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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Fairy Tales & Fantasy
- Subject: Relationships
- Published: 10/07/2020
She didn’t know where she was. She had no memory. She had a tag on her wrist…it was red. She was also holding some kind of ticket in her hand. She wandered out of the room into a hallway. The hallway was crowded. People were moving briskly. Some were hauling what looked like little metal carts with stuff piled up on them. Others were pushing large boxes on dollies. Others were hauling little wagons filled with boxes and bags.
“What in the world?”
She managed to gasp out in disoriented surprise. She lifted her hand to cover her mouth, not realizing her words had come out of her mouth.
A nice looking man stopped and set his dolly upright. It had a box about the size of a refrigerator on it. He smiled at her and pointed at the red tag on her wrist.
“Oh, you have a red tag. You just go down the Hallway until you see a red door. There will be a woman at a little kiosk there and she should be able to help you.”
With that, he jerked his dolly back on its wheels. After a few jerky lefts and rights he got it moving again, waving casually over his shoulder at the still stationary young woman with the red tag on her wrist. That young woman waved back, but it was a weak tepid wave. She had no idea where she was, what everyone was doing, and why a lady at a kiosk in front of a red door would be able to help her.
So she headed out into the throng of people. She was the only one with no bags, boxes, wagons, dollies or trollies. Just an envelope in one hand, and a red tag on her other wrist. She merged with the line of folks headed in the general direction of the way the nice young man had pointed her. A few minutes later she saw the red door.
A very smart looking woman was standing at a kiosk just outside the door…she was looking at a screen in front of her with an intensity that made the young woman with the red tag think to herself”
“Whoever that lady is, she is in charge. I wouldn’t want to piss her off.”
Just then, the lady looked up from her intense concentration. She saw the red tag on the young woman’s wrist and smiled and waived her over. The young woman was surprised at the change in the woman’s face when she saw the red tag. It was like the woman was expecting her, and relief showed on her face too. Like she was happy to see her. And she was.
“Oh, Jill, there you are! I thought my database was wrong. I think you got sent to the wrong room, but no worries now. You are in the right place.”
“I am?”
“Yes. (Flicking the red tag on her wrist) Only red tags go through the red door. Are you ready?”
“For what? Why red? Where. Am. I ?”
Jill almost screamed those words at the now confused looking smart lady.
“Oh. I am so sorry. You didn’t get your briefing…well, we shall make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
With that the smart lady hit several buttons on her kiosk…some sharp words were exchanged. Words that Jill couldn’t catch speeding by her to fast, but she got the overall impression that someone was getting their ass chewed royally. That made Jill smile.
“Okay. So, I shall give you a reduced briefing. I am so sorry. Okay, would you like to sit down and hear what I have to say? Sometimes people’s knees give out.”
Jill knees almost gave out just from what the smart lady said. Even though the look in her eyes was filled with just kind waiting.
“Yes. I would like a chair.”
Suddenly, a chair appeared. Right behind her. Already for her to plop into. She plopped.
The very smart lady looked at her kiosk board again. Shook her head and started right in:
“ Your name is Jill Betty Stenson. You were exactly 22 years, four months, six days, twelve hours, and twenty three minutes for six seconds old…when you died. “
‘DIED?!”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. Everyone here is dead…or you wouldn’t be here.”
Jill looked around in a daze.
“They don’t look Dead. YOU don’t look dead. Am I really Dead?”
“Yes, you are really dead. I just told you when you died. The reason no one looks dead, is because it takes a long while to forget you had a body. So we just go with it until you don’t need one.”
“You have a body. How long have you been dead?”
The smart lady laughed. It was a sweet sound, almost like music covered with maple syrup. Jill liked that laugh.
“I have to have a body. I work with Red tags …like you. Those are the just recently deceased and have to be processed through the red door. I died…hmmm…let me see…how much History do you know?”
“Some.”
“Okay. Do you remember when they found the “Ice Man” Otzi?”
“Yes, it was a big deal. He was like five thousand three hundred years old or something. They found him in Austria…I think.”
The very smart lady patted Jill’s head. It was strangely comforting.
“Well, his name wasn’t Otzi, and he was my brother. He hid me in a cave and lured to other two stalkers up into the mountain. I never saw him again…until, well, after I got rid of my red tag. He was a good brother. Now he is a great brother. He was also the reason I got my red tag.”
Her face turned into a vision of such tenderness that Jill looked away for a moment.
