The Three Flamingos
By: Enne Baker
Tags: LGBTQ, Humanity, Love, History, Fiction

The Three Flamingos

A Short Story (Part 4 of 6)

Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash

Adam woke up the next day, and the blizzard continued. The fire was still intense, and Levi, still sleeping by it. Adam went to check on his friend and placed his face close to his — to feel if he was breathing. He felt the air coming out of his nostrils and it made Adam comfortable enough to leave him on his own to acquire food somewhere, bundling his blanket around himself as he prepared for the cold and made sure his toes had enough blood circulation, to take on the weather once again. He made sure his sandals were dry. He left the cave to find the snow was up to his kneecaps as he walked to the bushes — trying to see if there were any fruits to pick. He searched and searched, only to find that most of the summer bushes, now ambushed by snow, carried no fruits. Adam hit the empty bushes with a stick out of frustration at times, and after he caught his breath and threw the rod, he heard a loud yelp — it sounded like a woman. Adam slid down from the hill to investigate and saw an elderly lady that looked to be her seventies, with a basket of apples. She was on the ground and had a small cut on her forehead. It was hard to tell that it was a wound since the blizzard was ongoing, and the snowflakes were hitting them so quickly. She covered her wound, using her hand against the bothering snow. Adam approached her, struggling with every problematic step.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” She spoke in German and Adam, stood there, puzzled.

The lady reached out her hand, implying that she needed help to get on her feet. Adam took her hand and pulled her up, gently and delicately. There were a few apples on the ground, and every time Adam had his eyes on them, his need became overwhelming. He took one and returned it to the lady, and held onto a pair — trying to ask the woman through gestures if he could have them, while trying to get around the language barrier.

“You cannot have them. Give them back to me,” she said.

“So you do understand English?”

“Yes, you homeless American. Give it back to me,” she demanded.

“Please — ”

“Do you have a habit of robbing elderly women?”

“I’m not robbing you.”

“I know it was you who threw that stick at my face, hoping I wouldn’t notice within the blizzard, but I am not blind.”

Adam dropped one apple and pointed his pistol at her, and she failed to get her gun out of her holster in time. Adam’s blanket fell out of his shoulder, and she saw the pink and yellow triangle on his striped jumpsuit.

“I should’ve known,” she said.

“Put the gun down,” he said, and she obeyed.

Adam took the gun and laid the blanket flat on the snow, and held it down so the wind wouldn’t blow it away.

“Give me the basket. I’m taking half of what you have.”

The lady did what he said, and Adam poured out half of the apples and gave it back to her, but not the gun. He placed the apples on the wet eroded blanket and tied the fruits together and held it.

“I want you to keep walking and not look back until I shoot in the air, then you are free to do what you please,” Adam said, and the lady grinned.

“Ha! ‘Then you are free to do what you please.’ Says the unfree who will never be. How ironic is that?”

Adam shot the gun in the air and startled her.

He pointed the gun back toward her and said, “That means you walk now.”

The senior woman spat on his side of the snowy ground as she turned around and walked away. Minutes later, Adam shot the gun again, as he went back to the cave. Adam’s toes and fingers felt numb from the cold, the blood, on the other hand, was rushed with strain, with carrying the apples. He arrived at the cave, and saw Levi was still laying there — in the same position — the fire not burning as brightly as it was when Adam left. The fire was now dim, and close to going out.

Adam went to Levi’s bedside and said, “Levi, dinners ready, get up, food is finally here,” but Levi’s eyes didn’t open.

He pressed his face on to his, and his body felt cold — corpse cold. He did not feel any breathing, and he placed his head on his chest, no heartbeat. Adam threw off the blanket and unbuttoned Levi’s shirt, attempting to do CPR. He pressed his hand on Levi’s chest and did mouth to mouth, without success. After multiple attempts it was hopeless. Adam cried and held Levi in his arms, like a babe. His tears fell on to Levi’s face and bare chest.

“Oh — no — no! Levi — Levi — please.”

His mourning possessed him even further, “Somebody! Somebody help! Please! God, please, please, please!”

He caressed his face and moved his dark brown hair around. He kissed him on his forehead and covered his face with his blanket, and restarted the fire. Adam opened the blanket holding the apples, and taking one, he started eating. As he was eating, his bites and chews were filled with sorrow, and at times it was hard to swallow. He couldn’t be crying while he was eating. There were moments when he ate too much and choked, then vomited outside the cave.

A few hours later it was sunny. It was warm as well. Adam took the whole day to dig the ground with his bare hands, then covering Levi with both blankets, he wrapped him like a mummy to preserve his body from insects.

“I will come back to get you. I won’t leave you here. I will give you what you want and cremate you somewhere more fitting of your honor, one day. I will help you soar. I’m sorry that you will be trapped again for a time, as you can see, my options are limited. I will have to take care of myself first before I can help you. I will do this as soon as I can. I promise. Like I said before, and I meant every word of it — this can’t be it for us, it won’t be forever and it sure as Hell won’t be for you,” Adam said.

He got on his knees and prayed, and afterward spilled the dirt and soil back into the hole, on Levi’s body. Adam continued onward and hid behind a bush once again.

A passenger car was driving by the road, and Adam ran to the highway and pulled his gun out in front of the man who was driving.

“Stop the car! Stop right there! Unlock the car!” Adam sat on the passenger’s seat of the car and pointed his gun.

The man was scared and had his hands up.

“Please I don’t want any trouble,” the man said.

“What’s your name?”

“Gereon,” the man said.

“Gereon, you are going to take me to the airport. You will give me all your money, passport, and any assets that will get me to America, you understand? Or else you will die.”

Gereon nodded, and his hands were still up.

“Do I have to repeat myself? Take me to the airport now!”

Gereon, did what he was told and drove away, taking Adam to the Berlin airport.

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