Body Packaging #6: At Death’s Door

Santa Monica

Dede knew that both her life and Philippe’s hinged on her ability to think fast.  There was no way that Veronica would be able to get back in time from investigating missing persons reports to help them out of this jam.  Kyle was just about to fire at her when the office door suddenly swung open.  It was Penelope.  She also had a gun in her hand.

Penelope turned to Kyle.  “Put it down, Kyle.  I don’t want any more shooting in my house.”

Dede processed everything that was happening.  Penelope knew Kyle’s name.  They must have been in on this together. Without taking her focus off of Kyle, Dede cradled Philippe in her arms.   He was still alive.  Barely. She needed to get him to a hospital immediately.

“I have my lines.  I mean my orders.”  Kyle went over to Penelope and ripped her gun out of her hand and ordered her to stand next to Dede and Philippe.

Penelope erupted as she found herself powerless in her own home.  “I’m a star, god dammit!  You think you can just get away with killing a star?”

Kyle put the nozzle of his gun in between Penelope’s bright red lips. “Why don’t you ask your ex-husband about that?”

Penelope collapsed on the floor as soon as Kyle pulled his gun away.  She knew she was in way over her head.

Ever since Kyle had shot Philippe, Dede had been searching her mind like a mental Rolodex for any way to get out of this bind.  She had already alerted a former coworker about her whereabouts, but there was very little chance that anything would come of that.  Dede had been there for every step of Anthony Geolordia’s transformation from Anthony to Toni.  And although Anthony had had no problem defusing bombs with seconds to spare, these days Toni preferred knitting.

Kyle appeared to be figuring out how he would dispose of three bodies.  He had been prepped for numerous rewrites, but this one was a bit different.  He lined his three prisoners up against the wall as he planned his execution.  It would be rapid fire.  Mr. Majestic told him that he would handle body disposal.

“Excuse me, young man.” She spoke with a southern drawl.  Dede looked up to see Toni costumed in an antebellum dress straight out of  Gone With The Wind.  She put her white-gloved hands on the sides of her twenty-two inch waist.

Four people? This was starting to get to Kyle.  “And who the fuck are you?”  He pointed his gun at Toni.  After a while, it was getting hard to keep track of who was who.

“Who am I?”  Toni wasn’t shaken in the least.  In the course of undergoing gender reassignment, she had endured prospective employers asking her about her toileting habits and her genitals on her very  first interview.  This little punk with the gun was a freakin’ walk in the park.

Phillipe began speaking.  “Could you just tell him who you are?  I’m kinda bleeding to death over here.”

“Who am I?  Who am I ?”   Toni danced around the room with her huge lavender hoop skirt swaying back and forth like a gigantic pendulum.

Kyle was starting to sweat.  He decided he was going to take out Lady Antebellum first. “Yes, bitch. Who the fuck are you?”

“Well, I’ll tell you.  Some call me Pity.  Like Aunt Pity in Gone With The Wind.  My friends call me Toni.”  Toni looked across at Dede who had been there for her every step of the way as she began moving towards the gender of which she knew had always meant to be a part. Then Toni stepped a little closer to Kyle.  She spoke in a very soft, exceptionally feminine voice.   “And then there’s another group that call me Madame.”

“And why the fuck is that?”  Kyle had just about had it.  He was going to shoot them all where they were standing.  One. Two. Three. Four.  Let Majestic take care of the rest.

“‘Cause I’m a big fan of Madame Defarge from A Tale of Two Cities.”  Toni retracted her knitting needle and put it into Kyle’s neck. “Knit one, die two,  Motherfucker!”

© Jennifer Strauss 2011. All Rights Reserved.