Body Bag                          by Sigrid Yuan 袁行耑

     This is the sixth bottle of beer.  

     It is the last one, and Paul can’t afford to buy any till next week. After drinking it all, he puts a straw in and tries to get the last drop but the bottle is completely empty. 

    “Damn it!” he curses furiously.

Suddenly, the phone rings. Paul answers with a weak voice, puts down the phone and shouts.  “Damn it! Today’s Sunday, why I got to work on Sunday?” Then he puts on his coat and goes out reluctantly. 

    The place he goes to is a TV company. Paul has worked there as a temporary assistant for about a month. Actually, all the jobs that Paul has ever had are “temporary”; he hates labor and switches jobs all the time. But he still works, even on Sunday, for he is always lack of money. 

    When Paul steps into the storehouse in the back of the company building, someone yells to him. “Hey, Paul, come here and help me to throw this god damn lumber out!” says the foreman, Martin. The so called “assistant” is just like a worker that is responsible for labor. But Paul doesn’t care about it; to him, works are all boring.

    After finishing today’s work, he is exhausted. In order to comfort himself, he takes the money reserved for food to buy another bottle of beer. Paul knows he must starve one or two days for this, but he can’t hold the desire of drinking.   

   “The only company in my life is beer.” He murmurs to himself. 

   That is very true. Paul doesn’t have any friends or relatives. They all run away because Paul owes everyone some money and never thinks of paying them back. As to family, Paul lost his parents at very young age, and he doesn’t have any brothers or sisters. He doesn’t need to take care of anyone, and neither does he take care of himself. He indulges himself to live a messy life without dignity. 

    Paul keeps thinking of killing himself. “The meaning of my life is to think of a good way to die. Ha ha…,” once he commented on himself. He has imagined all different ways to die, practices and practices in his mind, then, gives up. He knows he isn’t brave enough. Every time when he gives up the notion of suicide, he always laughs and mocks himself. Sometimes he cries for himself and goes to sleep.

No matter in what respect, Paul is a useless man. 

*   *   *

   Today is Paul’s last working day as an assistant. In the evening, when he is going to leave, Martin calls him back. 

   “Please, Martin, today’s my last day here, don’t give me extra work! And, right, why can’t ya pay me today? I can’t wait till next week…. I don’t have money now!”

   “Come on, if you take this work, somebody can pay you today.” Martin replies. 

   The work is to be a temporary actor in a drama. The original actor is seriously sick and can’t come today. And the character is a homeless man, who is dirty and degenerate. Also, he must be short and thin and fit the size of the body bag. So when the director tries to find a substitute, Paul is the first to be considered. 

   “What the hell is this? Ya want me to act? On TV? Are you crazy? ” Paul yells to Martin.

   “Don’t be nervous, it’s easy! You just pretend to be shot, and die, and someone will put you into the body bag. That’s all! It won’t last more than two minutes. And I can pay you right after it’s done. It’s a nice deal, don’t you think so?” The director wears an exaggerated smile and explains to Paul. 

“You say ya’ll pay me right after this?” Paul hesitates for a while.

“Of course! I promise!” 

“Well… okay, I can do it.”

When the staff help Paul put on ragged clothes and makeup, it makes Paul feel a little bit flattered as if he is a very important actor. He begins to take this job seriously.

     “Three…two…one…camera!” the director shouts.

Standing on the left of the scenery set, Paul pretends he is wandering. Suddenly, a man with a mask on his face holds a gun and shoots him. Paul falls down, struggles, whimpers, cries, and dies painfully. The lights fade out. After a few seconds, the whole scenery set is lit up again. Two policemen come to Paul, put him into a body bag, zip the zipper, and then drag the body bag out of camera. 

   “Cut! Very good, Paul, you did a very good job! ” The director says to the body bag. 

Paul is very surprised. Partly because of the complement form the director, but more because of the acting itself. He finds that acting dead is so easy, for he has already imagined it for thousands of times in his mind. 

    “How can acting be so easy?” Holding the money for the acting, Paul can’t help but keeps wondering. “Maybe I can be an actor! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

    Paul is excited for his new discovery. That night, he sleeps with great satisfaction.

    However, the real surprise comes a week later. When Paul is still finding new job and almost forgets the acting, one day he receives a call.

    “Hello? Paul? This is Martin! I have good news for you!”

    “What?”

    “The director wants you to act one more time!”

