All Change

Part 1

The DoD was always quiet on Monday mornings. From the corner by Don Copal’s office, Eva was busily typing a letter for her lazy, bloody-minded boss, while many of the reapers were out fetching their clients. Domino Hurley hadn’t been seen all day: he’d have to buy a mobile if he went on like this. Eva was juggling his messages as it was. 

As she finished and turned away from the typewriter to pull out a file, she paused and listened. She could hear a thumping noise, and walked along the corridor to see if she could find it. Then she realised what it was: the sound of paper balls hitting the inside of Manny Calavera’s office door, as he tried to hit the bin from behind his desk. She opened the door and one flew out past her leg.

“Take my advice, Manny, stick to solitaire if you’re bored.”

Manny ignored her. He was aiming perfectly this time: he knew it. He pitched the paper ball at the bin and it missed by two feet.

“See what I mean? It looks like a snowfield in here.”

Manny flopped back in his chair, giving up. “Eva, is there something wrong with me? Have I done something or said something to Don Copal to make him mad at me?”

“You mean, besides at the Christmas party.”

Manny shuddered.

“Come on, Cal, it’s not so bad. You’ve had five clients this past -”

“ –month, and every one of them has been lousy. I used to be good at this job, Eva, what am I doing wrong?”

“Don’t ask me, I’m just a secretary. I have no idea.”

Manny didn’t reply, and after a while Eva went out and closed the door.

As she went back to her desk, the elevator from the garage opened and Glottis, Manny’s driver, came out. The sight made Eva think of a tube full of orange toothpaste being squeezed through a keyhole. “Ah, ma’am, I’m looking for Mr. Calavera -?”

“Down the hallway. Watch out for paper balls.” Eva sat down and found her nail file.

Glottis knocked on the door and squeezed inside when Manny called. “Manny, I really need to talk to you about your car. It’s –“

 Depressed, Manny cut in. “Forget it, Glottis. I’m never using it these days anyway. Let the damn thing rust.”

 Glottis, whose single ultimate desire in life was to drive and maintain cars, went yellow. He opened his mouth to speak, but Manny spoke first. “You know what my problem is, Glottis?”

 “No,” Glottis managed, although he could think of several other things to say, most of them loud.

“My problem,” went on Manny, tossing a paper ball up and down in his hand, “is that I’ve forgotten what this job used to be like. It used to be fun, Glottis. I used to enjoy helping people go to the Ninth Underworld. I used to love selling people the best package I could. It wasn’t competitive back then. It was great - it was a real adventure. Not like it is now. No, back then things weren’t like this at all . . .”

The blade of his scythe slit the wrapping around his latest soul, and Manny peered down into the face of his new client. “Buenos dias.”

 “Who are you?” asked Tonio Henez nervously.

 “I’m – a friend. Come to help you out in your time of need.”

 “Time of need?” Henez looked down at himself and screamed. “Oh my god! I’m dead!”

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