Me and Charley

6. The Funeral

The rectangular blob of light at the window announced the dawn as I rubbed sleep from my eyes. The sound of the others' breathing made me think better of having my clock announce the time. I found my glasses instead and saw that it was six-twelve. Good. I disabled the alarm and gathered fresh briefs, my shorts from the day before, and a fresh t-shirt, and slipped out to the bathroom as quietly as I could.

When I returned Paul was sitting on his bed, while Jack and Jimmy were sound asleep.

"How you feeling, Paul?" I whispered.

"All right. I'm gonna take a shower." He got fresh clothes from the open suitcase on the floor by his bed and headed for the bathroom.

The aroma of coffee wafting up into the hall told me that someone was in the kitchen. I went down to see what I could help with. Mom had the big coffee pot on and was at the counter mixing up pancake batter. "'Mornin', Mom" I greeted her.

"Good morning, Trey. How did you sleep?" Mom replied.

"Real good, Mom."

"Is anyone else up?"

"Just Paul," I said.

"Go up and tap on Uncle Bob and Aunt Letty's door. Let's get them and Robbie and Doug going first, they won't take as long as the girls."

"What about Jack and Jimmy?"

"They'll be up soon enough, with everyone else stirring, but we'll leave them alone until then."

I did as Mom said, and Uncle Bob startled me by opening the door as soon as I tapped on it. "What is it, Trey?" he asked.

I said, "Mom says she wants you and Aunt Letty and Robbie and Doug to finish with the bathroom first because the girls will take longer. She's got coffee on and she's working on pancakes."

Uncle Bob chuckled and said, "Sure, Trey. We'll get the others going when we're done." He shut the door and I went back to the kitchen and told Mom, "Uncle Bob says he'll take care of things upstairs."

"Good. That will be a help."

"What can I help you with, Mom?"

"How about setting the table. We'll just feed people in shifts as they come down. I'll start some hotcakes now for you and me."

Just then Paul came in and said, "'Mornin', Aunt Jane. Anything I can help with?"

"Good morning, Paul. Did you sleep all right?"

"All right," Paul answered. The reply made me wonder how well he had really slept. Paul joined me in setting places.

Mom glanced nervously at the clock and said, "I'll feed you two early birds first and you can help with setting places as people finish, at least until some of the others are done. No one gets to dally over breakfast today."

The others began appearing and were fed in their turn. Eventually my aunts took over for me and Paul. Mom said, "You two go up and get into your suits. Paul, you may have to help Trey, he's never worn a suit in his life."

"Yes'm," Paul said, and we headed upstairs. My suit was still in the bag from the store, hung in my closet with my shirt, while my tie, belt and dress socks were laid out on top of my dresser. Paul's suit and shirt were in the closet also, and he was fishing around in his suitcase for a tie, belt, dress shoes and socks. I got out of my t-shirt and shorts and started putting on the trousers.

"You'll want to put your shirt on first," Paul said. "It gets tucked into your pants."

"Oh," I said. "Hey."