The Cool Room by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 25

Another weekend was over, and Emily was woken on Monday morning by a loud crack of thunder as a flash of lightening lit up her bedroom. She could work with the dead, but thunderstorms frightened her out of her senses. Yet, she had to go to work and after showering, consuming her breakfast and starting her morning coffee, Emily braved the elements and, challenging her fear, ran out to her car. Once behind the wheel, she turned on the radio and tuned in for a weather report. “Be careful on those roads this morning, everyone. We’ve got a major storm system making its way up the East Coast, and that means lots of rain and thunderstorms. So for the next few days, you can expect rain, rain, rain.”

This did not make for a good start to her week, and with her hands on the wheel, she responded with a white-knuckled grip as another soul-shattering crack of lightning ripped across the sky. “Fuck!” she yelled. “I have to go work in this? You’ve got to shitting me.”

Her job was not what she would call stressful, but adding the violent atmosphere of what could become a prolonged storm, the combination could cause her hands to tremble. When one is suturing facial wounds, a steady hand is always necessary. But one thing was certain: this was not going to be a good day. However, the only saving grace for Emily was coffee. Hopefully, the caffeine would sooth her nerves in spite of nature’s destructive cacophony that seemed to surround her even as she ran into the funeral home and prepared for work. By the time she got to the cool room, she was soaked through to her underwear. Now, she had to deal with the feeling of wet undergarments. This, of course, would be something that went unmentioned throughout the day. She just didn’t need the embarrassment.

Jonathan was already at work on a client that arrived the night before. Naturally, he was the one who received the call to pick up the body -- another one from the nursing home. It doesn’t matter what time of day or night it is. When death comes calling, someone has to drive the hearse out and retrieve what a long life had left behind, and last night was Jonathan’s turn. Hanging her coat on a peg mounted into the wall outside the cool room, Emily opened the door to see Jonathan hard at work. He had already removed the body from its velvet bag, and having inserted the tubes into the proper blood vessels, was just starting the flow of embalming fluid. Hearing the wind roaring outside, Emily needed a distraction and opening the large envelope that had arrived with the body she began reading it, burying herself in its contents.

“COD was natural causes. Age: 92. The patient was discovered late at night, just after change of shift. Family has decided that an autopsy is not necessary.”

Usually, it was not routine to page through the nurse's note, but as the storm grew in ferocity, Emily saw a continued need to use the entire record as a way to remove herself from what seemed to be an extinction-level event. At least that’s what it felt like.

As she flipped through the pages of the nursing home's records, Jonathan couldn’t help but notice her hands trembling.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

As agitated as she was, Emily’s first instinct was to drag him outside and curb-stomp him into unconsciousness, but he was unaware of her fear and, collecting herself, replied with tense patience. “I… just don’t like thunderstorms,” she said. “Anything else?”

Realizing she had just snapped at him, she offered a sincere apology, which Jonathan graciously accepted.

“I’m sure it will pass,” he replied. “Let’s just get to work. You always get so involved – maybe that will help.”

As the embalming fluid made its way through the body’s many blood vessels, the two began flexing the joint and massaging the muscles of the decedent. The routine nature of relieving rigor somewhat helped Emily to focus on something other than the tumultuous war of elements waging just beyond the walls of the funeral home. But with the next deafening crash of thunder, and its accompanying burst of light, Emily experienced something she thought could never happen – a blackout. With the sudden outage, the cool room went black, and with a deceased client lying out in front of her, Emily broke into a sweat as her breathing increased, and her heart began racing. If she had believed in the biblical apocalypse, it certainly seemed to have arrived. Jonathan, however, managed to keep himself together and, walking around the end of the exam table, quietly let her know that he was next to her. “Emily,” he began. “Just listen to my voice. I’m going to walk around to the other side and find the door. When I find the doorknob, I’ll reach back to you. Just grab my hand, and we’ll both leave the room, okay?”

Emily’s fear left her breathless as her legs became stiff with panic. She was, essentially, immobilized by one of the most powerful of human experiences. But the cruel nature of fear was not finished with her, and for some strange reason would soon carry out one final stroke against her now hyper-vigilant mind.

As soon as the door of the cool room closed behind them, Frank appeared with a flashlight and panicked about the temperature of the coolers. Without power, the coolers would be flooded with warm air, allowing the bodies within them to decompose at a faster rate. Encountering Jonathan and Emily in the hallway, he told them to go to the viewing room and not to move until he returned. He then disappeared toward the cellar door.

“What’s he doing?” asked Emily. Still trembling, her body tensed with the continuing roar of the storm. It almost seemed to be alive as it appeared to hover over the town, terrorizing its residents.

“There’s a generator in the cellar,” Jonathan replied. “It needs to be turned on to keep the cool room at the right temperature. When the power fails, that’s our first priority.”

Emily understood, but her thinking continued to be paralyzed by the tempest still waging its war just beyond the confines of the funeral home. Later, the local news would report that a tornado had touched down roughly half a mile away. But in the darkness of the viewing room, she still sat next to Jonathan, grasping his hand with an iron grip and close to tears.

“Oh, my God, this sucks,” she said. Fulton County had a long history of bad weather, but the chaos howling outside was an exception, and after the storm passed, many in town would talk about how they hid in their cellars or under tables. As the storm swept through town, so too did fear and the anxiety of a second wave as people began the job of clean-up. But for as long as the storm wailed, Jonathan refused to leave Emily’s side, continuing to do his best to calm her shattered nerves.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m right here.” Soon, the wind began to subside, leaving Emily hoping the monster that had been screaming for the last hour was beginning to die. Hope turned to relief as the dark clouds of rage gave way to beams of sunlight appearing as celestial rays from heaven itself. Jonathan felt the pressure of Emily’s grip release and finally let go as her body relaxed. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and, without looking up, offered her gratitude. “Jonathan,” she said. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done if I had been here by myself.”

