My father owned a hardware store
I was there after hours one night
A friend of mine came by to visit
Dusted out of his mind
He started tearing up the store
So I had to throw him out
It pissed him off big time
Told me I wasn't his friend anymore
He was in a gang
He swore he'd shoot me down
I knew that he meant business
So I thought about leaving town
I thought I saw him and his gang
When I was walking home that night
Up through the mist on the overpass bridge
Surrounded by grimy light
A tribe of laughing jokers
Causing death and misery
Thinking they were the coolest
Thinking they were free
I holed up in an empty room
With a friend standing guard outside
Wooden floor, no shade on the light
My girlfriend by my side
She cried and begged for me to leave town
But I thought I was safe
Maybe I could talk with him and change his mind
Maybe it wasn't too late
There was a tap on the window glass
The face of my friend standing guard was there
I pulled up the window to talk to him
His face was hard and emotionless
The window was up just inches
When the barrel of his shotgun poked me in the stomach
My heart raced hard
I looked in his eyes for a second
The second I had left to live
He'd sold me out
I'd never guessed
I heard my girlfriend scream and then
The shot-
A sound like an iron door slamming hard
For the last time
No pain-
But the room splintered into
A thousand pieces of light
Like popping a balloon
That used to be a screen
Reflecting scenes of my life
Afterwards
She and a friend cried
Giving statements at the station
While my lifeless body lay in the morgue
My spirit spied them one last time
Before I got the call-
That's all.
GS, 7/3/91