9 Taylor Delivers His Message, Pinky Says Goodbye

"The cool thing about being a reaper was you kind of had a second chance to make things right." - Georgia Lass

George: I can't do this.

Rube: Sure you can. You have to.

George: I don't have to do shit.

Rube: Do you like spaghetti, George? I like spaghetti. I like board games. I like grabbing the trifecta with that long shot on top. That ozone smell you get from air purifiers. And I like knowing the space between my ears is immeasurable. Mahler's first Bernstein conducting. You got to think about all the things you like, and decide whether they're worth sticking around for. And if they are you'll…you'll find a way to do this.

George: What if I don't?

Rube: Then you will go away. And you don't get to like anything anymore.

Conrad looked up from his breakfast to see Sylvia and Fletcher, like him new reapers, walk through the door. Sylvia had a bitter edge to her. Whether this was something innate or connected to her life experiences or maybe how she had died he hadn't been able to figure. But so far she had worked hard to keep her appointments from happening and her success rate this week was perfect. Fletcher was an easy going middle aged man whose transition was easy. He had been a teacher of philosophy at a college in Canada somewhere. They slid into their booth one next to him and the other next to Jiho, his newest recruit, another very new to reapering. Jiho was a giant. Not the sort Conrad would have picked to be a reaper. He was hard not to notice. Conrad understood he was a former member of one of the upper castes in India. He seemed to like people in general more than people in particular. Lesser revolutions had been built on weaker foundations.

He hoped the new potential, Pinky, would show, too. She would be the first from among the experienced reapers. He had talked to several but he found them to be dogmatic in the extreme and so far he hadn't found the key to breaking through their defenses. He hoped Pinky could help him to understand better how the older reapers thought so he could get them to see beyond the brainwashing they had obviously been subjected to.

"How'd it go last night?"

Fletcher picked up a menu and focusing on it said, "It worked. Kid did not die. Hopefully there won't be a rebound."

"And you?"

Sylvia was looking over her shoulder and raising her hand towards Meg, their usual waitress. "I really need some coffee. Yeah, Conrad, mine is still alive, too. I left him a little dazed but very much alive."

"Excellent."

He glanced at Jiho, who said, "I have one this afternoon."

"I'll be going with you. Any flak from your groups?"

Jiho responded, "Lots. When my boss heard I was talking to you he said he couldn't protect me."

Conrad saw another woman walk through the front door. He raised his arm and she caught sight and nodded. Conrad slid in deeper around the half moon shaped booth and the woman took a place. He said, "Everyone, this is Pinky."

Pinky looked around and said to him, "How'd you find this place?"

He shrugged. "It's open 24/7…and the coffee's good…and it's the closest to our various groups' core areas. Introductions?"

Jiho raised his hand, "I'm called Jiho. I died in India a few months ago and was moved all the way over here to San Francisco. I was always intending to come here, and, I guess I made it…and no visa problems." He smiled.

"That's a far one." Pinky continued, "I've been here in San Francisco for a few years. I was moved to a new group just last year."

Conrad looked up to see his boss standing there. It was unnerving how the older reapers could go unnoticed even to other reapers.

Taylor said, "Hi, Conrad." Taylor looked around, saw a chair, and, without an invitation, pulled it over to the table side of the booth end. He turned to catch Meg's attention and motioned for a cup of coffee.

"Taylor. You're always welcome to join, but I have to admit I didn't expect you to enlist so soon."

"Actually, my friend, I'm here on orders from on high."

Conrad couldn't help raising his eyebrows. When he saved the first few he had expected some sort of divine retribution. The older reapers all warned him, they promised it. But all that stressing and fretting and…nothing. This visit from Taylor was the first sign. He was ready for something more. "And?"

Meg brought his coffee. No one said anything while Taylor took his time to add one sugar and a little cream. He stirred and put his spoon beside the cup. "It's a message for you as far as I know."

Conrad smiled. "It's OK, Taylor, let's hear the message."

"Well, someone is coming…to deal with you."

"Really? What does that mean?"

"I don't know. I don't think it means they'll be giving you a good citizenship award. I told you…"

Conrad raised his hand. "Yes, you told me. I'll accept whatever this someone brings."

Taylor frowned. "Conrad. There is still time."

"You want me to repent my sins?" He smiled a bit even as he was aware Taylor might well take it as a smirk, and one leaning towards disrespectful. He couldn't help it.

"It's not a joke."

Sylvia broke in. "Who's coming?"

Taylor shifted his attention to her. "Someone from Seattle."

Pinky said, "Oh hell." And brought her hands to her face. Everyone turned to her.

Conrad noticed Taylor smile a tad. He asked Pinky, "So you know who it is?"

Pinky ignored Conrad. She looked up, around, and then asked Taylor. "Do…do you know who?"

Taylor said, "I wasn't officially given a name by upstairs management, not yet. We don't need to know until they get here. I have a pretty good idea though."

Fletcher seemed curious. "But they told you from Seattle? You…and we needed to know that?"

Pinky looked hard at Taylor. "It tells us…me…what I need to fucking know."

Sylvia said, "Well, it's not Ice. She not supposed to reside anywhere in particular."

Conrad was new but he had heard about this Ice as they all had. "Isn't she that mythical creature who supposedly shows up to deliver the wrath up close and personal from the unseen upstairs management?" He couldn't help smiling. He was new to reaping, but this Ice was a lesson taught to all new reapers in their cribs. And he was skeptical - it was his nature. During his few months as a reaper he hadn't seen her or anything like her.

