a fleshed-out memory I have of my grandfather's funeral |
Mommy had dressed me up in my prettiest dress that we brought all the way from Lawrence. It's red, with yellow flowers, and I was worried that Grandpa would see it in Heaven and be sad that I didn't wear black like everyone else, but Mommy said that he wouldn't care, and that I didn't have a black dress, anyway, so I should just run back to my big cousin Nick's room and hurry and put on my shoes so They don't have to wait for me. I'm not sure who They is, but I htink it's my aunts and uncles, so I hurry up, anyway, and go climb up into Uncle Phil's big truck. Once we get to the funeral place, my big cousin Nick and I go look at Grandpa. Nick says he looks like wax, and he really does. I think they should hurry up and bury him, though, 'cause I heard that bugs eat dead people, and I don't like bugs. Grandpa does, though, so he'll be fine. He ate a worm, once, so I guess they're gettin' back at him. We go and sit down, and some guy talks for a long time, and then we go back and get in our cars, and drive to the cemetery, where they're gonna bury Grandpa. There are already a bunch of flowers on his box, and our family's friend Kirk is over there, and then I realize something: Grandpa died, and my other Grandpa died, and I'll be in an awful lotta trouble if I don't have a grandpa! So I go up and pull on Kirk's shirt. He's old, anyway. "Since Grandpa's dead, will you be my grandpa?" I ask him. He says he will, so that's good, even though he looked kinda funny sayin' it, so I go over and sit down on the special fuzzy chairs where Grandmother and Uncle Scott are. Whoever planned this wasn't very smart, 'cause there aren't enough chairs for everybody there, but that's okay, 'cause I still get one. I let my legs swing 'cause it's hot, and I realize that Grandmother was Mommy's mom, and Grandpa was Mommy's dad, so they were married, even though Grandmother lives in Florida and Grandpa lived here in Kansas. That must mean that she's sadder than everyone else. There's a word for women like that, but I don't remember it. |