I throw on the lights and there are the bodies. I hadn't seen them when it happened, but I'm seeing them now, splayed in all different directions, and of course at that exact moment two little old ladies and a tiny white dog come around the corner. I'm relieved, really, that I don't have to look at the mess by myself-- that, actually, I probably won't be by myself ever again after this point. There's a head from the jaw up sitting on the ground near my feet, it landed upright and makes eye contact with one of the old ladies. She looks for a moment and then looks at me, angry. She speaks but not to me-- to her friend. From what she says I discover that she thinks I'm trying to trick them--- and she's angry, I think, at my assumption that she'd be frightened by my gory fakes just because she's old, female, or both. They walk on with their noses in the air, even the little white dog.
Somehow this makes it easier to get to work. I move and burn the bodies without any more interruptions.
