Everybody loves Harry. (standard:drama, 2431 words)
Author: red1hols	Added: Sep 16 2002	Views/Reads: 3537/2290	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Everybody loves Harry, but would I like to be like him?

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

“Come on Harry.....” the idea shocked me. 

“Don't interrupt, Charles. You'll have your chance.” Harry's voice
seemed to reverberate. 

I nodded my acceptance. 

“They sneaked off, because I was too boring.” Harry's voice resumed the
quiet calm. “They stuck me for the tab too. I was used to that, it 
didn't upset me greatly. I paid the bill and decided to walk back to 
the hotel. Only I got lost, I ended up in this badly lit street. I 
needed to get directions and I spotted this old lady sat on a low wall. 
As I approached, these two young lads appeared. Must have come out of 
an alleyway between the houses.” 

Harry paused and took a sip of his beer. The door to the bar opened and
Jim Hanlon entered. I waved to get his attention. 

“Good Night Jim!” Harry said flatly. Jim turned and left the pub. 

“He's acting odd tonight. Everybody's odd tonight!” I exclaimed. 

Harry gave a cold laugh and continued. “The lads didn't see me, I'm used
to making myself invisible you see. They saw the old lady though. They 
ran up and one of them made a grab for her bag. She clung on to it for 
dear life, shouting and screaming. I ran over to help. One of the lads 
turned round and I sort of run into him. He fell and hit his head on 
the wall. The other turns round, sees his mate on the floor and runs 
off. The lad I ran into gets up, postures a bit, realises he is on is 
own and runs off too! 

“The old lady was a bit shaken up, so I tried to calm her down.
Suddenly, she turns to me and said that I deserve a gift. I tried to 
refuse, but she was insistent. She produces this ring.” Harry waved his 
left hand in my face. “She grabs my hand and places it on my finger 
saying that it will give me everything I desire. 

“Anyway I got back to the hotel and tried to get the ring off. Only it
won't come off. I tried everything, but it just won't budge!” 

I looked at the ring and then at Harry. My scepticism must have shown on
my face. 

“Don't believe me, eh?” Harry gave a Wild grin. “Go on then. Try to take
it off! Go on! Try!” He growled. 

I tried. The ring appeared to be loosely fitting, but it just refused to
be budged even to the knuckle. When I admitted defeat, Harry returned 
to the story. 

“The next day, at the conference, everybody started to speak to me. The
guys from the bar the night before all came over and apologised and 
every one of them gave me the money to cover the bill. They almost fell 
over themselves to say sorry. People kept inviting me to play golf or 
to come to dinner. My opinion was sought on everything. In the end it 
all became too much, so I slipped away just before the end of the last 
presentations. 

“Over the weekend, I began to think that I must have imagined it all,
but when I went into work on the Monday, it all started again. People 
kept popping their heads around my office door and saying hello, 
fetching me cups of tea, biscuits and generally fussing over me. At the 
weekly meeting everybody asked my opinion on everything and when I 
suggested we change the way we present the purchasing figures, they 
agreed enthusiastically. 

“Later in the day, Jane one of the clerks comes into my office and asks
me to see if I can spot why the Journal entries don't balance. As I sat 
going through them, she comes round behind the desk and starts to 
massage my shoulders. It was nice, but I couldn't concentrate on the 
figures. When she started to rub herself against me, I told her that 
someone might see. Instead of stopping, she suggested that she close 
the blinds and lock the door! I mean it's just not normal behaviour. It 
doesn't happen to people like me. I bet it doesn't happen in your 
office, does it?” 

Harry looked at me, obviously expecting a response. 

“Well, no, it's never happened to me.” I was forced to admit. “I wish it
did! You get stories about this sort of thing from time to time, 
but...” 

“Pah!” Harry cut me off. “Other things happened too. Old Mr. Laidlow
called me to his office, made me a partner, and gave me a huge pay 
rise. Then, Maitland asked if I would consider joining the Masons. The 
Masons! Of course, I wanted to join the Masons! I've always wanted to 
be asked to join! Only, not like this!” 

Harry buried his face in his hands. The whole outburst was embarrassing
and I wanted to get up and leave, but something held me in place. We 
sat in silence for some minutes until the barman came over with two 
fresh pints. He neglected to take our money. 

“All that week things like that kept happening.” Harry sniffed loudly
and wiped his eyes on the back of his hand. “Everything I said, people 
agreed with. People went out of their way to do things for me. If I 
asked someone to do something, they did it without question. 

“On the Friday night I came in here as usual and everyone treated me
like a long lost brother. I had too much to drink and had to walk home. 
It was then I began to wonder. About what had happened. About the old 
lady's gift and how much power she had given me. Sat up all night 
thinking about it. In the end, I decided to test it. 

