Overheard at Table 2: Wicktims (106-110)

WICKTIMS

106. Rick “Vampire” Stevens.   Loaned his kid $500 to start his business of refurbishing old gaming equipment for resale.  Doesn’t think it will go anywhere, but it’s nice to see the kid working with his hands.

107. Nick Ledger.  This was a feeling that he thought he’d forgotten: Fear.  Not of dying, necessarily, but what comes immediately after.

108. Edward Carrazas.  After 15 years of saving and planning, he finally was able to buy a boat.  He named it THIS BOAT IS THE GOAT.

109. Holland Knight.  Live Fast, Die Young, Leave a Good Looking Corpse.  He had that on a t-shirt once.  He’s glad he got to fulfill it.

110. Cipriano Contreras.  Had spent yesterday arguing with a person whose doctoral thesis argued that writers should not discuss sex on open forums and if they do, they should lead with trigger warning.

Overheard at Booth 1: Wicktims (101-105)

WICKTIMS

101. DJ Mercy.  Maybe on the other side he’ll find out who killed Biggie.  Hell, maybe he’ll get to meet the man hisself!

102. Tommy DeShawn Jefferson.  Still not sorry that he broke his brother’s arm.  Little punk needed to learn his lesson.

103. T’yanna Nelson.  Wonders what the point of all this is.

104. Jesus Valdez.  Was trying to write a book, but someone told him that it was fanfic.  For some reason, he’s no longer interested in finishing his book.

105. Kim Castro.  Wouldn’t trade a day of her life for anything.  She had it good.  Well … until this moment, of course.

Overheard at Booth 1: Wicktims (96-100)

WICKTIMS

96. Mariusz Blazczak.  He had survived the Attack on New York, when the Avengers battled those alien invaders.  He thought if he could survive all those falling buildings, he could survive anything.

97. Gosswin Mussorsky.  A big fan of Basquiat.  He had a dream of saving up enough money one day to sit in a room and buy one.  He has $857,319.43 in a savings account for that one single purpose.   And no beneficiaries listed.

98. Kenny Two Beers.  His name is actually “Two Bears,” but HR screwed up his paperwork.  His last thought is that this is probably going to screw up his life insurance payout to his two daughters.

99. Jimmy Gomez.  Always knew a day was going to be a crap day unless he jerked off in the morning shower.  Today, he woke up late.  There was no time to jerk off in the shower.  Yup.  Crap day.

100. Santiago de la Rosa.  Dammit, now he’ll never get the chance to take his wife and kids to that all-inclusive resort in Yucatan.

Overheard at Booth 3: Wicktims (91-95)

WICKTIMS

91. Andy Nguyen.  Likes to spend his weekends arguing with strangers on Twitter.

92. Mark C Klein.  Damn, he really should have gone to law school with his twin brother.

93. Morgan Parker.  Ever since his PTSD diagnosis, he found that going to bed at 8pm and waking up at 3:30am would keep him from having the nightmares.

94. Tommy Kandinsky.  The one time he didn’t kick the stripper out of his apartment after the hook-up is the day he wouldn’t come home.  His last thought was that she was probably gonna rob him of all his stuff.

95. Luis Sanchez.  His favorite times in his life were backyard cookouts with the family, the loud roaring happy laughing family.  All his primos, tios y tias, and his wonderful abuelita with her homemade tamales.

Overheard at Table 3: Wicktims (86-90)

WICKTIMS

86. Ezra Carruthers.   Likes to go to the swimming pool in his apartment complex and watch all the girls.  Especially the young girls.  He has convinced himself that since all he does is watch and never touch, then it’s OK.

87. Lyn Wolseley.  Ex-wife never lets him see the kids whenever his child support is late, which he thinks is bullshit, but his lawyer is dragging his feet on trying to get that sorted out.

88. Michael O’Brien.  He always considered himself an NPR listener in a world full of AM Talk Radio.

89. Jeff Morgan.  He understands about being mad about the dog.  Someone killed his dog once, and he also sought revenge.  He wishes he could have been able to say that to John Wick, but the words didn’t make it past his slit throat.

90. Greg “Dino” Hofstedder.  Had a Miles Davis album, a bottle of Red, and his neighbor’s wife waiting for him back home.

Overheard at Table 4: Wictims (81-86)

WICTIMS

81. Michael Anderson.   Always bragged that he could kill any man with just a ball point pen.  Unfortunately for him, he had neglected to bring a ball point pen with him this day.

82. Lambert Griffin.  Favorite place he’s ever been is Iran, because the people are really friendly and the women are the most beautiful in the world.  Worst place he’s ever been is Saudi Arabia, where there is nothing to do except eat in the hotel restaurant, the Saudis are arrogant and always yelling at you, and you can’t tell if the women are beautiful or not because they’re covered from head to toe.

83. Charlie Pruitt.  Finds it hard to believe that he gave up a really good sales job to end it all like this.

84. Timmy Hawthorn.  When he saw Shannon Creek (No. 10) get killed, he thought that he would go and take care of her cats for her.  Now?  Well, looks like the cats are on their own.

85. Indus Morgan.  His parents always talk about the time they dropped him on his head when he was a child.  They even told that to every date he brought home as a teenager.  He stopped bringing people around his parents and hasn’t spoken to them since he was 19.

