After Death Read Online Free PDF Page A

in a partial wince, as though preparing for something unpleasant.
    He winced as well. There was no getting around this.
    “Well… That’s the part you’re not gonna like…”
    She groaned disappointedly before she realized what she’d done.
    “Let me guess… For more research you got a job as — A grave digger?”
    Frank shook his head.
    “— A Mortician’s helper?” He shook his head again. “Coroner’s Assistant?” He just kept shaking his head slowly side-to-side, that smile plastered on his face.
    “But certainly something to do with death, right ?” she asked with a heavy measure of certainty.
    She knew him all too well. His head stopped and he realized after he’d answered that he sounded a bit whiny and defensive.
    “Well… Yeah…”
    She rubbed her eyes.
    “Okay, I give up.”
    “A Social Services Assistant — At a convalescent hospital.”
    Her face screwed up, involuntarily repulsed.
    “So you can watch old people die one by one?” She shuddered and made a weird sound in her throat. “Yipes — Gives me the creeps.”
    He smiled. “Well, that’s the idea, isn’t it?”
    He knew it was time to go into his final pitch. With any luck he’d never have to do this again. He stared into her eyes with his best look of absolute earnestness.
    “I think this is it, I really do. The idea scary as hell, not to mention pretty original. I really think this is the one that will make it happen for us — I really do.”
    She was almost there… His future as a writer balanced on the head of a pin…
    “Maybe you want to bounce it off me, get my opinion on it before you commit —”
    He cut her off at the pass. He had to.
    “— Just trust me, it’ll be worth it. Besides; you know how talking about a project before it’s written makes me lose my incentive…”
    It was true; sometimes in the act of communication, the idea lost all that electricity it generated when it was born. The urge, that driving desire to bring the thoughts to life, just dissolved and there was suddenly…Nothing. And he definitely didn’t want this prime idea to become nothing…
    She seemed to understand and searched for something positive to end the subject on.
    “So the job pays this time, right?”
    He couldn’t hold back the surge of joy he felt at this success. She always looked for the silver lining. Another of the many reasons he loved her so much.
    “Seven and a quarter an hour, baby.” He said with another ridiculous grin. “Look who’s bringing home the bacon now!”

CHAPTER 6 – Fernando’s Introductions
    Fernando Puenza had worked at the WestHolme Convalescent Hospital for three years now but had never managed to get used to the smell that slammed into his nostrils every time he started a shift. It didn’t exactly smell like human waste— it wasn’t quite as obvious as that — but in some ways it was nastier since it was a pared down lingering residue that Management attempted to hide under layer after layer of Pine-Sol cleaner.
    The reaction to this lurking odorous undercurrent that permeated the entire hospital (but most particularly the two wings with the patient rooms) was what Fernando was waiting for with the new guy. Management had asked Fernando to show him around — It was funny that they always had him do the introductions since he was a cafeteria cook, but he loved it — Anything to get out of the kitchen.
    He walked Frank down the main hall to an alcove with the time-clock and the time-cards. This area was for all the guests to see so it was pretty clean — white tile against white walls (even the smell was reduced here — it was no secret the staff were instructed to pay special attention to this area).
    Fernando lifted a time-card from its slot and showed it to Frank.
    “This is the most important thing you need to know, man, how to punch the clock. You don’t do this, you don’t get paid, what the hell you doin’ here…”
    He waited to see if this Frank would take the bait;