“Wait…what? What did he have to do with you getting a red tag?”
A chair appeared behind the very smart ladies knees…she pulled it under her hips, straightened out her skirt, and pulled both herself and the chair until she was close enough to hold both of Jill’s hands in hers.
“Okay. Have you ever felt guilt, anger, and shame all at the same time?”
“Yes. I don’t like thinking about it.”
The very smart lady patted Jill’s hands.
“Well, hear me out. When my brother, whom you folks named Otzi… and by the way there was no Austria back then. There was just the land outside the Valley, when he saw we were being tracked by Morts…”
“Morts?”
“Oh, I forgot. You aren’t Ancient. Morts are the people who hunt the mountains. Sometimes they come in the Valley to steal our food, or a girl. Sometimes even a woman. “
Jill forgot that she had just been told she was dead. She also forgot she was talking with a woman that was born more than five thousand years ago. The tale was so fascinating ..she just listened. And questions came unbidden:
“Why don’t they steal women? Wouldn’t that make more sense?”
The very smart woman patted Jill’s hand again.
“Oh, dear girl. I forgot how modern you are. In my day, well, let’s just say the trouble it took to try and capture just one woman from my Tribe wasn’t worth it to the Morts. Often their raiding parties went back one or two warriors because they tangled with a Woman from my tribe. They would much rather face one of our male warriors.
“Why?”
A smile that bordered on Evil crossed the very smart woman’s face.
“Because, dear girl. The male warriors sometimes showed mercy. “
The smile on the very smart woman’s face was both feral and ferocious. It hinted that mercy was a shortcoming among men.
“But back to my story. Urp (who your people named Otzi) had taken me up to the High Valley to look for herbs. I had just turned ten skies. “
“Skies?”
“Yes. Skies. A single sky is what you called a year. For us, back then, it was the time it took for the Sun to get back to its starting spot on the horizon…that took a year. So one sky. One year. “
“Urp was mad that I wanted to come along. He had seen some Mort tracks and felt I might be in danger. I already had my first Blood Knife. I killed a wild boar with it. I thought I was ready to be a woman. I was wrong. “
A sad look came across the very smart woman’s face…lost in memory. She shook her head and returned to her story. Jill sat fascinated. Her own worries and concerns…gone.
“The Morts came out of the deep snow. We never learned that trick. There were four of them. Urp got two. But they shot him with an arrow. He ripped it out and stabbed a third Mort with it in the neck. The other Mort ran. (And the very smart lady spat on the ground when she said that.)
Urp took me to a cave he knew nearby. He gave me one of his blooding knives. He kissed me on my head and said”
“I shall lure them away. After dark, head back down the Valley. Use the nightwalker stance. I will go now.”
And he kissed me again on the head. Then he was gone. And it was all my fault. The Morts would have never attacked a lone one of my tribe who had blood knives on both shoulders…and a bow. Unless they were stupid, foolhardy, or young. I never saw him again. We looked when the summer green peppered the High Valleys…but we never found him. I got my brother killed.
So I was red tagged at death.”
Jill let out a breath. She hadn’t even realized she had stopped breathing. Then she wondered why she was breathing at all…after all she was dead. It made Jill laugh out loud. When she told the very smart woman why she laughed…she got a pat on the head.
“Good girl. Good thought. You don’t have to breathe. But your body did. So old habits die hard. Don’t worry about it. With your good mind, and willingness to listen, you won’t even have a body after you finish behind the red door. I believe that will be the outcome.
Jill was brought back to her own situation.
“So tell me why you feeling guilty about Urp, is related to my red tag.”
“Oh, dear girl. Don’t you remember me asking if you felt, guilt, anger, and shame at the same time?”
Jill nodded.
“Well, that is why you got red tagged. You did something to someone in your life…and well, you are guilty, angry and ashamed about it. “
“But who? I never did something terrible to anyone. No one. I am a very kind person…or was.”
The very smart lady looked at her kiosk, sat back down and looked hard at Jill.
“Tell me how you died?”
“What?”
“How you died. The red tag was put on just before your death. What were you doing?”
Jill started to protest…and then it came back to her. Full blown.
She had been texting her mother on the phone…they had a fight over her boyfriend just an hour earlier. Her mother had texted to Jill.
“Honey. I was wrong. Please call me when you get home. I am so sorry. Please call.”
Jill had started texting her mother - while driving- the last text she read from her mother said:
“Jill, please don’t text me while driving. That is dangerous…just call me when you get to your apartment. Please. I love you.”
