Detective Sal Hirsch Dug his cigarette into the asphault as he crossed the street to his favorite hot dog stand. He turned his direction to the sky and a black mass flew at his face.
"God damn!" He choked out as his hands batted the bird away from his face. It's wings retracted and it flew off into the corner of a darkened alley. "What the hell is that thing doing in the city anyway?"
"Watching over you, Detective, along with every innocent soul in this city." His voice was soft and playful as he removed himself from the shadows.
"You're that guy." Detective Hirsch dropped the lighter in his hand. "The guy hatcheting Mooky's group."
"No, he hacheted my family, you see, and now I have to hachet the man that played him fowl." His caked face smiled in glee.
"Oh." Hirsch grunted and watched the crow land on the clown's shoulder, it's glowing eyes staring at him. He didn't like birds, he had enough bad experiences with them as a child. "Why's that freaky ass bird got to follow you around for?"
"Why, Detective, he is my friend, my protector." The man shifted from the brick wall he was leaning on and motioned forward to Hirsch as he stood half on the curb, half in the street. "Don't you know?"
"Know what?" Detective Hirsch grimaced as the bird flapped it's wings noisely and declawed itself from it's friend's shoulder.
"Crow's are sacred to our lives." The man stopped in front of Sal and the lights of the hot dog stand lit up his face. It wasn't a man, but just a boy. A boy with white powder rubbed on his cheeks and an eyeliner drawn under each eye. It was a sad face to look at, but Sal just stared head on at the boy. "You see, Detective, crows navigate our souls to the next life. They make sure that everything is right when we die. However, if we do not accept the death and there is much to be amiss, they bring that person back. Show him the errors of his ways, and leads him back to the next world."
"That would be you?" Sal looked up as the bird made circles in the smoky night sky. "He navigates you to kill people?"
"Redemption, Hirsch." The boy muttered. "When life gives you a second chance, you don't take any more. What those men got was what they deserved, however, the man who sent them will receive a fate worse than death. Eternal pain."
Hirsch shrugged. The kid was giving him a case of the heebie jeebies. Now he was not so sure he wanted to down a fully loaded hot dog right now.
"Have a good evening, Detective." The boy smiled and waved a friendly hand before letting the crow perch his outstretched arm. He evaporated into the shadows as quickly as he emerged from them.
"Strange kid, Wonder what tv shows he watches..." Hirsch bent over and picked his lighter up before heading to the stand for a loaded chili dog: his favorite.