Standing in a foreign, unfamiliar land. There is no smell of death here. Only salty, dry hot air that burns the nostrils. “Where am I? How did I get here? David asked himelf. The heat is too much to bear, as he walks on in the vastness of the expansive desert that stretches out before him in all directions. “Not a sole” he said to himself over and over as his lips dried and cracked began to blister and cause him pain. In the distance he can make out a mrrage. A person or so it seems. He speeds up, walking faster to meet the mirage before time runs out. Not able to recognize who it is. “Hello” David calls out loud and he begins to run, faster, stumbling forward the shimmering dark figure. As he runs he becomes weary beyond words and his legs give way. Falling face first, his face hits the hard baked sand of the desert that has taken his soul away. Its unforgiving loneliness eating him alive. As he lay there unable to move he felt relief. A blanket of relaxation fell over him and he smiled.
A shadow passed over him then but he was unable to move to see the figure. A womans voice said to him “You don’t belong here David. You must wake up, you have work to do…..David. Time to wake up, David, we have a pick up, David!” The voice screamed over the video phone. “Its 6am!” David woke with a panicked heart jerking sudden movement. His body bathed in sweat, he moved slowly from the sofa to the videophone. “Yes Beck I’m awake” he said to the face staring back at him on the screen. “Get your ass ready, I’m on my way to pick you up” and the screen went black.
15 minutes later the big black car pulled up outside the average looking apartment building, where David waited in the doorway in his black suit. He got in the passenger side and the car sped away to the North. “Good morning Beck” David Said sarcastically. Beck didn’t take her eyes off the road ahead, replied “whats good about it?” Beck was always touchy this time in a morning. The city was devoid of people, except the graveyard shift workers heading home. As they drove towards the city morgue in silence David began thinking of the woman in his dream. “what work was she refering to?”
Soon they pulled into the garage of the familiar grey stone building. Inside a large elevator door opened and the attendant in white coveralls pushed the trolley with the body bag on towards them. “Here you go” said the mortician to David, “Female aged 68, natural causes.” “Not many of them, these days” David replied sarcastically. “It keeps us employed no matter how they go” Beck interupted as she stepped forward and took the trolley from the attendant, pushing it towards the car. “Hey Stone, show me some moves some time” the attendant called after them ”Yea lets do that” David replied as he slammed the back door of the car shut. “Adios” he waved to the Mortician who was standing by the lift waiting or them to leave. David got back in the car where Beck had already started the engine. “That guy is desperate for friends if he wants to hang out with you” she said. “Hey, what can I say, I’m a nice guy,” he kidded, looking at her with a sly smile. Beck raised one eyebrow and shot him a “yea right” look before slamming herfoot down hard. The powerfull engine lurched forward, out of the garageand into the morning light, heading towards the Office.
Paul was sitting with his feet up on the table in the lunch room, looking at the half naked model on page three of the newspaper. The boss came in and looked in the fridge for something to eat. Paul turned on his chair and said “Look at the tits on her” turning the newspaper so he could see. The boss raised his eyebrows and looked closer “very nice, looks like your sister” How would you know? Paul shot back. “Get ready” said the Boss, “Beck and Dave are on their way back. Call the Daughter and organize the clothes.” and he threw the file on the table by his feet. Ten minutes later the garage door opened and the black car rolled in, parking next to the big van which was used for big jobs.
David opened up the back door and rolled out the trolley. Beck got out and walked to the lunch room to get coffee. Paul came out from the office where he’d been on the phone with the Daughter, and walked over to help push the trolley. “The Daughter will be here in 30 minutes with the clothes, lets get her ready” he said. David nodded “What the hell did you eat for breakfast? You smell like shit! Have you brushed your teeth?” “Your Mother didn’t complain when I left her this morning” Paul hit back. They pushed the trolley up the ramp from the garage and into the big embalming room, lifted the body bag from the trolley and slid it onto the stainless steel preperation table.
