Smoke and Mirrors (DE)

32. Brotherly love

Grace sat quietly next to Joseph in the back seat of their all black Rolls Royce Cullinan staring out of the rear passenger window. The sun was at full staff in the sky but the Limo tint on the windows still made it hard to see out. The radio was off and the luxury vehicle was filled with an achy silence. Though Joseph wore a cold mute expression, Grace could still sense his pain without him having to verbally express it. Their car was the fifth car in the procession leaving the Elkridge funeral home heading to the local cemetery. The long line of vehicles was being led by a police escort followed by the hearse stopping traffic so the twenty plus fleet of vehicles could ride together in unison to Brandon's final resting place.

Pinebrook Cemetery was the only cemetery in Harlem and it was well known for being the final resting place of all the notorious Harlem goons, gangsters and fallen street soldiers— it was where Joseph's father is buried and where Richards ashes were supposed to be entombed. Though Brandon was a hard headed kid, he was well known and well respected in Harlem so it was only right he be buried with the rest. Joseph kept his promise covering the cost of the whole funeral allowing Ms. Turner, Brandon's mother, to make her sons home going as special as she desired.

They held a viewing for friends and family to say their final goodbyes before the service began. While Ms. Turner displayed exemplary strength, her two younger children could barely stomach to see their big brother dead in a casket— two young girls old enough to know he was never coming back but too young to understand why. Their screams and cries were the only thing that could be heard in the funeral home as they stood before his casket, their mother holding them tightly as tears streamed down their cheeks begging him to wake up.

Joseph even recalls hearing one ask why he looked like that—why did he have makeup on and why were his lips glued together? He was their first dead body, they didn't understand that was part of the process to make him look presentable enough to be viewed after they'd harvested his body for everything it had to offer— organs, eyes, teeth, and just left him an empty shell. Joseph's earliest recollection of a dead body were his parents, granted seeing them dead was supposed to be traumatizing but the most taxing part was the change of the body after the soul of that person leaves— it no longer looks like them anymore, it's disturbing. The body almost becomes like a dummy or a mannequin, hard to verbally explain if you've never seen one and it was something Joseph could never wrap his head around.

Their cries were haunting, Joseph could still hear them as if they were in the car with him— burned into his memory.

Grace peeled her eyes away from the window and looked over at Joseph who tugged on his beard staring out his own window deep in thought. Joseph wore a black satin Giorgio Armani tailored suit with a black button down underneath, size 11 Louboutin loafers graced his feet. He wore no jewelry except the plain Jane Rolex Grace had gifted him and a pair of diamond stud earrings fastened to each ear lobe.

Grace gently dusted lint off the front of his single breasted suit jacket, catching his attention. He looked over at her slowly, his eyes worn and withered. She offered him a small smile reaching up and placing her hand on his cheek, gently rubbing it with the pad of her thumb. Grace hated going to funerals, especially of those she didn't know but she came to be Joseph's backbone, that was her job.

" You look handsome," Grace said softly, her voice barely audible but Joseph heard it. He didn't respond, but the corner of his lips turned up in a small smile briefly.

" I love you," She said.

" I love you too," He replied, his voice deep and raspy. It was the first time he'd spoken in hours just to say he loved her back.

The funeral procession came to a stop. Everyone waited in their cars until the casket was unloaded before following it to the plot. Joseph held out his hand for Grace as she slid across the smooth leather seats, stepping out of the car. There was a chill in the air and a slight breeze that blew her brown hair around when she got out. Joseph held onto her hand as she watched the ground careful not to let the heels of her black Louboutin pumps sink into the moist earth as they walked through the grass.