Street Justice

Jason Bruce

Description

In a world where those at the top seem to constantly get away with murder, often quite literally, where white collar crime is punished with a mere slap on the wrist or more often than not just swept under the rug, wouldn't it be nice to see at least some form of punishment meted out? Street Justice poses one of those big what if questions that lurk in the back of our minds. What would we like to see happen to that murderer when he's caught? What if those muggers chose the wrong person to steal from and got a severe beating for their troubles? Now imagine if one day the government decided to do something about it, a token gesture at least, and offer the choice between thirty years behind bars for playing a role in crashing the stock market, or thirty days seeing how the other half, in this case, the homeless. What with overcrowding in prisons as it is, as well as public resentment at having to pay their taxes for people like that to serve a shortened sentence in an open prison watching TV, getting three meals a day when ordinary folk rely on food banks, wouldn't it make more sense to give them a much shorter, but much harsher sentence sleeping out in the cold, eating out of rubbish bins, etc? Based on trust, in this scenario there would be no need for walls, barbed wire, armed guards, etc, only an independent film maker and his crew, moderate government funding and a team of three genuinely homeless men with drug and alcohol issues to run the show. What could possibly go wrong? Heaven forbid it ever did and word were to get out, the whole thing might just be swept under the rug, all footage of the event seized, never to see the light of day ever again. But what if, just if, a transcript of the recorded material still existed? Now imagine those shameless champagne guzzling, tax avoiding, let them eat cake boys getting the only real justice they deserve. Street Justice!

Informations

• Publié par: eBookPartnership.com
• Date de parution: 08 août 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783019878
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

