Mike and Rodney were the best of mates.
This had been the case from the time they first met, despite their vastly different personalities. It had been a simple matter of opposites attracting. Rodney had always looked up to his older friend, while Mike had always liked the innocence and straight forward nature of the younger boy. Mike was the worldly type despite his age, while Rodney was very much the wide-eyed innocent that some of the rougher boys had seen as a target; that was before Mike came along.
Mike’s view concerning most of the kids he went to school with was that they were pretty evil. But Rodney, he was OK. He got a real kick out of answering his questions; and Rodney seemed to have an endless supply of these. Today was no different. They met at the far end of the playground, sitting on the bench used for sports.
After a little idle chat Rodney became more serious and said “Tell me Mike, what happens when you die?”
Mike supressed a grin and said “Well, when you die your heart stops pumping blood around your body. Your brain cells die off pretty quickly, the body starts decomposing, and your skin dries out and turns grey. Then this thing called rigor mortis sets in and the body goes really stiff.”
Rodney, who had been sitting in rapt attention, was now thinking it over. He looked up and said “Wow! Thanks Mike.”
Mike went to say something more, but was interrupted by the bell jangling, calling them back to class.
As they moved off to their respective classes Mike watched the noisy crowd pushing and shoving their way back through the narrow doorway into the school building.
He shook his head. There was no way he would tell his friend the truth. That for most of the people around them, death would be a matter of being instantly transported to the nether regions of Hell, where their charred and writhing bodies would remain in agony for the whole of eternity!
No, that would certainly upset him. Besides, he was a good friend… that would have been really unkind.