The Visit from Mrs. Black

Part 1: The Visit

I've never actually seen my wife sick until it came.

I never would have thought it would reach us here. The plague, as the radio has labeled it, had entered this little town not too long ago, and like its comparison to an atomic bomb, wiped out almost everyone that came into contact with it.

I never thought my wife would actually die, until her painful coughs echoed from her room downstairs to the parlor, which despite the heartwarming pictures of my family seemed shadowed by the black hand of Death.

I sat on the couch facing these pictures and lit a cigarette, until a loud knock on the door forced me to dispose of it in the ashtray on the table in front of me, and I answered the door.

It was a woman. I'm assuming middle aged, but she was as pale as snow and wearing a white uniform like other nurses I have seen a few times before. A big, black suitcase in her right hand, and her left hand stretched out in greeting.

The coughing continued, more loud and painful with each passing second of awkward pause. I shook her hand and began.

"Mrs. Black, I'm assuming?"

She looked passed me to the staircase behind me. "Is she up there?"

I nodded, and she brushed past me up the stairs, and I stared up after her.

"Don't you need one of those suits for it?"

She stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at me with dark, piercing eyes.

I shrugged. "At least that's what they said."

Mrs. Black only moved towards the room as if she knew where it was, and I moved to the large radio that sat by the couch, and I pulled out another cigarette.

"At least I have you to give me some answers."

The radio, which seemed to be endlessly whispering in my ear for days on end, went through the usual routine of addressing the precautions of this virus. Always wash your hands, wear a mask, blah,blah,blah. Then the voice mentioned to cut off contact with anyone who may have the disease, or at least have a hazmat suit and mask upon entering.

I looked toward the stairs and snickered. "Guess someone didn't get the memo."

Still the same routine, the same news. A disease of unknown origin, something that so suddenly came about.

Lost in the pictures on the wall, I almost didn't notice how my wife's coughing had stopped.

I looked towards the staircase, and jumped at the sight of Mrs. Black standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Your wife is resting."

I sit back and breathe out a puff of smoke. Mrs. Black walks over to me and sits besides me. The radio droning on as if on a record, but I was more focused on Mrs. Black's intense glare.

"How do you make of it?"

I take the cigarette out of my mouth and she grabs it and disposes of it immediately.

"Yeah, my mother always warned me not to smoke, but I thought it would-"

"Don't be silly. What do you think of the virus?"

The room felt just a little darker on that account. The radio suddenly quieter than usual.

"Interesting. You know, been out of work for a little bit, relying on bread and milk really."

I take out my pack from my pocket, but Mrs. Black takes it out of my hands.

She looks at the pictures on the wall. "How old was he?"

I look at the pictures too. A boy's bright blue eyes gazed back at me. "Nine."

"Junior?"

The boy's baseball glove had a ball in it, his smile pierced my soul.

"Yes. Rodney Joseph Fairgraves Jr. Played in the little leagues, just like his old man. Wanted to be an astronaut, just like his old man."

Mrs. Black moved closer to him, her sour breath against his neck.

"Did you see what it was like up there?"

I inhaled deeply. "Beautiful. One of the most beautiful moments in my life actually. Do you know how lucky we are to have such a beautiful rock to live on?"

Mrs. Black smiled. "Lucky."

Another awkward pause.

I looked at her. "Do you think it's the Commies?"

Mrs. Black looked at him confused.

"The Commies. God knows what they are doing in the U.S.S.R, but I have a theory that they have these sleeper agents infected with this virus, living among us, and secretly killing us slowly."

Mrs. Black took some lipstick out of her case, and smeared it along her lips.

"Kind of like the pilgrims, you know. Almost wiping out the Natives with smallpox. Unprotected by something they never seen before. I think they have something they brewed and we never seen before. That's probably why we never saw it coming, or-"

Mrs. Black kissed me, hard. Her lips pressed against me, and I tried to push her away, but she gripped on tighter. My body began to feel numb. Then her tongue entered my mouth, but it only kept going and going, and it made its way down my throat. I panicked, and felt something liquid drip down my throat.

She let go of me then, and then I started to cough up blood.

I collapsed and curled into a ball, drowning in my own vomit and blood.

Then she looked at me and said "You're right Earthson, you are lucky to live on this planet. But these Commies will soon be an afterthought, as I think there are several sick wives I must visit before this planet will be ours."

She left the house, and I writhed on the floor until I saw my son and wife appear before me.

I stopped moving then, the radio droning on and on about a virus that has infected the entire world, and shows no sign of stopping until the human race is all gone.