Patsy

The patsy sat in his seat. Right down the front at super bowl sixty six: the greatest show on earth. Two teams he didn’t care about had already been introduced and the armoured millionaire beasts now prowled up and down the lines hollering insults at each other as the announcer went through the fuss in the middle. Coins tossed, dying children carried off the field for their final wish. He could see the celebrity tight end wipe his hands on the grass after lifting a skeletal leukaemia kid into the air. All smiles until her back was turned. Just a Billion people saw him act an ass.

It didn’t matter thought. He tapped the case at his feet. Undetectable, unbeatable, he had his response to the hideousness of western capitalism. Fifty megatons.

He flicked the safety off on the underside of the handle and looked at his companion.

Tall, dressed in a way that made men turn their heads he would be a martyr with her for the new order. Her black hair, her deep red lips and her pale skin were all too perfect. She smiled at him and pointed to the clock. Not yet, not yet.

The clock had not started, the game should start, the world should be watching, they needed to see the fire of retribution, the cleansing flame of the new order. Their Budweisers would spill, they would choke on their ‘chips and dip’ and he would be at ground zero, his body torn into its constituent parts as painlessly as falling asleep.

Roar.

The clock started, there was a cry from the crowd and a ball was heaved form one end of the field to the other. Both teams hurtling towards one another. He looked at his companion and he flicked the switch.

There would be a delay, ten seconds. There was no going back.

But there was a change. She had a phone in her hand, she had a look on her face that he had not seen before. It was pity and then it was glee. She tapped her phone and whispered.

‘Bye bye’

As she faded into the background the heat began. He called for her and grabbed the air, catching only laughter.

He heard the detonator switch and then realised the stories she told him were a lie as his every nerve cooked in the first nanoseconds of the explosion. 

Around the world people watching their TV sets spilled their beer and choked on their ‘chips and dip’.