On October 7th of this year, I worked 30 minutes extra trying to finish some work at the office and as I was finally driving home, it had started to get dark. The on ramp to I-25 has a very old graveyard on the right side. It isn't the fancy headstone kind of graveyard as it's probably been there since Albuquerque was part of the "wild west." It is surrounded by a low, white picket fence and most of the graves are marked by white wooden crosses.
As I approached the on ramp, I saw flashing police lights from two police cars and numerous passenger vehicles pulling off the road, shining their headlights on the old wooden archway to the cemetery. Naturally I slowed down, curious to see what was going on.
There stood the grim reaper. Silent, as if on watch over the grave of some poor soul. How did I know it was the grim reaper? Well, I don't really know for sure. It was the specter shown in the Albuquerque Journal a week or so ago, in a different cemetery.
I put on my turn signal and pulled to the side of the road, with everyone else. And, I focused my gaze on the image standing over the grave in it's flowing black robes. I couldn't see a face, the robe had a black hood and it looked like a black hole surrounded by flowing black material. The specter stood perfectly still, and the wind blew it's robes around it's body and feet; but, the hood didn't move an inch.
I only sat there about 10 minutes when the grim reaper slowly turned and started to exit the cemetery through the old wooden archway from which it appeared. It appeared to be struggling, walking off balance, not at all graceful as it appear standing in silence. I strained to see what could be causing the imbalance and finally decided it must be the rocks and mounds of dirt that had to be negotiated in making an exit.
A couple in a Jeep Cherokee that was parked next to me on the road, turned on their high-beam headlights and moved closer to the cemetary. Negotiating the desert topography didn't seem easy even for their jeep, so I decided to stay put and try to keep my eyes on the image in the graveyard entrance. At that moment, someone in the crowded of spectators yelled, "It has wings, it's having problems walking because of a large pair of black wings."
Since I had lost sight of the grim reaper anyway, I decided it was time to get on the road and go home. Did this spector have wings, I don't know, it had something on its back. But, by this time it was dark in the graveyard and I wasn't in a position to say what it was. And, with all the crazy stuff that happens out here in the desert, nothing surprises me anymore. Not even a grim reaper in the cemetery guarding the dead when it should be out there collecting the souls of those that live here and deserve to be dead, or half dead, somewhere else.
