Regard for the Dead by Timothy Savage

Author:Timothy Savage
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Koehler Books
Published: 2021-11-03T05:42:59+00:00

31

Friday, August 3

8:25 a.m.

Kevin, Brian, and Abi occupied a table in the back of the busy Burger King, quietly eating breakfast when Mark walked in the door. Brian spotted him first. “About darn time,” he scoffed in a loud voice. “These media types are all the same—driving by after all the hard work is done, getting just enough video to file a story, only to get it all wrong.”

“Firemen! All sirens and lights and bragging about their hoses!” Mark called back, as Brian stood up from the table and extended a hand. “Good to see you again.” They shook hands, grinning ear to ear, then Mark slid into a chair next to Brian.

Kevin introduced Mark and Abi. “Nice to meet you,” Abi said. “So you’re the guy who stirred up all this trouble?”

“Guilty,” Mark laughed. “As you know, Kevin and I go way back, but you know things I don’t. We’ll have to compare notes sometime. He’s very secretive and doesn’t like to share.”

“I believe you’re right,” Abi confirmed.

“Yeah, yeah, enough of the Kevin fan club,” Brian said. “Let’s get to the Twilight Zone stuff.”

“Fine idea,” Kevin chimed in. “Just to fill everybody in, Abi is from a distinguished line of Nigerian undertakers and witch doctors. Consequently, he has access to some insights not normally available to three average Joes like us. For example, just this morning, after a call with his parents, he was able shine a light into our little dark alley of mystery.”

Abi rolled his eyes and said, “I told you last night there are no witch doctors. You must have witches in need of care before you can have doctors to care for them.”

“Hah, that’s what you say,” Kevin snickered. “Besides, it’s the information that’s important. Abi, would you care to explain?”

“Yes, but there are no witch doctors. Just undertakers.”

“Okay, no witch doctors for now, but please proceed,” Mark jumped in.

“In the belief of my parents’ generation, and before, there was a jungle cat that came around the village and made ghosts of the people who recently died. Some people said it was the cat that killed them, others said the cat was just an opportunistic scavenger. Either way, when the cat started stalking on the edge of the village, a ghost followed soon after.”

“Well, that sounds familiar.” Mark said. “Do the ghosts do anything?”

“The ghost wanders around looking for another body to occupy. If the ghost is touched by a living person, it tries to move in, but gets rejected by the spirit in the body. The flesh dies where the contact was made. It’s rejected by the living and the dead.”

“That seems to follow our experience, too,” Mark commented. “So, what happens in the long run here? Is it something bad? It seems to me that we are just swapping out souls, and eventually everybody will get a turn.”

“I don’t know. My parents are certain that the spirit may not go to the afterlife until the body of the deceased is underground. That is

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