It was lunch time at the
funeral home, and as it had become common practice since her accident the month
before, brother and sister were discussing the accident and her car. Sitting
back enjoying his lunch and occasionally putting in his two cents, he didn’t
realize when the conversation changed.
“Isn't it the anniversary of your dad’s death?” his
cousin and best friend asked him, as he turned to look at him.
“Yeah it is. It’s also one of my girl’s birthday
too.” He shared with the group as they all looked at him. “Dad’s been dead
twenty-four years, so that makes my daughter thirty four I believe it is.” He
added, before anybody caught him off guard with the questions of how long and
how old. “It was a bad day that year.”
“A bad day?” his cousin questioned, as he nodded his
head.
“Yup. During the night dad started to fail, so I took
mom up to the hospital, but he died right before we got there. So I told them
not to call the funeral home, that I was going to drop mom off, pick up the cot
and come back and get him.” He started, as she broke into laughter and cut him
off accidentally.
“But the hospital was being so efficient that day
that they didn't’t listen and called the funeral home.” She stated, before she
realized what she had done and looked over at him to apologize. “Opps. Sorry.”
“That’s okay. But she’s right. So I got back here and
came upstairs to break the news that dad had died, when my darling wife tells
me that she’s sorry that my dad died. So I ask her how she knows, and she
confirms that the hospital did exactly what I had told them not to do, which
was call the funeral home.” He finished as his cousin laughed.
“Is that how we get them to call the funeral home?
Have the families tell them not to call us.” He questioned, as everyone
laughed.
“Apparently. So I go and pick up dad and bring him
back here. In the meantime, there’s a birthday party suppose to be getting set
up so she goes to pick up the cake and a few groceries at the store where CVS
is now. While she’s there, she gets robbed and calls me here, freaked out and
sounding almost like you did when you called me the night of your accident.” He
explains as he nods his head over towards the young girl.
“If she was half as scared as I was, calling you was the
best choice to make. I know it was when I did.” She said as she smiled at him.
“Thanks again for coming by the way.”
“Don’t worry about it. Anyways, so we deal with her
purse getting stolen, come back to the funeral home and manage to have a
wonderful birthday party. But getting to the party was a horrible day.” He
says, as he bites into his sandwich.
“Well then, lets hope she has a much better birthday
then she did when she was turning four.” His cousin replied as everyone shook
their heads.
“If we were drinking, I’d drink to that.” He said
with a smile on his face. He truly did hope that his little girl was having a
better birthday then the one he remembered so well.
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