Borderlands 4 Read online

  He climbed the hill above the barn, the morning dew soaking his shoes and the bottom of his pants legs. Forty years earlier he had walked here before it was part of the barnyard; the weeds had been tall then.

  The white oak still stood, serving as a post for the barbed wire now enclosing the barnyard. He remembered the exact spot where the possum had lain. Now there was nothing to distinguish it. Small sandrocks that had washed down from higher up the hill lay on an outcropping of limestone. An ant struggled backwards, dragging a cricket leg. He stood looking at the spot for several minutes. From the field and trees below the barn came the din of grasshoppers and jarflies. He walked back to the barn.

  One of the barn stalls had been screened in at one time to house a goat. This was where he planned to leave Rex. A round tub used as a watering trough was already in the stall. He carried it outside, hosed it out, put it back in the stall and filled it with the hose. Enough water to last Rex a month and he should only be there a couple of days max. He went into the house and got a large bag of dry dog food and dumped it in the feed trough. Rex wasn’t one to over eat, particularly on dry dog food. He would be okay.

  He climbed into the barn loft and threw down a pitchfork of hay and put it in the stall. He took off the “St. Martin Beach Paradise” tee shirt he was wearing beneath his flannel shirt and laid it over the hay. His scent would comfort Rex even after he was no longer alive.

  Arterial Embalming

  1. Clamp off corresponding vein to create back pressure and prevent short circuits,

  (back pressure needed to overcome vascular resistance and loosen clots)

  2. Inject downwards into the artery

  (torso first then appendages)

  3. Inject approximately one (1) quart of embalming solution.

  4. Vigorously massage body, arms, and legs toward the heart

  5. Stop machine when vein begins to distend

  6. Open drain tube pump

  7. Pump out blood until drainage stops

  8. Repeat steps

  He still had to drive 90 miles to Lexington, sell the van, mail some letters, and then somehow get back to the farm and into the woods without anyone recognizing him.

  He packed his backpack, the same one that had ridden his back across a hundred miles of Appalachian Trail with Laura and Rex and the length of Isle Royale with his first wife.

  He had planned to leave Rex in the barn while he went to Lexington, but at the last minute he decided to take him along. It would rule out a bus back to Summerville but that would have left the problem of getting from the bus station to the farm. Also if his neighbor came by to feed the horses he might discover Rex in the stall.

  He loaded the few things he had brought into the van and locked up the A-Frame. They drove into Summerville where he stopped at a phone booth and called Jimmie to tell him he had business in Lexington and would be back late that night. He also invited them out to the farm the following day for a barbecue. Of course they would only find his note instructing them to look in the barn where they would find Rex and the other things he was leaving.

  About the size of a cat but with only 1/5 a cat’s brain mass, the possum makes up in appetite what it lacks in brain power. They have been discovered totally inside the carcass of a deer, eating the internal organs.

  It went quicker in Lexington than he thought it would. He drove into the used car lot of the Toyota dealer and quickly sold the van for several hundred less than what it was worth. He had them make the check out to Laura and he signed over the title. He asked the salesman call a cab for him, saying he had a plane to catch. “The dog going on the plane too?” the salesman asked.

  “Yeah, they furnish crates for them,” he replied.

  At first, the cabbie didn’t want to take Rex but the promise of an extra-large tip changed his mind. He directed the driver to a familiar downtown intersection. He then walked to a small park and finished his letter to Laura.

  Dearest Laura,

  By the time you read this my pain will have ended. I’m taking what I think is the easiest way out for both of us. I’m sorry that not having a body to prove I’m dead will cause some legal headaches but I’m sure you understand.

  It’s very important to me that I go quietly, without forcing you and others who love me to watch me slowly die.

  I know you will wonder about my final days. After leaving Rex at the farm this morning I drove to Lexington and sold the van. The check is enclosed. I had them make it payable to you. Call and cancel the insurance.

  I mailed this letter and took a plane south under a different name. Please don’t bother trying to trace my path from Lexington. I have a plan to die at sea. But if you take a trip to the Caribbean with your next husband and see a sea gull with binoculars looking at the topless girls you’ll know there may be such a thing as reincarnation.

  In spite of our problems the last couple of years, I want you to know our years together were the happiest of my life. If sometimes we didn’t see things the same way, that’s just how life is when you share it with someone. Your love and kindness the past few months have made the pain much easier to bear.

  More than anything I want the rest of your life to be happy but there are no words I can say that will guarantee that. You are a wonderful person and you deserve much happiness. Do whatever it takes to achieve it.

  Although legally and physically I will be dead by tomorrow night, I visualize myself as existing on another plane or in another dimension. I hope you are able to think of me in the same way.

  I have some cognizance of your maternal instincts; I’ve seen some of the forces involved. If you still want to have my child, you have my blessings. Call Doctor Godfrey at the sperm bank at Hopkins. I’ve been working with him. Using some experimental techniques he was able to get an adequate supply of my sperm without exactly reversing my vasectomy. If for some reason it doesn’t work, he has a bunch of interns willing to donate.

