Page 4 of Living with Death

“The wife’s been feeling good lately, so we’re taking the kids to the zoo.”

“Sounds nice.” I peel a sticker from the page. There are pumpkins on here, too—big ones I think I’ll put down at the corner.

“Yeah, if you think chasing after an eight-year-old with animal crap wafting in the air sounds nice.”

I smirk. “The family time sounds nice. The animal poop, not so much.” I scrunch my nose and bend down, carefully peeling the giant pumpkin off the paper.

He leans against the glass, looking forlorn. “Yeah. Claire wants to make as many memories as possible.” He rubs his chin. “Just in case.”

“You been doing okay?” I ask.

He keeps his eyes focused on the window. “Truthfully? No.”

Robbie’s got tattoos on both arms. Some of the older customers like to tell him that tattoos are permanent. He responds with a smile and a friendly nod when he wants to tell them to fuck off. Stretched earlobes prove Robbie went through that phase of flesh tunnel ear piercing. The nose ring he wears reminds me of that time I begged my mother to let me get one, but of course, we couldn’t mess up our perfect face.

Robbie is proud of who he is, but sometimes, in this world, being proud of who you are is looked down on. His wife is a cute blonde who cheered during high school. She has cancer. It was in remission, but it’s returned.

“I wouldn’t be either.” I run my hand over the sticker, smoothing out the wrinkles, noticing a man walking across the grass in the town square in a suit, oddly standing out. The sun peeks through the clouds and blinds me momentarily.

Chills cover my body, and the hairs on my neck stand on end. I squint, seeing the man turn toward me, but I can’t see his face.

“Yeah, but gotta keep going, huh? I can’t take a day off because those medical bills won’t pay themselves. Being away from her is the last thing I want, but it’s the only thing keeping her alive. How fucked is that?”

I blink away from the sun. “This world doesn’t make sense a lot of the time.”

“No, it doesn’t.” He runs a hand over his chin, his mind working. “But something peculiar happened last week. I received a copy of the previous bills, and they had paid written on them.”

“Who would do that?”

“Hell, if I know. It’s giving me some extra money for this weekend, so I’m grateful.”

A few kids run by the store, and one kicks a pumpkin, his foot sticking in it.

Robbie turns his head. “Damn kids,” he says, moving away from the window.

I smirk as the kid tries to run with the pumpkin attached to his foot, falling face-first before jumping back up. Robbie pushes the door open and yells, “You kids leave these pumpkins alone, or I’ll put my foot up your ass.”

Sam bursts out laughing, and I giggle, pushing my glasses up my nose before peeling another sticker. My eyes search the square for the man in the suit, coming up empty.

Strange.

Robbie walks back inside. “We won’t have any pumpkins for Halloween if these kids have any say in it.”

“Come on, Robbie, you remember what it was like being a kid,” Patty says, popping a piece of gum into her mouth.

“I sure do, and I would have got my ass beat if I did some shit like that.” He walks toward the office, mumbling and shaking his head. “Sorry, Mrs. Burton, didn’t know you were in here.”

Mrs. Burton huffs and pats her dog in her purse. “Bring my bags, Jason.” She lifts her chin, and I look at Patty, trying not to laugh.

I stand and toss the sticker paper into the trash, seeing Sam looking at her phone with her brow furrowed.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“My landlord is annoying the shit out of me.”

“About?”

“I slept with him once, and now he won’t leave me alone.” She shrugs and puts her phone down.

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