Calvaria Fell by Kaaron Warren

Author:Kaaron Warren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Meerkat Press
Published: 2024-01-04T02:35:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

By Kate’s estimation, 360 cycles of songs played before they received Julian’s belongings back in a file box.

The delivery alarm went off and they all gathered by the dock. They heard the beep of a truck backing up and Kate opened the roller doors. Robbo jumped down from the driver’s side and gestured. “Got myself a helper.”

It was Not-Julian.

The smell of the truck wasn’t good. Old sweat, old food, old sneakers. There was the smell of smoke, too, underlying it all.

Irma and Robbo kissed each other to the horror of the children.

“Fire at the jail,” Not-Julian said, wanting to be the one with the news. He began unloading the plastic bags and boxes. “In the food hall. Terrible. They were all trapped.” His eyes were wide. He found this exciting. “They’re not even sure how many dead. A dozen at least. But that’s life, right? And better them than us, I say. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Hey, and ask him what happened to the guy that beat him up.” He gestured to Robbo, then mimicked a hanged man, head hanging at an awful angle. “Good stuff!”

There were a dozen boxes for the Dead Letter Office. Maud made sure she took one of them, then stayed behind after the others left. “I love the post office,” she told Irma. Irma was distracted anyway, with Robbo there. Not-Julian winked at her. “Don’t forget what I said,” he whispered.

—

In the post office, Maud lifted the lid off the first box. Robbo had told them they had to keep them for a few months, then they could sort them, but Maud wanted to see for herself. Inside was a stack of file boxes, some light, some so full they didn’t close properly. All carried a number. She picked up 6-358-Alpha

Inside, she found a man’s watch, some notes and coins, a set of keys with a key ring that was also a bottle opener. She found a small notebook with names and notations inside, a folded, stained pair of socks, a toothbrush and a light metal ashtray.

She took out all the file boxes and stacked them. She opened them one by one until she reached the one that made her recoil. Sitting in that one was a lunchbox with Stan Stedman written on the bottom. There were no cookies inside, but in the file box she found a dog leash and an old watch. It was his father’s, he’d said. He’d said that the ticks had reminded his mum of how much his dad had loved her.

Maud couldn’t quite comprehend what this meant, at an intellectual level, but tears came, because she really did know that this meant Julian had died in the food hall fire at the jail, and she really couldn’t cope.

She stood at the doorway of the Post Office. Below, everyone was busy, unpacking, sorting, shouting at a good find.

“Where’s Irma?” she called out, but no one knew.

She called others to open boxes, too. She said, “Look for anything familiar, and show everyone what you find.

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