Keeners
By Tiff Bartel
By the time I’d arrived at the burial site, the mourners had already dissipated.
The one remaining guest was a woman dressed in a long black coat and a veiled hat. She swayed slightly, presumably overwhelmed by grief. I reached out to steady her.
“Did you know him well?” I asked.
The woman turned to me and chittered. At once, her form dissolved into a gaggle of fat raccoons. They fled the coat and scattered, abandoning their disguise.
The funeral director approached, shaking his head.
“This is the third time this week,” he said. “They come for the hors d’oeuvres.”
Tiff Bartel is a writer and multimedia artist based in Winnipeg. Her work has appeared in Vice, Comrad, Stylus, and on a thrift store shelf near you.
Website: tiffbartel.com / Bluesky: @tiffbartel.com
The rats tipped them off.
What clever way to get fresh food. Much better than dumpster diving.
I loved this too! And it’s given me ideas…