Simplicity

Jerry was a simple man, he lived a simple life. He had a simple job, and a simple wife. He lived in a simple house, with a simple bright red door. He loved his simple kitchen, with a simple checkered floor. One day his simple wife, exerted her simple force. She made a simple choice, she wanted a simple divorce. Jerry didn’t understand this simple divorce, so she soon had to get a simple restraining order. This simple restraining order simply confused Jerry, so she had to file a simple class action law suit. As you may know, there is nothing simple about a class action law suit, so Jerry, being a very simple fellow, just gave up on his love, and began to look for a home in a split level condominium in the city.

Jerry wasn’t simple in intelligence; he was simple in his ways. His wardrobe consisted of black slacks or blue jeans, and then plain t-shirts or shirts with witty sayings. He wore a black baseball cap, or a blue one. He wore it forwards, or backwards and never to the side. He had come to accept the fact that he was far too white to wear his hat to the side, so he just kept things simple. He had two pairs of shoes, one for dress, and one for working and walking. He had two suits, one for weddings, and one for funerals. The fact that he had two options for each part of his wardrobe was pushing it for the simple sort of life Jerry wished to live. He would much rather not have the choices of a witty saying or nothing at all. He would have rather just worn jeans than jeans or slacks. But he didn’t have time to contemplate all this, he just wanted to find a simple condo in the city, find a little job at a coffee shop, and start things over.

He had a friend in the city named Albert. Albert wasn’t a simple fellow in most ways, but that didn’t bother Jerry much. Jerry felt that being picky about friends made friendships too complicated, and would much rather make jokes, and enjoy the company of a person, whether they were simple or not. Jerry had a couple of friends that were also moving to the city soon, and they were quite happy they would be living close to him soon. This made Jerry quite happy, and he was hoping to enjoy his time living in the city.

Now, Jerry wasn’t a particularly talented man. He was good at cooking, and making drinks. He was very good at being a friend, and simply being there for the people that needed him. Other than this, he wasn’t good at much. One of the things he wasn’t very good at was driving, and this is why Albert was doing the driving for Jerry’s move. Jerry was also not good at house hunting, which sometimes was too complicated for him, so Albert got Jerry a deal on the Condo below his. Jerry didn’t own much, so the move was easy enough. He had a fair share of movies, and a few books he enjoyed reading. He had a dog named Snickers, and some leather furniture for the house. Jerry and Albert enjoyed the fact that his meant only one trip, and put them in a very good mood, so they chatted the whole drive there.

“So, Jerry,” Albert said,” How goes the job search?”

“I got a job at the Second Cup,” Jerry replied,” I’m pretty excited to start there. Just making coffee, and talking to whoever's willing to listen. I like that in a job.”

“That’s good to hear,” Said Albert, taking a kind of frightening turn exiting town, which caused a lot of things to slide around in the back, “Oh shit, I hope there’s nothing fragile back there.”

“Bah, it’s no big deal,” Albert said,” I remember this one time, Linda sai-“ Jerry stopped in mid sentence. Linda was Jerry’s simple wife. He was about to allude to something Linda had once said about about material objects and wealth among those less affluent than others, but this brought back complicated feelings about being in love, and a class action law suit.

“Ouch,” Jerry said, emphasizing the CH sound in the word, and dragging it along to show that extra bit of sympathy that friends most often do,” do you wanna talk about it?”

“Not really,” Jerry said, with a simply sorrowful look on his face,” It’s all over now, I’d rather just forget about that whole mess.” Jerry patted the space between the seats of the van to call Snickers up to be stroked affectionately, which helped Jerry feel better about the whole situation. Snicker’s looked up at Jerry as he was being patted on the head, and licked his arm, with a big, dumb looking, dog like grin he loved to use. This made Jerry feel happy.

Snickers was a black and white Border Collie, who was always clad in a bright red collar, and a friendly puppy dog smile. His fur was sleek and shiny, and his tongue often hung out of the side of his mouth as he drooled happily. Jerry loved dogs, as opposed to cats. They were easy to get along with, they were always loyal, and they only got attention when someone wanted to give it to them. Cat's were too snooty for Jerry. They always want attention at the least convenient times, and if they don't get it, they plop there front end in front of you, and show off their less then appetizing rear end, covered in God knows what, for they seemed to refuse to clean it. Jerry thought they refused to clean their rear ends just so they could show it to you when you didn't give them what they want, and to make this unfortunate butt gazing experience just that much worse.

Jerry used to own a cat, when he was younger. It's name was Mr.Cuddles. He didn't get to name it, his sister did. If he had named it, he would have called it Jingles, or Whiskers. Or Jimmy. Hell, he would have even settled for Cuddles. He just despised the fact that there was a Mr. in front of it's name. It wasn't even male, first off, and even if it was, calling it mister was giving that little bit more respect that Jerry believed made them so snooty in the first place. Cats were far too complicated. Dogs were simply friendly, loyal, and cute. Although when they start licking there rear ends, it does make a loud, disturbing smacking noise, which kind of puts Jerry off a bit, but if you were to distract them with a ball, they would forget about their bottoms soon enough, and get on with being pleasant little creatures.

