M had a dog named Belly who spoke to me only once.
I woke to my first morning in Russia and checked on M. His eyes were open, tinted blue. He was cold.
“Son of a bitch.” I said to the corpse. Belly, asleep beside the corpse of M, popped an eye open. He watched me. I left for the kitchen. On the kitchen table the vial of The Water of Life sat.
I put on coffee and mixed in a few drops. I carried it into M’s room once it’d cooled a bit.
Belly sat up and watched me. “This is weird.” I told him. He nodded sympathetically. I took the corpse and propped it up against the wall. I pried open the cold dry mouth and sent in the coffee. The eyes of the corpse went black. I cried out and leapt back.
M smiled.
“Oh, good. It’s you.”
I caught my breath. “Yeah. Yes, why wouldn’t it be? I told you I would.”
M stretched out his arm’s in front of him, his left shoulder cracked.
“Oh, yes, well, you know how death is like a door?”
“No?”
“Oh…” he frowned, “well, it is. And, sometimes I come back to…” he took a moment to riffle through the notepad of his thoughts, “…differences,” he decided.
“Uh-huh.”
“But! I’m glad it’s you. Let me know if you ever wake me up and it isn’t you, won’t you?”
“Isn’t me?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll do my best I suppose.”
M smiled again. “That is all any man can ask for, hope for, or expect. Now, I need to get some sleep.” M laid back down.
“Right.” I took the empty coffee cup back to the kitchen. Belly followed.
I rinsed the cup, refilled it with some coffee for myself and sat down at the kitchen table to smoke a cigarette. Belly watched me from the door.
“Do you have any idea how hard that all was without thumbs?” he said.
“What?” I said, but he’d gone back into the bedroom. I lighted my cigarette and sighed.
The writing of a great mind..😊
LikeLike
I’m so confused. Death and dogs….hmm…
LikeLike
This might help: https://flash-365.com/2016/11/15/cigarettes-coins-and-the-water-of-life/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Makes a little more sense now.
LikeLike
Shaking my head, Benjamin; crazy stuff, but, I really like it… and
Thanks for the link above; I never would have ‘put it together’ without that premise. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. There are many stories in this style with recurring characters but I try to make them independent. This one needed a bit extra to make the connection.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Am I hooked? Yup.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I’m glad you liked it. I will be writing a lot more in this way. Same characters. Different stories. I hope you stay tuned.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love it! Obviously Belly is god you are they now😀
LikeLike
Great stuff. I wonder have you ever read Etgar Keret.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Never read him but after you mentioned him I researched him a bit. Looks right up my alley. I’ll keep an eye out for his books (it’s a bit hard for me to find English books here) I’m glad you liked the story.
LikeLike
You’re both on the same page, definitely. I like your writing a lot and looking forward to your first post on HA.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hopefully we don’t disappoint. And I will for sure be looking out for his stuff.
LikeLike