The way that I earn my money isn't for everyone. Everyday I work with the dead. I have found that they are easier to deal with then the living. It's my nitch you could say. Something that I am good at. The only job that I've ever been able to hang on to.
One of my side jobs is driving a hearse for some local funeral homes. It's usually a pretty good gig. One that is pretty brainless. All I have to do is get behind the wheel, drive the hearse to a church, sit there and wait for someone else to carry the passenger to the car. Hell, I don't even have to get out of the car if I don't feel like it.
Once in the car, it's just me and the silent passenger. I don't have to entertain them, fight over what radio station to listen to, offer them a smoke, ask them if they need to stop for anything, or listen to them chattering away. It's just a quiet ride to their bodies final destination.
An easy dollar to be made.
That was until last week. I was sitting outside a local church waiting for the body to be brought out to the car. Out of nowhere I heard what I thought was the backfire of a car. It wasn't until I saw a hole form in the side of the car I was sitting in that I realized I was being shot at. I looked toward the sound of the bang and there it was, a car with three men in it who were actually shooting at a church and a hearse.
Turns out the silent passenger I was waiting for had been killed in a gang shooting. 20 year old dude. I guess the ass hats that shot him weren't to sure he was dead.
Then the situation became even more interesting. Some of the men hauling the silent passenger, pulled out guns of their own and started shooting back.
All I could do was lay as flat as I could and pray to God I didn't become the next silent passenger going for a ride with some guy like me, looking for an easy buck.
As I laid there, time seemed to stand still, move in slow motion. I looked around and saw elderly people, little kids, and the preacher. In the middle of all of them there were men with guns just shooting at each other. On a church lawn, in the middle of the afternoon. Seemed so unreal.
All I could think of was, damn, even death can't extinguish evil.
1 comment:
Good Lord! (Good lord, bad lord--I'm atheist--that's a line from Freud from The Dead Guy Interviews Freud)
I did have a similar experience. The only job I can do is teach--put someone in front of me from age 4 to 40 and I'll figure out what to do. When I began teaching in the public schools in Chicago, I started in a gang banger infested area. My students, who were in 6th grade, were being recruited. Then Feb. 14, Valentine's Day, came. I was supposed to supervise the school dance. Right when dismissal began, two rival gangs opened fire. The students had to run back inside. One of my students was a color guard; she helped the little kids cross the street. She ran up to me, hysterical and said: Teacher, teacher, they shot me. I thought she was wounded, but she was okay. Then my class were at the windows, watching the shooting. I screamed: Get down, get down. A bullet hit the glass window. It was so unreal. I just thought: so it isn't a cliche-the public schools ARE dangerous.
It's hard for us, but what is worse is that these kids deal with this daily. Who knows how many families were hiding and praying while all this madness was going on?
You were very lucky, Spongy. Gangbangers can't shoot--their aim sucks. That is how innocent bystanders get shot. Thank goodness you did what you did.
I don't know--a shoot out at a funeral--a shoot out on Valentine's Day--what's wrong with this picture? Fucked up doesn't even begin to describe it.
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