"Do you remember Mr.Cuddles?" Jerry asked Albert, trying to make small talk after a few very awkward minutes of silence.

"That snooty little white cat that tried to eat my led whenever I walked by?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's the one," Jerry said, laughing in remembrance.

"When did that thing finally die?"

"It was run over by a truck when it was four years old," Jerry said remembering the incident. He recalled how the cat ran out into the street, and a man in a pick up truck proceeded to smear the cat all over the street. He also remembered how it brought him a great, almost sick sort of joy seeing this occur, for Mr.Cuddles was, not long before this, declared the biggest threat to man kind, and the greater good.

"How did Tina feel?" Albert asked.

"She was broken hearted," Jerry replied," I laughed at her for half an hour. On retrospect, I feel kind of jerk-ish now."

"That little ball of matted fur deserved it," Albert said," That's the only thing that's ever given me a permanent scar, other than getting shot with a twenty-two by Randy Jefferson."

"That kid was a freak," Jerry said," he had a strange obsession with baloney as well. Kinda scary."

"No kidding," said Albert, laughing.

Albert and Jerry enjoyed simple chit chat for a good simple two hours more, not realizing that their lives were about to get a hell of a lot more complicated. No one really knows if it was fate, or coincidence. Whether it was meant to happen, or just some freak of chance, but either way, simple or not, it happened.

Jerry looked to his left, at the center seat, and instead of seeing Snickers smiling affectionately, he saw Snickers smiling affectionately, while sitting on the lap of a tall man, wearing a massive black cloak that tapered at his feet and flickered magically, making the illusion of flames of shadow. He couldn't see the mans face, he couldn't really tell if it was a man at all, because the hood of the cloak shrouded the figures face in shadow. The figure was holding a large, frighteningly sharp looking scythe in it's right hand, and with the left it stroked Snickers affectionately. Albert stared in awe at this figure, wondering how it got there, what it was doing, and whether or not he should pay attention to the road. He easily forgot about that, and continued to stare.

"Who," said Jerry," are you, and what are you doing here?"

The figure raised it's hand to the hood of the cloak, grasped one side of it, and pulled it down. She was gorgeous. She was possible the most beautiful woman either of them had seen in their entire lives, and she was smiling, staring straight ahead at the road. the van managed to steer itself despite Albert's distraction. Albert was happy about this, because the last thing he wanted to do was take his eyes off this woman.

The woman smiled. She had well kept, sleek, very blonde hair that reached just past her chin. Her eyes were a pale, but beautiful, dull bluish grey. Her smile brought warmth to both of the men's hearts.

"My name," she said in a friendly, reassuring voice," varies."

"How do you mean?" Jerry asked, not caring about how she got there now, but wanting to get to know this goddess as well as possible. Albert drooled.

"Some call me an angel," she said, helping Snickers to move to the back seat of the car," riding a horse, and give me no name. Some call me the end. Some call me beautiful, some call me frightening. Many refer to me as the Grim Reaper, or just The Reaper. I much prefer the name Death. It's a bit simpler, I like that."

Jerry liked this as well. "So, does this mean," he didn't even need to finish his sentence. Albert stopped drooling, and suddenly became very aware of the conversation.

"This is the end for you, and I am here to help you through it," she said, and turned to look at Jerry," I know times have been hard for you recently, with Linda and all. But you need not worry, you will have peace soon." Death leaned forward, and kissed Jerry lightly on his lips. With this, he accepted what was happening, and was almost giddy with the small gift he had just received.

Death turned to look at Albert, and he was leaning in, with his lips puckered. Death mashed her palm into his face, and pushed him away.

"Nice try," she said," but I don't just give those away. They're meant to be special."

Albert turned and moved back, disappointed and frumpy.

"All I can tell you right now," Death said," is that as soon as I am gone, you're time will end. Depending on what you choose to do with yourselves afterward, I may see you again soon. I would stay t chat, but that usually doesn't go well." Death lifted her cloak back up over her head, and faded away.

"Well," said Albert," That was-" Albert's words were interrupted by a Volkswagen, falling off of the back of a semi in front of their van. Glass shattered, vehicles swerved, and the van tipped on to it's side. Albert was killed instantly, as his head was crushed under the weight of the falling vehicle. Jerry survived this, but as the van tipped over, his seat belt was clipped by a flying piece of shrapnel, and he flew sideways out of the van. He was laying on the highway, with a broken leg, as he watched a car driving towards him, wheels at his current head level. There was a loud thud, a splatter, and Jerry was dead. Things had just gotten a lot more complicated. They weren't going to get better any time soon.