My Short Short Story for the Day

“Where’s the elevator?”  She grumbled under her breath.

She started kicking at the bag absently until it shifted.  “Oh, shoot!  You idiot!”  She was straightening it up when the elevator doors opened. 

“Hi Kris!”  Al said.  He was tall, handsome and the absolutely last person she wanted to see right then.

“Hi!”  She grunted lifting the bag just enough to avoid scraping it across the cement.

“Hey, let me help you with that.”  Al grabbed hold of the handles and hefted it up easily.  “Whoa, what’ve you got in here?  A dead body?”  He laughed turning to the buttons.

Her face turned a bright crimson and her hands were shaking so much she had to pin them between herself and the wall.  Stay calm, stay calm.   She repeated over and over in her head.  The 10 second ride felt like hours when the doors finally opened again. 

“Let me go drop this off and I’ll be right back.”  Al said smiling.

“Oh, well, I’ll just...okay.”  She said.

“How about we go get a coffee?”  He said setting the bag down in front of the dumpster. 

“Um, I dunno...”   He walked to the side to lift the lid and her eyes widened as the bag started to tip, loosening the handles.  She was torn between lunging for the bag and running away.

“Oops.  Almost lost it.”  He laughed grabbing the handles and giving them a tug. 

He heaved the bag into the bin and walked to the side to lower the lid back down, continuing to talk but she didn’t hear a word.  All she could do is stare dumbly as a finger flew out of the opening in the trash bag, under the closing lid of the dumpster and onto the ground right next to Al’s foot.  The ring, it had the ring on it.  She couldn’t believe it.  Even now, even in death, he  still had to have the last word.  Well, technically, last two words.