'A look ahead'....

'An attempt at waking'.....

 Here is a chapter from the book Undertakings of an Undertaker.   Yes, things like

     this actually happen when you own a funeral home, it was a memorable day indeed.

                                                   

  Our funeral home was located at the corner of Church St. and Pleasant Avenue, both very quiet streets in this very small village tucked away in the foothills of the Southern Tier.  On an average day, you could stand on the front porch and watch the small town folks going about their daily routines: a youngster riding the bike down the sidewalk, hurrying to the school playground just a block and a half to the north, an elderly lady walking down the same sidewalk on her way to pick up her mail on Main Street, one block to the west and an easy two minutes away. This truly was small town America.

     The funeral I was planning for mid- morning was to be quite small, probably no more than thirty people or so. The woman who had passed was very elderly, with few family survivors left. She had outlived most of her friends and co-workers.  She was a former school teacher.  We were not going to proceed to the cemetery after the service.  She was to be buried twenty miles away in a family plot with her husband who had passed away over thirty years ago.  So being very at ease this day, I went to my daily duties of sweeping off the sidewalk and picking up the occasional piece of trash, which was quite rare to find on our street. It was going to be a repeat of another peaceful day, or so I thought.

    Twenty minutes before service time, the small family arrived.  I seated them in the chapel near the casket and had some very light piano music playing in the background. The deceased had enjoyed the piano herself, the family said, often sitting down at her old upright and playing for an hour or two nightly before retiring. We soon had what I had estimated: just under thirty mourners in the chapel as we awaited the arrival of the Methodist minister, who was just a half block from the funeral home. He would often arrive just moments before service time, scooting in at the last minute, knowing that I would have the speakers stand and microphone in place, anticipating his arrival.  True to form, he arrived just three minutes before service time and handing me his slightly worn overcoat as he came through the front door.

     “We all set?” he asked.

         I nodded in the affirmative and replied, “I’ll turn the music down. Your mic is on, and you can get started when you’re ready.”

     The minister meandered up the aisle, bent over and remarked quickly to the next of kin before setting his notes on the podium. I was always stationed at the front door so I could receive anyone arriving late.  From my vantage point, I could also look over the backs of those in attendance and see the minister as he performed his duties. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a village truck stopping at the corner of our intersecting streets. I didn’t think it odd, as they were out and about all day around the village doing their daily maintaining of streets and sidewalks. I gave their arrival little more thought as the minister started his brief eulogy. As I set this scene, I must tell you that our chapel is very close, I mean within one foot of the sidewalk on Pleasant Avenue, so the casket is within five to six feet of the actual roadway. The minister had gotten to a very quiet part of his presentation and had asked those in attendance to bow their heads in prayer.

     He went on to say, “In this quiet moment of this most peaceful day, we take this pause to remember the life of Helen.”

     Before he could utter the next sentence, the room started shaking from the reverberation of a jackhammer which was now pounding the pavement less than ten feet from where the speaker’s podium stood. There were four pieces of flowers spread around the casket; their flowers and supporting greenery were vibrating wildly. The drapery behind the casket was also responding, and not favorably, from the concussion that was emanating from the street. The minister’s microphone was picking up the jackhammer’s report and broadcasting it into the two rooms where speakers were connected. He stopped suddenly, looked up, and looked at me with this “what do I do now” look on his face. I raised one hand for him to stop.  He smiled and nodded to the family as I raced out the front door, down the four steps and across the front lawn, all in one brisk leap that would have made the Olympics if I had been timed. The jackhammer operator saw me coming and eased off the machine, lifted his eye protection and uttered, “What?”

     After a brief explanation that we had a service in progress, I told him to take his co-worker downtown for a coffee break, my treat, and give us twenty minutes to complete our work. He apologized, said he would be back in a minute and they retreated in the village truck as I had asked.

    The service continued without further interruption, well almost. As we pulled out of the driveway a couple of hours later, we had to take a right onto the street as opposed to the usual left, as they had removed part of the pavement to work on a water line. I’m sure Helen didn’t mind; it was an even more memorable day.

    On the way out of the chapel, one of the mourners whispered to me, “Stan, next time maybe I better bring ear protection.” He laughed gingerly as he exited the funeral home, which is certainly better than crying.

'Thank you Veterans'.....

As we celebrate another Veteran's day....let us be mindful
of the great sacrifices that were made by both deceased
veterans, and those that have served and survive.
We only enjoy the things we have today because of their
unselfish gifts to us. Today, visit a cemetery and give a
salute, stop by your veteran neighbor and shake his/her
hand, stop one in Walmart who has a service hat on
and say thank you. More than ever now in our country
we can not take anything for granted.....if we do, it
can, and will slip away from us.

'Darkness radio interview'....

In case you missed it 'live' on Wednesday night, here is the
link to my interview on Darkness Radio in the Twin Cities
with Dave Schrader's fill in host Tim Dennis.
The discussion starts at 11:00 minutes into the program.
Their producer tells me I'll be back on before too long to
talk with Dave, as there is a lot of things we didn't get
to talk about....have a great day out there folks.
The link is;
http://twincitiesnewstalk.iheart.com/media/play/27465594/

'Turn around or not?'

A photo taken at a cemetery in Waterloo, N.Y. kind of says it all for those taking the
side road in.....a picture is worth a thousand words I think the old saying was.

Now that you are here, scroll down and enjoy some of the latest stories I've posted..
 just in time for Halloween....

The house upon the hill..

A very close encounter...

The scarecrow...
 and several more. They are all short reads and I think you'l enjoy them. Thanks
and take care!

'So many abandoned cemeteries'......

It's a shame, but each year more and more cemeteries around the country are being

abandoned.  There are several reasons for it. Many cities and towns just don't have the

money or the man power to keep them up. Mowing, clearing brush, re-setting stones

that have toppled because of weather, age and/or vandalism takes time and money.  

Especially this is becoming epidemic in rural areas around the country. Few young

people want to 'step up' to help in maintaining the final resting place for those who

have gone before.  Maybe we should collectively start a new national campaign or

group to address the problem.. what do you think?  Is there an abandoned cemetery

or two near where you live?  You can leave a comment below if you wish, I'd love

to hear from you.  The picture above is of the Bayside-Acacia Cemetery in Queens.

' A thanks to the library'....

Many thanks to the folks at the Newark, N.Y. library, and especially Karen Vanderbrook.

I had the great opportunity to speak with them on Friday, Sept. 9th and talk about my

book Undertakings of an Undertaker. Following a nice luncheon at noon, I spoke for

about 40 minutes about the funeral business and answered many many questions from

the thirty+ people that were in attendance. Even bumped into a couple of people I knew

from almost four decades ago!  It is a small world indeed. Next up; a possible second

signing at the Dog Ear Book Store in Palmyra, perhaps late October... and a trip to

Rochester retired teachers group early next year. Stay tuned... there will be mores short

stories coming soon... after all, with Halloween just around the corner....it's a natural time

to tell some good tales. As you scroll down the site here, you will find, I think, about 15

short stories I have posted.. and you can add comments at the end if you so desire..

Thanks for stopping in.. let's have a long fall.. and good health to you and yours!