John Canterbury is a short story I wrote a few years ago as an exercise. I really enjoyed the prompt and the story that was created so I thought I’d share it here.
John Canterbury was well on his way to making it big! He was an extra in hit TV shows like Supernatural and blockbusters like The Avengers and The Amazing Spiderman.
He woke on the morning of July 3rd, 2013 feeling like it was his day. Something amazing was going to happen at his audition today.
He got into his 2005 Dodge Neon and headed to the bank to deposit his check before heading to the studio for his audition.
The bank was pretty full and he almost left as soon as he entered but he really needed to deposit his check. He looked at the clock on the wall, ten thirty; he had a little more than an hour before he needed to be at the studio. He thought back to his gas gauge, nearly on E and got into line behind an elderly woman who smelled of cats. He placed his hand beneath his nose and tried not to picture the nasty little particles, which must be causing the smell, entering his nostrils.
A man in a black coat, pants, and dark sunglasses got in line behind him. He started to feel uneasy as it was about ninety degrees outside and no one in their right mind would be wearing a coat. Plus the guy was jittery. Like he had just downed an entire case of red bull.
John was turning to leave when the man pulled a gun out and aimed it right at his chest. He took a small step back so the barrel was not touching him as screams rang out and people hit the deck. There were two other gunmen in the bank.
“Get on the ground,” The man snarled. John looked at the ground and inadvertently thought back to the cat lady, her shoes were filthy he was sure of it. And that was the only one he knew about. Tons of people had walked this floor since 9 am when the bank opened.
“Nope,” He said shaking his head back and forth. “Not gonna happen.”
“Get on the ground!” The gunman said jabbing him with the muzzle. John had seen quite a few stunts with guns. In one smooth motion, he grabbed the gun from the man in front of him, who looked as shocked as John felt. Suddenly realizing he did not know where the gun had been he panicked. One of the other gunmen yelled and he threw the gun as hard as he could at him. It struck him in the head, effectively knocking him out, and then fell to the floor at such an angle that when it fired the bullet hit the last gunman in the knee. Before John realized what he had done the gunmen were incapacitated and the police filled the bank.
John ran to the counter where the tellers kept a bottle of hand sanitizer and squirted it several times before rubbing his hands together furiously.
“You are so brave,” The busty brunette behind the counter said. She was bent over to show her ample cleavage and had the end of a pen in between her teeth.
“You really shouldn’t chew on pens,” He said. “You don’t know where it’s been.”
If you enjoyed this be sure to check out my fiction books.
Cameron J Quinn also works for Amphibian Press under ger given name Marissa Frosch. Through the press shes working on non-fiction, a vlog, a podcast and the blog Amphibian Authors.
