Getting Ready

The Herione's Confidant

Chapter Two

Laura had been, in a way, waiting for this day. She had known for years that it was coming and had done everything she could to prepare herself for it. She had been close to people and lost them to death many times over and, while it was always difficult to lose someone she cared about, it was a matter of course in her profession, which required her to distance herself enough to handle each passing with professionalism as well as compassion. In short, she was ready for a funeral.

 

The day of Ted’s funeral was bright and sunny, even if the breeze made it just cool enough to be less than comfortable. Laura put her cigarette out with the usual twinge of guilt smoking brought her, and  went back inside the Cottage. She called it the Cottage because, although it was quite large for such a moniker, it was full of antiqueish furniture which her grandmother had left there for her. Nana Kae had been the only real relative she had spent much time with, and she had left the home to Laura along with the many furnishings and relics her eclectic taste had led her to acquire over some forty years living there. Although her grandmother’s name had been Karla, anyone who knew her had always asked Laura how “Kae” was doing when Laura would run into friends while out running errands within miles of the Cottage. After Nana’s death, the comments were also uniform. “We sure miss Kae” or “Kae was a wonderful woman” still brought tears to Laura’s eyes regardless of the source or appropriateness of her visible emotions at whatever location the comment might arise.

 

Laura went to the backmost rooms of her home. Kassie’s room sat in between the library and a spare bedroom which was occasionally occupied by clients whose family could not care for in their own homes for their final days. It always amazed Laura. The uncomfortable looks, the questions about other “options” besides keeping their supposed loved ones in their home for the end event. She would never understand why some people were so utterly afraid of death or why they seemed to feel that having their beloved parent or sibling pass away in their home would somehow impose an undesirable feeling on the house. Laura wasn’t sure whether she believed in God but she had, on many occasions, felt something…different… at someone’s passing. Fear was nearly always replaced, for several moments, with complete acceptance and serenity. There seemed to be an assurance that the dying were, well… going somewhere. Old man Colbert, Kassie’s maternal grandfather, had grand ideas of what a passing was like for the participant and never hesitated to relay his very specific ideas to Kassie. Most kids her age had not yet lost grandparents, let alone a parent. Kassie had matured more than was natural in the last couple of years and seemed to share in her grandfather’s belief. Laura actually felt just a tad jealous that she was unable to believe the grandeur as easily as the child did. 

 

Kassie’s room was quiet. Laura knocked and entered slowly. She had reluctantly allowed the girl to dress and begin getting ready for the funeral on her own. To her surprise, the little girl with sunshine colored hair was twirling in the middle of the room fully clothed in a bright yellow sundress, white cardigan, and the white patent leather shoes she had talked Laura into purchasing recently because she “wanted to wear heels.” She greeted Laura with her typical smile and twinkling eyes. Funeral or not, she appeared every bit the beautiful eight year-old angel Laura knew her to be. The two hugged briefly and set about the task of combing and curling Kassie’s hair without much conversation. Ten minutes later, they set out for the nearby church house, the walls of which had heard many life sketches for patients of Laura’s. Laura wondered whether she would feel like family, or just another intruder from the medical world, at this one.

Reviews

[Mark]

Your character development is solid. I'm presuming we shall shortly find out how Laura, Ted and Kassie are conjoined? Sufficient at this early stage to say that your first five paragraphs leave me wanting more.