She answered that text with one of her own:
“You are just a selfish bitch…you just don’t like Rick because he has tattoos…I hate you..I ha…”
Jill started bawling. Her last text was cut off in mid text. Because that is when the Semi split her car open like a Mellon. Jill along with it. Jill never remembered going through the red light…she was to angry…and texting.
The red door opened.
The very smart lady opened the door, helping a weeping guilt and shame filled Jill to her feet.
“Now you need to go in the red room. Save all your feeling for there.”
“Why?”
“Because you have to unload them. Pack them up. Cart them to where your Life on Earth ended, and let go of them.”
“But my Mom…oh God, what a last thing to hear from me. I love her…I loved her. I need to tell her that. “
“I know. I needed to tell my brother too.”
Jill got it now. You don’t get that second chance. Not always.
The Very Smart lady pushed Jill gently through the red door.
“Let it all out. It is over. Done. When your Mother gets here, you can tell her about today. By then you will be ready.”
Jill held onto that thought of seeing her mother again like a drowning person holds a log…with all her strength and hope.
She went in the red door. Then she found out what the envelope in her hand was for.
Sometime later, Jill passed a door while pushing a giant crate on a dolly. A guy with a confused look was standing in the hallway. He had a red tag on his wrist and an envelope in his hand. Jill smiled and let her crate drop back to level.
“Oh, you have a red tag. You just go down the Hallway until you see a red door. There will be a woman at a little kiosk there and she should be able to help you.”
With that she was off again, pushing her giant crate back to the end of her life. She waved casually over her shoulder at the young man. She was so glad he had an envelope.
After packing all her guilt and shame…and anger. And that took a wooden box big enough to hide a bear in. Just before she left the red room…that very smart lady told her to open the envelope.
Jill looked up. Hope and disbelief fighting for dominance in her eyes.
“Yes. What is says is true. You will be able to reach your Mother’s heart…once. Only to tell her two things. I love you. And I am sorry. You can’t say anything else. She will see you. She will know you are okay. And she will know you loved her…and you are sorry.”
Jill did just that.
She whistled as she pushed her cart. Her mom’s smile still in her mind.
Her red tag…gone.
The red tag.(Kevin Hughes)
She didn’t know where she was. She had no memory. She had a tag on her wrist…it was red. She was also holding some kind of ticket in her hand. She wandered out of the room into a hallway. The hallway was crowded. People were moving briskly. Some were hauling what looked like little metal carts with stuff piled up on them. Others were pushing large boxes on dollies. Others were hauling little wagons filled with boxes and bags.
“What in the world?”
She managed to gasp out in disoriented surprise. She lifted her hand to cover her mouth, not realizing her words had come out of her mouth.
A nice looking man stopped and set his dolly upright. It had a box about the size of a refrigerator on it. He smiled at her and pointed at the red tag on her wrist.
“Oh, you have a red tag. You just go down the Hallway until you see a red door. There will be a woman at a little kiosk there and she should be able to help you.”
With that, he jerked his dolly back on its wheels. After a few jerky lefts and rights he got it moving again, waving casually over his shoulder at the still stationary young woman with the red tag on her wrist. That young woman waved back, but it was a weak tepid wave. She had no idea where she was, what everyone was doing, and why a lady at a kiosk in front of a red door would be able to help her.
So she headed out into the throng of people. She was the only one with no bags, boxes, wagons, dollies or trollies. Just an envelope in one hand, and a red tag on her other wrist. She merged with the line of folks headed in the general direction of the way the nice young man had pointed her. A few minutes later she saw the red door.
A very smart looking woman was standing at a kiosk just outside the door…she was looking at a screen in front of her with an intensity that made the young woman with the red tag think to herself”
“Whoever that lady is, she is in charge. I wouldn’t want to piss her off.”
Just then, the lady looked up from her intense concentration. She saw the red tag on the young woman’s wrist and smiled and waived her over. The young woman was surprised at the change in the woman’s face when she saw the red tag. It was like the woman was expecting her, and relief showed on her face too. Like she was happy to see her. And she was.
“Oh, Jill, there you are! I thought my database was wrong. I think you got sent to the wrong room, but no worries now. You are in the right place.”
“I am?”
“Yes. (Flicking the red tag on her wrist) Only red tags go through the red door. Are you ready?”
“For what? Why red? Where. Am. I ?”