“Do you realise how frightening it is to find that people will do
whatever you want?” In the length of the question, Harry's voice went 
up an octave. 

“Are you sure? I mean, you're a popular guy, people want to be your
friend.” I put my arm around his shoulder. 

Harry shrugged of my arm and looked around the pub. It was empty apart
from the barman and us. 

“You!” Harry pointed at the barman. “Dance naked on that table!” 

I watched in a horrified fascination as the barman removed his clothes
and climbed up onto the table where he started to dance to an imaginary 
tune. Harry took out a handkerchief, dabbed at his eyes and then 
noisily blew his nose. Something about the tableau held me, I couldn't 
look away, no matter how much the barman's flabby and naked body 
repulsed me. 

“You see, people will do whatever I tell them or whatever they think I
might want or need. It's corrupted me, turned me into a monster!” Harry 
paused to try and regain some composure and suddenly remembering the 
barman, pointed at him. “OK, get dressed and get back to your work.” 

The barman climbed down, dressed and went back to cleaning tables. There
was no indication from him that he had done anything unusual. 

“Terrible, terrible, evil things” Harry's hand grasped my arm. “I tested
it out on Mr Powers, told him to fetch some kippers from Arbroath. He 
just jumped into that ridiculous 4 x 4 of his and drove off.” 

“Ten hours later he returned and handed me the kippers with a smile.
Just like I had done him a favour for asking. The feeling of power at 
that moment was wonderful. 

“Just to check, I had him fetch is wife to cook them for me. She did it
without a murmur. The trouble was, I'd let the evil free inside my 
mind.” 

“That's hardly evil Harry.” My laugh died in my throat at the look on
Harry's face. 

“You know Mrs. Hughes and her yapping terriers?” 

I nodded. 

“I made her have them put down. She loved them like children she did.
They only cocked their leg against my gatepost. They didn't deserve to 
die! I tried to apologise to her, but she wouldn't hear of it. She even 
thanked me for helping her realise that they had gone to a better 
place.” 

Harry started to sob. I put my hand on his arm to try to comfort him and
he shook it off. 

“That's not the worse of it.” He continued between sobs. “Do you know
Tricia from the paper shop?” 

I nodded. I knew Tricia. There wasn't a man in the town who had not
harboured lecherous thoughts over the paper shop's ice maiden when 
queuing to pay. 

“I had her spend four days at my house. As a slave, Cooking and
cleaning. Everything.” Harry's voice dropped to a whisper. 

“You dark horse you. Go on, tell more” I urged. 

“I was evil, pure evil! I wouldn't let her wear any clothes and I made
her, made her...” Harry was struggling for the words. “I made her 
satisfy my base instincts and all the time she enjoyed it. One night 
she even invited a friend, another girl round....” Harry's voice 
trailed off to sobs. 

Not knowing what to do, I just looked at him as he struggled to regain
some composure. Harry took a deep breath and grabbed his pint. He 
tipped the glass and just opened his throat. More beer was spilt than 
consumed, but Harry didn't seem to notice. 

I struggled to find the right words to calm him, but failed. 

“It's a drug you see. It gives you what you want, but when you get it
you want more and more. It eats you from the inside.” Harry spat the 
words and white spittle started to form at the corners of his mouth. 

Still I couldn't find the words. 

“Today, the evil took the last of my soul.” Harry's voice was suddenly
calm and composed. “Today I killed a man. I killed Cameron, the 
hypocrite! We've never liked each other, but he comes up to me today 
and invites me to dinner. I told him to take a running jump and he did. 
From the top of the multi-storey. I killed him!” 

Suddenly he stood up, opened his briefcase and produced a brown bag.
Sitting down he brandished the bag. His eyes were wild and were 
flicking from side to side wildly. 

“Well no more!” he yelled as he ripped away the bag to reveal a large
knife. “No more” 

Harry brought the knife flashing downward. It severed the finger wearing
the ring. Harry didn't scream or show pain, he just collapsed to the 
floor, arms clasped around his knees, rocking backwards and forwards. A 
red stain spread across the leg of his suit. 

“Quick!” I yelled to the barman. “Call an ambulance!” 

Showing great composure, I picked up the ice bucket from the bar. Going
back to the table, I picked up the finger from the pool of blood and 
spilt beer. As I did so, the ring fell off bounced once and came to 
rest in the ashtray. 

Without thinking, I picked it up and slipped it onto my own finger.
Realising my mistake, I tried to remove it. It wouldn't budge. Now I 
will discover if the ring is a gift or a curse. 


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