Our Bones

There were few things in life that were as organic to Lizzie as surrounding herself with the dead. As a little girl, she had always been sympathetic toward the creatures that were cast off on the side of the road, flies buzzing directly over their decomposing bodies, performing soft little songs with their wings.

As far as childhoods go, Lizzie’s was average bordering on good. Her parents loved her, but she had no siblings and so it was a lonely experience for her. Too shy at school, she made the occasional friend but none stuck around long enough for her to have any real experience with interpersonal relationships. So, she devoured books feverishly and played with dolls for a little longer than socially acceptable.

It was a career day for her ninth grade class when she began her love affair with mortuary science. She felt bad that the funeral home’s was the only booth where her classmates didn’t seem to flock to, so she lingered a bit when the man behind the table started talking about his job and why he loved it. She got chills in her spine thinking about the dead, but it was the kind where it felt like an electric jolt to her cells, not the kind where she wanted to tuck herself into a closet and hide. When she reached for a pamphlet, she almost expected it to turn to dust. Something told her this was what she was meant for, so when he was folding up the table as bus numbers were being called over the loudspeaker, Lizzie approached the man and asked if she could be his shadow at work sometime. From then on until she graduated from mortuary school, she watched him work every Saturday morning, learned everything he could teach her. It was no surprise to his family when he left her the business and his son took off to the other side of the country with his wife. No one could begrudge him, they knew the funeral home was in good hands.

She liked the peace her job afforded her, liked the way she was able to sleep whenever her body felt the need, knowing that her phone could ring whenever and signal the start to a day for her and her assistant, Oksana. So, it was not an unusual night by any means when she got the phone call at 3 AM to head into work.

Lizzie made a pit stop to get gas when she realized her car was nearly on empty. As she pushed open the door to the convenience store, the man at the counter said to the cashier with a noticeable slur, “No, I wanted a $1 ticket, not a fiver.” With a grunt of acknowledgment, the cashier handed over the smaller ticket and the man turned to leave.

“Not interested in a $5 ticket are you? I don’t want to have to get the special tape to put it back on the roll,” the cashier explained, waving the ticket in front of Lizzie as she approached the counter.

“Sure,” she responded, surprising herself. “Could you put the change on pump three for gas then?” She handed over a $20, took her ticket, and tucked it into her back pocket.

Gas pumped, car heater turned up to one to get the chill out of her bones, Lizzie decided she might as well scratch off her ticket right there. She fished a sticky dime out of her cup holder and scratched away, slowly revealing what appeared to be winnings of $20,000. She chuckled for a moment, sure she wasn’t understanding the thing correctly. After all, she’d never bought a scratch-off for more than a dollar before, and really no one ever won on those things anyway. But no, there it was, the small symbol hovering over $20,000 that declared she was for sure the winner of this obscene amount of money.

---

Lizzie was staring so intently at the computer screen in front of her that she didn’t notice when Oksana pushed open the office door. “Lizzie?” She jumped and Oksana apologized with a small laugh. “Has transport arrived yet?”

Lizzie shook her head. “No, I’ve been looking online for… Well, actually, Oksana. What do you think of horse skeletons?”

Without pause, Oksana responded, “I rarely think of them at all, truth be told. Why?”

“I’ve just purchased one,” Lizzie responded, looking sheepishly at the assistant she had secretly been harboring a very unprofessional crush on for about as long as they’d been working together.

“Excuse me, what?” Oksana took off her jacket and set her purse down on the floor as she sat in a chair that was rather close to Lizzie.

“I’ve just purchased a horse skeleton. I am trying to figure out how to have it shipped here. Or maybe I should just go pick it up? I bought it from a university in Virginia. They were retiring her for a newer model. It would only be a 14-hour drive. I could probably do that, right?” Lizzie was talking fast then, nervous about Oksana’s proximity to her and also about admitting she’s purchased a $12,600 horse skeleton on a whim.

“I mean, I imagine you could, but would you actually want to? When you could have it shipped here instead?” Oksana did not seem impressed or even excited, which gave Lizzie a little twinge of anxiety.

Lizzie shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Shipping it here would be a lot more expensive than just renting a truck and picking it up myself.”

Oksana pulled out her small black notebook and began to write. “Okay, pros and cons! Let’s build a list. Pro number one- you don’t have to pay to ship it! Two- no worries about damage in transit; if you break it, you’ll know for sure it was your fault. Three, you finally take a break from work.”

