Monster
The monster is sullen. He is afraid. They gave him pajamas to wear. He is unusually tall and awkward. He appears mute. Maybe later he'll talk. He's not here to talk, though. He's here to finish up, say his goodbyes, then go.
He lies down on a mechanical bed and gets under the sheets. The doctor arrives. He watches over the monster with a kind of tenderness. The monster is cooperative. He doesn't fidget, or mope, or ask for a glass of water. His eyes are still and full of fear. His pupils are pins.
The doctor takes the monster's right hand in his, and places his left hand on the monster's shoulder, and waits, and watches. He is glad to be here to see this. It is the monster's parting gift to him. The monster's wife and family gather round. They wait together for hours. Finally, the doctor hears the rattle in the throat, and says, "That's it. He's gone."
The priest is late. He calls to say he got lost and would be there in five minutes. The doctor steps away from the bed and sits. He waits with the family for the priest to arrive. The priest sweeps into the room and invokes the Powers That Be over the grey, disfigured heap. He assures the family that the ritual is just as effective late as it would have been earlier. There is a buffer on either side, apparently. The priest exits with a flourish of his robes and there is a silence. The family members kiss the monster for the last time and file out of the room. The doctor, too.
The History of Objects
Say her name, it makes a sound; sounds create vibrations, vibrations agitate space, space folds up and congeals into matter, matter differentiates space into things, things collect, people collect things, energy and motion become a solid object, become an emotion about an object, emotion accumulates around the object creating history and attachment to the object and its history, leading to beliefs about the object which get transposed to the self which has become an object, in time, where before it wasn't even a word, or a sound, didn't stir from where it was, is. Hasn't stirred.