Purveyor or surveyor, I’m in the business of lies. I ferret out secrets and shadows, uncover outrages and hidden motives. I pry open closets, shake out rugs, dig up graves, excavate lost souls, throw bodies on ice. The underground, I’ve got it covered, or uncovered when it comes right down to it.
I’m a seeder of rumors, a deliverer of rue. I discover what’s missing in the equation. I watch and I listen, I deceive and spread disinformation.
When the heat’s on, I go undercover, take the dark elevator to my sub-terrain office, ground zero for the unveiling and unraveling, for the unwinding and reviling. It’s a lurking, lonesome wanking pursuit, a dive into the cesspool, a swim in the murk.
No one knows what’s hidden until it’s revealed. Though I’m no Dostoyevsky nor Derrida, I concoct ingenious fictions, I decline declensions, parse the texts, analyze the verbs, revise the nouns, elevate the algorithms, invent truths. I uncover what men obfuscate and conceal. I reveal their intentions, destroy their inventions, spotlight their conspiracies. I expose their scars, their sagging chests and sloping shoulders. I flay their cheating hearts. Like a drone with unblinking eye, I locate their unknowns and level their stories. They will never know me but they will fear me.
Digital fingerprints, raw data, electronic DNA, the ghost in the machine. Threatening in content, damaging in context. Worst nightmare or public benefactor, take your pick. I’m no slacker, but a smacker, a whacker, a rebel with a principled cause.
William Torphy’s short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including Bryant Literary Review, The Fictional Café, Sun Star Quarterly, Burningword Literary Journal, Chelsea Station, Arlington Literary Journal, and Adelaide Literary Magazine. His opinion pieces have been featured in Solstice Literary, OpEdge and Vox Populi. His forthcoming short story collection, Motel Stories, is being published by Unsolicited Press. He has recently moved to Wisconsin from the San Francisco Bay area. www.williamtorphy.com