The Good Guy

Scene: A nearby larger town’s bustling coffee shop three weeks after Ned’s confrontation.

“Hey Ned,” I yelled trying to get his attention, “over here.”

“Sorry”, Ned said, “I didn’t hear you. I’ve got a lot of things on my mind.”

“I bet. I heard about what happened with you and Bud, must have been a long night for you and that woman trapped up there in the big storm.” I said as I motioned towards a couple just getting up to leave.

“You could say that.”

“What exactly were you thinking when you realized that that woman had consented to going up there with Bud?” I asked sitting down opposite him at the secluded corner table.

“I guess, from the moment I saw Jordy I knew she was the right woman for me. I knew the kind of scum that Bud was and because Jordy seemed so perfect, I thought that there would be no way in her right mind that she would consent to heading up to Bud’s cabin alone if she knew the real truth about him.”

“I heard that Jordy testified at your hearing for Bud’s murder and not exactly in your favor.”

“Apparently she sees me as the ‘bad guy’ in the situation. I’m not really sure how she came to believe this but to her, Bud was the victim. You know Bud. You know how he is, with his lies and smooth talking and the way he blames all of his life problems on everyone but him. I still cannot bring myself to understand exactly how I am the ‘bad guy’. I tried explaining to her my reasoning after I had shot Bud.
He reached for the gun first and I had to protect her. God knows what he might have done to her after he realized I was about to reveal to her his real identity. The whole time after she just stood there shivering and shrinking away from me in the corner. I keep trying to contact her to get her to listen to me but she apparently has disconnected her phone lines.”

“Do you think you’re going a little overboard here? I mean you had what, about three conversations with her before you raced up to Bud’s cottage declaring your unending devotion? Do you think that the remoteness of your teensy town has left you a little too lonely and desperate?” I asked a tad frightened that I had overstepped my boundaries.

“Yes, the dark, long nights are hard to bare and I have been looking for a companion but I know that Jordy is the right person for me. You have got to believe me. I had to kill Bud. I know what he would have done if he had reached the gun first. I wouldn’t be here talking to you right now. He would have reasoned his way out punishment for my murder and convinced Jordy to stay with him secluded in his cabin. Then it would have been too late to protect her from his moral turpitude. I just couldn’t have let that happen to a girl like Jordy.”


“Bud was a rough character,” I said, rethinking my own interactions with the man, “but do you really think he was as conniving as you make him out to be?”

“Listen, maybe you don’t know about Bud the way I do but he was not a good person. He didn’t deserve Jordy. He lies. He steals. He cheats. Maybe I’m biased, but what on earth could he offer her that I couldn’t? I work hard and am truly interested in providing a good life for her. We seemed to have a real connection. It should be so simple. Jordy should be mine. I should have found a way to win her in that auction. In fact, Bud even lied about that money. He probably stole it all from some old lady. After all, he did just get out of prison.” Ned ranted, an angry flush already beginning to appear at his collar.

“Ya but if Jordy was such a good person and she saw something she liked in Bud, doesn’t that prove that he is a little better than you say he is?” I reasoned, thinking it through as I lifted my steaming coffee mug to warm my hands.

“The simple and plain fact is that I knew Bud and his true personality. Jordy didn’t. She’s got things all wrong. I still can’t get that image out of my head: her horrified face as she watched me take control of the situation and fend for her life and my own against Bud. I have to make her see that I am the ‘good guy’", he said quietly, by now lost in his own thoughts, gazing out the window at the white flakes already beginning to gather.

Madeline Hinkamp