Extreme Unction

Extreme Unction

The room was stark white, and if it weren't for his collar the priest
would have felt out of place. It was very quiet, except for the
constant buzz of the life support machines' iv's dripping fluids
through the cancerous body and the not-particularly-regular beep of the
heart-rate monitor that missed the rhythm of the raindrops beating
against a solitary window. It was very quiet.

"Ten minutes left, but she'll outlive us all."

The patient was conscious, and this made the priest self-conscious. He
didn't like being the harbinger of death,but it was better than
marrying.

The patient's eyes were wide and white, like the room. She had learned
to speak directly from her heart. "Beep-beep-beep," she was excited to
see the priest.
"Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep?"

"You're scared to death?of?"

"Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep?"

"Dying?"

The priest leaned over the patient so his shadow covered the pale
face. The machines breathed with perfect regularity.

"Beep-beep-beep beep?"

"Don't be afraid to die. I have a secret for you."

"Beep-beep beep beep beep-beep beep?"

"But you must promise never to tell a living soul."

"Beep beep-beep-beep?"

"There is nothing to fear in death. There is no hell of eternal
horror. Hell is merely repetition of the insufficient. Hell is waking
up every morning to find everything just as you left it when you fell
asleep. The worst you have to fear is finding yourself once more in the
latex gloves of a doctor staring through birth fluids at what you will
learn to call your mother. It can't get any worse than this, because,
you see, we are already in hell."

"Beep-beep-beep-beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep"

The patient's eyes closed. Her heart slowed to the rhythm of the
respirator, and both matched the drumming of the raindrops at the
window.

The priest brought out his sacramental oil. He let it drip on his
fingers, and he reached slowly toward the body.

"Through this holy unction and His own most tender mercy may the Lord
pardon thee whatever sins or faults thou hast committed?"