. And her eyes... they were wider than ever, her stare more disconcerting than at any moment during the date. She was close enough in the view of the mirror that he could see the fury and the murder in her eyes. So she knew.

The words "objects in mirror are closer than they appear" now read to Borio as a sign of doom.

"Tomatopatch, drive faster!" he cried out, forcing his gaze away from the wide eyes of fury.

Earnestwise looked in the front mirror to see it fast approaching. "I thought you wanted them to pass us, sir."

"That was before I knew who it was." Borio's voice shook. "Hurry!"

"Is that the woman you went on your da—"

"IT WERE'S YOU!" a terrible voice shrieked out behind them. Borio closed his eyes, wincing.

"YOU MURDERED HIM, YOU TWO-BIT VENOMOUS VARMINT!" Ms. Hoskins screamed, her shrill voice piercing over the sounds of engines, hooves, and tires.

"Oh..." Earnestwise whispered, still not fully understanding the situation but having a better idea of it.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU TOO!" the terrifying madwoman screeched. "YOUR DAY OF RECKONING IS UPON YOU, BORIO!"

Borio finally turned to look death in the eye. Well, that wasn't very apt. Borio had faced Death multiple times before, and he was far less scary than Sally Hoskins. She looked Borio right in the eyes, and he knew the guilt on his face would affirm the truth to her further. Her eyes somehow widened even more, and a rage Borio had never seen grew greater upon her face as she reached to her side to grab something.