PULLING THE SWITCH
“Today, August 4th, we send Arthur Felix, to the next world via electrocution. Thomas: flip the switch.”
That’s my cue.
“This priest better get out of here; I don’t believe in god.”
“You’d better start” I say as I do the final preparation.
“I swear you’ll pay!” Arthur shouts with saliva spewing from his mouth.
“You’re the one who’s going to pay for the crimes you’ve committed.” I reply as I grab the lever.
Arthur struggles and manages to pull his right arm free from its bonds. The onlookers all give a collective gasp as he rips the straps off his left arm, and then his legs. The priest runs for cover as Arthur charges at me.
He throws a right hand at me. I catch it with my palm. I squeeze his fist and he collapses slightly. I let go and kick him in the face with a round house kick. He falls back into the chair.
“Say Hi to Satan for me.” I say as I pull the lever and watch the electricity surge through his body.
If only.
“No no no no no no no please god no. Please no. no…”
“Thomas, when you’re ready”
“Oh god oh god oh god no no no no…” he starts crying.
I pull the lever as the observers look on with expressionless faces.
His cries of pain shriek in my ears. His lifeless body twitches from the remaining current going through his body.
I let out a sigh as I flip the lever off and wait for a moment to let the electricity dissipate. When I’m sure it’s gone, I walk over to Arthur’s body and unstrap him from the chair. Another guard joins me and we pick up the body and exit the room. Outside the execution room is a gurney. We place the body down on the gurney and the other guard wheels him away.
I walked back into the execution room and glance into the observation room. Some of the people in there are chatting to one another. The rest are slowly making their way out of the room. I can only imagine what they are saying to one another: “Great execution!” “I know! Record time!”
I begin to inspect the chair for any bodily remains when Dan, my supervisor comes up to me. “Thomas: we have one more today.” He says in a gruff voice.
I grab a form from a holder on the wall. “Name?”
“Tonya Loreano. L-O-R-E-A-N-O.”
“A woman?”
Dan smiles at me from underneath his thick moustache. “Well sure, why not?” he places his hand on my shoulder. I’d prefer less contact. “The state is an equal opportunity death dealer” he chuckles. I force a smile.
“I just need a few minutes to finish my inspection from the last one.”
“Of course; wouldn’t want the dead to touch one another.”
He said it as a joke, but I had never thought of it that way. I had always just followed orders but it was a valid point. We deny these criminals one more freedom; even in death, there is no contact. Anyone who watches is more than 20 feet away and is protected by bullet proof glass. The person dies, staring at a group of people, but still alone.
I finish checking over the chair and scraping the last bits of Arthur out of this world. I begin to work on my paper work while I wait.
Twenty minutes later, Dan comes back into the execution room. He is startled to see me. “Oh Tom. Sorry, I didn’t tell you. Tonya elected to choose lethal injection at the last minute. You’re done for the day.”
“Oh…okay.”
I must have sounded disappointed, “Hey now. We don’t need to rush. We’ll kill them all eventually.” Dan says and he walks out of the room.
I rip up the form I filled out for Tonya and finish the remainder of my work and head out.
I walk wearily as I move through the hallways of the prison. I take out my cell phone and call my wife, Ellen.
“Hi honey…oh it was okay; the usual; I’ll tell you all about it at dinner tonight…you want to go out?...uh-huh…sure…okay where do you want to go?…do you want me to come home first and we’ll go together?...okay…okay sounds good…love you…bye”. I’m meeting my wife at dinner and she has a surprise for me. How interesting.
I open the employee’s door to the outside and hear the pouring of the rain on the ground. It’s a good thing I’ve been electrocuting people indoors. I close the employee entrance door behind me and walk to my 1996 Honda Civic. I sit in the car for a moment, wallowing in my disdain with my soaked clothes. I turn the key to start the car. ‘NONOAHHHHHHH’. I hear a cry as the engine starts. I pause for a moment, collecting myself. Was that real? Or just my engine? It was my engine. I turn my head back and put the car in reverse and I’m off to meet my wife for dinner.
“Hi Honey how are you?” I embrace my wife and give her a peck on the lips.
“I am great. I see you forgot your umbrella again. How was your day?”
My mind goes back to Arthur’s agonizing screams and his twitching body as he was being electrified.
“Oh. About the same as any other day; Dan keeps trying to be this like father figure to me. He keeps touching me…anyway, so what’s this wonderful news?”
“Let’s order first. It’s not so wonderful that it can’t wait a little bit.” She giggles as I force a smile.
I take my coat off and drape it over my chair and sit down.
Our waiter comes over, “Good evening, my name is Claude; I’ll be your waiter tonight. Would you two like to start with a bottle of wine?”
Ellen looks at the menu, “What would you recommend?”
Claude stares at the wine list with an expressionless face. My mind flashes to the expressionless faces of the people in the observation room as they watch the executions.
I avert my glance for a moment and then look back. I see Claude again.
He finally speaks, “Well, if you want a white, the ’93 pinot noir is quite popular and for a red, our ‘76 Cabernet has been getting a lot of attention lately”
“The white sounds lovely”
“Coming right up my lady” the waiter took the wine list and walked away.
Ellen and I look over the menus until Claude comes back with a bottle and a bucket of ice. He pours a small amount in my glass for tasting. I sniff it, swirl it, and then sip it. “It’s good” I say to the waiter. I don’t know what makes it good; I just assume that whatever the wine tastes like, that’s what it is supposed to taste like.
Claude fills Ellen’s glass and then mine. When he is finished he puts the bottle into the bucket of ice.
“Our specials tonight are Alfrado linguine with roasted rosemary chicken, haddock jambon with a vegetable medley, and apple pear pork chops with a baked potato and rice pilaf.”
“The fish sounds wonderful” Ellen says, closing her menu.
“Very good. And for you sir?”
“I would like the seared tuna steak.”
“My favorite.” Claude says as he grabs our menus. “I’ll be back with your food shortly.”
As I watch him walk away, I can’t help but notice how quickly his French accent went away.
“So what is your news honey?”
“Well. You know how I’ve been doing sales for the last 8 months? Well, my hard work and good numbers have finally paid off and they are giving me a promotion!”
“Wow.” I say, and take a sip of wine.
She pauses. “Wow? Is that all you are going to say?”
“Congratulations.”
She looks upset. She takes a breath as she lifts her wine glass. She chuckles and takes a sip. “Ew.” She eyes some crud on her glass and begins to chip it off with her nails.
My mind flashes to chipping away pieces of John Kearnes, a hefty man who left quite a bit of himself on the chair earlier today.
I flash back to my wife as she gets the rest of the crud off her glass. She takes another sip and smiles at me, “sometimes I forget that nothing affects you.”
I smile, “yeah. Sorry. I’m proud of you; you really worked hard and it’s going to mean big things for us in the future.”
She rolls her eyes and smiles, “Thanks dad.”
I smile.
After dinner we went home and watched a movie on TV. Ellen went to bed with fifteen minutes left and I stayed to watch the end. As the protagonist grinned into the camera for the final shot, I turned the TV off. I got up to turn the living room light off. When I flicked the light switch, I heard the screaming of Arthur ringing through my head. I grabbed my forehead as I winced. The scream fades away and the pain stops. I shake my head loose and go to bed. The same thing happens as I turn off the bathroom light. I sigh as I sit down on my side of the bed. I put my head in my hands as I try to collect myself and relax. I know my dreams will be filled with the screams and agony of those that I have killed.
Same old same old.
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