Cathbad's Short Horror

Rotten Luck   I have been trying to sleep all night.  All I’ve succeeded in doing so far was  send my lone sheet to the  floor   with my tossing about.   Yes, I work as a mortician; but before tonight, my work has never disturbed my sleep – or any other facet of my life.   Tonight, though, they  had  brought me one of my own.   How did that happen?  I take precautions.  I don’t work my hobby in my own town.   This one was Isabelle.  According to her toe tag, she apparently lives in the neighborhood.  I suppose she might have been visiting a friend in Peoria?    Rotten luck.   I’d been ready or a light night, thee being only one body on the schedule to be dressed for funeral.   It’s my habit to  unsheet  the body, then proceed immediately to a thorough cleaning.  I do it quite by rote – which is why I didn’t realize who she was at first.   The morgue employees had already filled her up with embalming fluid, so