All I ever wanted was to be a watchmaker.  Like my father and grandfather before me.  takes a drag from his cigarette

I remember them hunched over their workbenches in a quiet companiable silence as they cleaned and fixed the watches of our neighbourhoods families, occasionally working on larger fancier pieces from the homes of the more affluent the managers and owners rather than the workers hot footing it along the streets. 

I left school as soon as I was able to learn everything I could about these marvellous creations, as my grandfather said they where the perfect balance of engineering, science and art a little piece of machinery with soul and a heartbeat.  

those where the happiest years of my life. until the war came.  

I was drafted into the US Army and spent three years fighting across Europe. when the war ended in 1945 i thought id be going home but i wasn't released from duty for another 4 years.  

come home i expected to find my families shop exactly as I left it. 

but no the shop was gone, my family was gone.

talking to my neighbour Mr Andelo he told me my father and grandfather had been killed in a robbery and that my mother had moved in with her sister across the city.  

when i saw her she broke into tears it took me some time before I eventually get the entire story. My family hadn't been killed in a robbery they refused to pay someone for protection. The anger that poured through me changed me.  Vendetta. 

now im stood on a street corner across from club where these goons hang out waiting.  

 waiting for the opportunity to put .45 lead through each of their skulls with my service pistol. I knew i wouldn't even feel the recoil.  

and now, they've arrived. 

"BANG"