The Lady Who Cleans the Dead

The lady who cleans the dead The woman who washed and dressed the body of my wife´s brother came for a visit and to get paid for her service I noticed the nails of her hands were manicured pink did she in her daily work touch more dead bodies daily than live ones? She looked beach clean, bet she used gloves when eating lunch. I made ill at ease, studying her like she was an alien, deeply tanned, this was understandable spending so much time in a cellar full of corpses. Why had she chosen this profession, perhaps she had studied to be a doctor and failed. A new idea struck me if I suddenly died, she would clean me, put lipstick on my dead lips, and rouge on my cheeks for a cheap laugh I smiled broadly at her and nodded to what she said showing my best side, you never know.