  If you do have my child please save all my books and CDs and things I have written. When he or she is old enough, make sure they know they were things that were important to me. That’s all I can offer to give them a clue to their roots.

  I’ve had a wonderful life and you were one of the things that made it so wonderful. I’m glad I had the opportunity to tell you these things.

  It’s been real. Je ne regrette rien.

  Love you,

  John

  He put the check for the van and the letter into a stamped envelope and walked with Rex to a mailbox and mailed it.

  He walked another two blocks to a gas station and asked the attendant if he knew anyone who would like to make $100 plus gas to drive him to Summerville.

  Sure enough one of the mechanics had a brother-in-law out of work and after a couple of phone calls and a 30 minute wait they were headed south on Route 27 in a 85 Chevy van.

  Aspiration

  1. Use a trocar with clear rigid plastic tubing

  2. Insert the trocar 2 inches above and 2 inches to the left of the umbilicus

  3. Aspirate from high to low areas until all liquids are removed from the viscera

  4. Puncture and aspirate in this order:

  * lungs

  * heart

  * nine (9) regions of the abdomen

  The van stopped where a logging road exited the woods on the ridge road above the farm. It would have been 2 miles to the A-Frame by the road but by walking through the woods and down the hill it was less than a mile. He told the driver he had a cabin back on the lake. He gave him the $100 and a $20 tip. The heartfelt thanks cheered him on the hike down to the farm.

  The route took him through the area he had decided would be where this life ended. He had thought about it carefully. It was imperative it be somewhere he would not be discovered. A spot so remote that not even his bones would be discovered until they decayed.

  The buzzard population of southeastern Kentucky is enormous. On any day suitable for flying it is almost impossible to go outside and l
ook up without seeing at least one turkey vulture or a black vulture circling overhead.

  They followed another abandoned logging road down from the ridge. The timber hadn’t been cut in 20 years and the overhead canopy of hardwoods kept sunlight out so the underbrush was sparse. Nice for squirrels but not likely to attract many deer, he thought. About halfway down he stopped and walked along the contour line perpendicular to the logging road. There was a sprinkling of redbud and dogwood. The brown carpet of dead leaves was everywhere. They were dry, at least on top, and crunched with each step. Even Rex’s paws made a pdit, pdit, pdit sound as he trotted ahead, fell behind, and then ran to catch up.

  He noted with pleasure that the canopy was starting to turn. Leaves that were green a week or two ago were now getting rusty and a few had already changed color and were dipping and stalling as they fell.

  It was getting difficult for him to walk. There was numbness in his right hip and he had a problem controlling his leg. It was still almost a mile back to the barn to leave Rex and a half a mile back to the spot. He had to push on.

  He remembered a spot where there were fewer oak and hickory and the underbrush had more of a chance to thrive. A little farther around the hill and he saw the woods brighten up. It was as he remembered. Oak, poplar and ash grew sparse enough that a grove of sourwood and ironwood grew thick. On the fringes of the grove was a tangle of briers and weeds. If a hunter were walking through here, he would give it a detour. There were easier routes to follow. Yes, this was the spot.

  Later he would make his way into that thicket and he hoped it would be a long time before anyone else did. In that friendly thicket he would let go of his ego and become part of the whole. If he still remained as a charged ion or magnetic force, so be it. Natural forces, honed by millions of years of evolution, would dispose of his body. He would feed the ants and the vultures and benevolently act as host for the maggots. The leaves would cover him and his flesh would nourish the fauna.

  Cavity Embalming

  (to disinfect contents of the hollow organs.)

  1. Use gravity bottle holder

  2. Insert trocar high to allow fluid gravitation

  3. Inject cavity fluid into:

  * lungs

  * heart

  * nine (9) regions of the abdomen

  He called to Rex who had found an animal den in a limestone ledge and had his whole head inside trying to get every smell. Rex came reluctantly.

  They got to the bottom of the hill and he paused to listen before exiting the woods to cross the road which lead to another small farm farther up the hollow. Hearing nothing, he crossed the road and was quickly into the woods on the next hill. They climbed part way up and then followed the contour line around until they were above the A-Frame.

  He called Rex to him and sat for a while at the edge of the woods, watching. There was a fresh load of hay in the hay rack and the horses were eating so his neighbor had already been there to feed them and probably would not return until tomorrow. The sun was approaching the hill to the west. He still had an hour or more of daylight. The day had been an eternity. The pain was considerable; he had not wanted to be slowed down by the pills. He wanted to rest but now he could not … not yet.

  Hypodermic Embalming

  Use trocar to inject cavity fluid into areas embalmed during the arterial embalming process (e.g., shoulder, buttocks, etc.)

  Surface Embalming

  (Use preservative jelly or cavity packs on surface areas that did not receive embalming solution during arterial embalming process)

  He walked quickly to the barn, passing again the spot where the possum had lain. He called Rex into the goat stall, locking the door behind them. He still had to write a note to Jimmie and put in on the door of the A-frame. He didn’t want any passing cars to catch sight of Rex. He settled down on the hay, on his Island Paradise tee shirt and wrote …

  Dear Jimmie,

  Look in the goat stall in the barn. You’ll find Rex and my backpack containing several letters (including one to you) that will explain everything. Please call Laura after you have read your letter. I will mail a letter to her from Lexington but she probably won’t get it until Tuesday.

