Death — “Honorable Mention” Winner Medium Writer Challenge 2021
Bittersweet Symphony
Finding Dad’s Suit For His Funeral In Our Family’s Inimitable Fashion Released Our Grief
The black rotary phone rings on the wall in my parent’s kitchen, interrupting our quiet conversation.
Late summer sunshine filtering through the pines outside the log house is fading to dusk. I jump up quickly to answer the phone before Mama is disturbed.
“Maybe it’s Troy,” I say.
The rest of my siblings are sitting at our massive scrubbed wooden table adjacent to the kitchen.
This table has hosted thousands of meals, laughs, tears, the benches sturdy, holding the family.
Its surface is now littered with photographs. My oldest brother Troy is en route, driving home to join the rest of us.
“Hello?”
“Heather?” I hear a soft voice ask nervously.
“Yes.”
“This is Howard Jenkins, dear.”
My brother, David, and I had left Howard’s office that morning.
He is the local funeral director.
