When I Met Death
When I met Death, he was eating at a little diner on King’s St. It had been a long day working in the Southern Californian sun and nothing sounded better than a good old fashioned cheese burger. Apparently Death’d had the same idea; as there he sat on the bar stool, half a giant quarter-pounder stuffed in his hand, the lettuce slipping out from between the cheese and the toasted bun. He looked up at me as I sat down on the stool next to him, his eyes wide, despite the too-bright sun, as meaty juices dripped off his chin, making a splattery mess of the bar. He worked at a giant bite, his Adam’s apple working up and down as he tried to swallow. He gave me a half-grin as I watched out of the corner of my eye with slightly-raised eyebrows.
As I asked the harried blonde behind the bar for my own cheese burger, I saw him looking down, studying the burger with somber eyes. A sizzle of grilling meat and the chatter of satisfied customers mixed in the air with the smell of pickles and cigarettes. He took a deep breath and dug in his teeth, delving deep into the meat to rip out another colossal bite. The effort squeezed the lettuce out and it fell to his plate with a wet slap. The juices flowed thick and the corner of his mouth showed crimson with a blob of escaped ketchup. His tongue flicked out, trying, in vain, to lick up the sauce. In the end, he pulled out a wad of napkins and mopped off his face, crumpling them on the bar.
As he paused before finishing off his burger, I seized the opportunity and offered my hand, “I am afraid we haven’t met, the name’s Jake.” He moved to shake my hand, but as we both noticed it covered in the juice of the burger, he lowered it, the same half-grin back on his face. “Well that won’t work. Nice to meet you, son. Though it ain’t my rightful name, they call me Death.” A smile crinkled the corners of his eyes and he turned back to his meal. And that was how, as the aroma of my freshly grilled cheese burger reached my nose and my stomach growled a terrific roar, I first made the acquaintance of Death, who would end up becoming one of my oldest and most faithful friends.
