“A Rush of Blood to the Brain”

You are an assassin. Some of your patrons call you a killer. Others call you a murderer, hit man, thug, slayer, and all what-nots. They are free to come up with as many names as they like to define who you are and what you do. You don’t care. There is only name you love and care about, the one name that suits you perfectly— assassin. You’ve been stalking Daniel Otego for six days. It is the longest you’ve stalked a product. You’ve followed him all over town. You know him in and out now. For three days, you have watched from the other side of the street as the light in his room turns on at exactly 6.14 am. Perhaps he has an alarm set at that exact time every day. You are aware that he leaves his house between 7.30 am and 8 am every morning and picks up the Sun Newspaper at the Cemetery Junction from the same vendor, a fair obese woman, and if the woman isn’t around, he drives away. Some days you watch as he leaves his office for lunch which lasts for one hour, no more, no less. Some other times you watch his boy, a tall lanky young man in his early twenties. You watch him walk out of the office and return with a flask of food. If Daniel leaves to go get lunch himself, he goes to Mr. Biggs and orders either white rice served with tomato sauce or eba served with vegetable soup. In the evening, Daniel drives straight to the gym by 5.30 pm and changes into white trousers and a blue vest. He stays in there for one hour, no more, no less, and leaves the gym at exactly 6.30 pm every day. You wonder if the gym attendants run a laundry service or if he has a locker in there since he doesn’t go to the gym with his sports outfits. You follow him as he returns home. On his way home, he might stop over for some ice-cream at Citi-Chef or at the Mami Bar for some barbecue or buy some groceries at Emily Lounge. He arrives at his house between 7pm and 7.30 pm every day. Read Full Story in Brittle Paper. (c). Cover image culled from Brittle Paper.