Dorian Gray: Darker Shades by Christofer Nigro

Author:Christofer Nigro
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Wild Hunt Press
Published: 2018-10-30T20:00:00+00:00

V.

Dorian’s and Jimmy’s evening excursion into the more unsavory regions of the Windy City took them to the South Side, which the former quickly arranged via a taxi service. Jimmy was both impressed and chilled by the safe passage afforded to both Dorian and himself in and out of the Cabrini-Green turf by the Soul Lords.

“Those guys totally like you,” Jimmy noted to his ersatz friend during the cab ride. “And just so you know, I don’t exactly mean that as a compliment.”

“Ha!” Dorian responded. “I have ways of making friends in the highest of places, my dear lad.”

“I just wish you had ways of making friends with speech instructors who could give you a crash course on ‘Standard Layman.’”

“Ha ha! You are a funny young man, Jimmy. I anticipate a jolly good time with you this evening.”

“Do they still say ‘jolly’ in England? Over here, we only use that word these days when referring to Santa Claus.”

“Ah, good old Father Christmas. An annoying git, that one.”

“You talk about the dude as if he were, you know, real or something. Didn’t your parents ever bother to tell you the truth about that by the time you were ten?”

“Oh, Jimmy, my friend, if only you knew the actual truth.”

“Huh?”

“Let us just say that the universe is a more fascinating and complex place than you imagine. But enough about that. Our first stop is at the warehouse I rented since my arrival in this city.”

“Is that where you stashed your beer, or something?”

“No, no, we will get our ‘beer’ in the company of others, at the proper establishments. The warehouse is for the safekeeping of these two valuable portraits, one of which is entirely your work; the other being the work of my departed friend Basil, which you so professionally embellished this night.”

“I’m not sure I like hearing about one of your ‘good’ friends being, um, ‘departed.’ I hope that didn’t happen to your man Basil during a night on the town with you. Like, you know, the one I’m on with you right now.”

“Ha ha! Oh no, not at all. Poor Basil’s demise ensued under different, more complicated circumstances than one such as this. Also not worth discussing, as we have other interests to take up our attention.”

“You call everything ‘complicated.’”

“As things tend to be in this universe.”

Moments later, the portraits of Noir Jesus and Dorian’s own all-important canvas, The Portrait of Dorian Gray -- not that Jimmy could possibly have recognized it as such -- were placed in a superlatively secure warehouse. There they would later be retrieved by Dorian, just before he made his departure from the Windy City. That, at least, was the plan. As it would turn out, however, only one of those two canvases would be successfully retrieved. That, however, is getting well ahead of things in this tale.

***

Dorian and Jimmy strolled down the dimly lit street of Englewood, heading towards a bar with the ironic name of Englewood’s Best. Its exterior showed signs of being

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.