“Okay then, cons,” Lizzie countered, “I have a long drive all by myself. I would have to talk to someone and rent a truck. Um…” She really couldn’t think of anything else. She knew she wanted the horse and she knew she’d much prefer to go get it herself, so it kind of felt as if the matter were already settled.

It seemed that Oksana felt the same. “Those things aren’t really cons, they can be solved pretty quickly and you wouldn’t have to go alone. I’d go with you if you wanted.”

“Well,” Lizzie paused, trying desperately not to notice how long it was taking her to swallow, “it would be nice to get to spend some time together outside of work.”

“We’d get to spend some time together outside of work,” Oksana whispered, a flush of pink rushing to her cheeks. “Hmm, then I suppose it’s settled. We are going to pick up a horse skeleton.”

---

The journey to pick up the horse skeleton was relatively uneventful, minus the adjustment period with the mirrors and how the one on the passenger side wasn’t ever quite right. Mostly, they talked about work. How weirdly they felt about redirecting their business to other funeral homes for the week they took off for this trip. How they couldn’t believe they were doing this and how they were probably going to set the horse up in Lizzie’s house, even though initially she had wanted it at the front door of the funeral home. Oksana whipped out her little black notebook again, naturally writing down the pros and cons of such a suggestion. Lizzie liked this about Oksana. She was always willing to break things down logically, she didn’t use emotion to guide everything she did, the total opposite of how she herself handled nearly everything. She told her assistant about the lottery ticket finally, how she had bought the horse with a chunk of her savings but was planning to put the ticket winnings in there in its place when she got it cashed. Oksana joked about Lizzie giving her a raise and said that she couldn’t think of a more “Lizzie thing” to buy with lottery money than a horse skeleton.

It was a few hours past sunset when Oksana fell asleep and then jolted awake, a pattern she repeated for about thirty minutes until Lizzie suggested they pull over into a motel for the evening. The bed in the motel room gave off a strange scent when either one of them sat down. Lizzie tried to ignore it but couldn’t help but feeling a little uneasy when she slipped under the blankets. It was only a temporary uncomfortable blip on their way to the horse. After she’d worn off the initial shock of her impulse purchase, she let herself water the excitement in her stomach until it bloomed up in her throat. She’s always loved animal skeletons, and had in fact had a few smaller ones in her home. She’d always wanted something larger though, and this was just perfect. Behind the excitement of owning a horse skeleton was also the thrill of being here with Oksana. Breathing next to her. Sleeping in the same bed as her. She thought if the horse skeleton were there in bed with them too, the blood pumping through her heart would have surely brought it back to life.

The next morning, Lizzie woke up to the scent of fresh coffee near her face and Oksana’s cheerful, “Hi! Are you excited to see your horse today!?”

Lizzie sat up in bed, reaching for the coffee. “Thank you. Yes, I’m so excited. But a little nervous, you know? Like, what if we get there and they accidentally gave it to someone else? Or what if I realize I’ve made a terrible mistake and they won’t give me a refund? Or what if the truck breaks down?”

Oksana laughed and sat on the bed next to her. “Well, if any of those things happen, we are here together and we will figure it out. Okay? Okay.” The gentleness in her voice soothed Lizzie. When she looked up to smile at her friend, she realized their faces were a little closer than they probably should be. Oksana looked confused. “Can I… I mean, would it be okay if I kissed you right now?”

“What?” Lizzie asked, putting a little distance between their heads.

Oksana raised her hand to her mouth as blood rushed up to fill her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked, I just got the urge and-”

Lizzie cut her off by pressing their mouths together, years of pent up crush behind what she hoped was a kiss that felt passionate and not desperate. “Yes,” she said, pulling away again. “You can kiss me if you’d like. Any time.” She took a sip of her coffee and grinned. “Now, let’s go get my horse and maybe you’ll let me take you out to a fancy dinner tonight.”

“There’s an idea,” Oksana flirted, “but only if I get to pick the place.”

“Deal.”

She knew that somewhere in Oksana’s little black notebook there was a pros and cons list about asking to kiss her, and that gave her heart the same kind of electric jolt she felt when she discovered her career path. For Lizzie, being surrounded by death brought her the greatest joy she had ever known in her life, even if it may have been nothing more than a simple kiss. The $20,000 that instigated this trip with Oksana didn’t hurt, either.