  Love you,

  Dad

  Treatment for the Head Post

  1. Clean and dry interior of cranium

  2. Dip batting cotton in preservative jelly

  3. Pack the foramen magnum

  4. Apply incision sealer down foramen magnum

  5. Force cotton into spine for tight seal

  6. Cover skull base with quick drying incision sealer

  7. Apply hardening compound and cotton in cranial cavity

  8. Put brain in a plastic bag

  9. Saturate with one bottle of cavity fluid

  10. Knot the bag.

  11. Place bag containing brain in skull

  12. Saturate calvarium with hardening compound

  13. Attach calvarium and anchor the ligature behind each ear and at the center of posterior flaps

  14. Cover calvarium with a prep towel

  15. Apply preservative jelly

  16. Return skin flaps to normal position

  17. Pull scalp back into position

  18. Arrange features

  19. Prepare a half (1/2) moon needle with a thin double strand of ligature cord and sew skin flaps from right ear to left ear

  He left Rex in the stall and walked to the A-frame. He opened the storm door and stuck the note by the knob. As he started back to the barn he heard tires crunching gravel. He crouched behind the bannister. The car went by without slowing. He peered over the bannister; it was the game warden’s green Bronco. Glad I’m not shooting anything out of season, he thought sardonically.

  He went back to the barn. Rex was puzzled and a little agitated at being locked in. He sat down on the tee-shirt again and Rex licked his face.

  He made sure all the letters were under the main flap of his backpack and leaned it against the wall. He figured the tee shirt and the backpack would keep Rex from being too upset and he would mostly sleep until Jimmie came tomorrow.

  He put his arms around Rex and cried. Rex licked at the tears. “This is it pal. You take care of Laura. You’ll be back with her before you know it.” He started for the door; Rex moved with him. “Stay” he said, and gave the open palm sign. “Stay”. Rex sat down and looked at him. He closed and locked the stall door. He left quickly without looking back.

  He climbed the hill above the barn, passing the possum place again, giving it another glance. Just before he entered the woods he looked skyward. The sun was almost touching the hill now and high up he spotted two buzzards, not circling but flying in a straight line, back to their roosts. Up the hollow, a half mile away or so he heard the boom of a 12 gauge. It was squirrel season. He knew that the blatt of his .38 stub nose would be mistaken for a .410 if anyone heard it at all.

  The dead leaves rustled under his feet. He was limping badly now. He picked up a dead but still sturdy branch to use for a walking cane.

  Casketing

  1. Position chin

  2. Tilt head 15 degrees to the right

  3. Shoulders level with the top body flange of the casket

  4. Aim tip of the nose on the same plane as the big toe of the right foot

  The red fox froze like a bird dog on point, one front paw in the air. It smelled something that was similar to man scent but different. It cautiously sat to watch and listen. The sun was just rising and as it brightened the woods the fox saw a shape in the thicket. Not liking the daylight it finally trotted off toward its den, its paws making pdit, pdit sounds on the dead leaves. It would come this way again tonight and tomorrow night until it understood what was in the thicket. A green fly buzzed past, heading into the thicket.

  A mile away a turkey vulture hopped to the end of a dead limb.

  It tilted its head and lifted its wings slightly, feeling for the currents that would soon be rising.

  Above the thicket
a morning breeze stirred and a number of leaves came down from the forest canopy. Some spiraled, some dived and stalled, a couple had the aerodynamics to glide like airplanes. All eventually landed, forming a new crisp carpet, covering up last year’s blanket.

  A female praying mantis, her abdomen so heavy with eggs that she had to climb on only the more sturdy weeds, slowly creeped onto a small locus tree. A much smaller male, already in the tree, watched her carefully and when she stopped, cautiously approached her from behind.

  A half a mile away, near the head of the George Rob Hollow, 16 year old Joe Fred Hargis sat in the kitchen of the small frame house and sipped coffee as he loaded Federal .22 long rifle hollow points into the magazine of his Savage semi-automatic with the 4X Weaver scope. His mother scooped two fried eggs out of a black skillet and they joined three squirrel’s hind legs, two biscuits, and a helping of thick milk gravy on the plate. It was almost daybreak.

  “Where ye a goin’ a squirrel huntin’ this mornin’?” she asked, as she set the plate in front of him.

  “I ain’t right decided. I reckon I’ll walk around the ridge and I might head down toward the lake or I might foller them loggin’ roads down t’other side on John’s Meaks’ place.”

  “Well I shore hope ye get a few, with the price uv meat in town a bein’ what it is.”

  Joe Fred finished his breakfast, walked outside, pumped a shell in the cylinder, and clicked on the safety. He walked leisurely to the top of the ridge and then slowed to a few steps a minute as he followed the backbone of the hill, his eyes scanning the trees for movement and his ears listening for the sounds of gnawing, or falling nuts, or moving tree branches.

  From the Mouths of Babes