The Sum of Its Parts

by Jim Shaffer

Joel was known as the half-good kid, half-good at math, half-good with the girls, half-good with words, half-good with a gun. That's why when Terry made fun of Joel, and Joel shot Terry, he only winged him. Some in the town said Terry was all-bad, but that's possibly a half-truth, half-believed by others who suspected Terry was only half-bad. But one thing all could agree on, having been shot by the half-good kid, Terry was more than half-pissed off. Joel half-kicked himself for only winging Terry, and being only half-good at anything, made a half-assed attempt at hiding out in the Half-Priced Warehouse. Discounting the fact Terry already knew where a half-good kid like Joel would hide out, what most occupied his mind was not only revenge for the shooting, but also the importance of cementing once and for all in the minds of the townspeople his reputation as the all-bad kid, a preoccupation that fatally blinded him to the fact that a half-good kid only missed the kill zone half the time.

6S

Jim Shaffer - though he's been given to unregulated flights of fancy - writes the occasional crime fiction story, such as his novella, Back to the World. Several of his stories appear online at Close to the Bone under his proper name, James, and in various anthologies; the latest, inspired by the songs of Pink Floyd, Coming Through in Waves. He lives in the southeast of England.