It was a day just like any other when this whole story really started. I was at work.
I work with the dead.
The morgue where I work is nothing like the ones you see in the movies, its not in a basement, its not dimly it and its not quite. At least not anymore, now it sounds more like a pet store. I asked my boss if I could star working the morning or afternoon shifts, because the rats are nocturnal and its easier for me to handle them when they're falling asleep. I bring a dog kennel meant for a German Shepard to work with me everyday, I leave it just next to the door. Its unsanitary to have rodents crawling over cadavers, you know.
The raven must understand me, because he stands in front of the kennel and stands guard. But that never stops him from randomly croaking at the rats. Even though most of them are asleep there are always a couple who are awake and chewing on the kennel. Hey, if they can chew through it within the first sixty days of me buying it, its still covered under warranty, so that's good.
I try to work as far from the kennel as I can get away with, that way if a rat or two get out I can hear them scurrying across the cold tile floor. The raven is pretty good at catching them if only one escapes, if there are two or more it becomes a job for me to take over.
Hey, at least I don't need coffee to keep me awake at work anymore.
I keep my phone on just in case one of my sisters has to get a hold of me. So when my phone started ringing that's who I assumed it was.
"Unidentified"
"This had better not be CPS." I said to myself. "Hello?"
"Rod?" It was a girl's voice that sounded like it was being buried under the screams of a crowd, all distorted in the way that only cell phones can distort things.
"Who wants to know?" I asked as nicely as I could.
"Its me, Yasmine. Is this you?" She asked.
"Uh..." I couldn't help but pause. "Yeah?"
"Yeah? Why you say it like dat? Is it jew or not, guerro?"
"Yeah, its me. But I'm at work right now-" She cut me off.
"Hey, can I axe a favor?"
I let out a sigh. She was probably the age of my oldest sister, Nancy. So saying no might be difficult.
"Sure. What is it?"
"Jew work at dat hospital downtown, right?"
"Yes, in the morgue." I started washing my tools.
"So um, I'm like in at school, like in da front, can jew like come over?"
"Why do you want me to come to your school?" I asked.
"So like...I kinda got in a fight because of dat demon I told you 'bout."
"Alright, alright. Just relax. I'll be there as soon as I can. Just don't tell anyone about the demon, got it?" I covered the cadaver up and walked to the sink to wash my hands.
"Hey, Rod?" Yasmine asked.
"Yeah?"
"Don't jew need to know where my school is at?"
"That would help, yeah." I put the phone between my shoulder and my ear and started washing my hands.
"Its in East town." She said.
"East town, got it. What's the name?" I was drying my hands now.
"East Town High."
"Alright, I know where that is. I'll be there in twenty minutes. Stay out in the front and don't talk to-" She cut me off again.
"-to anybody, I know! Just hurry up, please." With that she hung up. I walked across the room and left. The raven swiftly flew between the closing doors, banked smoothly and gracefully landed on my shoulder with nothing more than a quick flutter of his wings. I could see him in my peripheral vision looking over my shoulder, behind me. I glanced over and saw the rats pouring out of the door. They moved liked a rug with mind, it was kind of beautiful in a strange way. And hey, they chewed through the kennel, I can get that warranty replacement, nice!
With the whole gang assembled we went out to my hoopty of a car and drove for East town.
That phone conversation might need a bit of an explanation. Sherri asked all of us to exchange numbers, as a type of battle buddy mentality. Deb told all of us who hadn't severed in the military what that meant.
"I was stationed in Japan once, I couldn't trust them Japs as far as I could throw 'em. But I could trust my battle buddy. I took comfort in knowing that even though I was in a place where they done ate fish raw and took baths in groups, I still wasn't alone."
"That's absolutely correct, Deb!" Sherri exclaimed. "Its like all of us are in a place where we are the outsiders, not by our race or our nationality, but because of our..."She paused and looked at each of us as if she was about to cry. "paranormal struggles."
After that we were all battle buddies, if any of us got in over our head it was our duty to help them out. Everyone seemed to come to me first, as if I really believed in this group. To be honest, I didn't. I just thought, somewhere down in my gut that I would need help someday and I wanted a bit of karma on my side for when that happened. I was right, by the way. I was going to need everyone's help.
But we'll get to that part when we get there, I had to start collecting my karma first and the first bit of that was in East town with a foul mouthed Latina who wore too much foundation.
-Jestro
I work with the dead.
