Part 4

2016

He had stood at this man’s wedding nineteen years earlier, and now the man was dead, leaving behind a widow and a child. Ethan imagined that, after today, everyone would gradually forget. His eyes welled with tears. He swallowed a Xanax and washed it down with whisky. Funerals were not for him. He took a second Xanax.

After he shook hands with the widow and the sallow, angry teenager, he sat quietly at the back of the sombre chapel. The service was quiet and brief. The priest gave a sermon, and the soft sound of people crying filled the rest of the emptiness. Then he followed the procession outside. The widow placed a handful of earth on the coffin. Then they lowered the coffin into the ground. And that was an end to a man.

The cold sun shone through the few golden leaves desperately clinging to the trees, and gentle, cold wind carried the leaves across the lawn of the cemetery. People lingered for a while. They spoke in low voices, and then gradually dissipated. Soon, only the flowers remained.

He sat under an oak tree. Caretakers swept in with an excavator. Swiftly and quietly, they removed all record of any event: picture, easels, and plastic lawn covering the dirt. The engine grunted, and the dirt covered the coffin.

He closed his eyes and the medicated sleep took him.

Someone shook him awake. A woman’s dark silhouette stood above him with the golden sun behind her and a gentle wind in her hair.

“Is napping at cemeteries some millennial fad I missed? The kids don’t share anything with me anymore.”

He recognized Clara’s voice and scrambled to his feet. “Oh my God.” They smiled and embraced without hesitation. “I’m so sorry. What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for the funeral.”

“Ah. Sorry to say you missed it, then,” he said dusting off his trousers.

“What? No. I came all the way. No way I missed it.”

“You did. The grave is over there.” Ethan pointed in the direction of the mound.

“Oh my God, I’ll never be able to explain it. I was a bridesmaid at their wedding.”

“I remember. I was a groomsman.” They both smiled with that memory in their minds.

“And don’t worry. I’ll explain it. I’m good with excuses. You can pay your respects now if you want.”

She slipped her arm under his, and they walked unsteadily over the uneven ground. Her touch was firm and her energy gentle, and he felt her enveloping him like a dream of comfort.

“I can’t believe he’s gone. They are good people. How do these things happen?” She wiped tears from her eyes.

Ethan kept quiet and cried with her.

Together, they were brave enough to attend the wake. She apologized for her lateness, and he took the blame for it. And the widow gave a suspicious glance as if they were a couple, and they wouldn’t let on but their hearts blushed.

After the wake, he drove to Frank’s Diner without asking.

“How did you know?” she said and laughed.

“Is there any other way? This is where you go after any event in the town.” He smiled. “Can’t wait for that greasy hamburger and a flat coke.”

“Oh my God. You are right. The coke with no fizz that pours like iced tea. Let’s do this.” She burst laughing and giddily stepped out of the car.

“Seems this place has… evolved,” she said in an amused disappointment. “I mean, sparkle in my coke and fresh lettuce on the burgers. That’s just wrong. That soda machine was busted like forever, and now it’s fixed? I can’t believe it. Frank has let this place go.”

“I agree. But I can fix a part of the problem. Hold on.” He stood up and asked for another green, plastic soda glass. He sat back down, took the straw out of her drink, and started to pour the coke back and forth from one glass to the other like one does to cool tea for a child. The ice clinked against the plastic. She laughed.