Chapter 19

3 1 0

by janello33

by janello33

The day of the funeral was finally here and it was an absolute scorcher. Teresa had Bill drop her off early so that she could give Linda a hand with last minute details. Teresa had to admit that Linda had done a pretty good job for her first funeral, but reminded herself that Linda could not have done it without her or the delay due to the autopsy.

There were already cars parked up and down the street in front of the church idling with funeral attendees waiting in the air conditioning even though the funeral was still an hour and a half away. Teresa walked into the church and was greeted by Linda with a stack of table linens in her arms. "Teresa! What am I forgetting?" Teresa followed her into the auditorium. Teresa scanned the room as she ticked off things on her mental checklist.

"Looks good in here," she said. Linda let out a sigh, "I had no idea there would be so many things to do!" Teresa laughed as she followed Linda into the kitchen. Teresa checked the coffee percolators, opened the fridges to check on the food, slid her finger down the stacks of styrofoam cups. "It gets easier every time," Teresa said. "Thanks for your help," Linda looked at Teresa. "You won't need my help forever. You'll be planning my funeral soon enough." Linda waved her off, "Teresa! Don't say that, you'll outlive us all." Teresa nodded, she didn't disagree.

The church service was lovely. Dottie with her boys and grandchildren by her side was the picture of a regal widow. Pastor Cecil kept the talking to a minimum as the men in their suits sweated profusely in the pews. All the men wore suits, well except for Randy, Teresa noticed. When Teresa has raised an eyebrow at him as he entered the church, he pulled his chain out from under his white t shirt and slid his sunglasses on top of his head.

Teresa stood at the back with Linda ready for any last minute funeral emergencies and Teresa could see Linda relax with every passing minute. "I'm going to go the interment if you're feeling ok about the luncheon after," Teresa whispered as the pallbearers moved to pick up the coffin with Art's ashes inside. "Ya I'll be fine. Go."

It was a short ride to the cemetery. Bill mopped his sweaty forehead while he drove. "Can you turn up the a.c?" Rachel, who had jumped in with her parents, asked her dad. "The car won't even get a chance to cool down," he said as he stuffed his handkerchief back in his pocket. The procession to the interment was a long line of cars that snaked through town. "It'll be a crowded burial," Bill commented. "Dottie will be happy with how well attended the funeral was,"
Teresa replied.

As they walked toward the plot, Teresa noticed a blob in the distance. "What on earth," she said as she squinted, trying to make out what was sitting beside the gravesite. "I see Janice found her way to the burial," Bill said as she came into focus. "Was she at the church?" Rachel asked. "If she was there, you would have noticed," Teresa hoped Janice wouldn't make a scene.

They crowded around the open grave as Pastor Cecil said some final words. Everyone was given a single wheat sheaf to place on top of the casket, but the family held orange lilies to add to the top. Lots of tissues blotted noses under dark sunglasses as Pastor Cecil finished as people began placing their wheat sheafs onto Art's coffin.

"What is this place?" one of Art's grandsons asked. In hushed tones his mom explained that when people died that this is where they were buried. "There's people under here," he asked incredulously pointing at the ground. "Yes," his mom confirmed. "This is a weird garden." His mom tried to shush him, but a small ripple of laughter was already spreading through the crowd, until a sudden bang altered everyone to the coffin.

"Janice," Teresa said through her teeth. In her attempt to place her wheat sheaf on the casket she had gotten to close to the hole with her medi scooter and the wheel had careened off the edge and then crashed into the coffin. At first she tried pushing herself out but only managed to push the coffin farther away from her and the scooter titled forward against coffin. She was dangerously close to falling into the open grave scooter and all. Men in their suits ran to her rescue. Some grabbed hold of the scooter, some more unfortunate ones grabbed hold of Janice pulling her away as she shrieked and panted with terror.

Janice was sitting on the ground with a crowd of concerned men and women around her, all out of towners, Teresa noticed rolling her eyes at the chaos. Teresa looked for Dottie's reaction and saw her stone faced with her family. The funeral attendants realigned Art's casket over the grave and Dottie, her son Darren and family and Sean placed their orange lilies for their husband and father before lowering lowering the casket.