I Am the Messenger

But.

There's no one.

In.

My kitchen.

In fact, there's no one in my house at all except the Doorman, the Joker, and me. I all but check under the bed, even though I know it wouldn't be the style of what's been happening. They'd be drinking my coffee or taking a leak in my toilet or having a bath or something like that. There's nothing and no one in my house. Silence pervades everything until the Doorman yawns and licks his lips.

Hours pass until I have to go to work.

"Where to?"

"Martin Place, please."

With each pickup I grow more numb, and for the first time ever, I don't speak to a person all day. I don't discuss the weather. I don't talk about who won on the weekend, the state of the roads, or any disposable conversational crap that fills the void inside a taxicab.

That's the first day.

The second's the same.

On the third day, something happens.

I'm on my way back home when I nearly crash at a roundabout. A kombi in front of me attempts to go, but I look right instead of staying focused on the van. It stops abruptly, the brakes yell at my feet, and I manage to stop a few inches from the kombi's number plate.

I had the Joker on the passenger seat.

It springs forward.

It lands on the floor.

And laughs.

Have you ever stretched your legs or touched your toes and tried for too much? That's how the days and weeks feel now as I work and wait for the Joker to unveil itself.

What will happen at my shack, at 26 Shipping Street?

Who will arrive?

On February 7 a hand reaches at my door, and I half rush, half stall on my way there. Is this it?

It's Audrey.

She walks in and says, "You've been quiet lately, Ed. Marv says he's been trying to call you, but you haven't been home."

"I've been working."

"And?"

"Waiting."

She sits down on the couch and asks, "For what?"

In no rush, I stand and walk to the drawer in the bedroom and pull out the four cards. When I return to her, I go through them one by one. "Diamonds," I say, "done." I let go and watch it flutter to the floor. "Clubs, done." Again, the card hits the carpet. "Spades and hearts--both done."

"So what now?" Audrey can see the paleness of my face and the jaded look of the rest of me.

From my pocket, I pull the Joker.