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The Crash Maker

John Ragusa

    Local news reporter Harry Godney had noticed that there was an unusually high number of plane crashes recently. Several of them had different causes. Some planes had been struck by lightning. Others had their engines go down. A few crashed because of human error. Godney believed there was something linking these various air accidents. What could it be, though?
    He got his answer when a reptilian man with Peter Lorre eyes came to his office one day. He identified himself as Cotton Sedler, and he claimed to know what really made all those crashes take place. This was too irresistible for Godney to pass up. He allowed the man to talk with him.
    Sedler wasted no time in getting to the point. He said, “The force that caused those plane crashes was me.”
    Godney raised an eyebrow. “You?”
    “Yes, me. I was the person responsible for those tragedies. You see, I have the will to make airplanes crash, either by accident or by a pilot’s mistake.”
    Godney stared at him incredulously. “All right, suppose what you say is true. Exactly what do you get by making airplanes go down?”
    Sedler smiled wickedly. “I want to be famous.”
    “I don’t get you.”
    “I’m asking you to write a story about me and have it published in your newspaper.”
    Godney shook his head. “You’re insane.”
    “No, sir. I am not crazy. As the number of plane accidents continue to occur, you will realize that what I say is the truth. Just wait and see.”
    “But you’ll either be incarcerated or jailed for the casualties.”
    “I doubt that anyone will believe the story.”
    Godney hesitated a while. Then he told the man, “Okay. I’ll drive you to my house. I have a tape recorder there. You can recite your story on the machine.”
    Sedler’s eyes lit up like a neon sign. “Superb! Let’s go there.”
    They got inside Godney’s car, and he took them to his residence. They went inside. Godney walked to a desk and opened it. But instead of taking out a tape recorder, he produced a handgun.
    Sedler frowned. ‘What are you doing?”
    “I keep this gun for protection,” Godney explained. “If I can save people’s lives by killing you, then that’s precisely what I’ll do. That’s why I will use this weapon.”
    Sedler watched in horror as Godney shot him neatly in the head.
    After he died, Godney was content in the knowledge that the little man would cause no more plane crashes.

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