Here’s an excerpt from the short story “The Bodies We Carry” from my new collection Patti 209: Fifteen Tales of the Very Near Future, available now. I’d considered reading “The Bodies We Carry” for the Strong Women, Strange Worlds Zoom event, or at the book launch at the Couth Buzzard June 6, but the story hits too close to home at the moment.
“Hey, Kath, check this out,” Dean had said when he saw the first news story about the camps.
I’d listened as I cleared our breakfast dishes, shaking my head in incredulity as he explained. Some group calling themselves Campers for Care had obtained the home addresses of the CEOs and board members of major insurance companies, drug companies, and hospitals.
Dean grinned. “They’re taking dead bodies to their offices. To the lobbies of their beachfront condos. They put three dead bodies on the dock of this guy’s vacation place. This is great.”
I rolled my eyes. “Come on, Dean. I seriously doubt the cities are letting them do this.”
Dean steadied his laptop on bony knees. “No, it says here that San Francisco and Denver are giving the Campers permission to keep the bodies on site, in body bags, for up to 36 hours. And there’s been what they call a ‘dead camp’ going on for nearly two weeks in front of some pharma CEO’s mansion in Chicago.”
“You don’t really—” But I stopped. I hadn’t seen that glint in my husband’s eyes for months.
“Kath, seriously, this is perfect for me,” he said. “I’ll be dead in a month or two, and they say they’re going to start up some camps in Seattle. Let’s just keep the possibility in mind. Please?”