Notes From Under the House

Tuesday is the eighth anniversary of my sister’s passing so I went to the cemetery to visit her today. It’s always so peaceful there; nicely maintained and tranquil. When you go there during the day the sun is always perfect, not too hot and not too cool. DF and I used to ride our bikes through the cemetery. That probably sounds a bit odd, but the place is a memorial park and folks come to visit and to walk their dogs and rollerblade and even to picnic. My mom told me that when she was a girl she and her friends used to sneak a smoke of a cigarette at the cemetery.

I will never forget one of the first family visits we made after my sister’s passing. I had picked my parents up after work and we were taking a Christmas poinsettia to my sister’s niche. Although the cemetery stays open all night, they turn off the streetlamps at exactly five pm. When we got there around five-thirty, it was pitch-black. Driving around, I couldn’t see a thing in front of me it was so dark. I was a little familiar with the layout of the cemetery grounds so I tried to judge where the Mausoleum was and where the church was. But even with my high beams on, I could only see six feet in front of my car. I couldn’t drive to where my sister was located, in the center, so we just decided to come back the next afternoon when it was light. I had to creep-drive out of the cemetery. We thought it was kinda funny but at the same time spooky.

Another time I was at the cemetery, I had visited with my sister and was sitting in my car nearby eating and reading a book. A young couple drove up in a black Lexus. They parked their car in front of me and walked over to a niche close to where my sister is. Then the couple walked over to a trash bin that was about twenty feet from where I was parked. Trash pick up for the grounds is every Wednesday and this being a Tuesday there was still a lot of flowers in the bin. The couple, or rather, the lady started picking flowers out of the trash bin. She picked enough flowers to make a bouquet and then handed them to the guy. While he stood there holding the flowers, she pulled out a piece of cellophane wrap, a bunch of baby’s breath and even found a piece of a ribbon. My mouth fell open; I was waiting for her to pick out the pinwheel that was sticking out of the trash bin. Then they walked back over to the niche and placed their makeshift arrangement down on the ground in front of the niche.

By then I was on my cell calling my mom cause I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I told my mom these people can afford a Lexus but they couldn’t fork out six dollars for a bouquet for this person? They should have been ashamed of themselves. It makes you wonder how they treated that person when he or she was living.