|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Later Mitch gave her a shot that put her under. She woke up in the middle of the night, and when she mindlessly stumbled into Matty's bedroom, she collapsed on his bed and cried herself into unconsciousness. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The next two days had passed in a gray haze. Calvin made the funeral arrangements and selected the casket. Considering Terry's brittle state, he had suggested that they cremate Matty's remains and hold a memorial service at the Unitarian Church. She strongly resisted. She could not go through with that, even given the coroner's report. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
They waked Matty in a closed casket for an afternoon and evening only. Any longer would have been madness. Terry could not have survived it. Nor was it fair to dope her up for two days so she could sit like a zombie in front of the casket while a blur of people cried in her face and told her Matty was now with God. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The casket sat amid flowers at the Palmer Funeral Home in Carleton center. Calvin and Terry were positioned along the wall to the left: Terry sat in a numb trance while Calvin stood beside her to receive consolations. On the other side of Terry sat Mitch Tojian, her sister Alice and some distant relatives. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hundreds of people with wet faces shuffled up to the coffin to kneel and bow their heads and tell Calvin and Terry how terribly sorry they were. To keep from screaming, Calvin tried to cluther his mind with minutiae. He focused on people's shoes when they knelt. Three had holes in the soles. Because of all the kids, he counted a dozen gray Nikes like Matty's. (They, too, had been burned beyond recognition.) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
He tried to lose himself in the flower arrangements. On a stand to his immediate left was a springtime bouquet from the Middlesex English department. On the floor was a large pot of gladiolas in reds and yellows. The card said: Whitehead Family. Cards from other neighbors and friends flagged arrangements down the line. On a pedestal beside the head of the casket was a huge display of yellow roses. Calvin had to lean over to read the card. It said: With Sympathy, Claire Manning. The name was vaguely familiar, and it took him a while to place it. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The afternoon passed into evening, and the flow of faces kept up. Calvin guessed that nearly all the kids and their parents from Butler |
|
|
|
|
|