You listening?

This stiff is stiff 'cause he won't
bury me. He wouldn't do it. So I
off him, and he still won't do it.
Seems simple enough to me. Shovel
a few yards of dirt over me. I told
him I'd lie real still, and not to
worry if I started to squirm around
once he got to my face. I told him
he could have my stuff. Shoes. Pack.
Good hat. A couple of guns. That's
not asking a whole lot, it seems
to me. Well, he had some kind of old-
fashioned ethical-humanist compunctions
about burying a living man. We talked
it over a long time. He threatened
to take off without helping me out...
So I shot him.

I don't want you to bury me. I want him to.

That's where you come in.
He won't listen to me.
But you are listening to me.
I say you talk to him, and convince him
he ought to do as I say.

-Harm's Way, by Mac Wellman HOME