Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

[vovan]

Postmortem:
Two Thousand Years Later

by Dmitry Pleshkov

New Leningrad, 1969



to Svetlana,
for her courage



Foreword:

My name is Dmitry. I am 34 years of age, and work in a small morgue here, in New Leningrad, a Russian colony on the Greek peninsula. I was born in this town and have never left it in my whole entire life. The reason being partly that there are no other towns in a 300-kilometer radius. Frankly, I don’t know how we survive these long cold winters here without the help of the motherland. I suppose the hope of our souls: that we are here for a great purpose and the good of the rest of the nation - nourishes our bodies…

The reason I decided to write this little essay is because we have recently found a dead body. More precisely, a scared woman told us that she found it and we fetched it here. After all, it is our responsibility to take care of dead bodies around the town. But this is not your usual body, I think. The problem is, I cannot write directly to Moscow (yes, I am convinced it is that important). We have no means of communicating with the capital. So, we will have to wait till somebody visits us. I will probably be able to send this paper back with the next ship. It is scheduled to come and bring us food and fuel next week.

My heart is warmed with the thought that this is the first important paper I am writing in my life: I graduated from a tiny university here, and have not done any scientific work since. Well, now is my chance.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Most intrigueing start, looks like being an excellent tale. Looking forward to seeing this develop, keep it coming vovan.

[unscratchedfoot]

Vovansim finally delivers the goods. But so few goods. I think I can see what's happening here though. The dead body the scared woman found is of one of the legendary Russian heros of 2000 years before named unscratchedfoot. Dimtree unthaws the dude and he goes on an unholy rampage like Attila the Hun whom he was a general of before.

[vovan]

Originally posted by unscratchedfoot
Vovansim finally delivers the goods. But so few goods.

Patience, Scratchy. The goods will be coming your way every other day. In small doses.

[bassman]

Originally posted by vovansim


Patience, Scratchy. The goods will be coming your way every other day. In small doses.

That's how the addiction starts! Then you miss a post and we'll be begging for our fix.

Good beginning!

[unscratchedfoot]

doopity doo

[vovan]

Originally posted by unscratchedfoot
doopity doo

Bumpity bump

[steamthunk]

Hmmmm... a mystery eh? Would like to see more posted at a time though.

You know, maybe we should start a thread where someone comes up with a premise and some characters and we choose characters to write about. This would solve everyone's (well mostly 'foot) fascination with wanting to alter stories!

[vovan]

Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

At about 21:13, just as I was finished with my papers, and was ready to leave, I heard a loud knock on the door. I got up from my desk, as another knock sounded. When I opened the door, I saw a woman. Her face seemed to have a bluish tone to it -- from the cold temperature outside, as I thought. As soon as she saw me, she collapsed into my arms, half-senseless.

As I was moving her into the warm room, I felt a shiver down my spine, as I could not feel her heart beat, and was terrified by the idea of a woman dying right in my hands. In addition, her fur-coat was covered with snow, and, as it began to melt, the cold water soaked my shirt, and little chilling streams were running down my body. I took her coat off, put it on a hanger, and placed her into an armchair. I then left the room to make some hot tea, as there was no medicine nearby, and frankly, even if there was something, I wouldn’t know what to give her -- after all, I mostly deal with people, who do not need it any more.

As I returned into the room, the woman had come to her senses, and was now sitting, her face in her hands, shivering. I thought she was cold and hurried to give her some tea and asked her what happened. She took the cup from me without looking up or uttering a single word. As she received it, her hand touched mine, and I felt that it was very hot. She could not possibly be so cold as to shiver.

As I further enquired after the events that lead her to such a miserable state, she looked up. I think I will never forget her eyes, full of terror. I realized that her trembling was to be attributed to being frightened to the last extreme.

She could only manage to say one word, with her trembling voice: “Body.”

[ChrisiusMaximus]

got your PM, good luck with your studies

[unscratchedfoot]

Re: Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

This beginning is good because makes us want to find out more. Is this going to be a horror story? It's about time someone took a shot at writing this kind of story.


One minor thing you might wanna change:

In addition, her fur-coat was covered with snow, and, as it began to melt, little streams of cold water ran down my body.

"my body" coupled with "cold water" makes it seem as if he is naked, or even dead (as in 'dead body'), so I think 'my clothes' or shirt or something would be better. Man, am I ever picky! Maybe you feel like

[vovan]

Re: Re: Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

Originally posted by unscratchedfoot
"my body" coupled with "cold water" makes it seem as if he is naked, or even dead (as in 'dead body'), so I think 'my clothes' or shirt or something would be better. Man, am I ever picky! Maybe you feel like

No, actually, I agree with you, unscratchedfoot, the sentence is a little awkward in that it seems as if he was naked. Let me revise it

[unscratchedfoot]

Re: Re: Re: Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

Originally posted by vovansim


No, actually, I agree with you, unscratchedfoot, the sentence is a little awkward in that it seems as if he was naked. Let me revise it

Or you could leave him naked, get the woman naked too and turn the story into an erotic thriller. Uh oh, did I make you go rewrite the plot again?

[vovan]

Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

I figured since the pieces are so short, I'll post 'em a little more often. So, here goes:

As the woman clamed down, I was able to receive more specific information from her.

She left the grocery store, where she works, at about 19:00. Naturally, it was already dark outside, and the streetlights did not make the lighting much better, as a snowstorm had started. There was so much snow, that she could barely see where she was going. As she was passing the coal mine, however, she noticed that the gate was flung open, and there was nobody to be seen around, although, normally at this time some trucks would still be leaving with their loads towards the electric plant. She also noticed some machines left in quite unorderly fashion, as if they were not left for the night, but rather deserted hastily.

This sight made the woman quite very nervous, as her husband works at the mine. She then headed to the booth of the night watch to enquire what happened. As she approached the booth, she saw that the light was turned on, and was quite glad to find at least somebody... Just to be disappointed again, for when she came around it, she saw that the door was swinging open. She looked inside, and saw a newspaper laying on the table, open on the second page, a steaming cup of tea, and a cigarette, alight, in the ashtray next to it.

By this time, she admits, she began to panic. As she was heading back to the road, she noticed something dark in the snow, right by the mine entrance. She approached it, and, to her horror, realized that it was a body. A dead body. She than completely lost her mind with fear and flew home to see if her husband was there.

She found the apartment dark and just like she left it in the morning. Nobody seemed to have come back. Her husband never returned.

Crying, she decided to go back to the mine, and see whom the body belonged to. But with every step closer to the mine, and with every drop of tears freezing on her cheek, she became more and more scared. So, finally, as she was passing the morgue, and saw the light in the window, she could not proceed further, and decided to report her discovery. After all, people in the morgue are supposed to take care of the dead bodies. She knocked on the door, and as I opened it, she fainted, exhausted by her emotions and the long walks.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Most mysterious, a case for Sherlock Holmes or Poirot?. Or perhaps the great vovansim the well known private detective!!