Umber (54.1 — The Death Certificate)

My conversation with Ervin was interrupted by a polished professorial voice which said, “No, Vera never remarried, though I proposed to her at least a dozen times over the years.”

“Who said that?” I asked, scanning the pile of papers under my desk.

The voice kept talking, and I finally located the source.  It was a document with a raised imprint on it.  I opened it up, and read the words “Death Certificate.”  It was Vera’s.

I was more than a little upset to see Vera’s name on the paper, though I knew that, of course, she had been dead for years.  I was also disturbed at the thought of a talking death certificate.

“Who are you?” I demanded in a shaking voice.  “Are you the The Angel of Death?”  Visions of Vera wedding the Grim Reaper flashed across my mind.