A short story. Strange Afternoon

This is my original work and i offer it to you for a bit of light reading. Like many of my stories, it came to me as I was trying to get to sleep. As you can see from the timestamp of this post, sleep is something that I stalk often but seldom am able to catch quickly. When these stories come to me they are usually fully fledged and will bump around in my head for days insisting I let them out.

This is one of my favorite short stories because of the one word which hangs over the entire thing, but is never given voice.

So here it is, a quick peek into my sleep starved brain. A quick peek is all you get though and it’s for the best. I wouldn’t want you to get a full dose as it tends to “change” people when exposed for too long.

Strange Afternoon

___________________________

What was I thinking? My shift was almost done and there were just a few minutes left before the night supervisor took over.

I should have let him handle the call.

I should have just gone home.

But I didn’t.

~

It was late afternoon on a sunny, but rather humid, Tuesday. The day had passed relatively quietly with only the usual calls.

Usual. Now that was an interesting term.

I came up on the scene of the accident, an auto-pedestrian affair that looked like so many others, and surveyed the situation. One beat up pickup with severe front-end damage, must have been going pretty fast, one very upset, wet-faced toddler being checked over by paramedics, one very distraught driver being questioned by officers, a tow truck and an ambulance. And finally, one shrouded body lying on the aforementioned pickup hood. Add to that the usual amount of curious onlookers, sickos and those with morbid leanings and there you have it. All pretty well cut and dried.

Yep, that’s what I thought.

“So. What’s the story?” I asked a passing patrolman as I got out of the cruiser. He belonged to the late shift but was working this scene for some reason. Maybe he was pulling a double, either way I couldn’t recall his name though I knew I had seen him around.

After giving my badge a quick glance, yeah that’s right buddy I outrank you, he flipped through his note pad. “From what we have been able to piece together Mrs Cole here”, his pen pointed over his shoulder toward the driver who was being questioned by another officer, “was headed eastbound when the boy”, the ballpoint swung lazily toward the toddler, “ran onto the road from between those two cars. She saw the kid and slammed on her brakes but it was too late.”

“Ah, some kind citizen pushed the child to safety but couldn’t save himself? It’s almost like something they show on TV huh? Except this poor sap didn’t roll harmlessly across the hood and continue on.” It’s true. The TV lies. In real life people don’t fair well in a contest against a moving vehicle. It’s simple physics. A one ton chunk of steel and plastic moving at speed versus a sack of meat and the sack will loose every time. Maybe my job was making me a bit cynical?

The patrolman ignored my crude comment and continued. “We looked all over for a victim. Heck, Bob even walked the ditch and checked people’s backyards.”

“What makes you think there was a second victim?”

“Ah, actually, we were looking for the first victim.”

“The first?” What the..? The sheet-covered body was still laying on top of her hood for Gods sake. Did they find it in a ditch and position it on the hood? I took a deep breath steadying myself. I would be home soon. Roast beef was even now being lovingly sliced in preparation or my arrival “Were there any witnesses?”

“No sir. Of course not.” He saw my hackles starting to rise and put up his hands. “You’d better just go over there. Your not going to believe me if I tell you. This one is something you have to…….”, he paused as if considering his wording, “Well you just got to check it out for yourself.”

I gave up on getting any sense out of the patrolman and pushed past him to find someone who actually knew what they were talking about. As I approached the covered body I spied the Coroner and beckoned him over. “Hey J., maybe you can shed some light on this, do we have an ID on the victim?”

He looked pale and a little rattled. Interesting, James wasn’t ever bothered by this stuff. I glanced at the shrouded body but it didn’t seem particularly gruesome. In fact, from the outline of the sheet, all the proper parts seemed to be in the proper places not withstanding the odd angles some of them were at.

“No. As you can imagine we are having a bit of trouble in that area.”

“No. I can’t imagine.” I growled. I was getting real tired of this game real fast. Was everyone in on some bizarre joke? Was I being set up? Once again I drew in a calming breath and continued. “Well what do you know?”

