Birth
A short story
Although Jason Scott was walking along an express road in an industrial city zone, he felt stuck fast at a crossroad in the middle of nowhere. He still had no idea which career to follow. As a fresh graduate of the Mathematics Department at the University of London he’d applied for two positions and was accepted for both, as a statistician at a wealthy insurance company and as a maths teacher at an ordinary elementary school. The former was better paid, the latter in turn seemed strangely alluring for Jason…
His university educational program provided for school teaching training and his skills in that area proved rather mediocre. However, the perspective of working at school evoked a faint yet distinct howl of yearning Jason did not understand but could hear it so damn well once he strained his inner ear to listen carefully enough.
The middle of July, Wednesday afternoon, cloudy skies and incredibly warm and heavy air foretelling the arrival of violent storm. Lots of cars swishing by but, actually, no pedestrians around except for a middle-aged woman walking in the opposite direction with a computer case and a handbag. Probably she was coming back home from office. When they two were about to pass each other one of them suddenly collapsed.
A heavy boom and there she was lying with her leg bent unnaturally up as if she’d just made a huge leap who knows where and with her head turned towards the leg checking the effect of the jump. The young man could not doubt. The lady was surely dead. He didn’t have to check the pulse, it didn’t make any sense to try to resuscitate her. It must have been a brain aneurysm or something similar. It had just exploded and that was it. The end.
Jason knew he was supposed to call for an ambulance, but somehow couldn’t move an inch, nor take his eyes off her. As if he were hypnotized. It was the first time he’d witnessed death. And everything about it seemed so thrilling and mesmerizing. The motionlessness of the body parts. The sudden silence of all the cells active and noisy a moment ago. The stillness and nothingness in the open eyes. The smell!
Jason had surely heard before about the terrible odor of disintegrating human flesh a few days after the final exit, but never ever learnt of the lovely vanilla scent going off in the transition from alive to no more. The scent was so ethereal and short-lived yet clearly discernible. Wow.
So many questions started to pop up and crowd in his head. Does everyone give off this smell at the moment of passing? Or maybe each of us has a unique one? Are there any other smells that ensue? Is there any sequence of scents? If yes, is the sequence universal or individual? Maybe it depends on age, gender, the circumstances or the reason of death? What else happens to a body that might be as shocking as the vanilla? What changes in the process of dying depending on the conditions? Does the human body react differently if a person dies slowly or if, for example, the person’s well aware that the end is near and inevitable? What if, while dying, a body is exposed to tickling, erotic touch or severe pain?
So many whats, whys, whens, what ifs. This abundance of various options placed unexpectedly within his reach enhanced the quiet, subdued howling inside. Now the howling sounded loud and clear, and wild. Jason had at once realized how lucky he was. So few people do find the meaning in life, so very few dare to face their destiny. His was an ambitious one. Jason Scott could be God, or at least he could play God. He not only awaited impatiently to observe the loss of life in various ways, forms and situations. Jason, just like God, aspired to cause it, to decide who, when and how. This how unquestionably excited him the most, he noted.
His cheeks reddened, his eyes burned, his hands trembled. Now everything became obvious, simple and logical. He now knew what job to accept. Now he’d recognized why working at school was perfect for him. The plan was to try schools of all levels, starting from elementary through high school and ending with university and, finally, the third age teaching. Thanks to the plan, he’d be able to gain access to all sorts of material. Yes!
For the time being though, Jason unwillingly took out the cell and called for an ambulance.
©2020 Marta Mozolewska. All rights reserved.
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