On Monday, Mom’s and Dad’s bodies were flown into town and he, Luke, Aunt Viv, and Uncle Howard met at the funeral home to pick out their permanent caskets.
Aunt Viv looked at every lining and casket option. She wanted everything to be “just perfect.” Cale reminded himself over and over that Aunt Viv just wanted to honor his parents and that he should let her.
Cale just wanted to be done. He was tired of thinking about his parents “final resting place” and the details of how to bury the people he wanted most to come home.
When Aunt Viv decided she needed to look at the flower arrangements brochure “one more time,” Cale almost lost it. He eyed an open casket on a thigh-high bier.
It would take very little effort to swoop up her thin, wiry frame and drop her into the coffin. He could close the lid and finish “shopping” in no time.
Instead, he asked the funeral director if he could see Mom and Dad. “You’re better off remembering your parents the way you last saw them—smiling and waving goodbye,” Mr. Strieber insisted.
Cale swallowed. “But I need to know it’s really them.”
“I can give you their wedding rings. Would you like to see them?” The business-like way Mr. Strieber asked burrowed a bowling ball-sized hole in Cale’s gut.
Luke gasped.
“You can’t take their rings.” The very thought sickened Cale. “They need them. They’re a set. They should keep their rings on.”
“The rings are in a bag of personal effects. I was going to offer them to you, but if you’d rather, I’ll take a picture of the rings and put them back on your parents’ fingers.”
That was way too much reality, but since he had asked, Cale nodded, repeating, “They need to keep their rings.”
Mr. Strieber spoke briefly to an assistant, who nodded and scurried away. By the time Aunt Viv decided on suitable matching mahogany caskets, the funeral director was handed a digital camera with a picture of two rings on a black, velvet-wrapped stick.
They were definitely Mom’s and Dad’s.
Luke heaved, put his hand over his mouth, and bolted out of the room.
It was all Cale could do not to follow him.
(Please stay tuned for Ch 5. :))
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Ryding Through Troubled Waters
General Fiction19 year-old Cale Ryder is forced onto the fast track to fatherhood when his parents come home from their second honeymoon in caskets. Along with the family ranch, Cale inherits his 3 teenage brothers and his kid sister, Brandi, AKA "the princess."...
