We were all pleased to see that Father Kelly was the celebrant for the funeral Mass. He had a terrific sense of humor, but at the same time had a special way of comforting people when they were hurting.

The church was completely packed, which was a surprise considering the short notice. But Jeanne had a great many friends.

At Jeanne's request, the casket was closed. She had told us she preferred people to remember her as she had been, not as a corpse. That was a big relief to me, as I was concerned Becky's first experience with death might be hard for her to handle.

After the service, Dad stood up and announced that everyone was invited to our home for refreshments, making a point of including Father Kelly in the invitation. To everyone's delight, the priest was able to come.

Mom and Maggie had ordered quite a bit of food, but began to get concerned when they saw the size of the turnout. They needn't have worried, however, as two people each brought huge fruit baskets, and one neighbor who owned a deli appeared with six huge platters of cold cuts, cheese, rolls, and bread.

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. The general chaos was actually good, keeping us busy and our minds off the grief temporarily. Some people only stayed for a brief visit and others arrived late, so there was a lot of coming and going.

About an hour later, my pager went off . . . wouldn't you know it! It turned out to be a bomb scare at Merriwether Children's Hospital!

As she listened to the dispatcher's words, Maggie had turned to me. "Joe, you're not . . .?"

"Honey, I have to go, you know that," I told her.

Josh heard the call too, and said he'd join me.

"Josh!" Maggie screeched. "No! Not you, too! There really might be a bomb there!"

But there was no stopping either of us. "Don't worry, Mom. We'll be very careful," Josh called out, bounding right behind me toward the van.

We had to yell for several people to move their vehicles so we could pull the van out, but everyone cooperated and we were on our way in short order.

I couldn't help thinking to myself as I drove that rescue squad volunteers had to be a special kind of crazy breed to head toward a place reported to contain a bomb! But then, as I thought of the children, my foot instinctively pressed harder on the gas pedal.

We arrived at the scene in four minutes flat. The squad's first ambulance was already there and the second was on the way. There were also three police cars and two fire trucks, then I heard another fire truck hitting its air horn as it approached.

Just as Josh and I pulled up to the doorway, the fire chief came out and said, with obvious relief, "False alarm. But someone really did phone police HQ, claiming he'd put a bomb here, so I'm sure you understand we had to call you all out just in case. Sorry for the inconvenience, but again, I thank every one of you for your quick response."

I heaved a huge sigh of relief, as Josh and I headed back home. Maggie was thrilled to see us back so quickly, and we had quite a discussion about who would pull such an awful stunt.

After the last of the guests had gone, we were glad to be able to catch our collective breath.

Dad went upstairs to take a nap as he'd had very little sleep the night before. Josh took Becky outside to play in the back yard, and I decided to try working on my manuscript again.

I'd been so very fond of Maggie's grandmother and was going to miss her terribly. A lot of people would. But I had discovered, when my own beloved grandmother died some years earlier, that the only thing that helps me when I'm grieving is to work--the harder the better. And this darn manuscript was turning out to be a lot harder to edit than I'd expected. Maybe it's because I get so little uninterrupted time to work on it.








Continue to Chapter 19


Go ahead or back to various chapters, using the links below;
Title - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - Diary