Jill almost screamed those words at the now confused looking smart lady.
“Oh. I am so sorry. You didn’t get your briefing…well, we shall make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
With that the smart lady hit several buttons on her kiosk…some sharp words were exchanged. Words that Jill couldn’t catch speeding by her to fast, but she got the overall impression that someone was getting their ass chewed royally. That made Jill smile.
“Okay. So, I shall give you a reduced briefing. I am so sorry. Okay, would you like to sit down and hear what I have to say? Sometimes people’s knees give out.”
Jill knees almost gave out just from what the smart lady said. Even though the look in her eyes was filled with just kind waiting.
“Yes. I would like a chair.”
Suddenly, a chair appeared. Right behind her. Already for her to plop into. She plopped.
The very smart lady looked at her kiosk board again. Shook her head and started right in:
“ Your name is Jill Betty Stenson. You were exactly 22 years, four months, six days, twelve hours, and twenty three minutes for six seconds old…when you died. “
‘DIED?!”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. Everyone here is dead…or you wouldn’t be here.”
Jill looked around in a daze.
“They don’t look Dead. YOU don’t look dead. Am I really Dead?”
“Yes, you are really dead. I just told you when you died. The reason no one looks dead, is because it takes a long while to forget you had a body. So we just go with it until you don’t need one.”
“You have a body. How long have you been dead?”
The smart lady laughed. It was a sweet sound, almost like music covered with maple syrup. Jill liked that laugh.
“I have to have a body. I work with Red tags …like you. Those are the just recently deceased and have to be processed through the red door. I died…hmmm…let me see…how much History do you know?”
“Some.”
“Okay. Do you remember when they found the “Ice Man” Otzi?”
“Yes, it was a big deal. He was like five thousand three hundred years old or something. They found him in Austria…I think.”
The very smart lady patted Jill’s head. It was strangely comforting.
“Well, his name wasn’t Otzi, and he was my brother. He hid me in a cave and lured to other two stalkers up into the mountain. I never saw him again…until, well, after I got rid of my red tag. He was a good brother. Now he is a great brother. He was also the reason I got my red tag.”
Her face turned into a vision of such tenderness that Jill looked away for a moment.
“Wait…what? What did he have to do with you getting a red tag?”
A chair appeared behind the very smart ladies knees…she pulled it under her hips, straightened out her skirt, and pulled both herself and the chair until she was close enough to hold both of Jill’s hands in hers.
“Okay. Have you ever felt guilt, anger, and shame all at the same time?”
“Yes. I don’t like thinking about it.”
The very smart lady patted Jill’s hands.
“Well, hear me out. When my brother, whom you folks named Otzi… and by the way there was no Austria back then. There was just the land outside the Valley, when he saw we were being tracked by Morts…”
“Morts?”
“Oh, I forgot. You aren’t Ancient. Morts are the people who hunt the mountains. Sometimes they come in the Valley to steal our food, or a girl. Sometimes even a woman. “
Jill forgot that she had just been told she was dead. She also forgot she was talking with a woman that was born more than five thousand years ago. The tale was so fascinating ..she just listened. And questions came unbidden:
“Why don’t they steal women? Wouldn’t that make more sense?”
The very smart woman patted Jill’s hand again.
“Oh, dear girl. I forgot how modern you are. In my day, well, let’s just say the trouble it took to try and capture just one woman from my Tribe wasn’t worth it to the Morts. Often their raiding parties went back one or two warriors because they tangled with a Woman from my tribe. They would much rather face one of our male warriors.
“Why?”
A smile that bordered on Evil crossed the very smart woman’s face.
“Because, dear girl. The male warriors sometimes showed mercy. “
The smile on the very smart woman’s face was both feral and ferocious. It hinted that mercy was a shortcoming among men.
“But back to my story. Urp (who your people named Otzi) had taken me up to the High Valley to look for herbs. I had just turned ten skies. “
“Skies?”
“Yes. Skies. A single sky is what you called a year. For us, back then, it was the time it took for the Sun to get back to its starting spot on the horizon…that took a year. So one sky. One year. “
“Urp was mad that I wanted to come along. He had seen some Mort tracks and felt I might be in danger. I already had my first Blood Knife. I killed a wild boar with it. I thought I was ready to be a woman. I was wrong. “
A sad look came across the very smart woman’s face…lost in memory. She shook her head and returned to her story. Jill sat fascinated. Her own worries and concerns…gone.
