The funeral procession moved too slowly for Maggie and Skeeter. They stared out their separate windows. Daddy clasped and unclasped the steering wheel. Mama stared straight ahead, her back rigid. Finally, they pulled into the cemetery. Everyone filed out of their cars. The brittle grass crackled under foot. A red mound of dirt lay beside the green tent with the green chairs and the green carpet. Baker’s Funeral Home was emblazoned on each chair in big white letters.

Maggie got her first clear look at Garnet. She wore the same maroon dress she wore the night of Daniel's graduation. Garnet moved to the front row of chairs. Grandma Marcy trailed behind Bill. She had out lived another grandchild. Billy stumbled to his seat. His eyes were red and so was his nose. His girlfriend, Sally, sat down beside him. Her hair was the color of a new penny. Corey Jean was at the baby-sitter’s with her cousin, Bee Bob.

People huddled around the tent. The sun glared down. The doves cooed deep in their throats. Brother Stephens stood up and began to recite the twenty-third Psalm. His eyes did not leave Garnet’s face. When he finished he said, "Daniel has passed through the valley. We who are still here must walk through this valley of the shadow. God knows how dark it is. He feels your pain. You are not alone."

After a short prayer, it was over. Maggie stared at the casket. It was draped with a big spray of roses and white carnations. Beneath the casket was a little green skirt that hid the gaping hole below. Maggie averted her gaze. She wouldn't think about that. She wouldn’t think about Daniel’s body being covered with dirt.

The people began milling arund. Maggie walked over to a spray of flowers and plucked a carnation. She wanted some token to remember Daniel. As she put it in her pocket, Billy grabbed her unaware and spun her around. He crushed her to him. She gasped. He let go of her abruptly and walked away.

Skeeter sat in the shade of a tallow berry tree with Don and Earl. Maggie joined them. Earl got up and tugged at Maggie's skirt.

"What is it Earl?"

"I heard Mrs. Jenkins say that when Daniel went heaven he got a new body. Is that true?"

"That's what it says in the Bible."

"Oh. Will I be able to recognize Daniel when I get there?"

"Of course you will," Maggie told him.

He looked up at her and his eyes filled with relief. "I was afraid when I got to heaven I wouldn't know Daniel or my mama and they wouldn't know me.”

The two gossipy neighbor women walked by on their way to their cars. They nodded at the children.

"Well there is one blessing in this," Maggie heard the woman named Bobbie comment as they passed.

"What's that?"

Bobbie lowered her voice, but Maggie still heard her say, "Well, at least it was Daniel and not John Carl. John Carl's never been baptized, you know."

"I didn't know. Garnet would never be able to find any rest for her soul."

Before they got in their car, Bobbie looked back at the crowd and said, "I noticed John Carl wasn't here." Maggie saw them shake their heads in unison. For the first time in her life she felt hatred.

Patsy, the woman Maggie had sat beside at the funeral, walked over to the tree. "Hi there," she said to Don and Earl. The boys didn’t respond. This didn’t bother Patsy. She smiled and continued, "Garnet asked me to take you on home." She looked at Maggie and Skeeter, "Your Mama and Daddy's going to stay a while. You can come too if you like."

"Sure thanks," Maggie said grateful for the chance to get away from this place.

Annie appeared from the crowd tugging her mother's arm. "I want to go too."

"Do you mind?" Aunt Betty asked.

"No, course not," Patsy said.

Annie ran to Maggie. For the first time she noticed Annie’s eyes were like Daniel's, gray green. She slid her sweaty hand into Maggie's.

Patsy led them to her blue Mercury. She didn't look too unhappy. In fact she didn’t look unhappy at all. She was even humming a little under her breath as she started the car. Maggie suspected Patsy only came to the funeral to see Uncle Woody. Grandma Marcy would say that wasn't a very charitable thought. Still, Patsy seemed awfully pleased and eager to be taking them home. She drove like lightening down the dusty highway.

The air conditioner's cold air blew into Maggie's face. It soothed her hot body. She relaxed against the seat. Annie let go of her hand. The radio blasted out country music.

Patsy chattered away about Uncle Woody. Maggie glanced back at Don. He rolled his eyes. Earl and Skeeter had their noses pressed against the back window watching the cloud of red dust swirl behind the car.

Maggie looked at Patsy. She wasn't Uncle Woody's type. His wife, Emily, had been quiet and sweet. She had brown hair and wore glasses. After she was killed in a car accident in Arlington, Uncle Woody and the boys moved to the farm. Earl was only four when she died. Maggie was surprised Uncle Woody hadn't remarried yet. She heard he was dating some lady in Carbon. She guessed Patsy didn't know, or else she pretended not to.

"Oh, girl, if things work out like I plan me and you could be real good friends," Patsy said as she turned into the Uncle Woody's drive.

Maggie saw John Carl's truck beside Uncle Woody's trailer. What would she say to him, what could she say to him? She crushed Daniel's carnation in her anxious hand.

When Patsy stopped the car Maggie felt sick. Her empty stomach turned over and quivered. Patsy burst out of the car and practically ran to the front door. It seemed like she was in a real hurry to see Uncle Woody. Annie and the boys were right behind her. Maggie was the last one out of the car. She slammed the door closed. Her palms were sweaty. She brushed her hair back with rigid fingers. A shiver of fear ran through her. What would she say to John Carl when she saw him? What would he say?

