"Hello, GI. I figured I'd find you here at your usual station, propping up a bar and darkly brooding about something." Nicklas sat down, ordered us both a pint and a shot, and begin propping up his portion of the bar like the good lad that he used to be, before the world changed both for him, and him. "Hullo Nicklas, fancy meeting you here, come to relive old times? Or has the wife kicked you out of the house?" Nicklas barked a laugh, "no she hasn't kicked me out yet, you old bastard. In fact, it was her idea that I find you and make sure that you were still amongst the living. Other than the odd rumour about your life, it has been an age since I last saw you. I looked over at him, "you last saw me in jail. My playmate Felix, as you like to call him, had put me in stir for being a pain in his ass again."
Nicklas nodded, "ah yes and how is your playmate doing?" I shrugged, "he's left me alone for a good, solid two months, which for him is a record, he must be too busy burning villages and eating children to give me a second thought. Which is usually a good thing for me." I raised my shot "skol! Nicklas, here's to Felix's continuing forgetfulness." Nicklas clinked glasses, downed his shot like the good lad he used to be and said "So, GI what would you be if you didn't follow the rules.?" I quirked an eyebrow at him "what do you mean, and why do you ask?" He shrugged "I mean if you didn't follow the few rules of society you do, if you didn't have to follow your boy Felix's rules, what would you be? A hippie, a gangster, a poet, or a water taxi driver?"
I sat down my pint and said "what do you think I would be?" He replied "I think you'd probably be a criminal of some sort, probably a high dollar thief, or maybe a hired gun. But the rules keep you from it." I smiled, "those aren't rules, those are laws. They aren't the same thing, but I take your point I think. If I wasn't following the rules I would be a lot happier, I doubt I would be employed in any capacity because no one would want to hire a rule breaking me. This might impact my happiness some, since no job usually equals no money, and no money almost always equals no pints, and probably no food either." He laughed "leave it to you to put pints first." I said "well my body has decided that unless I want to gain a hundred pounds in like 4 days, I can either eat, or I can drink pints. It seems to not allow for me to do both."
"I also suspect that we would not be friends, you and this Other GI of which we are speaking. You probably wouldn't like him, and I am pretty certain he wouldn't be a fan of you either. No, this Other as we can call him would probably be a right proper bastard." I looked into my pint for more of an explanation, but as usual all my pint did was sit there promising me happiness at the end. I continued "I also suspect you are correct, he would more than likely be a criminal of some sort, probably not a particularly good one because he would more than likely be lazier than me, if such a thing is possible. He would also probably not be living in any sort of city either. I would imagine he would loathe people as much as I do, but being unrestrained by those 'rules of polite society' he wouldn't be involved in society overmuch."
I ordered us another pint, and said "I also suspect he would be much closer to an alcoholic than I am, but I am not sure if that is possible either. He wouldn't want to be sober for this," here I waved my hand in the air to encompass the bar, and the world the general. "I would imagine the hazier his days and nights were, the better it would be for him, and maybe the rest of the world too. I am not sure if sober him would be more likely to burn the world or not. Drunk him would probably talk a little about burning the world, think a lot about burning the world, but ultimately get lost in the details about what type a match to use, and would never get around to it."
"But what brings you to this fever dream Nicklas? You aren't the philosophical type, or at least you didn't used to be, has fatherhood made you forget those drunken feelings we had ages ago?" He smiled back at me, "fatherhood has nothing to do with this GI, I am here to try, once again, to keep you from pushing the self-destruct button. I drew the short straw that the few friends you still possess decided to draw to send one of us to keep you amongst the living. A task, that I might add, has become more and more difficult over the years."
I sighed, "Nicklas, I appreciate that, I really do, but I am beginning to think that me being amongst the living is more trouble than it is worth. I don't really add anything to the world other than being a bad example, and I am not sure anyone is really paying any attention to me anymore. Which, to be honest, they shouldn't. I don't know that I have anything to add to the world's overall knowledge. At some point my playmate, as you call him, Felix is going to kill me. I am beginning to think that perhaps I should beat him to the punch. It would be a last act of rebellion in an otherwise wasted life."
"Life is hard Nicklas, and I don't know that I can perform the "dance" that society expects of me much longer. He nodded "We've known this about you for years, we have tried very hard to keep you from doing what we think is inevitable, but at some point we have to realize we can't stop you if you are that determined to do it. But before you do take the easy way out, look at this," Here he slide a photo across the table at me, it was a photo of his son. The son that I had suggested they name him A___. "Remember him? Remember coming over to our house and handing him a book that you promised to explain to him when he was old enough to understand it? That biography of AH that was miles too old for him when you gave it to him, well guess what old man, he's all grown up and ready to listen."
I sent daggers his way, "You son of a bitch, you know why you're here better than I do, they sent you because they know you know the right buttons to push to keep me on this mortal coil." He smiled, "of course they do, that is why I am here, well that and I am one of the few people that think the world is a better place with you in it." I grimaced, "You know that is what that bitch said to me when she left?' He smiled "of course I do why do you think I said it? Sometimes you just need to hear it from someone other than the "hers" of your life. I don't pretend to like her, nor do I pretend to understand your relationship with her, those mysteries I don't need to solve. I am merely here to tell you it what you need to hear. It might not be what you want to hear, but it is what you need to hear. Take it for what it is worth, and come explain to my heir why he is named A___." I sighed, "well since you put it that way, lead on MacDuff, let's teach the next generation why they are here."