Overheard at Booth 3: Wicktims (76-80)

WICKTIMS

... continuing the most incredible collection of death hits by the monstrous killing machine that is John Wick...

76. Kerry Moss.  He likes the way his Guatemalan girlfriend says is name like “queremos,” which can either mean “we want ________”  or “we love _________,” depending on context.

77. Scott Schultz.  Was secretly taking dancing lessons in order to improve his coordination.

78. Steven Villa.   Has a crush on Ross Kendrick (No. 44).  Never had a chance to tell him.

79. Gianluca Bonello.   Had a crush on a girl, then she married him.  Now, the crush is over.  All he feels now … is crushed.

80. Jake Maresca.    Honest to God, if his wife wouldn’t piss him off, he wouldn’t have to hit her like he does.

Overheard at Table 5: Wicktims (71-75)

WICKTIMS

71. Michael Jugenthal.   His old man left when he was four.  Doesn’t even remember the old bastard.  Doesn’t really want to anyway.

72. Neil Chambers.   Joined the Navy just after high school. Best years of his life.  

73. Paul Wright.   Loves getting high on the weekends and listening to Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and Rush.

74. Houston Shell.   Loves going out to the gun range.  That’s really the only place he likes to be.  When he’s in the lane, practicing his groupings, he feels completely alone.  Solitary.  Independent.  

75. Victor Kidwiler.   Has an extensive collection of baseball cards, including many left to him by his father and grandfather.  One estimator valued his collection at a total value of $3.5 million.

Overheard at Table 2: Wicktims (66-70)

WICKTIMS

... the more that I was writing about these people, giving little lives to them, the more they began to flesh out as humans, and the more I began to realize that, whatever John Wick felt that he needed to do (survive, basically) it is still a loss that many of these characters will never get to go on and potentially live stories of their own.

66. Lindsey Smith.   Ever since getting out of the service, kept getting into fights and winding up in county jails.  Finally found this job, which he had hoped would be able to focus his rage and keep him out of trouble and make some money to boot.

67. Sheridan Maness.  Knows that it’s an unpopular opinion, but he still doesn’t think women should be in the military.

68. Ken Duncan.   Really hates all this LGBTQ stuff.  Wishes that everyone would just stay closeted, like his uncle was.   He really respected his uncle, and how he carried that burden grimly and with stoicism.

69. Jennifer Sickler.   She doesn’t mind being called a bitch.  She’s not here to make friends.  She knows that any of these assholes could turn on her at any moment.   She’s pissed that she is dying at the hands of a man.  She was hoping to die of cancer.

70. Nathan Homratshany.   The face of his mother floats before him now, the smile that she had, the smile that he always remembered as she brought a tray of food to him and his friends as they played video games in the living room.  He was the hit of the neighborhood.  His mom made the best food, and all his friends wanted to come over to his place.

Overheard at Booth 4: Wictims (61-65)

WICKTIMS

But is John Wick really a role model?  I mean, wow dude, that's a lot of bodies piling up here...

 

 

61. Khalid Al-Assaf.   Loved vacations where he could go to the beach and charm German tourist girls and get them to spend the sultry nights in his hotel room.  He loved it when there were multiples.  Even better when they were sisters.  Once, he even had a mother-daughter menage-a-trois.

62. Stewart Weinberger.   Loved magic tricks.  Slight of hand was his favorite.  Practiced for hours how to pull cards out of thin air.  Panicked when he saw his fingers removed from his hand.  But the panic did not last long.

63. Len Cella.   Always dreamed of being a pilot.  Ever since he was a little boy, with a cape, jumping off the roof of his father’s ranch style house.

64. Pietra Van Skoyc.  Often found himself drunk and wandering along the canals, singing old Led Zeppelin songs.

65. Carl Bylund.   Loves cranberry sauce on his pancakes. Every girlfriend he ever had was grossed out by that.

 

 

 

Overheard at Table 3: Wicktims (56-60)

WICKTIMS

In a way, I'm hoping that this list will inspire more fanfic to write background stories for other nameless (often faceless) humans who are nothing more than roadkill for the MC.

 

56. Lee Huang.   His grandfather used to lock him him in a non-functioning freezer for several hours at a time, in order to make him get used to the solitude and the dark.  He thought it would make the boy strong, but it only made him silent.

57. Fuk Ngo.   Always pretended to hate how his American buddies would use his name (“Are we gonna lose?”  “FUK NGO!”  “Are our enemies gonna walk outta here?”  “FUK NGO!”), but really, he was touched by it. 

58. Hussein al Bar Zawi.  Had a calculating mind.  Always crafty.  Always looking for the alternative plan.  The way of achieving the objective if the planned ways failed.   However, on this day, he ducked right when he should have ducked left.

59. Ziad Al-Jama.   Always enjoyed seeing his enemies blood spilling on the ground.   His last sight on this earth was seeing his own blood spilling on the ground.

60. Nasir Al-Sa’adi.  His one joy in this world was teaching his littlest daughter how to read.  Her voice was like tiny bells, and he goes to his death with the memory of that sweet sweet sound in his ears, almost as if she were reading a story to him to carry him into that which lies beyond this world.