Set against the backdrop of the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak, a young woman, Gravely Eaton, is stuck working at the family funeral home with a father she hates. The world is dying around her, but there seems no escape from her boring life with no friend...
It was late afternoon by the time I finished cleaning up the embalming room. I stumbled down the hallway to my apartment and crawled into bed. Exhaustion and worry kept me under the blankets for the rest of the day. When I awoke about 10 pm, father was nowhere to be seen.
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I covered the building from top to bottom, twice, looking for him. Nothing. It got to be 11 pm. I wasn't concerned for his safety as much as I was for any predicaments that might come of his being out in public. I had visions of angry villagers with torches in hot pursuit, chasing him down. He would be first, then they'd come after me.
The phone rang and it was uncle Mitch, just back from his church business in Buffalo. Despite the hour, he asked to come over for a visit. Mitch was a nighthawk, so it wasn't unusual for him to stop by at all hours. He had some news to give me. Obviously, I had to put him off. Rather than having him stop by the funeral home, I told him it would be nice to get out of my apartment. We could meet him at a Tim Horton's coffee shop near his church, I suggested. He loved Tim's, especially their cream-filled donuts. "See you there," he said.
I scrambled to get dressed and debated whether or not to leave a note for father. I did, but it only stated "I'm out. Back in a couple of hours." I taped it to his apartment door.
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Mitch was sipping his coffee by the time I arrived, and there was a box of assorted donuts on the table. I waved at him as I entered. The aroma of Tim's baked goods and caffeinated beverages smelled delicious. Being after midnight, the shop was pretty empty. There's something about going into a food joint when nobody else is there that I like. I mean, it's cool not having to line up. There are too many lines these days. Like, 30 seconds after I ordered my Earl Grey tea, I was stepping over to my uncle's table, cup in hand. Mitch stood and we exchanged a friendly hug. Mitch was always burly, but he'd put on weight, I noticed. Couldn't help but notice. I cared about my uncle.
"Glad you made it back from Buffalo in one piece," I said with a smile.
"It's a lot nicer than it used to be," he replied. He opened the flap on the donut box and offered the contents to me.
His head bobbed from one side to the other sizing me up. "Have you lost weight?", he asked, quickly adding "not that you have to."
Funny he said that first thing right after I'd just thought about his waistline. I answered simply, picking out a honey cruller, "Guess I haven't been eating enough of these. Thanks."
