His words echoed, rebounding off my disbelief that I would be asked to stick my hand in the dead man's pocket. "Ya gotta be kidding?"

"No. Do it!"

I patted the outside of the right pants pocket lightly. "No wallet here!" I caught a whiff of the rotting corpse and had an almost overwhelming impulse to puke.

"See if there is anything in the pocket."

I approached the corpse again, holding my head back as far as possible, upwind. As I gently worked my hand into the pocket, Van pushed the throttle full forward. My hand darted into the rotting flesh. I yanked it out with a start. It was not pretty.

- from The Jumper and the Crabs by Kalifer Deil