Fiction
Felix Thursday
The Story of Paul
This is the story of Paul. When he was a child, Paul was usually
picked last for kickball. Paul often watched cartoons. He often smoked
marijuana, and often drank alcoholic beverages. Paul often listened to
hard rock. Then, Paul became an arsonist.
He started with construction sights and abandoned buildings, but
soon worked his way up to apartment buildings and churches, fire
stations and homes for the elderly.
Paul sang in a church choir. His pastor thought Paul had a good
voice. Paul started spending less and less time with his family, and
more and more time singing in his church and starting more and more
fires. He drank more and more alcohol, smoked more and more marijuana,
and watched more and more cartoons.
People were dying in Paul's fires. Still, Paul continued
starting them--ever more increasingly, in fact. Some witnesses spotted
Paul's car (and Paul) at the sights of some of the blazes.
Paul thought a lot about work, a lot about his church choir, and
a lot about starting new fires, blazing infernos and gigantic
conflagrations. Paul was really into starting fires.
The police collected evidence and testimonies from many of the
witnesses. They had an artist sketch a picture that looked very much
like Paul. His family had already begun to suspect Paul. When the
local newspaper ran a composite sketch of Paul, their suspicions were
confirmed. They decided to turn Paul in to the police.
The police followed Paul. Eventually the police had enough
incriminating evidence that they went ahead and apprehended Paul. Paul
confessed. Now he's doing time. Poor Paul.
This is based on an actual true-type story.
This, uh, story appeared in Church on Thursday, Issue # 4, sometime in 1995.
