David sat in the café sipping his tea. Beck would arrive in one hour so he had time. He watched the city people passing the window. Everyone was rushing from home to work, to pick up the kids, to the business meeting, always in a rush. The job gave him a different perspective on life. His memory drifted to when he first got his job. His second corpse was almost as memorable as the first. He quickly became aware of what the job would involve…
It was normal procedure to always worked with a partner when going on a pick up. This one was different. No one wanted to work that night and because he was the new guy David had to work alone. The pick up was to take a corpse from the Hospital morgue to a private residence in town for a family wake. It sounded easy, but he knew from his first pick up that nothing is easy in his new line of work.
David arrived at the Hospital around 7pm. The morgue was located in the basement of the Large rectangular building so he drove the black van around to the loading door at the rear as instructed by his boss. He was told a guy named Victor would be there to meet him. As expected he was waiting at the large metal door to the bowels of the building. David drove towards the doors, and they began to open. He pulled the car into the garage and got out to meet Victor. Victor was a big guy with short hair and no neck. His shoulders merged with his head which David thought made him look like he could crush skulls with his bare hands. “You are new” He said in an Eastern European voice as he led David on into the maze of corridors. He navigated the maze like he’d had been there all his life, telling David all the rooms and what they were used for as they passed them. David asked “how long have you worked here? “long enough” He replied.
They took what seemed like countless corridors, then a lift down a couple of levels, to emerge and walk more endless corridors. David was completely lost and hoped Victor would be guiding him back to the surface. Finally they reached the morgue which was a large stainless steel room. There were metal examination tables with surgical lights hanging from the ceiling. The walls of the room were filled with stainless steel doors, refrigerators for bodies. Victor checked the name on the file David had given him, then walked over to one of the doors. He opened the door and disappeared in to the room beyond as a cold mist flowed out engulfing him. David didn’t follow him in, he stood watching the doorway and the cold mist flowing around his feet. Moments later Victor emerged, pushing a trolley with a body bag on it. “White male, 45, death by hanging” he said in his deep voice.
To Davids relief, Victor led him back to the van as he pushed the trolley along. David asked “That’s an unusual accent you have, where are you from” Victor turned his bulk towards David as he walked, “Georgia” Victor replied. They got back to the van and David opened the back door. He slid out the trolley and Victor helped him transferred the body bag over. He slid the trolley and body bag into the back of the van next to the coffin. “Thanks” David said, “this place is huge. I would never have made it back alone.” “You haven’t seen everything” Victor replied in an emotionless voice. “See you again” he said with a thin smile and turned to push his trolley back to the labyrinth.
David drove out, towards the City and the address of the house where the body was to be delivered. As he drove David wondered what else they had down there in the rooms he hadn’t seen. His mind went wild with all the possible things the hospital could be doing. He checked the file as he drove and read the contact at the house was a guy named Dimitri. After around 30 minutes he arrived at the family home which stood alone on the middle class street. He pulled into the driveway and a tall guy with an eye patch in a suit was standing at the entrance. “He looks like a bad guy from a movie” David thought as he moved to meet with a smooth cat like motion.
“Hello” David nodded as he opened the back door to the van. Dimitri smiled and showed a gold tooth that made him look even more like a villain. “Let me help you,” he said in a surprisingly kind voice. David gave him a look of surprise and Dimitri smiled again to reveal more metal teeth. They got the coffin out of the van to put the body bag into it. They then pushed the trolley into the house. In the main living room the Wife approached David and asked “would you put on his favorite suit?” David straitened in shock. He had never dressed a corpse before. He looked around the room to see all the family looking at him. “of course” he replied with a weak smile. “This is not happening to me” he thought.
He pushed the trolley into the back room where there was some privacy. The suit was hanging from the curtail rail. David unzipped the bag to see the suit.”Light blue, Shit!” he swore. Sweat broke out as he suddenly felt hot as panic swept over him. “how am I supposed to do this” he thought as he stood there trying to collect himself. Quickly he put on his gloves and unzipped the body bag. He began lifting to put it into a sitting position. As he did so the skin moved on the hand with a tearing sound. The onion skin moved like a glove with a layer of jelly inside. David looked at his gloves and the front of his suit. The jellified fat was all over him.
Changing gloves and taking off his jacket, David took the Husbands suit out of its bag and dressed the corpse carefully in the white shirt, hoping not to tear anymore skin. Then he slid one arm into the jacket and hugged the corpse as he manoeuvred the other arm into the jacket. The smell of cold dead flesh was too close. “This is disgusting” he thought. Balancing the corpse so it didn’t fall while buttoning the shirt and jacket closed. He then realized to his horror that the jelly was covering the arm of the jacket. “shit!” he cursed quietly. He carefully lay the corpse down in the coffin and stared at the arm of the suit. “how am I going to get out of this one he thought, searching for answers. He took a bunch of tissues from the shelf and began trying to clean the mess. There was a knock on the door.
The Wife opened the door to check on the progress. David pulled the white sheet that covered the lower part of her husband, up over the arms to cover the goo. The wife came forward to see her husband and David said “He had a cut on his hand, so I covered him higher with the sheet” The Wife smiled “thank you” she said, then leaned in and touched her husbands face. “He was such a kind man” she said. Then turned and left the room sobbing. David followed her out and signalled to Dimitri.
Dimitri helped to push the trolley out into the living area where the family were waiting. David stood sweating as each member of the family moved to the coffin to say their last words. Most cried or sobbed and some reached in to touch the corpse. Each time more sweat appeared on David’s head. Dimitri payed his respects and then walked over to him. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to David then leaned in close and whispered “good job” then produced a business card. “I work for Jack Green. If you need any help, you can call” David looked surprised and nodded and wiped his forehead. Dimitri smiled and his tooth glinted in the dim light. Then he walked towards the door.
Later that night David drove back to the office with the husband in the coffin. The body would be cremated in the morning. “Jack Green is the biggest Lawyer in town. He represents the scum of the earth, criminal families that run the City” he thought. He took out the card from his pocket. Dimitri Polokov – Partner, it read. David put it in his wallet and laughed as he put his foot down.
Beck pulled up outside the cafe. David waved and finished the last of his tea.
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