Brothers of the Fire

By Robert P. Bishop

 

The woman entered the coffee shop and paused just inside the door. Her eyes flicked from table to table, rested briefly on me, then moved on. Even though we were many feet apart she made me apprehensive. A foolish sensation on my part, I know, but there was something about her; she looked like she was searching.

Her gaze came back to me. Then she smiled, as if she recognized me.

The woman approached my table and put a hand on the back of the chair opposite me. “Hello, James. May I?” Without waiting for my reply, pulled the chair from under the table and sat down.

I was not surprised she knew my name. “You are Death,” I said.

“Yes.”

“You are not what I expected.”

She smiled. “I’m often told that.”

“Is this where it happens to me? Right now, in this coffee shop?”

Death ignored my question. “It’s a relief to sit down,” she said, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. “It’s been an exhausting day. I need a break.”

“Why are you here?”

Death ignored my question. “Is the coffee worth the outrageous prices these trendy cafes charge?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“I’ll be back.” She got up, went to the counter, returned a few moments later, sat down, popped the top off the paper cup, took a sip and said, “Mm, good. Definitely worth the price.”

“Why are you here?” I asked again.

Death ignored my question, took another sip of coffee and said, “I like the way you think, James. You have opinions that are not at all conventional.”

“How do you know what I think?”

Death ignored my question. “Your take on events in the Garden of Eden is definitely unique. Let me summarize, if I may. Please correct me if I am wrong.”

“Trust me, I will.”

Death took a sip, put the coffee cup down. “You think it was Adam, and not Eve, who first ate the forbidden fruit, yes?”

I ignored her question. Lady, two can play this game, I thought.

Death continued when I didn’t respond. “When Adam realized he had made a monumental blunder, he did what any self-respecting man would do, he blamed the woman when God confronted them with what we now call Original Sin. Am I correct so far?”

This time I could not ignore her question. “Yes, you are, but there is more to it. It wasn’t that sneaky snake that urged Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. It was hunger. Adam couldn’t kill, cook and eat any of the animals in Eden. The Garden was too pure for that kind of butchery. What were he and Eve to do? Starve? Of course they ate the fruit. Quite likely they ate everything else that was forbidden before God dropped the hammer on them.”

Death laughed, clapped her hands in delight and said, “That is a wonderful interpretation of Original Sin. Yes, James, it is truly unique, and I like it, I really do.”

Death drank more coffee. “Of course, if you were in 17th Century Rome you would be tied to the stake next to Giordano Bruno and put to the fire for such a scandalous belief. You and Giordano. Brothers of the Fire. I like that.”

“I’m glad you approve of my hypothesis.”

“It cannot be proved,” Death said with certainty.

“It cannot be disproved either,” I said with equal certainty. “I’m sticking to it.”

Death glanced at her watch. “Look at the time. I have a two o’clock appointment, and I must not be late.”

 

Death finished her coffee. “I have a rather tight schedule, you know. Poor man doesn’t know he is going to die from a massive heart attack. It will be swift, of course. There is goodness in a swift, unexpected death, don’t you think, James?”

 

She looked at me with a steady gaze that unnerved me. I didn’t like the direction this conversation was going.

Death stood up. “Yes, a swift death spares everyone the pain of enduring a prolonged and agonizing decline.” Death smiled at me. “I enjoyed our chat today, James.” Death placed her hand on my shoulder. “Now it is time for us to go.”

Pain exploded in my chest. I looked at my watch; two o’clock.

 

Robert P. Bishop, from US is an army veteran and former biology teacher, lives in Tucson, Arizona. His short fiction has appeared in Active Muse, Ariel Chart, Bindweed Magazine, The Blotter Magazine, Bright Flash Literary Review, Clover and White, CommuterLit, Ink Pantry, Literally Stories, Los Angeles Review of Los Angeles, Mysterical-E, Scarlet Leaf Review, Umbrella Factory Magazine and elsewhere. He has been nominated five times for a Pushcart Prize.