Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: BURIED (04/01/21)
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TITLE: He went out with a Bang! | Previous Challenge Entry
By John Custer
04/06/21 -
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She and her husband were rather affluent so when she went to the funeral home to make the arrangements for her husband she picked out the finest casket, nicest vault, and a beautiful spray of flowers. The omen was when she said to the funeral director, “His son [her step-son] will be in tomorrow, and he will pay for it all.”
The son did arrive from out of town the next day. It was quite obvious that there was a lot of conflict between him and his step-mother.
When he came in to check the arrangements he said, “We will bury my father as she wishes, but since I am paying for the funeral, I have only two wishes: 1) I want to receive the flag, and 2) I want my own spray on the casket.
From the time a director gets a call until the burial is over, often goes quickly. However, there are other times when it seems the burial will never happen. This was one of those occasions.
The director had a dilemma. How was he going to put two funeral sprays on one casket. Once that was resolved he moved on to the next problem.
Inez had such bitter feelings toward her step-son that she threatened to kill him. All that knew her took her serious.
The funeral parlor was divided down the middle, with his friends on one side and hers on the other. It was kind of like a wedding but ohhhhh so different.
An undercover policeman was hired to come to the funeral just to insure that everyone was safe. He sat right behind Inez. Since Inez didn’t recognize him, she had him move to the other side.
The service concluded without any more incidents and everyone proceeded to the cemetery.
The deceased, being a veteran, was entitled to a flag and a military funeral. That’s when things got interesting.
The flag legally goes to the widow. The director, however, decided to have it given to the son, since he was paying for everything and the director didn’t want to irritate him before the funeral was paid, especially an expensive funeral like this one.
After the clergy was done, the military was given the nod to play the taps, then two veterans went to the casket and folded the flag. Instead of giving it to the wife, however, they gave it to the son.
Inez went livid and started screaming and her two sons by a previous marriage took her by the arms and escorted her out of the tent. They only got about twenty feet when she sat down on the ground and reached for her purse.
Everyone there knew about her threat and assumed she was trying to get her gun. They forgot about the military activities. When the military fired the first shot of the 21-gun salute, some assumed Inez was making good on her threat. Some crouched in the tent while others left the tent to find a tree for a schield.
So Inez’s husband was buried with a bang.
While her husband was buried, the drama was not over. She refused to ride home with her family, and instead decided to walk, a distance of about three miles. After a short distance, being old and out of shape, she reluctantly accepted a ride.
I would say that funerals do bring out the worst in people—-at least some people.
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