January 7 - "Ten Dimes"

“Ten Dimes”
by Mike Toomey
Hardcore Hardboiled (2008)

* * (Okay) Crime

Everyone who’s anyone has heard the tale of the Ten Dimes from a friend who heard it from a friend who actually knew the guy who lifted them from The Man on his way into the ground. A cautious fence, with a personal interest in the dimes, agrees to make a rather unfair trade for them.

From an anthology titled Hardcore Hardboiled, and an introduction warning of the toughness of the following tales, I was less than pummeled by this story. The dialogue was realistic enough – tough enough to be credible – but the story felt very PG and only slightly differed from any number of other similar heard it from a friend yarns. I may simply be a soiled soul no longer so susceptible to shock. But, I was pleased to be correct in my guess as to the identity of The Man. My limited knowledge of 50’s and 60’s singers and actors finally paid off.

It’s been said that there are only a handful of stories in the world, and that each new tale is only a recycled jumble of something told better before. And while this seems the case with “Ten Dimes,” I have hope - hope that springs from other stories, such as yesterday’s, “Armageddon,” that take these supposed handful of stories and pound them into something original - slightly different, slightly better.