DEATHS COME IN AN ENVELOPE

by Jay Marvin

Death came in  the  mail  one  slate  gray morning demanding
payment it was a bill of sorts calling for terms of  payment
to  be  met immediately after glancing at the paper he threw
it down on the table and walked to the recliner there on the
coffee table next to it was  a  gun he picked it up spun the
chamber clicked it shut walked out on the front porch of his
red adobe house and waited let death come he said to himself
I'll be ready the mail man  rang  the  front  door  bell  as
always  he  opened  up  his  trailer door and took his daily
delivery good luck in tonight's  bout the carrier called and
walked to the next lot he sorted through the junk mail until
he came upon a collection notice if this was another of  his
ex's  wife  charge  sprees she could fuck off he was through
with her and through cleaning up  after her he tore open the
white envelope with his teeth the sheet of  paper  fell  out
and  floated  to the floor he bent with a grunt and snatched
it up it  was  a  notice  from  Death  demanding payment and
warning he as overdue and this  could  jeopardize  his  good
standing  he  crumpled the paper up in a ball and through it
in a cardboard box overflowing with empty beer cans and milk
cartons he was in the  best shape of his professional career
how dare Death come now with this shit fuck em' he'd had the
belt around his waist once before and he'd wear it again the
sun hurt her eyes and she rolled back over  in  bed  it  had
been  a long night and she was still tired it was getting so
if you tried to get rest in these
thirty dollar motel rooms  you  couldn't  with the drapes so
cheap and the constant racket of the  planes  overhead  from
the  airport  she  had  no  sooner started to drift off then
there was a knock on her door  a man in a black leather suit
and shinny rubber gloves handed her an envelope  and  before
she could say a word he was gone she sat down on the edge of
the bed and pulled out the contents it was some kind of bill
she  strained her eyes it was from Death and her payment was
past due immediate payment  was  requested she kicked up her
legs laughed and threw the paper in the air rocking back and
forth he watched a lone vehicle of  some  type  off  in  the
distance  kick  up  dust in large billowing clouds of red in
the sunset judging from its speed  it was moving at a pretty
good rate it was the one thing he missed about  getting  old
driving how he loved the open road the cafe's and bad coffee
sound  of  records on the jukebox smell of pie and ice cream
the rhythm of the ride  he  could  run with the best of them
popping those little white pills and clicking off the  miles
a  million pounds of steel right up against his back she sat
on a bus bench and adjusted her black high heel shoe another
night of fake love and  easy  cash  in full blown neon color
she would have to hustle it tonight to make up for the  lack
of  action  the  last  two nights sitting on Reno Avenue she
hiked up her skirt letting  a  little flash of flesh show to
the passing cars it was something she learned and it  worked
and  this  way  she didn't have to cruise after about twenty
minutes and three false stops she saw a familiar white sedan
pull up and her heart began  pounding so hard she thought it
was going break right through her chest cavity he danced and
bobbed slapping his gloves together and rolling his head his
jet black trunks set off the color of his tan  body  and  he
looked  great  and  knew  it  one  more time is what he told
himself one  more  time  and  they  couldn't  hold  him back
couldn't deny him a shot at  the  title  outside  the  crowd
roared and whistled and did a little shuffle waiting for his
corner men to come get him out of his left eye he thought he
saw a black
square  like a lens covering or a shadow on a box passing in
and out of the edge of his vision but when he turned to look
there was no one there two  men in gray sweat shirts and one
in a white loose fitting dress shirt burst into the dressing
room it was time and the four men went out making there  way
to  the  ring sitting on an old steel lawn chair he held the
gun under a worn Navaho  rug  a  bottle resting at his right
foot the sun had finished making its way down in a  bath  of
purplish  and  orange  sauce his eyes now adjusted to the on
coming darkness he sat and  waited  waited for Death to come
he had never given up without a fight before and  he  wasn't
about  to this time never mind the fact that even now he had
no idea what life was  about  or  why people were put in the
world filled with so little joy and way too much sorrow  and
the  funny  thing  as  the  older  he had gotten the less he
understood the why and  wherefore  of  what was happening to
him each day and every second he spent  worrying  was  every
second  he spent using up his credits and now this well here
was one time someone wasn't going to collect he took a drink
and watched a  plane  make  its  way  across  the sky lights
blinking hello and good-bye off in  the  distance  he  could
still  see a vehicle of some kind making its way towards him
the dust surrounding it staining  the countryside red OK you
tell me why it's against the law to sit on a bus  bench  the
plain  clothes  officer stared at her waves of fat producing
sweat along his neck and  face  you know what you were doing
little sister and
I've told you before about it he said running a  meaty  hand
across  his  face  and producing a set of cuffs they bit her
flesh a sour reminder of  things  past  he shoved her in the
car slammed the door it was the sixth round and he was ahead
on points a small bruise under his eye but nothing like  his
opponent who was bleeding from a bad cut over the left eye a
cut  man  working  fast  on  it trying to stench the flow of
shiny red fluid the fight  had gone almost as planned except
he kept seeing this black square  like  an  eclipse  in  the
corner of his right and sometimes left eye he shook his head
to  try and clear it away but it would slide right back into
view she rode in the  back  of the unmarked and said nothing
never bothering to notice he wasn't heading downtown but out
of town until it was too late hey what the fuck is this  she
screamed  shut up he shot back and kept driving twenty miles
outside of town he pulled over  in  a rest area his fat neck
coiling in rings of skin as he turned to her I got a  little
deal  for you little sister you give some of it and you just
might walk away from this  one  and  if I don't she answered
smartly he laughed and ran a fat thumb over his gun  OK  she
laughed  let  me  out of the car fats and I'll do you he got
out and led her to a grassy area behind a clump of trees the
eighth round and his  vision  was  starting to fade like his
eyes had some kind of mask  sliding  over  them  his  gloves
appearing like two big
dark  shapes  and  never  knowing  nor feeling the knock out
punch when it hit driving the bridge of his nose up into his
head his face caving  in  a  shower  of  blood and bone like
water off a dog shaking trying to get its self dry the crowd
yelling he falling flat on the  canvas  looking  up  through
dead eyes he saw the face of his opponent a face he had made
a   deal   with  so  long  ago  a  familiar  terrifying  yet
comfortable face a face he knew and didn't know he felt cold
spent unable to move unable to even care the dust was now on
the frontage road and he stood up from his chair watching it
come brick red  dust  moving  closer  in  the  moon light he
raised his gun and fired and kept firing  the  dust  forcing
him  to  his  knees  he fought back but there was nothing to
fight surrender came  fast  and  at  once  they unhooked the
monitoring equipment from the body his soul  hovered  around
the  room  watching  the  doctor  and  nurses  unhooking the
systems that  had  kept  him  alive  even  though  he didn't
remember them he watched as his body  was  wheeled  out  and
before  going  on  his way feeling neither pity or sorrow he
noticed a bit of  red  dust  on  the  used sheets and pillow
cases it struck him as odd although he didn't know  why  she
was  on  her knees her head working the cop's swollen member
when she bit down hard he stumbled back screaming she got to
her feet and started to run fighting the pain on his face he
pulled his gun and fired the first shot shattering her skull
blowing bits of  bone  brains  and  blood  over the brownish
green grass leaving her body behind she kept running running
on the way to make a final payment but for what she couldn't
remember.