“You want to bring him down some stuff? You know where the closet is.”
“Sure,” he says, overjoyed for an excuse to leave.
Death watches him go upstairs. He looks at the floor, wiggles his toes like he’s not sure if they’re attached to his body.
“How can I prove to you that I am who I say I am?”
“That’s the problem. I do believe you. I’ve been trying to figure out a way around it, but I can’t. The real trick is figuring out what to do with you.”
“What do you propose?”
“You can stay here for as long as you need,” says Candy.
“Thank you.”
I take the pack of Maledictions from my pocket and light one. Death sniffs the smoke and sneezes. I don’t put it out. When things get weird, sometimes you just have to smoke.
“Our boss, Julie, is going to want to talk to you. She’s the brains. We’ll figure out what to do after you’ve talked. That okay with you?”
“That sounds fine.”
Death gets distracted by the movie again. Kasabian creeps down the stairs with a pile of clothes in his arms.
“I didn’t know what he’d like.”
“So you brought everything I own? Just set it down on the counter.”
I point at Death.
“You. Come here.”
He walks over. I hold up one of the few Max Overdrive T-shirts left that doesn’t have bullet holes or my blood on it.
“That looks like it’ll fit. Try it on.”
He slips the shirt over his head. And gets tangled in it. Candy has to help him get it on.
I toss him some pants. He looks them over and starts to put them on backward.
“The other way around,” I tell him.
He navigates the pants better than the shirt. I toss him a pair of socks and he figures those out right away. Boy genius will be ready for Jeopardy! any day now.
“Is that better?” says Candy.
“Yes. Thank you for these.”
“Just don’t get cut open again. Those shirts are rare.”
“I’ll try.”
“Maybe he’s hungry,” says Kasabian.
“You hungry?”
“I don’t know,” he says. “My stomach hurts.”
“You shouldn’t take pills on an empty stomach. Let’s order some food,” says Candy.