Death and Elsie (pt 1)

It was only a leaf. Just a dried up crinkly thing from the dirt. But the kindness with which the child offered it to him was so innocent and genuine that it broke Death's heart to think of what he was there to do. Until now, he had not been aware he even possessed a heart.

"Thank you," Death said quietly. He tucked the leaf inside his cloak where it promptly dissolved into nothingness.

"Where are your parents, child?" Death asked the girl, for he occasionally - when time allowed - gave the little ones a final moment with their families.

The child furrowed her brow. "Um..." was all she said, but it was enough to tell the Reaper what the girl was too young to articulate.

"Oh. Yes," Death said distractedly. "I had forgotten."

The girl blinked up at him and smiled helplessly. Then she coughed an awful rattling cough, and Death remembered that he had work to do. He put all other thoughts out of his mind, lifted his great scythe over his head...

...and found he couldn't. He just couldn't -- not like this. Perhaps I'm getting old, he thought. He sighed and knelt down beside the girl.

"Would you like to be my helper?" Death asked her.

She thought for a moment and then nodded.

"All right," said Death, rising to his feet, "but first you have to close your eyes."

This next part Death did not like so much, but the Long List was not to be altered; this he knew. When the job was done, he strapped his blade to his back again and held out a bony hand into which slipped a very tiny ghostly one.

"Do you like elephants?" Death asked his new companion as they walked. "Next we go to the circus. I'm afraid someone has had a very bad day."

"Elephant sad?"

"I expect so, Little Miss, but not much longer."

It was only for a little while, Death told himself. He would take her across the divide soon enough. But his business was the loneliest sort, and it was nice to have a friend just this once. Surely no one would fault him for that.