Extraordinary Things [bxb] (On Hold)

3. open wide, eternity

Song - Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Lana Dey Rey Cover

"From dust you came forth and to dust you shall go." The priest said in a solemn manner as the grave diggers began pouring dirt over my grandmother's casket. When Dad first told me that he was inviting the priest from St. Vincent's where my brother and I had been baptized to officiate the funeral, I was a little confused by his action.

Grandma never went to church and I was sure that she certainly wasn't going to now so the gesture seemed useless. When I told Dad my thoughts, his reply was "It's the proper thing to do if we're going to pay her some respect."

It shut me up for a while but all I could think about was that if we were truly paying Grandma any respect, it would be to get J. D Van Damme to officiate her ceremony since she loved that guy more than life. Get him to say his lines from Bloodsport and I was sure that she'd be wiggling in her grave a happy woman.

But then again, I was pretty much the only person who knew anything about her in the entire family. Even my Dad who was her son would blink with difficulty when asked what her favorite snack in the whole world was.

I asked him the night before and he said almond nuts.

She hated almond nuts.

Her favorite snack was chocolate covered pretzels.

My hands were pressed tightly together as the church choir rendered a watered down version of Amazing Grace. With each shovel of dirt splattered over her casket, my chest made a similar thud in reply. It felt almost too personal, like the grave diggers were eager to pour dirty over my Grandmother's face. like they were so eager to cover her up and move on with life.

The clouds had been grey all morning and showed no signs of letting up the sun any time soon. As we sat in the outdoor service, my body shivered slightly with each gust of cold air that came my way. Even in my suit I was barely suppressing the urge to shiver. How Edie managed to look comfortable wearing a short sleeved dress, I would never know.

Quite surprising that the previous day had been sunny and warm with no hint of a storm. It made me wonder if it was really the universe reacting to Grandma Holly's passing or maybe her soul was releasing all the anger she never got to express (although I doubted that one).

If that was the case then she was probably mad that we didn't get J.D Van Damme to officiate (truth be told I was mad too, for her of course).

"Are you ok?" My brother David whispered to me when my knuckles were almost pure white from how hard I'd been clenching them together. He'd arrived only the day before, rushing in to immediately hug Dad for about five full minutes before remembering that I somehow existed. I didn't get really miffed about it though. After giving me a brief hug (because he didn't want to get snot on his Valentino suit figures), he started crying about how much he missed Grams and how painful it would be to live now that she was gone.

I loved my brother, I really did. It was just that I would probably love him more if he managed to tone down his personality a bit more. Bitchy I know, but I never claimed to be anything less. I didn't want to be that sibling who got bitter because their brother/sister was much better than them in every way but inevitably, I had become that way.

"Noah." He repeated.

My eyes flickered to Dad and Edie sitting opposite us. He had an expectedly sullen look on his face with her handkerchief on standby for use in case things got messy. Edie was wearing a short black dress and church style hat with a net to cover her face. Maybe it was my line of sight but her expression seemed to be a mixture of the same sullen look as my Dad but watered with boredom.