Chapter 44: Book 1, Funeral

During the morning break, at school, Monday morning, I get paged to the office. I can tell something is up by the way the secretaries are looking at me. One of the counsellors takes me to his office and informs me that Gran is dead. I phone Zlata and tell her to take the day off to be with Sam and Grandpa. I am a bit of a dick; in that, I refuse to go home and stay in school for the day. I know how emotional my family gets and do not want to deal with it while I am dealing with the loss of Gran.

At lunch, I wait until everybody is at the table, then say, “Sorry, but I need to tell you all something.” I wait for them to quiet down then tell them, “Gran passed away this morning.”

My girls all come over to give me a group hug. They are all crying. Most everybody at our table adopted her as their grandmother.

Kim asks, “Why are you still here? Aren’t you going to go home to be with your family?”

“I need time to mourn. Right now, I don’t have the patience to deal with Sam’s woe is me bullshit. I am where I need to be for me. I didn’t abandon my family. I gave Zlata the day off to be with Sam and Grandpa, so they are taken care of. Tomorrow, I will take Grandpa to the funeral home to deal with the paperwork. For now, I just need a few hours to digest it.”

“How are you holding together? If I were you, I would be devastated,” Moira asks.

“I don’t see death the same way most people do. I am baffled at how religious people become overwhelmed by the death of a loved one. If they believed what they preached, it would be no different than the deceased temporarily moving to the next province over.

“You already know there is nothing after death. She is gone,” Blair states.

It always pisses me off when some jackass says that. I know that it isn’t Blair’s intent, but She is slapping anybody in the face that is religious and taking away comfort from those that need it.

I correct her, “There is an order to the universe. Forget advanced forms of physics for a moment. All the base forms of physics are identical. The laws, rules and equations are all the same. I don’t care if you are talking statistics, statics, electricity, fluid mechanics, thermal dynamics or any other type of base physics. There is an order to the universe.

“Compare hydraulics to electricity, for instance. If you substitute voltage for pressure and amps for flow rate, then you can see the equations are interchangeable. It is how and why calculous works.

“We know energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only change form. Matter cannot be created or destroyed. It can only change form. It is only the arrogance of man that causes him to believe he is an exception to all the laws of the universe. A spirit isn’t created at birth or destroyed upon death. If everything follows the same laws, then it stands to reason that a spirit cannot be created or destroyed. It can only change form. When somebody dies, it isn’t the end of anything. It is a new beginning as they begin life anew in whatever form their spirit takes.

“The way I see it when somebody dies, it is no different than if they were to take a trip to some underdeveloped country where you can’t get a hold of them. Eventually, you will get to see them again. I can understand people crying over a death, just like I understand somebody’s Mom crying when they are leaving for an extended period.

“I feel a lot less distressed over Gran dying than I do for Grace disappearing. Gran, I will see again, Grace, I may never.”

When I get home, Sam, Zlata and Grandpa are all sitting in the dining room instead of the living room or up at the shop where they would typically be. Sam is sitting in his chair, crying. Zlata has her chair pushed up against his, hugging him, and Grandpa is seated at the head of the table, trying his hardest not to cry, yet tears slowly trickle down his face. Looking at me, he says, “Where were you? You should have been with your family.”

Dahlia speaks for me, saying, “Everybody grieves in their own way. Leave him alone.” It warms my heart that she feels protective of me enough to speak up like that.

I feel the need to address business, saying, “Gran and I took care of all the funeral arrangements so you will not have to worry about anything. If there is anything special you want, let me know, and I’ll make the arrangements. Has anybody phoned Donny and Henry?”

Grandpa somehow finds a way to look even more sad but is unable to answer. It is Zlata that speaks up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want them to hear it from a stranger, and I wasn’t going to try and get one of these two to do it.”

“No harm done. I’ll do that now.”

I head for the kitchen and sit on one of the stools to use the kitchen phone. Dahlia follows with tears in her eyes. She says nothing but sits next to me, hugging me.

I decide to get the asshole out of the way first, phoning Donny. I was hoping Lesly would answer so I could tell her and not have to deal with the prick. Unfortunately, I have no such luck. He answers, “Hello?”

