OPEN

We finished our work at half past three and came out to one of those foggy nights that make the lamps in the street look like you're walking under candles. Embalming is a slow job and you are bound to have no hour to start and to always finish at ridiculous times of night. On nights like this, I always think there should be a ban on people dying after noon. You can't even find a place to have a decent meal when you get out of your uniform and set yourself on your way home.

I love getting out of work and into a pub to have a couple of pints as much as the next man, however, life seems to have destined for me the last oily mancunian fish and chips of the night, everynight. And then, it's always half the way across town, and it's a long way to walk for men who have been at work for as many hours as we were. I'm too tired to drive, anyway, and the cold of the night usually wakes me up a bit. Jason usually complains about the cold, and , everyday, I throw the same joke at him. Best to be cold and moving than to be cold and lying on our workbench.

(Image: free open clipart from the clipart library)

When I get half way to our destination, I always wonder if you feel hungry after you die and tell Jason to stuff me with fish and chips when it's my time to get embalmed. I'd take a couple of pints for the way too, if it wasn't for the mess the leakage would do. And the, we go on laughing about stupid ideas like these until we get all the way into the roundabout were you can finally see the saving lights in the distance. It's a very old shop, with a very old patron. When I cross the street and near the door, I always think that one of these days, we'll have finished stuffing the old man and the red and blue neon open sign of the shop will off when I get here.

@hefestus 01.02.25