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Jimper/Book One/ProloguePage |2
PROLOGUE
From a practical point of view, life is arathersimple proposition. Weallare born basicallythe same way,and inevitably,we all die. It’s what we do between those two points that make usdiffer from one another.Here, between those two points, I wait.This is my moment, my very own defining moment.Weall have a defining moment in our lives. Some people barely notice it, but it’sinvariablythere. It could be something as simple as seeing or hearing a work of art that moves usor listening to an inspiring story. It could be something completely different and as plain as a wordwe said at a momentwhen we should have kept silentor an act we committed in an instant andwithout much thought.There are some for whomthis moment is the catapult to a higher destiny. For others, itisthe fall into an abyss of regret and guilt. For a fewpeople,that instant signalsthe end, but somelive a lifetime afterwardto ponder whatcouldhavebeendone differentlyinthat split second, howwecould havechanged that forlorn moment that defined us forever, that single actthatchanged usso deeply, so profoundly, so fundamentally. Was ita triumphantmoment orwas ita mistake? Onlytime will decide.Yet,given the same circumstances,weprobablywould repeat it all over again withoutmuch hesitation,whether the results were positive or negative.The fact remains that we are whowe are,and we will respond to the samestimuliin basically the sameunaltered, almost automatedfashion over and over again.After all, “man is the only animal that would stumble over the samerock twice.” In the end, the events that takeus to that instant become wretchedly irrelevant by thesimple irreversible nature of time.Even so, I know deep inside there was no other choice for me.At least,that is what I willtellmy conscience for years to comein a futile attempt to subdue the torment of knowing I will bedamned for eternity just for doing the right thing,for doingwhat hasto be done.
Thou shallnot kill.
 
Jimper/Book One/ProloguePage |3As I pressed my finger against the trigger of the old gun, the hammer violently struck the back of the cartridge, making the gunpowder explode and propelling the bullet through the barreland into theforehead of the terrified man. All I could selfishly think was how I, too, wasdying inthatvery moment. How my soul, the essence of who I was,had instantly changed. How I was leftthere looking at him falling, still alive yet already dead onto my feet without uttering a word,hislook of horror the lone apology forall his crimes and the bitter reward for the singlesinI had justcommitted. Leaving me suspended in that lonely, sad and so miserably irrevocable moment whenmy life changed forever.“For all the others you will not harm,” I whispered as I walked away into the darkness of the Havana night.Every fiber in my body wanted me to run. Run away from those dying eyes, eventhoughIknew how futile it was trying to escape them. They would stalk me wherever I went from thismoment on, until my own death. Many years later as I slept comfortably, liberated at last from his physical persecution, I would still wake up in the middle of the night, screaming in horror as Idreamt that I strolled the streets of Havana surrounded by myloved onesand suddenly realized Iwas trapped there again, not able to leave, and his eyescoming to hunt me!I walked a bit slower now, under the trees lining the street, alone in the immense citymostly asleep at this late hour. A few blocks away I realized I was still holding the gun inmyhand. Crouching down near a sewage drain,I smashed it against the curband dropped the piecesinto the drain. The scene from The Godfather where Michael Corleone walks away after committing a murder and disposes of the weapon as he was told to do, flashed in my mind.Funnyhow the mind sometimes has a mind of its own.But I wasn't content with just disposing of the gun. I wanted to destroy it to prevent it fromkilling again, perhaps to reassure myself thatIcould not kill again.I am nothing like themoviecharacter. At least not until this moment, this instant in a lifetime, this turning point that wouldforever change the way I see myself.My name isDanielGomez-Mendieta, but everyone simply calls meDanny. I amtwenty-sixyears old and the elder of two sons, born into a loving family and heir to an incalculable familyfortune. Three months ago Iwas the youngest student ever tograduate Magna Cum Laude fromthe Havana School of Medicine.
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