The Cool Room by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 11

Having remembered the details of the documentation that accompanied the bodies, Jonathan arrived to work early. Given the complexity of what lay ahead, he assumed that completing the work would take at least two or three days. Opening the door of the refrigerator, he pulled out the stainless steel rack that cradled the body of a girl in her early twenties. Generally, as he worked, he would talk to the client, telling them about such things as the weather or what he was doing in the process of preparing them for their funeral. As would be expected, it was always a one-sided conversation.

Having donned the protective clothing required for any reconstruction, he moved the body bag over to the steel table. Immediately he noticed some leakage from the stitching that held the bag together. It was brown in color and indicated that whatever blood that was still pooling in the bag had decomposed into a heavy sludge.

“Shit,” he said. “This doesn’t look good.” Unzipping the bag, he found its contents confirming of his suspicions that the medical examiner had done a less than acceptable job with tight suturing. Opening the bag completely, Jonathan was shocked to find the body in pieces and came to the conclusion that there couldn’t be enough suture in the world to close every gash, hole and tear left by the plane’s propeller. However, the ME had gone to the trouble of placing the internal organs in plastic bags and placing those at the foot of the body bag. With heavy kitchen gloves, he sorted through what was left of what must have been a vibrant young girl with long brown hair. But it was only long on one side, and turning the head to the side he noticed that her hair had been torn out, leaving her scalp flapping away from the skull underneath. Upon further inspection, Jonathan could see that the girl’s skull had been shattered into several shards. Reconstructing the head and face would be the most important part of the process, but he would need to contact the girl’s family in order to obtain a picture. She would have to look as life-like as possible but would also have to appear as she did before meeting such a tragic end. Scanning down what remained of the young girl, he was taken aback by how her body seemed to have been chewed up by the propeller that had taken not only her life but the lives of several others.

“Jesus Christ,” he said. “How am I going to do this?”

Making a closer examination of the skull fragments, he decided that the usual calvarium clamps would not be effective at maintaining the shape of the skull. Turning away, Jonathan searched through several drawers until finding what he needed. Surgical plates and screws would be ideal for a tight fit of one shard against another, and with the aid of a small drill he was able to reassemble the girl’s skull. The process took two hours.

After finishing the skull, Jonathan removed the bags holding the organs that had been torn from the body upon its airborne evisceration. Placing the open bags in a vat, he poured in a powder meant for the dry embalming of organs. During any embalming, the organs were normally removed and embalmed separately from the body and placed in new bags. The traumatic removal of the young girl’s organs made it a bit easier, and the fact that their surface was somewhat shredded would allow the dry chemical to absorb faster. In spite of its condition, the body would have to be embalmed as well. Considering the length of time he would have to spend putting the girl’s body back together, simply refrigerating it would not be enough. Clipping the sutures left by the medical examiner, Jonathan opened the chest and abdomen to find a deep pool of brown sludge. This, he suspected, was the decomposed blood he found leaking from the body bag. Outside the door, he heard the soft murmuring of conversation. Later, he learned that a young graduate had been for a position as funeral technician, and he was to be her mentor.

Having inspected the open body, Jonathan reached toward the wall and grabbing a length of tubing suctioned out the cavities, letting the dark fluid gurgle through and into a plastic contained in a vat. This would later be emptied into a septic tank behind the funeral home, safe from drainage into the public water supply. This was done per state law. Violations could result in fines, closure of the business, legal action or even arrest. Great care was taken to ensure the safe disposal of all bodily fluids.

When embalming a body, tubes were normally placed into vessels through the inside of either leg. But with so much internal damage, Jonathan was forced to repair the blood vessels and place the embalming tubes into those. Work was tedious as he sutured one at a time using black surgical nylon. Three hours later, he was pumping the body with embalming fluid while watching for any signs of leaks. Finding that none were present, he removed the tubes and stitched the vessels closed. Now it was time for a break. Zipping the bag shut, Jonathan removed the heavy gloves and protective clothing and, throwing them in a disposal bin, moved the body back into the refrigerator. Closing its latch, he left the room and locked the door behind him. But before leaving, he turned and glanced back. He could never understand why he did this. Maybe it was just a feeling – an urge to protect himself from something unseen, perhaps his own subconscious fear of the unknown. An hour later found him returning to work. This time, he decided to bring a CD player. Perhaps a few hours of Beethoven would soothe his tired mind and help to pass the time as he worked to bring the appearance of life to an unfortunate girls mortal remains.