The morgue where I work is nothing like the ones you see in the movies, its not in a basement, its not dimly it and its not quite. At least not anymore, now it sounds more like a pet store. I asked my boss if I could star working the morning or afternoon shifts, because the rats are nocturnal and its easier for me to handle them when they're falling asleep. I bring a dog kennel meant for a German Shepard to work with me everyday, I leave it just next to the door. Its unsanitary to have rodents crawling over cadavers, you know.
The raven must understand me, because he stands in front of the kennel and stands guard. But that never stops him from randomly croaking at the rats. Even though most of them are asleep there are always a couple who are awake and chewing on the kennel. Hey, if they can chew through it within the first sixty days of me buying it, its still covered under warranty, so that's good.
I try to work as far from the kennel as I can get away with, that way if a rat or two get out I can hear them scurrying across the cold tile floor. The raven is pretty good at catching them if only one escapes, if there are two or more it becomes a job for me to take over.
Hey, at least I don't need coffee to keep me awake at work anymore.
I keep my phone on just in case one of my sisters has to get a hold of me. So when my phone started ringing that's who I assumed it was.
"Unidentified"
"This had better not be CPS." I said to myself. "Hello?"
"Rod?" It was a girl's voice that sounded like it was being buried under the screams of a crowd, all distorted in the way that only cell phones can distort things.
"Who wants to know?" I asked as nicely as I could.
"Its me, Yasmine. Is this you?" She asked.
"Uh..." I couldn't help but pause. "Yeah?"
"Yeah? Why you say it like dat? Is it jew or not, guerro?"
"Yeah, its me. But I'm at work right now-" She cut me off.
"Hey, can I axe a favor?"
I let out a sigh. She was probably the age of my oldest sister, Nancy. So saying no might be difficult.
"Sure. What is it?"
"Jew work at dat hospital downtown, right?"
"Yes, in the morgue." I started washing my tools.
"So um, I'm like in at school, like in da front, can jew like come over?"
"Why do you want me to come to your school?" I asked.
"So like...I kinda got in a fight because of dat demon I told you 'bout."
"Alright, alright. Just relax. I'll be there as soon as I can. Just don't tell anyone about the demon, got it?" I covered the cadaver up and walked to the sink to wash my hands.
"Hey, Rod?" Yasmine asked.
"Yeah?"
"Don't jew need to know where my school is at?"
"That would help, yeah." I put the phone between my shoulder and my ear and started washing my hands.
"Its in East town." She said.
"East town, got it. What's the name?" I was drying my hands now.
"East Town High."
"Alright, I know where that is. I'll be there in twenty minutes. Stay out in the front and don't talk to-" She cut me off again.
"-to anybody, I know! Just hurry up, please." With that she hung up. I walked across the room and left. The raven swiftly flew between the closing doors, banked smoothly and gracefully landed on my shoulder with nothing more than a quick flutter of his wings. I could see him in my peripheral vision looking over my shoulder, behind me. I glanced over and saw the rats pouring out of the door. They moved liked a rug with mind, it was kind of beautiful in a strange way. And hey, they chewed through the kennel, I can get that warranty replacement, nice!
With the whole gang assembled we went out to my hoopty of a car and drove for East town.
That phone conversation might need a bit of an explanation. Sherri asked all of us to exchange numbers, as a type of battle buddy mentality. Deb told all of us who hadn't severed in the military what that meant.
"I was stationed in Japan once, I couldn't trust them Japs as far as I could throw 'em. But I could trust my battle buddy. I took comfort in knowing that even though I was in a place where they done ate fish raw and took baths in groups, I still wasn't alone."
"That's absolutely correct, Deb!" Sherri exclaimed. "Its like all of us are in a place where we are the outsiders, not by our race or our nationality, but because of our..."She paused and looked at each of us as if she was about to cry. "paranormal struggles."
After that we were all battle buddies, if any of us got in over our head it was our duty to help them out. Everyone seemed to come to me first, as if I really believed in this group. To be honest, I didn't. I just thought, somewhere down in my gut that I would need help someday and I wanted a bit of karma on my side for when that happened. I was right, by the way. I was going to need everyone's help.
But we'll get to that part when we get there, I had to start collecting my karma first and the first bit of that was in East town with a foul mouthed Latina who wore too much foundation.
-Jestro
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1 comment:
Nice. I'm curious as to what's gonna happen next. Why will he need them all? I must know.
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