The Devil Comes Back to Retroville

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 9:

As badly as Cindy was feeling about her situation she nevertheless looked up to see who had spoken. A faint feeling of amazement trickled through her brain when she saw that it was the unkempt stranger she had seen yesterday and had suspected was following her. Had he spoken to her before she had met Lou she would have been alarmed, but events of the past half hour had left her with nothing to lose and by extension nothing to fear. "Who are you?" she asked dully.

The stranger smiled, and when he smiled there was nothing sinister or threatening in his appearance whatsoever. "My name is kind of a long one but it usually shortens to De La Fe. You can call me Angelo." He extended a hand and Cindy shook it from force of habit. His grip was firm but gentle, and at the touch Cindy felt her spirits lift somewhat. "You must be Cynthia Vortex."

"Cindy," she automatically corrected him. No one ever called her Cynthia and she looked at him curiously. "Who are you?"

He laughed. "I already told you. But I think you have more serious things on your mind than who I am."

"Yes," Cindy nodded, and again felt a pall of depression settling over her.

Angelo took a seat next to her. "Don't be discouraged. I'm her to help you about Lou."

Cindy looked sharply at Angelo. "You know Lou?"

He nodded. "We're old acquaintances. You might say we're competitors covering the same territory."

"Why do you want to help me?"

Angelo shrugged. "You asked. Usually I don't get involved with this sort of thing directly, but there were some special circumstances with Lou this time and I decided to make an exception."

Cindy was perplexed. "What special circumstances?"

Angelo leaned back against the back of the bench and stretched his long legs out before him. "He broke the rules."

"Rules?" Cindy was more confused than ever. "What rules? Is this some kind of game?"

Angelo shook his head emphatically. "No. Not a game. Life and beyond are never a game. But Lou seems to have forgotten that. He's been playing fast and loose and this time he crossed the line."

"How?"

Angelo considered this for a moment before answering. "In the simplest terms he violated the conditions of double jeopardy. Maybe he could argue that this new offer to you was just a part of your original bargain, but he interfered with Jimmy's life when he'd already had his shot at him."

"But Jimmy doesn't remember any of that," Cindy pointed out.

"It doesn't matter. That's the thing about truth, Cindy. You can forget it, or ignore it, or even lose it, but you can't destroy it. That's the nature of truth. It's what is, and was, and will be, from everlasting to everlasting."

"So you're here to help because he broke the rules?"

"That's right."

Cindy leaned forward eagerly. "So what are you going to do?"

Angelo smiled. "I was just about to ask you the same thing."

Cindy stared at him, her mouth moving soundlessly for a few seconds before she finally got out, "But…you said you were here to help me!"

"So I did. And so I am. But helping you and doing it for you are two different things." Before she could ask him he gave her a somber look and said simply, "The rules. I'm afraid you're going to have to solve the problem."

Cindy shook her head. "But I can't beat Lou! I'm not as smart as he is!"

"Exactly." Angelo smiled.

"What?" Cindy couldn't believe what she had just heard. Was Angelo taunting her for some reason? Or was this all just one of Lou's elaborate hoaxes? "You're saying that I can beat him because he's smarter than me?"

"No." Angelo shook his head. "I'm saying that you can beat him because how smart he is doesn't matter."

"How can that be? I don't understand."

"Most people don't at first. In simplest terms, Cindy, the battles are fought here." Angelo tapped his forehead, and then his chest. "But they're won here. Jimmy doesn't win because of his brain. He wins because of his heart. Lou had you dead to rights the last time because he was smart, but Jimmy won because he understands what it means to feel and knew that the judge and jury did too. Even now Lou thinks that he lost the last time because Jimmy outsmarted him, and that's why he arranged to neutralize Jimmy's intelligence. He thinks that the heart is a weakness and won't ever believe that it can ever be a threat. Human feeling is one of the great gifts people have to beat Lou."

"And the other?"

"Free will. Choice. The ability to decide one's own destiny, for good or evil. Lou doesn't have a choice anymore. He lost his power to choose long ago. He plans everything to the last logical detail and prepares for every contingency that reason tells him could arise, but free will is the wild card he can't anticipate or plan for."

Cindy nodded slowly. "So there is a way to beat him? I just need to figure out what it is?"

Angelo gave her another smile. "I'm only advising you to go with your strengths. Lou told you that he wouldn't lie to you and what he said is how he really believes things to be. But there truly is more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in his philosophy."

"You seem to know a lot about Lou," Cindy commented thoughtfully.

"You're very quick." Angelo noted. "Yes, Lou and I go back a long time. He is smart. Very smart. But somewhere along the way he missed out on something important. He couldn't say even to himself what's missing in his existence. All he knows is that he's empty." He gave Cindy a very long and discomforting look. "That can happen to a lot of smart people. Even the smartest."

"You mean Jimmy?"

Angelo nodded. "Jimmy understands that with great power comes great responsibility. He takes that very seriously. He's come through for this town and even this world more times that even you might suspect. And each time he's understood and accepted the risks he takes."

Cindy sensed that there was a something hidden behind the words that Angelo was telling her. Almost, she thought, like a warning. "Is there a risk this time? One that he doesn't understand?"

Angelo nodded slowly. "He could lose everything this time."

"But there's a chance he won't?"

Angelo stood up, preparing to go. "That will depend on you." He shaded his eyes and looked into the sky as though trying to divine the time from the position of the sun in the heavens. Then he looked back at Cindy, his face solemn. "Good luck, Cindy. As Lou said, the clock is ticking." He suddenly smiled. "But remember what I told you, as well."

"What's that?" asked Cindy, trying to remember everything Angelo had told her.

"Lou doesn't know everything."

End of Part 9

Author's Notes:

As many surmised the stranger following Cindy was in fact someone on a mission to help her against Lou. Hopefully this doesn't mean that my stories are becoming too predictable, although it's nice to know that they make enough sense for people to figure out which way they're going.