After-Life

Chapter 2. A New Lease of Life

Mabel stood in quiet contemplation. As a secretary for a university, she'd learned that when dealing with individuals who were far more knowledgeable in their specific field; she was to be patient with their eccentricities. As her chaperone had indicated, life was made up of choices. In her last life, those choices had resulted in her dealing with academics who were exceptionally intelligent with all things research related maybe not so much when it came down to people skills.

Mabel had decided to pursue a career in administration, thinking it would lead to bigger and better things than the part-time store assistant work she'd undertaken, during her studies. The only lifestyle change her choice had led her to, was a gas leak in the kitchen below her office suite and an untimely end. She wouldn't have minded so much, but had it needed to happen right after she'd returned from enjoying a bland tuna and sweetcorn sandwich that had cost over five pounds?
'Extortionate,' she'd thought at the time; 'this canteen is determined to bleed me dry of savings, one day!'

As this reflection highlighted the dullness of her past life, Mabel had a sudden thought.
She looked up at her chaperone, and asked "What's your name?"
The chaperone blinked, confused. The question had thrown him off guard and for the first time since they'd met, he looked closer at his ward.
He paused for a moment, in deliberation; "in all my years, I don't recall anyone asking me my name. Least of all after I've presented them with the potentially endless array of possibilities ahead of them."

Mabel smiled weakly, "So, what is it then? I don't want to keep calling you, my chaperone. It seems almost degrading, don't you think?"
The man twisted his mouth in thought, folded his arms, and closed his eyes. "It's difficult to pick one," he mused quietly; "I've had so many, you see. The joys of living an endless life, I suppose."
"Okay," Mabel clasped her hands in front of her, patiently; she had all the time in the world, after all.

The man scratched at the faint stubble on his chin as he pondered over the question.
"The ancient Greeks would refer to me as Charon. Most of the Western cultures call me the Grim Reaper, some even call me Death but that's not really my true part. I was given a jackal's head and called Anubis by the Ancient Egyptians..." He then continued to list off many names that left Mabel gaping at the mullions of titles he'd tried and tested out throughout his time of chaperoning the deceased.
'Blimey...' she thought, as the droning of names went on; 'and there I was, grumbling about my only name.'

It was true, of course. Mabel's parents had been middle-aged when they brought her kicking and screaming into the world. As such, much of their social circle had not been too savvy with the more popular names of those in Mabel's generation. The result was the decision to name her after her mum's favourite grandma, Mabel; and her dad's favourite aunt, Marionnette. Throughout her drab existence, Mabel had silently cursed her name; it made her feel older than she was. The school ground teasing had been intense! Especially, when it transpired the headmistress's borderline feral cat had shared the same first name.

Her companion cleared his throat. The sound broke Mabel's reflection and he smiled at her proudly.
"I have decided to go with Thanatoscharonanubis Erebusyamabaldr Tartarus," he was positively beaming. Admittedly, it had taken a while, but he reasoned his more preferred sounding names seemed to work well together.
Mabel blinked dumbly for a moment as she slowly broke down the names. She wasn't completely ignorant, she'd studied the classics at university and recognised some of the titles that had been put together like a verbal representation of Frankenstein's monster.

"So... Death, ferryman, representative of funerary rites. Darkness, death (again); and justice, light, and beauty. Surname being torment and suffering?" She looked up quizzically at the inane grin of the man's face, in front of her. She didn't have the heart to tell him that this wasn't how names were made, largely because she didn't know how names were normally made.
Instead, she shrugged, "very well," Mabel said; "although it might be difficult for me to recall all of that. So, what if I were to abbreviate it? Y'know, just like I'm Mabel, but my friends called me Mab."
"Very well, how about... Thet?" The man shrugged.
"Thet?" Mabel frowned.
"Yes! First two letters of the forename, first initial of the middle, and first initial of the surname, Thet;" there was that impish smile again.
Mabel smirked, bemused; "very well, Thet – it's nice to meet you."
Thet beamed; it was nice to have a name of his choosing, for once. He looked kindly at Mabel, who smiled back hesitantly before he hastily added; "and it's a pleasure to meet you too, Mabel."
"Call me Mab!" Mabel shuddered, "I'm only Mabel on paper. Right, decision time."