A Bad Case of Forgetfulness - Part 6

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If great photographers can make the camera lie, then the primitive, heavy-footed beast who sloped onto the scene next, with his knuckles nearer to the ground than his knees, would have been one of the best. In the past, when occasion had called for it, this man-thing had made swollen black eyes look like shotgun wounds, and brutal police beatings look nothing more serious than restraining marks. Though not a corrupt man in himself, he was corruptible. His historical fault was doing what he was told, just because he was told to do it. Mackintosh, the Crime Scene Photographer, was going to hell on someone else's command.

Davies waved the photographer over towards Ransack who was sucking the entrails out of his cigarette. He introduced the two men, and failing dismally to keep his smile an internal one,  said “Well, you did ask for a smoker, Sir.”

Now at a stop, standing there slouching in his white elasticated forensic suit, Photographer Mackintosh cut out an even sorrier sight than what he appeared at a distance. Here was a man who lived vicariously through his camera... pointed it towards any number of perverse scenes and felt innocent because he was looking at it indirectly. His instrument of work was his access to forbidden and secret pleasures; the lens and viewer his own personal little glory holes.

Ransack may not have known quite what to do with a photographer but he somehow knew that men who get to forty-five and have greasy, livery skin, a nose full of blackheads, and who are hunched over through years of mischievous wanking are often not the most sterile of souls. And even if others could support them, Ransack couldn't, and for some reason he detested such squalid, living low-life with a passion.

Ransack looked at Mackintosh like he was a cockroach. “I hope your abdominal muscles are stronger than they look,” he sneered, “beause if not, what lays to the left of this door... what you're about to get down and dirty with, will make you shit and vomit at the same time. Now don't say you've not been warned!”

Mackintosh's eyes crunched into a squint and a sick leer rode upon his lips. He brought his wrist towards his mouth and spat a dollop of foamy gob onto its underside. With it he began cleaning and buffing up the lens of his camera. “Well I hope that's not all boast, Inspector,” he said, never once raising his eyes to his subject, “the last time I saw anything worthy of a few personal frames was over five years ago during my time with the traffic police. That was some gig! Though after you've done road kill there's nothing left. Anyway, if we're all set shall we get on? With a bit of luck maybe I can still make use of the little light that's left.”

Ransack gave the faintest of nods, and together the three men entered the room...


9 comments:

  1. A bit of a scrappy post, and even though there's a nice description of Mackintosh it doesn't serve to get us any further along and so on that score wastes the page. Still, it's better to write that which isn't needed rather than to not write at all... And if I can't waste 'virtual' space, then what can I? X

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  2. oh yeah, that mackintosh is one badass with his 'worthy of a few personal frames' comment after ransack's warning. definitely someone i may unfairly or fairly be a bit wary of based on appearance, as just reading the description made me cringe a bit.
    and i like that word, 'scrappy' (in your comment). i think i'll start using it more in conversation.

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  3. "wasting virtual space". Now that's an interesting concept!..We could move on to re-use of virtual space or maybe conservation and restoration of virtual spaces...nice play of words is all i can say.

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  4. His instrument of work was his access to forbidden and secret pleasures; the lens and viewer his own personal little glory holes.

    You really hate this guy!

    There's a reporter they were interviewing over the phone hacking scandal. He was on all the news progs since he was a self-confessed hacker for money(getting as much as he could while he was 'hot' via these interviews). And he was such a rat-like stereotype of the corrupt weaselly reporter that Will Self, who was on a prog with him (along with Alan Partridge and film of Hugh Grant - it was surreal) actually called him a Rat-Like creature. Anyway I think Macintosh looks like that.

    I don't think it was a waste at all. It's all about introducing The Mac. Presumably a Scot. (Also connotations of rainy Mac, grubby man) So we've got England Wales and Scotland. Got to introduce a Paddy now!

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  5. id...

    Scrappy dappy dappy DOOOOOoooooo....

    "Let me at 'im, Let me at 'im!... Da-da-da-da-da-da, Puppy Power!".

    The famous last words of Scooby Doo's ashmatic looking little nephew, Scrappy Doo.

    Scooby Doo is my favourite kids cartoon ever... I still buy DVD's of it now when I find them. Some things, no matter how simple, create fantastic worlds that you can slip into, and that's one of them for me. I love all the corny detective work and even when they've unmasked the evil lunatic who's created ghostly holograms, sliding walls and genius flying devices, none of the clues still don't make any sense! Then of course there's Scooby himself who never fails to end every other episode sitting on the face of some 220 pound psycho who has some unquenchable need to chase and scare kids! Oh I love it... I'm gonna watch some from bed tonight! X

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  6. Absolut Ruiness... many people nowadays live in virtual space, really. They'll be on the train and looking up on Google what the weather is like outside! I do that all the time... and then write about it! lol X

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  7. Hiya Sir Joe,

    It's not me who hates him: it's Ransack... it just so happens that I am Ransack (at least I am until he remembers who he is!)

    The Rainy Mac/dirty mac thing is the little idea behind his name.

    I agree, it's not (or wouldn't be a waste of space) if this was a full length book or novella, but as a short story and with Mackintosh playing no further role in it, I think it should have been a one line description and then into the room (progress the story). The reason I didn't was because I was rushed for time and for me it's always much moretime consuming working on plot that characterization. Because I write on the moment I sometimes sudeenly realize "hang on, this isn't going to work!" I can then either perservere and spend another two or three hours writing, or write someything nice to read anyway, regardless of whether it needs to be there or nopt. I always do the latter and dwell on the plot problem for the next post. With WFJ I often had similar problems and they would be the posts where Tristram went internal and would post his thoughts about himself or the world, or a memory. I can write stuff like that very quickly and it's fun to write it and fun to read it back. But for the length of this story I don't think it was needed. The post started with Ransack outside the room waiting to go in and finished two pages later with him in exactly the same position. If I wanted to give a nice description of the photographer I could have at least have done it while the story progressed... giving a little more detail each time I mentioned what Mackintosh was doing in the room, or what Ransack thought while looking at him. But again, the reason I didn't take them into the room was because, just like Ransack, I didn't have any idea of what I should do once I was in there! X

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  8. You're being too hard on yourself! I don't think every post has to forward the plot. Even in this format. People read for other reasons. Also a bit of suspense is nice. It's almost like Poirot gathering the suspects one by one into the room where he'll reveal who the killer is.

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  9. scooby doo was my favorite cartoon growing up, and back then i never questioned the absurdity of it all, haha. i like what you said about it having that world you can slip into...i've got the same kind of thing for the (american) show 'three's company'. something about watching that show makes me feel like everything is ok in the world, as insane as that sounds.

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If you're here to write something malicious I thank you in advance for wasting your precious time on me. X