St Jude Parish was in Seven Mile in the Eastside. It was a huge church made outta rock. On the day of Dad’s funeral, I sat at the front row with Ma, Tony and Tonya. Tony and I were in black suits while Ma and Tonya were in black gowns and black hats. Ma kept dabbing her eyes with a kerchief. Tonya was crying silently. Tony and I weren’t crying. As for me I was trying to be strong for the family. Requiem-Pie Jesu was slowly playing.
They’d put Dad in a large light brown coffin surrounded by bunches of red and yellow flowers. The coffin was open and people were going up to look. I turned and saw that the church was almost full. My friends from school had come and Stacy too was there. Even Dog had shown up in a gray suit.
Ma and Tonya went up and viewed the corpse. Ma fell to the ground when she saw Dad’d dead body. Her friends came and helped her up and tried to console her. It was Tony and I’s turn to go up and look. When we went up to the front I didn’t want to look at first. But they’d dressed Dad in a white suit with a white shirt and silver tie and his eyes were closed so he looked like he was asleep.
“Daddy,” Tony whispered with watery eyes. I put my hand on his shoulder holding back my own tears. After a moment we went back to our seats. The atmosphere was really gloomy. As the priest gave the sermon, cold air filled the church. We pulled our coats on and shivered while Father Emilio told us how Dad was a good man and was now with the angels.
After mass, it was time for the eulogy which was to be delivered by me. I’d spent all night trying to write. I took my place at the pulpit, wiped my eyes with a kerchief and began.
“Hi everyone, I’m Prince Fort, Joe Fort’s first child. I want to start off by thanking you all for coming out today to celebrate my father’s beautiful life. My Dad was a very funny guy. He loved playing practical jokes on his siblings and friends growing up. This tradition played out as I was growing up too. He loved to come up with these silly bits, or funny jokes that always made us all buckle over with laughter. My father was an incredible person. He was not only the best role model, but he volunteered in his free time. See my dad wasn’t okay with only being a wonderful father, but he also wanted to give back to the world and help others in need. My dad’s most notable feature was his height. He was over six feet tall. You’d think his towering presence would be intimidating, but he was the most kind and gentle person I’ve ever known. One of my favorite memories is the day he taught me basketball. Since then I’ve fallen in love with the sport and I used to watch games with him. We had planned on going to watch the Detroit Pistons play someday but unfortunately that won’t be possible anymore. I cherish the memories I have with my father and know he is smiling down on all of us. Thank you again for coming out to celebrate the memory of my amazing father.”
When I was done I noticed tears flowing from my eyes and almost everyone in church was in tears. I wiped my eyes again and went to my seat. The coffin was closed and I and five others carried it on our shoulders outside and put in in the hearse that was waiting. There were three rented black SUVs parked outside the church waiting to carry our family and friends to the cemetery. Dad was going to be buried at Elmwood cemetery. We filed into the SUVs and drove in a convoy to Elmwood street.
It was a sunny day. Birds were chirping and a light breeze blew. Dad woulda given everything to see this day. We stood surrounding a freshly dug grave as Father Emilio said the final prayers. When the coffin was lowered into the ground, we all broke down. It was the first time since Dad died that I’d a break down. I cried uncontrollably as I saw my father being lowered into the ground. It was then that reality hit me. I’d never see him again. Ma threw a handful of earth into the grave, followed by me then Tony and Tonya.
While the grave was being filled by earth, the crowd suddenly hushed. A group of guys were approaching the burial site. It was Bone and his goons. They say killers like to hang out by their crime scenes—burial site in this case. I guess it’s true. Bone smiled at the crowd exposing his golden teeth.
Evil.
“You son of a bitch!” Ma screamed. “You dare show up here after killing my husband? You murderer.” I hadn’t told anyone I saw Bone leave the store after I heard the gunshots but everyone in the hood knew it was Bone who killed Dad. Ma tried to attack him but was held back by some men.
Dog, Malik and some Disciples went up to Bone and Dog raised his suit to show that he was strapped. Bone coulda shot it out right there with the Disciples but I guess he figured he’d said enough with his appearance. He looked Dog dead in the eye as if saying try me. And after a tense moment, he and his goons left.
We went for the funeral dinner at a restaurant on Mack Ave. I could barely eat anything. People from the hood came up to me and offered their condolences. Some of the older folks shared memories they had of Dad. They were all good memories. Everybody who’d known my Dad in the three and a half years we had lived in Detroit knew he was a good man.
After dinner, we went home. The atmosphere in the house was quiet, we didn’t speak to each other. The same feeling I had in church when it was cold came again and I went to the bedroom. I didn’t bother to take off my clothes. I just fell on the bed. But I couldn’t sleep. I cried all night. The person responsible for taking my Pops away from me had to get got. Bone would die and I’d be the one to kill him.