In my mind, he doesn’t deserve to be coddled. I don’t even say hi. I just say, “She is dead. The funeral is on Saturday.”

“What the fuck? You couldn’t say it any nicer?”

“You don’t need to be an asshole either. You haven’t exactly given me any incentive to treat you with any kind of respect.”

“I am your elder. You owe me respect.”

“Whatever respect you were owed, you destroyed by being a fucking dick. Besides, only an arrogant tyrant demands respect. A real man earns it, which you have not. Now shut the fuck up so I can tell you to phone your sister. There is no way I am talking to that bitch until she recognizes that I am a human, and she apologizes. Once you have phoned her, phone the prison administration. She is in minimum security. The chances are they will let her out to go to the funeral.”

I don’t wait for him to reply. I hang up.

Dahlia looks at me funny and says, “That was a bit harsh, wasn’t it?”

I shake my head and answer, “Not in the slightest. You will understand when he gets here, and you meet him.”

I pick the phone back up and dial Henry’s number. It is his wife that answers, “Hello.”

“Mary, it’s Trent.”

“Hey, it’s good to hear from you. What’s up?”

“Gran passed away this morning. I figure Henry should hear it from you. Sam and Grandpa are a little out of it and can’t do it.”

“I’ll let him know. How are you coping.”

“I’m getting by. Thankfully, Sam has a girlfriend now, and she has been a big help.”

“Oh, when did this happen?”

“They started seeing each other a few months ago. She just moved in with us.”

“I suppose I should talk to Henry. Is there anything else?”

“The funeral is on Saturday, and I already phoned Donny. I told him to phone Mom and to try and get the prison to let her come to the funeral.”

“We will likely be down on Friday.”

“We will have the reading of the will on Sunday morning so everybody will have the chance to be there.”

I knew she would like to hear that. She is a bit money hungry and letting her know of a potential windfall will motivate her to come with her husband, so their entire family will come. I don’t dare tell her that, other than a few heirlooms, most everything goes to Grandpa.

Nobody had to be told. Everybody showed up at my place for the morning ride to school. They have learnt that it doesn’t matter if I am going or not, the ride is still on. Having them show up like that forces me out of bed. I’m glad because I would have otherwise stayed in bed getting depressed. As it is, I have a few hours to work before Sam gets up, and Grandpa comes over.

When everybody gets up, they somberly lounge around in the living room. I try to spend some time with them, but it is too depressing, so I go back to my room to work. I phone the funeral parlour and make the final arrangements.

Thursday, people start to arrive for the funeral. Thursday night, I answer the door. Donny and family are standing there with luggage in hand. I laugh, and they look at me with puzzled expressions. Donny asks, “What’s so funny?”

“What do you think you are going to do with your stuff?”

Donny’s face turns red in anger, “We are staying here, you little shit, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

“OK, But you will all be sleeping in the living room. Your old room is my office, and somebody is living in the other room.”

“You can clear your shit out of my room and who the fuck is in the spare room.”

His outburst is perfectly timed as Zlata and Dahlia walk into the foyer. I step aside and introduce them, “This is Sam’s girlfriend, Zlata. She lives with us now, and this is Dahlia, her daughter, who lives in what was the spare room. You can take your shit attitude and find a hotel.” I then turn and ask Dahlia, “Do you understand now?”

She nods her head and follows me as I head back to the living room where most of the other guests are. Zlata is kind enough to stay and try to get better acquainted with Donny and family.

Henry and family also arrive an hour later, but Mary insists they only stay for a short visit. She is a control freak and doesn’t want to give Henry too much freedom.

Saturday morning, Sam, Grandpa and I are standing at the entrance to the funeral home, greeting people as they arrive. A sheriff’s car pulls into the parking lot, and Mom gets out with a sheriff from the prison system. Trying to prevent a scene, I excuse myself from the greeting line and head inside.

The first thing she does, once she gets inside, is to seek me out. Before she even says hi, she tries to hug me, and I push her away. My bodyguard steps between us, saying, “Ma’am, I must insist you stay back from Trent.”

She looks at me in anger exclaiming, “I’m your mother for fuck sakes!”