Hurt

FUNERAL

The smell of lily filled the room; fragrance and soothing. The whole altar was crowded with lilies. Lily only because that was the flower that the deceased always gave his wife in 50 years of their marriage.

Bette sat silently in the front row, so close to the coffin - looking at the man lying there stiff and breathless. She loved this man so much. He was more like a father to Bette more than her actual father had ever been. It killed her to see him lying on his bed the last view years, helpless and weak. Stomach cancer had sucked up all the life out this once a fine man, a kind person who was never hesitated to go the distance to helped everybody. And he had helped Bette in so many ways that she was now crushed with grievance to see this man dead on the coffin.

Bette sighed and her thought travel back to early this morning when the phone rang at 6 o'clock in the morning, a very unusual hour for a social call so that could only mean either trouble or grieve.

Bette stood erect in front of her standing mirror, her heart beat so fast. She was up half an hour ago like usual, spend 30 minutes in front of the mirror not to admired but to inspect herself. She could never notice whether or not she has gain more weight than the last time because she always been fat since she was a little girl. It looked like her body stayed the same year after year, never lose weight, gain more weight, perhaps.

Bette took a deep breath to soothed her pounding heart. Not long after there was knocked on her door, it must be Wilbur, came with the news about the phone call. She opened the door and it was Wilbur indeed with his long, serious face, standing ever so straight as if he was in an army. In an instance Bette understood that the old butler came bringing a bad news.

"Mrs. Allenby called to inform that Mr. Allenby had passed away, ma'am," He said.

"Oh," Bette felt a stinging pain in her eyes, the tears ran down through her chubby cheek. "Thank you, Wilbur," she said with shaky voice. "Oh, and Wilbur, please do not tell Aunt Elda about this news, I will be the one to break the news."

"Understood, ma'am."

Bette sat on her bed, still with the tears in her eyes, thinking how hard it would be for her to break the news to Elda Allenby, Benjamin's little sister and Bette's closest aunt.

For years aunt Elda – that's how Bette address her benevolent aunt – has been sick with stroke. Doctor Jones told Bette to keep the old lady away from bad news that could disrupted her mind. And for years Bette had took care of Aunt Elda, keeping her away from all the domestic problem, from all the gossips and rumors around Sunny Side – that's the name of the house of Allenby for generations.

Every time problem happened in their household, Bette would be the one to solved it; fired one of the maid because she was caught stealing, keeping Benjamin's real condition as a secret from Elda - she told her Benjamin was sick but he was okay now and that the Doctors done a good job to healed him. But now Benjamin had passed away and she have lost her brilliant idea to smooth up the news. How could she told that kind of news to Aunt Elda without making her even sicker than she already was?

In her clouded and distressed mind, Bette found herself in Carrie's room, sitting in the bedside, tried to wake Carrie.

Carrie was Elda Allenb's second daughter. She used to be a troubled child when she decided 15 years ago that she was ready to be a bride when she just hit first year of college.

The marriage didn't last long; well, it lasted long enough for Carrie to gave birth to a baby girl that she named Emilia, but not long enough to be called a serious marriage. It lasted only a year and a half. She was once a lost soul after her painful but quite predictable divorce but then the late Benjamin Allenby reached out to her and helped her out of the misery and turned her into a pickled food empress who owned the largest pickled food factory in all Britain.

"Carrie dear," said Bette without realizing that tears had rolled away in her cheek.

"What happened?" said Carrie. She sat erect in her bed with her heart palpitated.

"It's Ben."

"Oh," Carrie put her hand to her mouth and then cried.

They both cried and hugged.

"Oh, Bette, I didn't get to say goodbye to old Ben!" exclaimed Carrie.

"So did I. I miss Ben already," Bette wiped her tears. "Now, another issue, how are we going to break the news to aunt Elda?"

"Oh! Mom will be broken hearted! She'll drop, Bette! Maybe we shouldn't tell her!"

"Carrie, it's her brother, don't you think that she ought to know?"

"Who's going to tell her then? I couldn't bear telling her the news, I'll break down and cry before I could even say anything," Carrie sighed with frustration. "Oh, Bette, maybe we should get Doctor Jones here. He'll break the news and stand by if mom has a fit or drop."

"That's a good idea! The Doctor Jones part, but don't you think that one of her family should tell her, it wouldn't be nice if a stranger like Doctor Jones break the news."

"You're right. Well, then we both should tell her but get Doctor Jones before we do, just in case."

"I agree! And Carrie, you should tell Josephine. She'll rise up aunt Elda spirit if she could come."

"Good idea! You go call Doctor Jones and I call Josephine."

Not long after, Doctor Jones arrived at Sunny Side. He was an old Doctor and has been a family physician ever since the old man Allenby first moved to Sunny Side. He was always efficient and have the air of honesty and trust that his patient always finds very soothing to be attended by him. Sunny Side relied solely in his care.

"Doctor Jones is here. Did you talk to Josephine?" asked Bette when she bumped into Carrie in the hallway.

"Yes, I did."

"Should I set up her room?"

"No, don't bother. She'll be here for the funeral tomorrow but she won't stay. She has a fashion week to attend to," There was a note of resentment in Carrie's voice. She was obviously upset about her big sister, Josephine who was always a workaholic. "Let her be, small town don't match with Josephine anyway. Let's go to mom, are you ready?"

"I never ready when it comes to bad news. But it has to be done."

Funny thing about people was that they always have a way to surprised you even when you think you could predict their reaction. Bette spent her morning thinking of smooth ways to break the grieving news to Elda but still maintain the old lady's health condition. She and Carrie went to so much trouble of planning to tell the old lady that her beloved brother had passed away. When they did break the news, Elda cried, yes, she is hurt, yes but nothing serious happened to her, she even had enough strength to go to the funeral house. Doctor Jones was very pleased with the outcome as well. One less patient to attend today.

And so there they were – Elda Allenby, Carrie Allenby, Emilia Allenby and Bette - sitting in the front row, silently saying a prayer for the late Benjamin Allenby, hoping that he finally found freedom and peace in heaven.

Bette's mind were filled with the memories of Benjamin that she didn't realized she was alone in the front row. Elda Allenby had asked Carrie to take her outside for a fresh air, Nora Allenby – the wife of the deceased - followed them and Emilia had found that her best friend Joan Sinclair was at the funeral house so the 2 teenagers went outside as well to catch up. But Bette stayed sit, her prayer was a long one for beloved Benjamin.

Her string of thoughts were disrupted when she heard a sob coming from the row next to her. It was a wounded, broken hearted sob that happened when you ran out of strength because you have been crying your eyes out for hours and the sob is the only thing you could manage.

She looked to where the sob came from and found a man sitting with his palms on his face, his body shaken to the rhythm of his sob. Bette didn't know the man, never seen him around and yet he looked so crushed by the death of Benjamin Allenby.