Who Are You Today? (short fiction)

"There seems to be a communal shift, like white blood cells sighting a tagged invader. "

I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.

-Henry David Thoreau, Walden

I know what they’d like, they’d like a blank they could fill in. A person already filled in disturbs them terribly.

-Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt, or Carol

Every glistening egg is a memento mori.

-Annie Dillard, “The Force that Drives the Flower”

1.

It’s too early in the morning to be doing anything, but here I am. As I walk down the worn concrete path, the building starts to loom, two stories of utilitarian brick, like a corporate hospital mated with a church annex. A flock of geese flies overhead. As they fly, they are ungainly, like snakes stapled to ducks. I feel the same.

I push through the doors and find the main office. Two receptionists are chatting.

“Good morning!” one says, and then clocks my ID. “Who are you today?” I see what seems to be a squint of disapproval as she looks me over. This look is not uncommon out here, although I don’t know wha…