By Alex Ironrod
This is a special adaptation of the opening chapters of “The Trainer” by Alex Ironrod for MetalbondNYC,com, posted here by special permission.
PART ONE – BASIC TRAINING
I owe my life to one man. my life – and much more. He saved me. He trained me. He educated me. He loved me and had to let me go. Shit, how much I regret never having told him I loved him – until it was too late.
My name is Dave Coyle. My real life started only a year ago, when I met Mike Harrow. I was a mess. I had been doing drugs, when I could find the money. When we met, I was homeless, living on the streets. One summer morning, I was desperate enough to try to hold up this convenience store. You know the kind. They sell everything from liquor to washing powder. Anyway, I stuck this thick stick under my grubby tee shirt, and picked a quiet mid-morning time, after the breakfast rush.
I was lucky, the place seemed empty. So, I marched up to the counter and growled at the clerk, “OK, this is a stick-up. Hand over your cash right now or I’ll blow you to….”
Usually, it’s the decisions that I make quickly and then act upon them that are my best decisions. This telling will emphasize how a recent weekend (09/10/21 – 9/13/21) will have forever changed my life.
The drizzle has stopped as the bog is getting gray as the cloudy skies block most of the sunlight as the day is getting long. Missing his hard hat, Josh is leaning against a tree with dirty white rope tightly securing his body. The biologist is still unconscious, as his hands are also tied, laying in his lap, his hi-viz gear covered in dirt and mud.