"They have not My beauty"

Two years ago in January, I got a phone call from a friend who happened to rent an apartment from my husband & myself. I have known him since he was nine. He is as they say "intellectually challenged".

In his call he said that He had not seen another tenant in a few days & that there was a smell in his apartment. I really was not sure of if he understood what he could be describing, but, I knew I had to check it out. I went to my husband, who had fallen asleep early with a migraine. "Dwayne, Phil may be dead. We need to go over there." His response was, "If he is dead now, he will be dead in the morning." I did not care much for that response & felt that I had to go. I felt compelled to go, as if I had no choice.

I got into the car & while on the drive there, I phoned the manager of our properties. I told her the situation & asked her to get me a key. She was rather put off by the whole thing & told me it was to far for her to drive. My thought went to "What is wrong with this world? Does no one care? What is the matter with me that I am out here in the night looking to find a dead person?

When I arrived, I went to Calvin's apartment. I could not smell anything. I told him that the manager had said that she thought Phil was in the hospital. Calvin said that this is wrong, that he had been back from the hospital for a while & that his bedroom light had been on a few days. This got my attention.

I went to the window of Phil's bedroom. Blinds were pulled down. But, I noticed that I could see through the cracks in between each of the blinds. I peaked, thought I saw something on the bed, but, was not sure. I pulled my body upwards & peaked into another crack. Did I see what I thought I saw? I lifted my body up on the tips on my toes & peaked in yet another crack.

There he was. I could see his feet, although they did not look the right color or shape of feet. I could see his calves & his shoulders that cushioned his head while he rested on his stomach. There was no movement & no life left in him. I lowered myself to my feet and said the Calvin. "He's dead".

I called the police & my manager to ask if she would at least send maintance over to unlock the door. When the paramedics arrived they just pushed the window a bit & it gave. The smell was overwhelming. Silence filled the yard. We all stared into the bedroom & then a paramedic ask me, "Does he always look like that?" "What?" "I don't believe so."

Phil had been dead for over a week. He was an obese man whom over the past months had retained a great deal of water & had swollen to an immense size. I did not know that when you pass & are left to the elements of a hot house, that your internal organs begin the turn to liquid. Phil's mid section appeared to be gone. His body fluids had seeped through his mattress and the floor below.

The neighborhood filled with the stench of death. The lights of police, fire & rescue vehicle's lite up the night. Policemen vomited & spit as they left the house with the rookie of the bunch continually being sent back in to look for family phone numbers and to search for drugs.

I watch and waited. When the coroner came & moved him the stench increased with such intensity that I found myself walking backwards to escape the smell. I felt for these men. When they came out & put Phil in the van, they walked around the yarn with a dazed look on there faces. "This was a bad one," one said.

Finally, hours later, I got into my car to drive home. I started talking to God. "I don't understand. You say, "we are wonderfully & perfectly made". How can this happen?"
It seems like a weird question. I understand the dead of a body, but, I could not get the question out of my mind. God was silent. It would be twenty four hours later before I would here from Him & get an answer to my question.

The answer next time.