“I’m dead.” The man nodded and smiled at him. He then told him his name. “Just like Mr. Simon there. Jacob Simon was his name.”
“Me. That’s me. First love of Evie and father of our daughter, the ingrate. But we got us that granddaughter of ours, and that’s made me a happy man. Never met her, of course, but she used to come…did you say you were gonna marry her?” Joel nodded. “You’re that one that made her run then?”
“I never made her run. She did that all on her own. And when I find her, she’s going to pay for all the shit she put me through.” Jacob laughed again. “This is all her fault. Had she done as she was told, I’d be alive and her husband right now. Not sitting here with a dead man talking about bullshit.”
“You learn to love the bullshit after a while. But for you….” Jacob stood up and put out his hands. “You’ve overstayed your welcome. Be gone to your own home, never to return.”
Joel felt like he was being sucked into a straw. Every part of his body seemed to hurt for a split second before he was standing again. He stood there for several seconds before he realized that he really was in his bedroom. His bed hadn’t been made yet, and his towels from this morning were laying just where he’d left them. Joel left his room to go and find someone to tell him what the hell was going on.
They were all in the kitchen; his cook, who Joel had no idea what his name was, a little woman with an apron on and a dust rag in her hand, as well as another man with a knife in one hand and what looked like a chicken breast in the other. They were all staring at the television instead of working. Before he could tell them to get to work, he noticed what was on the screen.
“Long time resident of the area, Mr. Joel Delaney, was survived by his mother and his stepfather. His colleagues are not saying anything at this point; all of them have said they are dealing with the news at this time and may have a statement later. Of course, there is no word on the services or any arrangements as yet. The police are saying that Mrs. Simon-English is cleared of all suspicion in this tragic accident that happened today. Again, Joel Delaney, of Delaney Procurement Offices, is dead tonight at the age of thirty-seven.”
“I am not thirty-seven.” He was actually thirty-nine, but there was no reason for the entire world to know how close to that age he really was. “Tell them. Where the hell is Fred? He knows.”
“I sure wish Mr. Fred was here. He’d know what we were to do. But getting that other job offer was good timing for him. Lucky man. But he did have to put up with a lot from that tyrant. What do you suppose happens to us now? You think we’ll still get paid?” Joel just stared at the man with the knife. He couldn’t figure out what he was going on about. “I should have left when Fred did. Damn it all to hell and back. I’ll never get a reference from Mr. D now.”
“You work until I tell you that you aren’t working for me any longer.” Joel moved about the room, screaming in the ear of each of the people in the room. “Get to work. I’m not paying you to fucking sit around and do nothing.”
They, like the people in the other house, ignored him. Joel moved around his house for nearly an hour before he realized that what Jacob had told him might be true. He was dead. Dead, and no one was going to talk to him. He was too young to be dead. There were things he needed to do, things he wanted to complete.
“How the hell am I supposed to make any money being dead?” He didn’t even have any insurance to collect. His mom did, he supposed. She’d told him once that she’d been paying on something since he’d been a baby. “She’s going to be expecting me to just hand over everything to her now I bet, too. Well, I got news for her, there is nothing for her or that bastard she married.”
“My name is Howard.” The man in front of him just suddenly appeared. Joel stared at him for several seconds until the man waved his hand in front of his face. “You’re dead. You know that, right? I’m here to answer any questions for you. But hurry it up. I got other things to do besides babysit morons like you.”
“Why do people keep calling me names? I’ll have you know that I graduated at the top of my class.” The man snorted at him. “I did. I have all the awards and paperwork to prove it.”
“You’re dead. You lie and it bites you in the ass. You did graduate at the top of your class because you blackmailed your professors to do it. And that little girl you fucked to get her to change your grades is still reeling from the consequences of that action. He’s about fourteen now; you have a son. Congratulations.” Howard put out his hand and when Joel reached for it, all they did was pass through each other. “Now. For lying. You’ll have to stop that. I’m giving you ten extra years here on this plane.”