From the front Don, yelled, "Come on slow poke."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I will be there in a minute.” Don shrugged and slammed the door closed. Maggie looked at the trailer. Every instinct she had told her to run. Her feelings were so mixed up. She didn’t understand why she was so confused and scared. Tears threatened to surface. She took a deep breath and headed for the door. Her wet fingers wrapped around the hot metal knob. She turned it and went inside.

The instant John Carl saw her he stood up. Despite the circumstances of the day and the moment, appreciation flashed in his eyes. Maggie realized he thought she looked pretty all dressed up. She blushed and raised shy eyes to him and smiled. He tried to return her smile, but couldn't quite manage it.

From the kitchen, Uncle Woody called, “Hey Miss Maggie.” He came into the living room followed by Patsy. He whistled when he saw Maggie. "I don't believe I've ever seen you all dressed up, Girl. You look real pretty, don't she John Carl?"

Maggie glanced at John Carl. He nodded. She blushed again.

Pointing at the couch Uncle Woody said, “Sit down you two.” In unison, Maggie and John Carl did. The couch tipped a little and bumped against the wall. Uncle Woody crossed the room and plopped his long frame into his brown recliner. With out invitation, Patsy perched herself on the arm of the broken down recliner. Uncle Woody wrinkled his nose a little then shifted himself to the opposite side of the chair. Though Patsy pretended not to notice, Maggie could see the frustration in her eyes. She thought, My quest for John Carl is as hopeless as Patsy's is for Uncle Woody. She glanced at John Carl. He was so close to her and he was not leaning away, in fact he seemed to be leaning toward her. With another quick glance, she admired his sunburned nose and wonderful square chin.

Patsy said, "Woody, the funeral was lovely. Too bad you couldn't be there.”

Maggie saw John Carl tense his jaws. Uncle Woody looked up at Patsy. His eyes said, shut up woman. If Patsy noticed, she pretended not to. She continued, "Tell them Maggie.”

This was something Maggie did not want to do. The funeral was not “lovely”. Were funerals ever lovely? Maggie pulled the carnation out of her pocket. She stared at its wilting petals and said, "Uh, Brother Stephens was in good voice," She didn't exactly know what that meant, but it was what Grandma Marcy always said about preachers.

"Oh, he was," Patsy agreed. "He said the most comforting things. And he just went on and on about what a good person Daniel was. I'm sure he made Garnet feel better. Don't you think, Maggie?"

John Carl stood up. Maggie looked at Uncle Woody. His face was red. She said, "I don't know."

Skeeter, Annie and the boys ran into the room from the kitchen. All the boys were dressed in cut offs and T-shirts. Skeeter had his dress clothes in a sandy wad under his arm.

Earl said, "We wanna go to the house. Ain't nothing to eat here, Daddy."

"I'm fixing to go up there myself," John Carl said. He turned to Maggie. "Want to come?" She nodded. The kids ran out the front door and climbed in the back of John Carl's truck. Maggie waved good bye to Uncle Woody. He raised two fingers to her and rolled his eyes at Patsy.

Outside, John Carl opened the truck door for Maggie. She sat down. The vinyl seat cover was hot. John Carl got in and started the truck. It roared as he spun out of Uncle Woody's drive. The kids shrieked in the back.

"How was the funeral, really?" he asked.

Maggie tried to clear the lump in her throat. Her voice was raspy when she said, "It was nice, I guess, as funerals go. The music was pretty. Brother Stephens did say some good things about Daniel."

With fingers gripped tightly around the steering wheel and his eyes staring hard at the drive, John Carl said, "You know what really upsets me?"

"No."

"For the past three days all I have heard is how wonderful my brother was. Well, if he was alive, more than half the people who've been up to the house would still be calling him a retard or a slow mo behind his back."

"Corey Jean said the same thing the other day. I never thought of him like that. Daniel was so smart. He remembered things after hearing them only once."

John Carl nodded. "I know. Mama got some of the teachers to give him oral tests. That's how he passed high school."

"The thing he could do that always amazed me the most was how he knew what I was thinking or feeling without me saying a word."

"Yup. He did the same for me. God, I'm going to miss that." The muscles in John Carl’s jaw relaxed then flexed. His voice was strained when he said, "It's weird to think he almost didn't even make it into this world."

"He was born premature wasn't he?"

"Yeah, because Mama was just barely sixteen when she had him. Why that's only a little more than a year older than you are right now."

Maggie shuddered. She hadn't even been kissed yet, except for spin the bottle and that didn’t count.

John Carl pulled the truck under the oak tree. The kids scrambled out. Skeeter dropped his dress shirt and Don stepped on it. Annie pick it up. The little girl hugged the it to herself and then ran after the boys. John Carl came around and opened Maggie's door. He offered his hand. She took it. Once again a warm tingling sensation ran all the way up her arm. For a second they stared into each other’s eyes. John Carl seemed to want to say something but was having a hard time getting it out. Finally he managed to say, "You are growing up real…fine."

The compliment pleased Maggie. She smiled up at him. The smile he gave her was strained. Abruptly, he let go of her hand. He took a step away from her. “We best get inside, before the boys tear up the house.” He took another step. Maggie didn’t want him to leave her. She wanted his hand back in hers. He walked quickly toward the house and disappeared into the house. Maggie let out a long slow sigh before she followed.

Inside the boys were greedily piling food on their plates. Annie held a paper plate in one hand and surveyed the food. John Carl asked, “Need some help Annie?”

“Yes. I can’t reach the ham sandwiches in the middle of the table.”

While John Carl helped Annie, Maggie went to change her clothes. She passed through Billy and John Carl's room. She placed the wilting carnation on John Carl's chest of drawers.

.