“The body is around six foot two, clean shaven and, um male.” He seemed a bit embarrassed divulging that last fact.

“And that’s it? A six-foot plus male? What is his race? What was he wearing? Was there any ID, a name tag, anything?” Yeah, I know, my tone was verging on condescension, but, come on. He should know this stuff.

“Ah no. He is err.. was, naked.”

“Naked?”

“Yep. Starkers”. The patrolman chimed in almost gleefully as he joined us.

I glowered at the patrolman and his smile vanished immediately. Who was this guy? I have got to remember to never ask him over for any family gatherings.

Turning back to the coroner I pressed on. “Naked? He was naked and no one,” I swept the busy intersection with a telling glance, “noticed a six foot two, naked man walking around a busy downtown street in the middle of the afternoon?”

“No sir.” The patrolman said with a wicked grin then lifted up the edge of the sheet.

Yep. I should have just gone home. Should have let Johnson handle this one. The roast beef was gonna get cold. I hate cold roast beef.

Under the sheet you could plainly see the dented hood, the shattered windshield and that’s all.

No body.

No blood.

Nothing.

I took the edge of the sheet from him and lowered it back down. Clearly outlined, was a slightly bent and battered body. I lifted the sheet once again and reached underneath, hesitantly prodding at the vacant space. My outstretched finger instantly met something I could only describe as flesh. Cold, clammy, flesh.

Now, mind you, I have touched dead people plenty of times. But this? This was something different. There is a big difference between poking a dead guy and actually touching something that all of your senses and your sanity tell you isn’t there. The hair began rising on my neck and arms as I slowly lowered the sheet. Unconsciously I wiped my finger on my slacks.

“The tow truck driver actually found the body.” The patrol officer offered. “He was cleaning away the broken glass when he tried to sweep off the hood and …well…..” He motioned toward the sheet.

“We figure this guy must have seen the kid wandering out, threw him to safety and took the hit but no one saw him because he’s……” He stopped.

He couldn’t say it.

I knew I couldn’t say it.

Heck, it hurt to just think it.

Right then two things happened at once. The kids’ mother arrived amidst much wailing and relieved crying and a second ambulance arrived.

As a cop, you learn to look for details an average person would miss. It was almost second nature. I noticed that the ambulance, while wearing the normal trappings of Mercy Hospital, was not the usual older type model driven by the Mercy staff. I also didn’t recognize the Paramedics. One new guy sure, that was not unusual but all three of these guys were strangers. Very unusual. As they got their equipment ready, I noticed something else. Their mannerisms were not those of friendly, helpful paramedics. Instead, they exuded military training in every calculated, efficient movement. Besides, I didn’t know of any paramedics that wore freshly polished dress shoes to work.

By this time I was in full investigation mode. Things were not looking right and I wasn’t just talking about the body. Christ, the body, well that didn’t fit anything did it? I needed answers and I figured these guys had them. I turned to go question them when my cell began to ring.

Deb, wondering where I was no doubt. I was supposed to call her right back when I decided to take this call and now sliced beef smothered with gravy is even now sitting cold and uneaten. The gravy is going to be a solid lump at this rate.

But it wasn’t Deb. It was the Captain.

He began quickly. “Ed, listen, I know you’re a stickler about these things but you need to just let the Mercy guys take the body. I’ll take care of the report. Go on home and forget all this. You don’t need this.” Just before he hung up, I could have sworn I heard him mumbling that he didn’t need it either.

I gave the scene a final look over. The driver was getting a citation. The slightly scratched, but otherwise unharmed, toddler was being consoled by his anxious mother. The wrecker was backing up to hook onto the truck. And the body? The still shrouded body was being strapped to a Mercy Hospital gurney……..

Wait, what body? I didn’t see any body. I decided to take the captain’s advice and just forget everything. I got back into my cruiser and headed home. With luck, the gravy might just be salvageable.