The Good Reaper by Dennis J Butler Read Free Book Online Page A

points on the body. This method takes
considerable skill and only Ranjisi with specific clearance are permitted to
learn this technique. All CIPE recruits are taught the Tseen Ke puncture
procedure. It was thought that if for some reason our identity was exposed
while on assignment, we could end our own life. I knew there was a bit of
dishonesty and denial with this. Although we were taught how to perform Tseen
Ke with puncture needles, we had no idea how or where to obtain the needles.
Also, self-administered Tseen Ke is not mandatory and it is intended to be left
up to the recruit. At the time I arrived on planet Earth, to my knowledge, no
Ranjisi had ever performed the self-administered Tseen Ke puncture procedure.
     By the time Frank and I finally finished our
discussions I felt completely overwhelmed. It really hit me that each CIPE
recruit was responsible for not only the success of the program but also for
concealing our identity. One thing I knew for sure was that I did not want to
be the one responsible for accidently revealing our true identity. Before
leaving, Frank gave me a cellphone with all the emergency contact information
and said goodbye. I immediately felt alone and somewhat scared. It was the same
feeling I had when I said goodbye to Alexis at the airport. It was the
loneliest feeling I had ever had. I hoped that I would feel better when I began
interacting with people at the hospital. 
    There was plenty of food in the kitchen so I decided I
wouldn’t go anywhere until the following day. Saturday morning I took my first
walk out in public. The area I was living in was known as Queens. It was a good
location. I could walk to the food store. I didn’t really need any food but I
went in and looked around the store anyway. Although I had studied human foods,
I didn’t see anything I recognized from the pictures or videos. I got a knot in
my stomach as I realized I wouldn’t even know what to buy. Even if I read the information
on the packaging, I still wouldn’t know what most of the items were. I let out
a loud sigh of relief when I approached the section with fresh fruits and
vegetables. I knew what they were. A woman standing near me heard me sigh and
smiled at me. “The oranges are so expensive and they have no flavor,” the woman
said. I was still having difficulty with human age. The woman looked like she
would be around my age if she lived on Ranjisan and she had a punkish look
about her. Her black hair was short on one side and long on the other and her
bangs were cut short right up to the top of her head. The back of her head had
white streaks of hair underneath the layer of black. But it was the rings on
her eyebrows that made her look rebellious.
    I suddenly realized that I had been staring at her and she
was probably uncomfortable. I immediately thought of a common saying, “A deer
in the headlights.” That’s what I probably looked like as I stumbled to say
something. “Is there a substitution for the orange?” I asked.
    The woman looked at me with an odd half-smile and I realized
my response was probably too formal or too clinical or something. “Try the
honeybells. They’re a few cents more and they are delicious with hardly any
seeds.”
    “Thank you mam,” I said as I reached for a honeybell.
    “Mam?” I heard the woman mumble as
she turned and walked the opposite direction.  She sounded angry and I
wondered what I did or said that was wrong. I was disappointed that the woman
didn’t seem to want to stay and talk to me and I didn’t understand why so I
grabbed three honeybells and a soda and headed for the counter where people
were paying for things. I had no idea how much it would cost so I handed the
person behind the counter a fifty dollar bill. “Do you have anything smaller?”
he asked.
    “How much is it?”
    “Three dollars and sixty cents.” I
handed him a five dollar bill. He gave me an odd look as he handed me the
change. I realized I needed to get a general