Arthur Chips is the sitting Mayor of the Great Purple City.
The City was run by the two infamous families, namely the Baldwins and the Donatellis. The families had more city officials on their payrolls than the government itself.
Mayor Chips still had a week before he turned eighty-two. He lived with his old wife in the same house for half a century.
This was his fifth term as the Mayor. Everybody was cordial and respectful towards him, but if one shakes the information vines a little, the real story pops out.
Arthur Chips was an English teacher by profession before he contested the elections, and he was the only neutral candidate that the two mafia families could not buy off. Rather, they didn't need to, except for certain odd personal projects like renovating Central Park and allocating extra budgets to the English departments of all the schools in the city, Mayor Chips didn't really take much interest in politics or anything related to his job.
But what the vines could not tell you is that he was a very sharp and intelligent man for his age; he just acted senile and oblivious to keep a low profile, and he was silently gathering evidence against the mafioso for the past twenty years, biding his time, waiting patiently for the right time to strike.
Mayor Chips was of English descent. He was a man of few hobbies and interests; one of those was football. He didn't really support any of the teams, but he hated one with the bottom of his heart, the 'hotspurs', nobody really knows why, there was something else that he hated, he hated the most in this world: naughty, incorrigible children.
He considered the Baldwins and the Donatellis exactly that.
"Angangangang..." The alarm buzzed loudly.
Mayor Chips half-opened his eyes, he extended his right hand, and searched for the bedside clock.
After he took care of the alarm, he struggled a little to find his glasses; he was practically blind without them.
He rubbed his eyes, put on his glasses, and got out of bed.
After half an hour, he left for his daily morning walk. Mayor Chips walked a few blocks to Central Park.
He went in, and as he walked on, he saw many familiar faces, those he saw every day.
All of them indulging in various activities to start their day, some jogging, some brisk walking, some just enjoying the fresh morning breeze, etc.
As he went deeper into the park where his 'spot' was, people were scarcely seen with each step.
Central Park was the pride of Purple City and especially of Mayor Chips. Central Park covers an area of over a thousand acres. It was one of the largest man-made parks in the country. It was Mayor Chips's passion project, which took decades to come to fruition.
At the deep end of the park, a man was feeding fish in a small pond. The pond was surrounded by thick vegetation, and no trace of any humans was seen.
The mayor called out, "Aah, Cedric, I thought I would find you here".
Cedric did not reply and kept on feeding the piscine.
"Here," the Mayor offered the man a cigarette, and the man took it.
"Umm Umm, Tell me, Cedric, what do you have for me today?"
The mayor lit the cigarette with a hearty drag.
"All five families will be attending today," Cedric whispered slowly.
"Is it? Those oversized children will all be in class, I see."
The Mayor looked annoyed.
Why are these idiots free to roam the country? Those good-for-nothing, load on earth, fat bovines...the Mayor cursed in his heart.
"Umm, Cedric, you know how it irks me what those jackasses have done to my City all these years, like locusts they have eaten the city from inside out, those sad excuses of men."
The Mayor breathed hard as he sat down on the bench beside him.
"Are you going?" Cedric spoke quietly.
"Yah, yah, I did receive an invite, but how could I not go, those red bottom baboons, those Donatellis would chew my ear off if I don't. I would not miss this at any cost, Cedric. It is the final service of that demon, tsk tsk tsk, I wanted to put him behind bars myself, but that muscular spud escaped from my hands once again, Umm Umm, I say Cedric justice no longer exists in this world."
Mayor Chips fidgeted with his overcoat button.
He started once again, "But you see, Cedric, justice will be served to those rotten sea urchins, I will serve it myself..."
"Be careful today, Mayor," Cedric cut off the Mayor mid-sentence.
"What are you talking about, huh? Umm Umm, hey, where are you going?..." before the Mayor could finish, the man left swiftly.
"Will you look at this? Ever since he left the police force, he has gone duller by the day. What an idiot!" Mayor Chips mumbled.
He checked his wrist...Mary will scold me again if I don't reach home in time, that silly cow.
As Mayor Chips exited the Park, he looked at the grand Cathedral overlooking Central Park.
He sighed and walked the path towards home.
Why would I need to be careful? Cedric, you silly goose.
The Mayor walked to the Cathedral for Vince Donatelli's memorial service alone; there is weirdly less crime in the city that the criminals ran.
As he saw the huge commotion and the long queue of expensive cars, his heart burned...Look, look, will you look at this pompous bunch of rugrats, huh? Stupid primates locking up the whole city traffic, not a care for the world, jackasses.
Everyone ignored Mayor Chips as he walked the neat green lawn of the St.Vicuna Cathedral, as if he did not exist.
