EMPLOYEE D

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Employee D grew up in Mexico. When she was younger, she would walk along the beach and all
the men would stop and stare. At least that’s what Employee A told me. She’s older now, in her
50s maybe 60s, and lives the American Dream by working at a taxidermy shop in Reno, Nevada.
She doesn’t talk much and her English isn’t too good, but I hear she is feared by the office for
reasons I do not know. I call her the mother hen (not to her face but in my head) because even in
her silence she holds everyone in the shop in a way only a mother could. We sewed a life-size
primate together once. Maybe a baboon? I remember packing its tiny hands with clay and sewing
it up near the wrist. We don’t talk much when we work together, but we still communicate. After
hearing the story of her walking along the beach and turning heads in Mexico when she was
younger from Employee A, I sometimes look at her and wonder if she still hears the waves.

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SAFE SEX

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Word on the shop floor
is the lead taxidermist
took the new girl into the backroom
where the finished animals are covered in plastic
and had his way with her.

I wonder if he was covered
not with plastic but with latex
or if he did it raw dog
the way the animals do it in the wild.

I wonder if he was distracted
not by the animals but by the ring on his finger
that promised to love and to cherish
till death do us part.

I wonder if he was impressed
not by the new girl but by the life-size lion
he could see in the distance
as he pumped and grunted and admired his work.

I wonder a lot of things.

Forget the lead taxidermist
what about the new girl?

I wonder if she was excited
not by the sex but by the animals
who watched with open eyes
as she fucked a married man.

I wonder if she was afraid
not with getting caught but with getting pregnant
by a man who possessed great talent
yet she could never be with.

I wonder if she was dead
not like the animals but like the lead taxidermist
who needed to cheat on his wife
to feel alive.

I wonder if any of this even happened?

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For all I know
the guys in the shop were just talking shit
in an effort to entertain themselves
and make it through another work day.

Taxidermy
believe it or not
becomes a lot more interesting
when you’re talking about
the lead taxidermist fucking the new girl.

Like every job
the magic eventually fades
like the lead taxidermist’s
you know what faded after climax.

If he wasn’t covered like the finished animals
not with plastic but with latex
he enacted the miracle of life
on a weekday afternoon in Reno, Nevada
in a room full of death.

How many people can say they’ve done that in life?

I can’t.

I can’t even confirm any of this is true.

It was only a word I heard
on the shop floor.