    “Are you kidding? Is the actor sick again? Why me? ”

    “Nobody’s sick. You beat that actor! The director says your acting is much better than that actor, and he wants you back. And you know what? Some audiences even send messages to praise your acting. Just on our company’s website. You can check it up! ”

    “I…I don’t have a computer….”

    “That doesn’t matter. Anyway, now you are a celebrity. Congratulations! And you got to come here, as soon as possible! Come on! See you later!” Martin hangs up. 

    Paul is completely astonished. He slaps himself to ensure this is not a dream and then he runs to the TV Company. 

    When he gets there, the director welcomes him with a more exaggerated smile. 

    “Welcome! I am so glad you can come. ”

    “What should I act?”

    “You got to act a man who is hit by head with an ashtray. You must die painfully and miserably. You know how to do it, right? ”

    Again, Paul recalls his imagination and performs a tragic death. His acting is so serious and real that it seems he has put all his strength into the performance. After it is finished, many people in the studio applaud, some even weep for him. 

    When the drama is broadcasted, Paul gets great attention. Though the scene only lasts about three minutes, his performance is too attractive to be ignored. From then on, Paul is titled “professional corpse” for he can act all different ways of dying. He gets many acting opportunities, even on live stage. From a useless crap, he becomes a famous actor. That’s also part of his “legend” and it is soon spread widely. 

*   *   *

    Three months after Paul becomes famous, he has a chance to act in a movie. Although it is still a minor role and he still needs to be killed, Paul feels very proud of himself. As he goes around the studio, he meets an “old friend.”

    “Martin!” Paul calls out the name. 

    Yes, that’s Martin. He is still a foreman in the TV company. 

    “Hey! Paul. Long time no see. You are… very different from the past. You look so good. ”

    “Yeah, thank you. How about ya?”

    “Me? Oh, nothing is worth to be mentioned. Well…don’t talk about me. I know you get a role in the movie, right? It sounds so good.”

    “Well, yeah, I am very excited now. Hey, you can come to visit us later.”

    “Oh, thank you. What are you going to act? Another corpse? ” Marin laughs.

    “You get it. Today I’ll get poisoned and die. But I have several lines, not just die silently. So come to see me. I’m grateful for your recommending me in the very beginning. If you come to see me, I’ll be very glad…”

    “Paul! You get to stand by!” someone yells.

    “I got to go, see you later!” Paul pats Martin’s shoulder and leaves. Martin looks at his back with a complex emotion. Then he furtively goes toward a small room for stage properties. 

    “That’s it!” After scrabbles for a while, He picks up a small bottle with colorless liquid in it, pours into some white powder, and slightly puts the bottle back. 

    “Now it’s only the matter of time. I got to witness that scene!” murmuring to himself, Martin can’t hold the feeling of excitement.

     About an hour later, Paul stands on the scenery set to welcome the big moment in his life.  The first scene is to drink some poisoned water and die painfully. 

     “I’m going to be a movie star! I got to do my best!” He takes a deep breath, nods to the director.  

     “Three…two…one…camera!”

     Paul walks slowly to the center of the scenery. He gently picks up the small bottle, pours a little into a cup of water, and drinks it all. 

     “Now!” Paul shouts in his mind, and he begins to perform the death. 

     “It hurts me…. I’m really so painful….” He keeps imagining the feeling of death. Then he feels his stomach is gradually wrenching and eroding. The pain strongly hits him and makes him dizzy. 

     “Help…help me….” he groans. His eyes are full of tears. 

      The pain is so real. He has never experienced this kind of suffering before, not even when he tried to kill himself. He covers his stomach with both hands; his body unnaturally struggles, twitches, and finally rolls up. 

     “God…come… and… help me… ” Paul’s voice sounds miserable. He feels he gradually lose the senses of his body except the pain in his stomach. He is also proud of himself, for his imagination can drive his all senses and produces a wonderful scene. 

      “I…I’m really a genius…” after uttering these few words, suddenly his body slackens. 

All people in the studio, including Martin, are so stunned. Even the director forgets to cut the camera. 

     “…Cut!”

     A great applause comes and lasts a very long time. The director goes toward Paul.

     “Paul, you are really a genius. Your acting is so excellent…” he hits Paul in his chest.  

“Hey, Paul, come on, the show is over. Wake up! ” he laughs and hits him again.

    But he won’t open his eyes again. Not anymore.