The Afternoon Man

"Hello," said the Afternoon Man. He said this rather abesent mindedly. He was more involved in the Afternoon Ritual. Walking up Jane Street at quarter to four in the afternoon; walking back down at the middle of the five o'clock hour. A Ritual he never let pass by him. There was no real meaning behind it; no need for items; no sad event ever transpired (but for a slip and fall one wintry afternoon, resulting in a bruised ego); no happy events either. The Afternoon Ritual just was. These people he passed didn't know the ways of the Ritual.

"Hello," the Afternoon Man said to an attarctive woman passing him. She carried a bag of groceries in her left arm, overflowing with various goods. Several items slipped out, falling in front of him. He stopped, bending to retrieve the items. He stopped again when the items turned out to be certain feminine products. She waited there a moment, bending herself to grab them up.

"I'm sorry," she said, quickly snatching up her items. "I told the bagger-"

"Do you have any perishables?"

"Um, no."

"Would you by any chance like to walk with me?" She looked hesitantly down Jane Street. She turned her head as far as it would go up Jane Street. Then, back to the Afternoon Man.

"I'm not so sure about-"

"Ma'am. I assure you, I'm not a murderer or a rapist. Just up Jane Street is all I ask. A companion for my trip up the street," he smiled. He extended his hand. "Let me help you up."

"Thank you," the woman half-smiled back. "I have somewhere I have to be." "Everyone has somewhere they have to be, everywhere but where they are," the Afternoon Man philosophised. "Just up the hill."

"I'm going to yell 'rape' if you try anything," she pointed her free finger at him. "I have pepper spray." The Afternoon Man smiled. "Let me take your bag, as the Jane Street hill is treacherous. I would not want to have you injured."

She reluctantly gave her bag over with a sigh. She did place her hand by her coat pocket, the pocket which couldn't have the pepper spray. They started forward as a commotion started at the bottom of the hill.

The Ritual has been changed. The Afternoon Woman has joined the Afternoon Man. He smiles at her. She returns with a peculiar look. "I've been taking this route many years. You're the first to adventure with me. I like that," he said, taking a look back over his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"That you're the first who had pepper spray, or at least threatened it, never to use it on me."

A sudden terror filled her, the Afternoon Man could sense it. He angled the conversation in a different direction. "Do you have a significant other?"

"I think that's a little too personal for just a trip up the street."

"But the ring on your hand-?" She quickly covered her hand. "It's been a rough six months for us. Bills, wedding plans, late hours at work. It piled up," her emotions creeping in. She lowered her head, collecting herself. "Fights; we couldn't go on without splitting apart. We decided to take time off."

The Afternoon Man nodded, as sirens and an ambulance blared down the hill. "Sometimes that's the best thing." There was silence until the Afternoon Man and the Afternoon Woman reached the top of the Jane Street hill. She turned to face the Afternoon Man. She looked back to the bottom of the hill. The look was one of a longing sort. Likely wondering where she would end up in life. To the Afternoon Man, the direction was obvious.

"You have to come with me now," he said in a comforting voice. "Come with me now, Laura. You've reached the end."

She laughed as tears rolled down her face. "I'm dead aren't I?"

The Afternoon Man only nodded.

"How?" Laura asked. She had a certain way she wanted to go.

"Not that way. You had a seizure. Your heart stopped and couldn't be revived," the Afternoon Man replied. He put his free arm around Laura. "It was painless."

Laura nodded. "Are you God?"

The Afternoon Man laughed. "No, no! But I do work for him."

"So, when are we going to Heaven?"

"Laura, this is a Ritual, an Afternoon Ritual. You know how many people are killed on Jane Street each year; each month; each day. I'm assigned to this section of the city. You've been assigned here as well."

Laura looked confused, but didn't resist the idea. She looked to her ring. This morning she found it lying on the floor of her bathroom. She missed what it meant, not as a reminder of her love, but of her humanity. Laura cried one last time. "I didn't want to die."

"Everything dies, Laura. This is a Second Life; without pain, death or suffering. Take my hand."

She took his hand into hers.

"Now Laura, we have to go back down the hill."

"Please, sir. Don't let me go back down."

"We must. It's our Ritual."

The bag of groceries was gone. The second half of the Afternoon Ritual had begun. The Afternoon Man and Woman walked to the bottom of the hill. There was none there to marvel at the events that had taken place there, only a fading memory of what once was. There was a point of light to their right.

"There," said the Afternoon Man. "Your new route." The opposite side of Jane Street.

"Please! Come with me!" Laura said, being magnetically drawn to her route.

"Goodbye," said the Afternoon Man. He said this with as much feeling as he could muster.

--John E. Lansing