Taylor was not smiling. Conrad had heard about Ice in detail from Taylor after Conrad had answered his calling, after he started preventing appointments. And then, she did not appear. After he had saved a few more she still was a no show. Taylor had cried wolf a half dozen too many times.

Taylor said, "Conrad, it's not Ice. But Ice is very real. I told you I saw her myself back in 1927 up close and in person."

"Yes, you told me she did what?…dust you said two Chinese reapers in Seattle back before the War, the first World War. It's a shock to realize that after you die, you can still die in some new way."

Conrad noticed that Pinky was looking even paler than her usual pale. "You OK, Pinky?"

"No. I'm not OK." She looked Taylor's way leaned toward him. "Is it…that girl?"

Taylor nodded. "I have several friends in Seattle. I called one of them…goes by the name of Rube, who was also there when Ice showed back before the War, and he told me it's his girl who's coming. She's the one who dusted your old boss Paul, and Joan too just last year. I should think you would remember her well. Say, Pinky, weren't you standing right there when she did both of them? That's what you told me last year. The Terminator they call her now."

Conrad was intrigued. "What a coincidence. You happen to know the boss of this Terminator. And it's a girl. I haven't heard of this Terminator girl. Does she look like the big guy in the movie?"

Pinky was looking ill. "It's not a coincidence. It's never a fucking coincidence."

Meg looked their way and frowned. Conrad smiled at her and nodded. She went to take another table's order. There was something more. "Pinky?"

She covered her eyes. They waited. Finally she lowered hands. "Yeah, she's the one who dusted Paul and Joan."

Conrad was a bit skeptical of this dusting. A few older reapers said they knew what it was, but no one could actually do this dusting. "Dusted?"

Pinky looked his way hard and said, "It means that with the touch of her finger she can turn a reaper into dust - poof - just dust. It's a real and the final death."

He hadn't met anyone who professed to have actually seen this done, well other than his boss, and now Pinky, and he suspected his boss was just trying to scare him into conforming, to stop his revolution. "And? Why would she dust them?"

"Paul and Joan had resurrection reaps on that big plane crash last year just south of Sacramento. They…well…the girl showed up with her boyfriend - some living police officer she had just ghosted…and Paul and Joan kidnapped him leaving the girl at the crash site chasing the last few souls." She stopped talking. Resolve took hold and she motioned she wanted out. "I'm outa here."

But Taylor didn't move. He said, "Tell them what happened. They have a right to know…should know."

Fletcher looked uneasy. "I heard something about that."

Pinky continued. "That's it. What more is there to say? She caught up to us. We were in Paul's big black SUV. She got them out and dusted both of them right in front of me. And she drove away with their SUV. I bet she still has it."

Taylor said, "Yeah, Rube brought me up to date. She was on her way down to LA to retrieve a reaper who had returned home and somehow got herself stuck with her family. Very odd situation. And the Terminator went down there and gave the girl a choice. She made the wrong one and she called up the Dark to take the girl."

Conrad hadn't heard that any reaper could do that. "Really? She can call up the Dark?" The Dark was the other great myth he had yet to see. None of them had…except Taylor and the older reapers.

"Yes, she can. In Seattle several reapers watched her do it in some old warehouse. Some are saying that Death itself can manifest through her into this world."

"Taylor…I haven't been a reaper long, but…for all the warnings about how that Dark would snap me up if my toe stepped over some unseen line…well, I'm still here."

"Some of us have been discussing that too. It's odd you've been allowed this many serious transgressions with no reaction. Very odd."

"And why do you all think I…and others…have gotten away with these transgressions?"

"I don't know, Conrad, but you're making a grave mistake with what you're doing. You're interfering with Fate and Death and it can't be overlooked for long. Balance will…must be restored."

Conrad hadn't been a reaper long, but from what he had seen of his many reaper colleagues intelligence and logical thinking skills were not high on the screening criteria to become one. "And now she's coming here?"

"Yes, Conrad. She's coming to visit with you."

"Well, I'm looking forward to talking with her."

"You can make light all you want. Conrad, listen, she's not coming to have a chat with you. She'll do much more than talk. Oh and Rube mentioned that she was directed to bring that same ghosted police detective."

"One of the living. He was part of the other story. Isn't that a major transgression itself? Do any of the living work with us reapers in San Francisco?"

"It's very rare. None here. Rube mentioned they've got several in some sort of cluster forming up there. He's going with the flow from on high. He also told me that a small boy got ghosted and is being raised by his group of reapers."

Sylvia sparked at that. "I heard gossip about that. It's true then? Wow. Reapers raising a real live boy."

Conrad didn't see that as a really great idea. In any case his vision was something much larger. "OK, Taylor, message delivered. I appreciate the heads up. Anything about when?"

"Soon. They're driving here. A few days…no more than a week."

The words - driving and here seemed to spark something in Pinky. She looked at Taylor and said, "Excuse me. Could you let me out?" She pulled herself out of the booth and turned to Conrad. "I'm out." She turned to leave. Thought of something more. "Conrad, you're a saint. You really are, but she will not show mercy. She won't care about your vision to save the living. If you want to get through your quota…" Whatever she was going to say the thought was choked off. She raised a hand, a final goodbye perhaps, and she walked away shaking her head.

Taylor said, "Well, Conrad, I've done my duty here. Maybe…"

"Taylor, I understand. Thanks for coming."

And Taylor too pulled himself out of the booth and left.

Conrad sat back into the booth and smiled at his remaining revolutionaries.