Ummph humph, will you look at that, all the rotten apples are in one basket today, Oh is that Jordan Balomi of the Balomi family, a top rated scoundrel I say, Oh my that's Claudia Hill, as far as someone who warms beds of criminals, they say she is the best in business, deliquent wench, aah there is Robert Donatelli, that crayon guzzling muscle head...Mayor Chips sneered in his heart; the more of the people he recognised, the more he felt agitated, and he cursed each one of them as he passed them by.
When he entered the grand Cathedral hall, he felt relieved.
Suddenly, the Bishop caught his hand.
"Arthur, I was about to come find you. How many days has it been since your last confession, Sir? You cannot run from the Lord, remember that now".
Before Mayor Chips could blurt out words, the Bishop quickly left, acting busy, as they say, a shepherd has to tend to his sheep, doesn't matter if they need tending or not.
The Mayor stood there, confused for a second, then he started walking again. People were still showing up as he reached the pulpit before the church altar.
He noticed a band of three playing something that stood out in a church, something that did not fit the location or the occasion.
His eyes brushed past the musicians playing: a drummer, a synth player, and an electric guitarist.
"Mayor Chips, glad you could be here today. Come sit with us," Patricia Donatelli urged.
"How is Mrs Chip doing?"
"Oh, Umm, yeah, she is doing lovely, thank you...where..."
"How are you doing, Sir? I heard about your recent heart surgery. Must be tedious, right? It must be" Patricia barged in without listening to the Mayor's answer, answering her question herself.
Patricia left after her one-sided small talk; Victor Donatelli's voice roped in the Mayor's attention.
"Mayor Chips, my family and I appreciate your presence here today." Victor was polite and formal.
"Of course, Mr.Donatelli, Vincent was a great man; his contributions to this city will never be forgotten." Mayor Chips put on a sad smile.
I thank thee, Lord, for putting Vincent Donatelli in hell and granting peace to us citizens of Purple City. Amen. The Mayor gratefully prayed to the Lord Almighty.
Mayor Chips continued, "Ah, Mr.Donatelli, one more thing..."
The Bishop cut him off, " Oh, Victor, you are here, everything is ready, let's begin the ceremony, we are already running late. And Arthur, we will discuss your negligence of the Lord next time in confession soon, eh? Go now, take a seat."
The Bishop pulled Victor away with him.
"Wait, Wai.."Mayor Chips was left all alone.
Will you look at this locacious ninny? Who made him the Bishop, I wonder...
The Mayor sat in the front row with the Donatellis; he took his seat between Patricia and Valentina.
But his gaze was on Victoria, who was sitting right by Valentina, who appeared to be in a daze; she looked distracted.
As the ceremony began, the entire hall was quiet. After a ceremonial prayer from the Bishop, Victor took the podium.
He took out a piece of paper but did not read from it; he folded it back and kept it aside. Victor started, "My brother, as most of you know him, would not want us to be doing this for him...."
As the speech was going on, Mayor Chips observed that the band had stopped playing and were sitting beside their respective instruments.
Weren't there three of those musicians? Anyways...How long will a third-rate criminal like Vincent Donatelli be celebrated like this? He got killed like a dog that he was...
As Mayor Chips glanced around the grand hall, suddenly his eyes were stuck on Victoria, sitting a few inches away from him, his shuddered, he felt trepidation rising in his heart.
Golly, Victoria Donatelli! The Devil's step-mother herself. Oh Lord, hear my prayer, Amen.
The Mayor etched a cross in his heart.
The Mayor tried his best not to make eye contact with Victoria as he felt her gaze on him. He pretended to be immersed in Victor's eulogy speech.
Suddenly, he felt something, a sort of disturbance beside him.
Next, without any warning, Victoria stood up, turned around to face the back of the grand hall, took out her handgun, and shot precisely at the mezzanine floor at the other end of the hall.
Then two successive blasts occurred, and pinkish smoke diffused rapidly throughout. This wreaked havoc among those present.
Mayor Chips took quite some time to comprehend these events. He heard the loud gunfire and blasts, but he couldn't react.
When he did, he suddenly noticed a pain shooting up his left arm and enveloping his entire body with great urgency.
Mayor Chips grabbed his chest, the part where a person's heart is supposed to be, and slid from his seat onto the floor.
He was in immense pain now, all his strength leaving his body.
All he heard were muffled noises and some screams.
The pink smoke was everywhere, handicapping visibility in the hall.
After a moment, he felt like he was somewhere else.
He saw his father calling him. Next, he saw himself playing with his pet dog, then his marriage, and the scenes continued.
Life flashed before his eyes like a series of film reels taped together, and when the film ended, he saw Victor Donatelli's face.
Suddenly, anger surged within him; he gathered all the strength he had left and screamed "...HOTSPURS!" And those were the last words of Arthur Chips, Ex-Mayor of the Purple City. The final curtain of his had dropped.