The idea of saying, ‘I don’t know what I would have done without you’ seemed awkward, and even in the face of one of her most intense fears, she felt the necessity to remain professional. Jonathan responded in kind.

“But you’re fine now, right?” he asked. “C’mon, let’s see if we can get back to work.”

With the exception of the cool room, the power was still out. They took a moment to go out on the front porch to survey any damage done by the chaos that had ripped through the town. What they saw was startling: cars had been pushed across the street, and tree limbs lay on the pavement – some had fallen on a few roofs, burying themselves into the houses unfortunate enough to be in the way of nature’s wraith.

“Holy fuck,” Jonathan said. “We better go outside and check the house.”

Emily agreed, but there was something more urgent they needed to attend to.

“Wait,” she began. “There’s a client that needs to go back into the cooler.”

Walking inside, they quickly made their way to the cool room. Opening the door, they found the deceased on the stainless steel table. But something was different, and the unexpected change left Emily in a state of shock. Without power, not only had the temperature warmed up, but at the same time, the humidity had changed as well. Due to the small size of the room, these changes occurred rapidly, causing the muscles in the body to contract. What they found was that the spine had twisted, leaving the body’s torso at a forty-five-degree angle. Even Jonathan, with several years of experience, had never seen this before, and in spite of the explanation, he was not able to hold back his reaction.

“Jesus Christ,” he said.

Emily stood back with her hands over her mouth, trying to conceal the fright prompted by this unusual spectacle.

Donning a pair of heavy gloves, Jonathan looked to her for help. Her nerves having recovered, she also grabbed a pair of gloves and approached the table. “What do we do?” she asked.

Her experience at the Albany morgue had not prepared her for such a sight, and knowing how environmental changes could cause such things, Emily still felt unnerved by what they had to correct.

As instructed by Jonathan, Emily brought the knee up that was opposite the direction the body had turned in, while Jonathan put a hand on each shoulder.

“Ready?” he asked.

Emily knew what they were preparing to do, but there was one thing she did not expect. “Yeah,” she replied.

On his mark, she would push the leg across and down as Jonathan forced the shoulders back to their previous position. But there was something he had not warned her about.

“Alright, now.”

As each applied equal pressure, the sound of loud crackling was heard, followed by a nervous reflex causing the leg Emily was holding to kick out. Again, she knew these things could happen, but having experienced it was a first. Narrowly escaping being kicked by their client, Emily stood back to compose herself.

“You alright?” Jonathan asked.

In the time she had been there, Emily had already seen things she had only read about. This only deepened her fascination with her chosen career. However, some things are more difficult to witness than others, and this, for Emily, may have been one of them. Had she moved in the wrong direction, the descendant would likely have planted its foot firmly into her stomach – adding to what was already the beginning of a bad day. But all was well, with the storm having passed and avoiding a kick to the stomach. For a moment, she wondered how she might explain this to the staff of the local hospital’s emergency room. Breathing a sigh of relief, she would avoid this as well.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m fine. Almost took one for the team, though.”

Jonathan was impressed by her agility. Yet secretly, he wondered if he would have been as quick to evade such an assault and what the results would have been.

“You know,” he said. “If it had been me, I would have gotten kicked in the nuts. How embarrassing would that have been?”

His remark successfully broke the tension Emily felt as a slight grin appeared on her face. As she brought a sheet over the body, she displayed her relief with a taunting jab.

“I’d pay money to see that,” she said.

Jonathan was about to launch a scolding remark of his own when Frank walked in. He was concerned about the lack of power, but with the generator running the coolers, they would operate at their prescribed temperature of 36 degrees. However, it was a matter of how long the generator would last. Without power, the gas station down the street was unable to supply gasoline, and without gasoline, the generator was on borrowed time. A backup plan had to be made in the event Frank ran out of gas. How they would keep the coolers at the right temperature without power was now a serious concern, and Frank needed the opinion of his staff. “Alright,” he began. “I need some ideas. How do we keep things cool in here? The generator won’t run forever.”

There were only three clients in storage, and the afternoon’s service had to be cancelled due to the blackout. Hopefully, the city’s power company would have repairs underway quickly, and they could get back to the business of caring for the dead. For Now, Frank chose to have their clients stored for as long as the coolers remained cold. Preparing any given body meant opening one of the doors and allowing warm air in. The conservation of cold air had become necessary until a solution could be found to keep them cool for a longer period of time. Emily suggested lining the trays with ice, and most gas stations sell it by the bag. “Do you think the one down the street is still open?” she asked.

Here was another problem: even if it were decided to use her idea, the gas station would likely be closed, and over a short time, any bags of ice they might sell would be thawed. They had to keep the generator going, even if it meant siphoning gas from one of the hearses. So, in the absence of any other ideas, it was agreed that one of the hearses would be used as a backup supply. But as they waited for the power to return, another idea crept into the conversation. It could be hours or even a couple of days before the town was restored to normal. For the sake of preparation, it was decided that Jonathan and Emily, taking their own cars, would scour the county looking for any open gas station. If necessary, they would venture into Montgomery County as well. But in light of their situation, that afternoon’s service had to be cancelled, and Frank left the task of notifying the family to Emily. Dealing with families was part of the business, and he felt this was the perfect opportunity for her to acquire some experience. Making these connections made funeral homes stand out as pillars of the community, and it was this idea that gave Frank’s Funeral Home a human touch. They worked with the dead, but were there for the living.