AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Me? Why can’t you be the one to embalm him?”
“Because he has it specific that you are to be the one to prepare his body.” Dorothy wiggled her eyebrows. “I think he has a sweet spot for you.”
I wrinkled my brow and cringed. “Don’t even say that.”
“He wants you to pose him like he’s working on paperwork.”
“Stop,” I gasped. “You cannot be serious right now.”
“As a heart attack.” She popped a carrot into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “Come to think of it; he also asked that you be the one to do the whole ceremony with no pants on.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Now you are pulling my leg,” I laughed. “Mr. Brooks will probably haunt us after he is gone when you drop the cardigans and I start showing my legs.”
“Girl, for all we know, whoever takes this place over will be the same stick in the mud that he is.”
“And then I will go find another funeral home to work at because I don’t think I could take another person strictly dictating what I can and cannot wear.” And for all I knew, Mr. Brooks was going to live to be over a hundred still telling me what I can wear. “I swear he drove the other day when I was watering the flowers out front and slowed when he saw I was wearing shorts.”
Dorothy clutched her hand to her chest. “How could you show your legs? And in front of the funeral home, no less.” she mocked.
I rolled my eyes and took a bite of my sandwich. “It’s also my home.”
“The indecency,” she continued. She sat back and sighed. “How long do you think it’s going to take to clean up?”
I shrugged and picked up a salted caramel bar. The sandwich was okay, but I wasn’t going to fill myself up when the caramel bar was what I wanted. “I can do the vacuuming if you want to work wiping down the kitchen.”
Dorothy wrinkled her nose. “Is there an option to just go home and save the cleaning for tomorrow?”
I shook my head. “No. Tomorrow us will hate today us. That’s like knowing you need gas, but you tell yourself you’ll get it in the morning. A horrible idea every time.”
Dorothy groaned. “I hate when you make sense.” She grabbed her plate and headed to the sink. “I’m going to eat while I clean because I was ready to go home an hour ago.”
“I can wait to eat when we’re done, and I’m home on my couch.” I put my plate in the office Dorothy and I shared and hauled out the ancient vacuum from the back closet.
The vacuum had to be as old as I was, but it still sucked better than a vacuum straight from the box today.
Dorothy and I had learned to clean when we could during the viewing and service, but there were things you couldn’t do while any of the family or guests were here.
Breaking out the vacuum while the family grieved their loved one was frowned on.
“I’m done, Imogen,” Dorothy called.
I coiled the cord to the vacuum and pushed it back into the closet.
“The dishwasher is going, and I know I should stay until it’s done, but I’m not staying.”
I laughed and shut the closet door. “I think that is one we won’t mind doing tomorrow.” Normally we would put the chairs away, but we had another viewing and service tomorrow afternoon. I could always come down later if I felt like it to put away the dishes. “Do you remember how many people we’re expecting for tomorrow?” I asked.
Dorothy quirked her lips. “Uh, I think it’s on the smaller side. Sixty?”
We wouldn’t need all the chairs we had out, but we could work on that tomorrow morning. “We have a few things to do for tomorrow, but we can do all of that then.”
“Is the body ready?” Dorothy asked.
Dorothy and I were both morticians and funeral directors, but I took most of the mortician duties while Dorothy handled more of the funeral director's duties. Merv and Bruce also worked at Brooks doing body retrievals, burials, and building maintenance.
Merv and Bruce were a big reason I stayed at Brooks, and Dorothy was, too. The work was spread out between the four of us instead of it all being one of us.
We only averaged eight to nine funerals a month, which, as weird as it sounded, was the perfect number of funerals. We all stayed busy, but it wasn’t like we were slinging caskets out the backdoor every hour.
