By
William I. Lengeman III
Richie Bunting was just returning from lunch when a thought came to him, as though from out of a clear blue sky, although, in reality, it had been raining all morning. He suddenly had the overwhelming desire to make a fort.
This would not have been so unusual had he not been one of the most renowned corporate attorneys in the entire state. It should also be noted that he felt a little bit silly about the whole thing, but being the type of person who rarely denied his desires - overwhelming or not - he leapt into action and began the construction.
He pulled the expensive Naugahyde sofa from the wall and dragged it over until there was a three-foot space between it and the desk. He took the blanket he kept for those increasingly rare occasions when he slept at the office and draped it over the gap.
Richie took off his jacket and loosened his tie. He kicked off his shoes and wiggled his toes. Ah, that felt good. Crawling into the covered space between the sofa and the desk, he proceeded to spend the next half hour playing cowboys and Indians.
It occurred to him it really should be called Army and Indians or Cavalry and Indians, but he had never troubled
himself with those distinctions when he was younger so why start now?
He wondered how long it had been since he had done this sort of thing-forty years? Just as he was preparing to defend the fort against another wave of red-skinned attackers, the intercom crackled.
“Mr. Bunting, Mr. Bing - line one.”
Richie suddenly felt very foolish.
“Thanks, Rosie.”
Leaping to his feet, he slipped his shoes on, threw
the blanket in the closet, and moved the sofa back to its place. He sat down at his desk, tightened his tie and punched line one.
“This is Richie Bunting…”
He realized that he was blushing as he listened to the voice on the other end of the phone, then made a deep gurgling sound in the back of his throat and slumped over the desk as an arrow slammed into his chest and another through this throat.
As his life slipped away, he heard the faint sound of whoops and hollers over the loud rushing in his ears.