The phone rang. Kal woke from a deep sleep and answered it. He got the information and told the family he would be there within the hour.
This was one thing Kal didn’t like about being a funeral director. He hated the late night calls and being woke from a deep sleep. It seemed to jar him and make him ill. He put on his pristine professional attire headed to the funeral home. All the body retrieval equipment was in place from his preparation the night before.
Kal punched the address of the decedent into his gps and started to defrost his windshield. Once he made sure he had everything, he was on his way. Once awake he enjoyed the peaceful drive that was only allowed by late nights or very early mornings.
He arrived at the residence and things looked very normal. There were several cars parked there. He assumed there was a nurse on the scene. Oddly there wasn’t. Kal walked in the house and he greeted the family and asked who was in charge and who he needed to speak with. A woman said the nurse had already left. He was introduced to the wife of the deceased; Helen. He extended his sympathy to Helen and offered his condolences and asked to be taken to where the deceased was. He verified the name of the person he was to pick up; Robert Peyton. “Mrs. Peyton, have you taken all the time you need?,” Kal said. She nodded her head and wanted to check with the other family members to make sure Robert was ready to be taken away by the funeral director.
He wasn’t able to get anyone else out of bed at that hour of the night. This was a solo operation. Thankfully there wasn’t any stairs and Robert wasn’t heavy at all. In fact, he appeared to be very young and looked healthy. Kal had seen this sort of thing before in this business. Diseases and chronic conditions can do almost anything to human physiology. He thought nothing about it. The only thing on his mind was to get this person out of the house safety and respectfully.
Family members helped get Robert onto the cot and Kal covered him up and began to head out the door to the removal van. Once Robert was in the van and the door shut Kal went back in to ask the family about arrangements. Once inside the family told him Robert was to be cremated and there were to be no services at all; nothing. “Understood, can we meet tomorrow morning at 10?” he said. Helen agreed. “I’ll need vital statistic information that you’ll likely be able to answer easily. You’ need to have his full legal name, how you want his name in the obituary, mother and fathers name and any military records.”
“We have all of that. Ill have all the information with me tomorrow when we meet tomorrow,” said Helen.
“I’m going to head out unless you have anymore questions for me,” said Kal.
“Okay, thank you for everything.” Helen said.
Kal shook everyone’s hand and left the house. He got into the van and pulled away gracefully and respectfully. Kal settled into driving, started to relax and turned on some music. He started to notice how quiet and peaceful driving at night is. He settled in and began to relax while heading back to the funeral home.
Kal heard the cot squeaking. He didn’t think anything about it. It was a frequent thing when in a moving car.
Kal felt something wrap around his arm. He looked back. It was a hand. Kal was very startled and jumped with such force the seatbelt cut into his body. He felt pain in his back, neck and felt his collarbone snap. While in a sheer panic unable to focus on his driving he ran headlong into a semi. The front end of the van hit the semi as it would have hit a concrete wall head on. Glass shattered and flew through the van like flying razors. The impact ruptured organs and snapped his neck killing Kal almost instantly. Robert was flung over the console between the seats and his head hit the dash and caved in his skull. Both men were killed.
End
Bio: Gerald enjoys telling stories among other things and generally likes too many things to settle or specialize in only one.