2016 Jason Bruce
Jason Bruce has asserted his rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
First published in eBook format in 2016
ISBN: 9781783019878
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
All names, characters, places, organisations, businesses and events are either the product of the author s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Introduction
Street Justice is one of those what ifs in life. It s one of those introductions we hear at the start of every ad for a fantasy or science fiction film that goes a little like, Imagine a world... , etc. An if only of sorts, with one foot firmly planted in the reality of the here and now, rather than on the surface of some distant planet populated by alien creatures. The here and now part of the story is that thing that supposedly makes the world go around, and how the white collar criminals in our so called society, manage to get away with amassing sizable portions of it whilst honest, hard working people are dragged over the coals for even the most minor of offences, (parking tickets spring to mind). The what if part taps into that eye for an eye part of us which gets those cogs in our brains turning, and our emotions seeing us shouting at the TV during the evening news as yet another slap on the wrist story unfolds. Street Justice is basically a what it says on the tin type of deal. None of this Just leave em stranded on an island with no food or water! rant, but rather a form of social justice where rather than Dracula being left in charge of the blood bank, we have something more akin to the lunatics being left in charge of the asylum for want of a better analogy. So there we have it, payback time for thirty white collar scum bags, their assets frozen, their fancy suits traded in for stain covered, hole filled rags, their silk sheets now replaced by sheets of the printed morning edition variety. Thirty days and thirty nights lay ahead in the charge of three homeless men, for whom this is a chance to do their part for the underdog, and to heal their own scars whilst inflicting as much discomfort and humiliation upon this collective blight on society. The perfect plan.
Imagine a world...
Warning: If you are under the age of eighteen, offended by strong language, references to drug use, violence, or any other topics which might be considered to be of an adult nature, or what reasonably might be considered offensive in general, please refrain from reading any further. Though some events within this story are based around anecdotes by family members, friends, colleagues, etc, to which the author has been privy over the years, and can neither be proven, nor disproven, thus the story, as a whole, should be regarded as being fictitious, as are the characters, whose comments or opinions do not reflect those of the author.
Disclaimer: Should you choose to ignore the above warning you do so of your own free will, for which the author accepts no responsibility for any offence which may have been taken in have so doing. In short, a clear warning regarding content has already been issued, therefore, in deciding to read further, you are agreeing to accept the above mentioned terms in full.
Author s notes:
Scenes from the documentary footage are described on a shot by shot basis.
Action in conjunction with dialogue is shown in brackets.
Terms such as we see , we return to , or cut to denote the speed at which the scenes move back and forth.
Narration is provided by a Scots lady. (The author s choice, with a close friend in mind during the writing process, though as the reader you are free to hear whichever voice you choose, in much the same way that description regarding personal appearance is kept to a minimum with the same spirit in mind)
The documentary is set in 2011, therefore, for the sake of realism in keeping with censorship regulations of that period, all expletives are BLEEPed out, whilst at the same time, leaving nothing to the imagination.
Meths refers to Methylated spirits, an Ethanol based form of alcohol, stereotypically thought of as the drink of choice for the homeless in days gone by, which can cause severe health problems or even death with prolonged use.
Regarding dialogue, authenticity was the goal, thus, sarcasm, stereotypes, etc, reflect the way in which, like it or not, a vast number of people speak, or at least think, outside the PC realm, and behind closed doors. In simple terms, in this story, please don t expect an apple, which looks like, smells like, and tastes like an apple, to be anything other than that.
Street Justice
By
Jason Bruce
Dedicated to Rose
Contents
Introduction
Author s notes:
Episode One
Episode Two
Episode Three
Episode Four
Episode Five
Episode Six
Episode One
We get our first look at the setting for the series, a disused Royal Air Force base in the north of England, the air bitterly cold, the hour, a little too early for some of those, twenty nine so far, standing around. The cameraman pans around, and we see three disheveled individuals, (Chaz, a rather thin, short haired man with a few teeth missing, and others blackened. Loafer and Stash, slightly less thin, though influenced by Chaz s shell suit fashion approach) who stand looking members of the group over with disdain, whilst chatting amongst themselves. A subtitle reads, The Instructors .
Narrator: Meet the team running the show. Three actual homeless men, Chaz, Loafer, and Stash, sent into the thick of it to take the bull by the horns, and to take no bull from the liars, cheats, and thieves in their charge.
We are now treated to a montage of some of the hustle and bustle in London s financial district, upscale restaurants where middle aged businessmen work through their lunch hour going over facts and figures, proposed mergers, and takeover bids as they sip fine wines and enjoy the special of the day. Snapshots of gorgeous houses, gorgeous cars, and gorgeous women flash onto the screen. And last but not least, a well dressed man being helped out of a car in front of a court building, who then proceeds to raise his hands in front of his chest, thus showing his handcuffs, smiling as if he hasn t a care in the world.
Narrator: The plan is simple, to take our thirty fellas , every one a criminal in their own right, and turn their worlds upside down. This is Street Justice, a tale of the reformed, the reformers and the hurdles they faced...
The Houses of Parliament fill the screen, silhouetted against a grey, cloud filled sky.
Narrator: Together.
We see the face of Big Ben as it strikes one whilst darkness falls.
A title reads, Day One .
We see the undisclosed location where training will take place. Off in the distance on the main road a car turns and heads toward the main gates of the base at a slow pace.
Narrator: Day one hadn t started well for one of the gang who was about to get a little lesson in street etiquette from Chaz, a man, although small in stature, was about to prove that he was not one to get on the wrong side of.
The driver of the car, a Rolls Royce, a middle aged man looking every inch the type of guy who might well adorn the cover of Time Magazine as its man of the year stands next to it. A subtitle reads, Stuart .
Narrator: Chaz might not be the go to guy when it comes to getting tips on fashion, cleanliness, or social skills, but he does understand one thing...
Chaz s face fills the screen, his displeasure clear. A subtitle reads, Chaz-Instructor .
Narrator: That he s in a position which commands respect...And being late, in his book, is a sign that that s something you definately don t have any of.
Stuart s upper half fills the screen as he brushes the lapel of his overcoat with the back of his hand whilst looking rather bored.
Narrator: Oh dear Stuart, somewhere else you d rather be? Back at the office perhaps?
A dark haired, middle aged woman stands at a desk packing her belongings into a cardboard box, never looking at the camera, occasionally dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve in between taking a minute or two to look over a document before its fate of the box, or the wastepaper bin is decided. A subtitle reads, Amy .
Narrator: Meet Amy, Stuart s secretary for the last ten years at B****, S******** K****, the London based company where she worked for almost twenty years in all. Tall, elegant, and bursting with natural charm, Amy struggles to fight back the tears as she lays out a few facts about the man whom she first got to know, the man she got to admire, and the man she finally got to wish was six feet under.
Amy sits on a plush sofa in the living room of her apartment, again choosing to shy away from the camera, a tear clearly never far away.
Amy: I d gone straight from college to work there, and right from the beginning it was a great place to work. The owner of the company, Mr. R******, was getting ready to retire, but he hung on for another thirteen years, an unlucky number it turns out, because he d got no children, and was worried about what would happen to his company.
A man in his late thirties to early forties appears at this point with a tray of tea and biscuits and takes a seat on the sofa next to Amy. A subtitle reads, Martin-Amy s Partner/Former Colleague At B****, S******** K**** .
Martin: He was a gambler, who gambl