Issue 22 - 1992

Coe Review • Issue 22
She jammed the jeep into gear, popped the clutch and shot forward
into the darkness. She fumbled for the headlight switch, finding it,
the night was illuminated with a twist of the wrist as the gravel road
came into focus with the tree line and stark shadows and the elk
frozen in the middle of the road with its full-size rack spread like the
wings of a great, black crow. The jeep plowed into the buck’s flank
with a deep thud. The jeep came to a dead stop as Shelley’s head was
driven into the steering wheel.
The old man stood outside the door. He could make no more
sound than the wind. He ran to the jeep, the buck laying before it,
antlers snapped in several places and a steaming split in its side.
Blood ran from the split, melting the snow. The old man pulled
Shelley’s limp body from the jeep and laid her on the ground holding
her head in his hands. Her forehead was swelling into an unnatural
form and her nose was pushed over to the right. The blood that ran
from in between her golden hairs and out of her nose was black
under the moonlight. Shelley made a gurgling sound as her chest
heaved up and down with no rhythm. She was choking on her own
blood. The old man squeezed his face against her chest trying, in a
way, to press his life into her body. All he felt was her blood cooling
on his cheek.
Shelley opened her eyes to see who was holding her. She did
not see the old man, she saw Death. Death pulled back his hood
revealing his smooth, white skull in the moonlight. Shelley stared
into the depths of his eye sockets as Death put his long finger bones
inside Shelley’s mouth. He put his wrist in and then pushed down so
that his elbow joint was at her lips. Shelley could feel Death’s arm
go down her esophagus and it was like swallowing ice. Death
touched her lungs and took the breath from them. Shelley saw his
grin and then saw nothing.
Her gurgling stopped. The old man checked for a pulse,
none. The voice pent up inside the old man’s chest was released,
“Deeeeattthh! Take me too! I want to die! I told you, I want to DIE!
Take Me.” The old man fell to his back. “Where have you gone
Death? Don’t leave me, take me with you.” The only answer was his
voice echoing between the mountains.
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