@@@@@"You have the funeral parlor tonight, 411
@@@@@"You have the funeral
parlor tonight, correct?"
Wireman glanced at his watch and heaved a sighThere's another
visitation tomorrow from noon until twoRelatives
from afar will come to bare their teeth at the
usurping interloperThen the
final act, day after tomorrowFuneral at the
Unitarian Universalist Church in OspreyFollowed by cremation at Abbot-WexlerBurnyburny,
hot-hot-hot
810
Wireman noddedRemember
what we sang as children? 'The worms crawl in, the
worms crawl out, and the pus runs out like shaving
cream
"Yep," Wireman agreedHe selected another cracker,
looked at it, then threw it violently back onto
the trayIt bounced onto the floor
Jack picked up the cracker, seemed to consider
eating it, then put it asidePerhaps he had
decided eating crackers off a Florida room floor
violated another man-law
I said to Wireman, "When you come back from the
funeral parlor tonight, you check in on me, okay?"
"Yes
"If I tell you I'm fine, to just go on home, you
do it
"Don't interrupt you if you're communing with your
muse
I nodded, because he wasn't that far offThen I
turned to Jack"And you're staying at El Palacio
while Wireman's at the funeral parlor, right?"
811
"Sure, if that's what you guys want He looked a
little uneasy about it, and I didn't blame himIt
was a big house, Elizabeth had lived in it a long
time, and it was where her memory was freshestI
would have been uneasy, too, if I hadn't been sure
the spooks on Duma Key were elsewhere
"If I call you, come on the runCall me on the house phone or my cell
p
