The Reaper's Token

Doris' Teleporter Takes Our Picture

Alice bustled us out the door as she tightened her black fringed coat around her to fend off the cold. I pushed my arms into my jacket with the coordination of a seal, and Alice marched swiftly ahead of us. I glanced sideways at Violet and nearly crashed into Alice when she suddenly stopped.

"Here we are!" Alice proclaimed. She sounded cheerful, but her smile was forced.

I glanced up at an old weathered sign that read "L&D transportation services." It was a small building on Hyde Street, a good walk from Alice's apartment. It was shabby with nothing to make it look appealing. In fact, something about the windows and overall feel of the structure felt off. It was creepy - like it was haunted. I guess technically it was since it was transportation for the dead.

We opened the door, causing several out-of-tune bells to jangle. The building's interior was larger than it had looked from the outside but just as shabby. Most of the fluorescent bulbs were burned out, and the remaining few flickered and hummed haphazardly. At the far end of the building, an empty and unnecessary zig-zag line was visible. It funneled toward five elevated, service booths but only the middle booth was occupied.

Crouched behind a dilapidated, chestnut desk with a tobacco-stained nameplate that read 'DORIS' was a stubby, squat person who more closely resembled a grouchy toad than a woman. Her short, brown hair hung limply around her face, managing to overemphasize both her lack of neck and roundness of head. She looked at us over chrome, cat-eye frames. Her eyes were large, bulgy, and almost comical if they had not held such disdain for the three of us.

"Help you?" Doris croaked. It sounded like she had smoked cigars all day, every day for 1000 years. Her pink lips snapped back in a pursed frown, and she gave me a withering glare when I jumped.

"Three for Teleportation, please," Alice said, rapping her well-manicured nails on the desk. She ignored my surprise and gave Violet a wide smile.

"Welcome to L&D transportation. Will this be flight, bus, trolley services, or Teleportation?" Doris croaked again. Her tone was bored and perfunctory. She didn't acknowledge Alice one bit. Alice gave us a quizzical look and repeated a little more forcefully.

"I said, three for Teleportation, please."

"Separate?" Doris asked with a sigh. She squinted through her glasses, hunting and pecking on the keyboard.

"Together," Alice said firmly and looked at Doris warily.

"Where?" Doris growled; her eyes snapped from Alice back to the computer in annoyance.

"The end of Clarion Alley," Alice said, "in the Mission District."

Doris glared at Alice with a huff before she typed something into the keyboard. After a brief pause, she pressed a button, and the machine spat out three tickets. Doris snatched them up and ripped the ends apart. Her speed was surprising given her listless elocution.

"That will be 4 DNR," Doris coughed into her cheetah print shirt as Alice slipped her phone across the desk.

"You have two minutes. The Teleportation station is outside. The first Teleportation picture is free," Doris leaned forward and gestured her shriveled hand toward a small photo booth outside the shop window.

"Thank you!" Alice said as she grabbed the tickets and pushed Violet and me toward the door.

"Happy travels," Doris deadpanned. Rolling her eyes, she re-coiled back behind her desk, pulled out an ancient edition of People magazine, and was instantly reabsorbed into its glossy content.