“The Morts came out of the deep snow. We never learned that trick. There were four of them. Urp got two. But they shot him with an arrow. He ripped it out and stabbed a third Mort with it in the neck. The other Mort ran. (And the very smart lady spat on the ground when she said that.)
Urp took me to a cave he knew nearby. He gave me one of his blooding knives. He kissed me on my head and said”
“I shall lure them away. After dark, head back down the Valley. Use the nightwalker stance. I will go now.”
And he kissed me again on the head. Then he was gone. And it was all my fault. The Morts would have never attacked a lone one of my tribe who had blood knives on both shoulders…and a bow. Unless they were stupid, foolhardy, or young. I never saw him again. We looked when the summer green peppered the High Valleys…but we never found him. I got my brother killed.
So I was red tagged at death.”
Jill let out a breath. She hadn’t even realized she had stopped breathing. Then she wondered why she was breathing at all…after all she was dead. It made Jill laugh out loud. When she told the very smart woman why she laughed…she got a pat on the head.
“Good girl. Good thought. You don’t have to breathe. But your body did. So old habits die hard. Don’t worry about it. With your good mind, and willingness to listen, you won’t even have a body after you finish behind the red door. I believe that will be the outcome.
Jill was brought back to her own situation.
“So tell me why you feeling guilty about Urp, is related to my red tag.”
“Oh, dear girl. Don’t you remember me asking if you felt, guilt, anger, and shame at the same time?”
Jill nodded.
“Well, that is why you got red tagged. You did something to someone in your life…and well, you are guilty, angry and ashamed about it. “
“But who? I never did something terrible to anyone. No one. I am a very kind person…or was.”
The very smart lady looked at her kiosk, sat back down and looked hard at Jill.
“Tell me how you died?”
“What?”
“How you died. The red tag was put on just before your death. What were you doing?”
Jill started to protest…and then it came back to her. Full blown.
She had been texting her mother on the phone…they had a fight over her boyfriend just an hour earlier. Her mother had texted to Jill.
“Honey. I was wrong. Please call me when you get home. I am so sorry. Please call.”
Jill had started texting her mother - while driving- the last text she read from her mother said:
“Jill, please don’t text me while driving. That is dangerous…just call me when you get to your apartment. Please. I love you.”
She answered that text with one of her own:
“You are just a selfish bitch…you just don’t like Rick because he has tattoos…I hate you..I ha…”
Jill started bawling. Her last text was cut off in mid text. Because that is when the Semi split her car open like a Mellon. Jill along with it. Jill never remembered going through the red light…she was to angry…and texting.
The red door opened.
The very smart lady opened the door, helping a weeping guilt and shame filled Jill to her feet.
“Now you need to go in the red room. Save all your feeling for there.”
“Why?”
“Because you have to unload them. Pack them up. Cart them to where your Life on Earth ended, and let go of them.”
“But my Mom…oh God, what a last thing to hear from me. I love her…I loved her. I need to tell her that. “
“I know. I needed to tell my brother too.”
Jill got it now. You don’t get that second chance. Not always.
The Very Smart lady pushed Jill gently through the red door.
“Let it all out. It is over. Done. When your Mother gets here, you can tell her about today. By then you will be ready.”
Jill held onto that thought of seeing her mother again like a drowning person holds a log…with all her strength and hope.
She went in the red door. Then she found out what the envelope in her hand was for.
Sometime later, Jill passed a door while pushing a giant crate on a dolly. A guy with a confused look was standing in the hallway. He had a red tag on his wrist and an envelope in his hand. Jill smiled and let her crate drop back to level.
“Oh, you have a red tag. You just go down the Hallway until you see a red door. There will be a woman at a little kiosk there and she should be able to help you.”
With that she was off again, pushing her giant crate back to the end of her life. She waved casually over her shoulder at the young man. She was so glad he had an envelope.
After packing all her guilt and shame…and anger. And that took a wooden box big enough to hide a bear in. Just before she left the red room…that very smart lady told her to open the envelope.
Jill looked up. Hope and disbelief fighting for dominance in her eyes.
“Yes. What is says is true. You will be able to reach your Mother’s heart…once. Only to tell her two things. I love you. And I am sorry. You can’t say anything else. She will see you. She will know you are okay. And she will know you loved her…and you are sorry.”
Jill did just that.
She whistled as she pushed her cart. Her mom’s smile still in her mind.
Her red tag…gone.
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