Prelude

It came before the first chapter
-it sauntered in like nobody's business
already ready to cause some sort of
trouble
or else suggest a resolution to a problem
we haven't had yet
just to look at it spelled trouble
knowing that inevitably its
mystic prophecies would come to pass

it came dressed in black, laced in white cotton
it lit a cigarette and breathed out
a woman's perfume-that was the beginning that came
before the beginning
it laid bare their natures
before we'd even met them
and told us what, by the end, to expect

it led us to the seashore
and left us in a solitary black Mercedes
with blood on the steering wheel
and mystery tied up in fingerprints
yet to be identified