Stella I drove to Stella's house which was out in the country, some miles outside of town, and parked in the driveway. It was a pretty farmhouse, with two stories and a wide front porch. There were rockers and a hanging swing. I really liked the entrance. I knocked on the door and Stella greeted me with a big hug and kissed my neck as we held each other i...
A few days ago, I went to the funeral home to take care of some business, and as it was the weekend, I thought I was there alone. While standing in the rear hallway tending to a text message, I was startled briefly as the door to the Funeral Director's Office suddenly opened and to my delight out walked Samantha. Not seeing me, she proceeded up the hallway t...
The long miles evaporated into scenes in my rear view mirror. Ahead, more miles appeared. I knew where I was headed having made the trip many times; however, this time the trip was to see my only sibling for what was the last time. My premonition was correct. She had a catastrophic relapse shortly afterward and died quickly. Cancer is the great killer that...
Kevin was grateful for the awning that the funeral director had set up even though he had to share it with his former wife. The awning protected him from the pouring rain which only accentuated his feelings of grief and devastation. Fortunately; Kevin didn't have to sit close to Karen because the area under the awning was far from crowded. There were no su...
There's a lot I simply can't remember that happened in the following few days we were stranded in Rock Hill. My attention was almost entirely focused on my overwhelming sense of grief. I was completely disconnected from the many events swirling around me. I guess I was hoping that Crystal might still be alive and would magically appear from somewhere. And wh...
November 1981 Sally Johnson paced the floor at the massive old funeral home where in a few hours her stepfather, Ted Bissett, would be eulogized before being buried at the huge cemetery nearby. Sally was waiting for Ted's best friend Matt to arrive with something that might make the day go a little better. The previous days had been emotionally draining f...
Melissa's gaze travelled once again to the clock on the wall. Twenty minutes late. This was getting ridiculous, she thought, glancing across to the desk where the solicitor's receptionist sat typing at a keyboard, her perfectly coiffed white hair slightly squashed by an audio headset. Replacing the dog-eared copy of Woman's Weekly upon a pile of similarly an...
There is nothing I could think of to say as I stood there staring at you. The words that had just come out of your mouth had truly flabbergasted me. How could he possibly be dead? He was not even thirty years old. I just did not get it. After you leave I just sit on my bed staring at the wall in front of me. It seems as if it was only yesterday that I was...
Chapter Four: A leap of faith I woke up slowly, luxuriating in comfortable warmth. Then I realized I was half-sprawled across someone. A man - Tony - my suddenly awake brain informed me. His scent filled my senses with my face buried in his hair, my lips brushing his neck. The rest of my body began reporting in and the news went downhill from there. My th...
The cold, late December wind blew down 7th Avenue making swirls of soft white snowflakes here and there outside the small Lonesome Dove Funeral Chapel and Off-Track Betting Parlor. The cheap, twinkling Christmas lights and fake fir bows wrapping the telephone pole on the corner looked, if anything, just as gaudy and cheap as the suit Harry Dick was wearing....