David opened the zip and reveled the naked grey body. “Holy shit!” Paul shouted. David jumped, “What!” he asked, annoyed. “They are perfect tits!” Paul remarked. Beck walked in with her black coffee in hand and heard the remark. Paul continued, not seeing Beck “They’re the perfect size and shape, every woman should have tits like this” He moved closer to get a better look. “What the fuck Paul?” Beck said in a loud voice, meant to scare him, “have you no respect for the dead?” “and she’s almost 70 for gods sake” added David. “Yea but look at them” continued Paul. “Shut up and clean her up” ordered Beck and threw him a pair of gloves. David left to get a cup of tea and check the paperwork.
“Beck. You have to admit they are pretty, what do you think?” Paul persisted looking devious “I think” said Beck “you should should shut the fuck up and get on with it.” David returned with his coffee and a croissant in his mouth as he was reading the file for the corpse. He went to the computer and logged into the system to obtain the death certificate. When he put in the passport number from the file nothing appeared on the screen. Confused he tried again, putting in the family name, Nothing. “Something’s wrong with the system” David called over to Beck and Paul. At that moment the front desk bell rang and Paul hurried to finish cleaning the body. Beck looked at Paul and said “no more comments about her Mothers tits” and let the room to meet the daughter in reception.
Paul looked over to David and said in a low voice “Have you ever banged a chick with tits this nice?” David ignored him as he tried to get the system to recognize any of the info he was typing in to it. Beck returned from reception with her arms full of clothes. “She brought the clothes” she said, and layed them on the table next to the table. What’s the problem Beck asked David. I can’t find her in the system, she doesn’t seem to be here. How is that possible. Right then a cold feeling fell over him. Have we picked u the wrong body? Did the assistant at the morgue fuck up the paperwork? And the daughter is waiting in reception which is just perfect. “There must be a mistake” said Beck. “Holy shit we picked up the wrong body. What are we going to say to the daughter?” Paul gave a chuckle “you fucked up big time.”
Beck pushed David out of the way and tried the passport number again. “I’ve tried everything” He said. Beck got the same blank screen and stood up to look at David. “What the fuck are we going to do? Asked Beck “The boss will kill us!” “lets dress her and put her in the casket anyway. If it’s the wrong body we’ll soon find out” said David. The three of them dress the corpse quickly and lifted it into the dark mahogany casket with white silk interior. They pushed the casket down the hall and through the side door into the red carpeted communal room. Chairs for the family and friends of the corpse were arranged facing the front of the room where they set the casket in place. The lid was open so the daughter could see what was hopefully her Mother.
Beck left Paul and David standing next to the casket with a look of dread and went to the reception to fetch the daughter. David looked at Paul and said “have you ever had this happen before?” Paul relied “No one has ever fucked up this badly as long as I’ve worked here” with a smile. Beck returned with the Daughter following behind her. The sadness on her face made David sweat in anticipation of the screams of shock when she layed her eyes on a different dead person in her Mothers place. Beck gave David a stare of panic as she walked towards him and the casket, and frowned as she bit her lip. She then moved to the side so the Daughter could get her first sight of her Mother, awaiting the hysteria that was about to lose them their jobs.
The daughter approached the casket and looked in. There was silence, for what seemed to Beck, to last forever. Beck closed her eyes in anticipation. Then a gasp came from the daughter and Becks eyes squeezed shut. “Oh She looks so peaceful” she said softly. Beck opened her eyes and looked at David in shock, color returning to her face. The Daughter reached in and stroked the face of her Mother, “You made her look like she’s sleeping” she said. Beck smiled and replied “We do our best madam, however we couldn’t locate the death certificate under her name” “Oh” said the Daughter, “I’m sorry……. this is my Father.” Paul stumbled and held the casket to balance himself. “He had a sex change when I was young” continued the daughter. David looked at Paul and struggled to suppress his smile. Paul’s face turned bright red . He excused himself and slowly walked back towards the office in shame.
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