Mr. Tan

Chapter 29: Goodbye, Julian Hathaway

It has now been approximately a week and 4 days since my mamma passed away due to AIDS related complications. She passed away at 2:10 in the afternoon, Tuesday August 5th 2001. It was now Friday at 8:45 in the morning and today was her funeral. Her funeral service would be held at a funeral home on the outskirts of the city. Since I needed moral support, Earl didn't open his juke joint today and I had the company of Adrian. Kelly flew back to Hot Springs a day before my mother passed away. I contacted her a day after she died, yesterday I called her and told her I would let her know how the service went. Today was cloudy and overcast with the threat of thunderstorms and heavy rain. Earl was dressed in a solid black short sleeved button down shirt and dark gray slacks with black dress shoes that he polished the night before. He was freshly shaven and smelled of clove and citrus. I wore a black form fitting sleeveless dress that was an inch to my knees, dark blue heels and sheer black pantyhose. I wore a light layer of cover up, mascara and cherry red lipstick. Adrian sat in our living room flipping through TV channels wearing a dark gray pencil skirt and a short sleeved shiny black blouse. Her sleek and straight hair was worn in a bun at the nape of her neck. Eventually it was time to leave, so we all piled into Earl's El Camino and drove off. Earl sat behind the wheel smoking his morning cigarette and taking sips from his travel mug. 

"We gon' stop and get sump'n to eat after the service", he said. Ain't got much food back at da house, gotta shop fo' groceries. 

My senior year in high school started in the next few days. Adrian was able to get the day off from work, thank God she had a very understanding manager. I sat in the backseat with Adrian catching up on casual conversation and a little gossip. Adrian and Adam just recently starting dating. Adam was actually 21 years old and a college sophomore. He shared an apartment with two roommates and was working towards a degree in physical therapy. We finally pulled up in front of Anderson Funeral Home, a dark red bricked one level building that looked like it could have been a residential house at one point. We climbed out of the car into the humid and cloudy morning and up the gray stone steps that led up to a front porch. Earl held open the heavy dark wood door for Adrian and me. All three of us stepped into a brightly lit and comfortably cool interior onto a plush red carpeted floor. A bulletin board on the wall read "Julian S. Hathaway Funeral, from 9:30 til 10:30. I looked at my wrist watch, it read 9:10, we were early. We all three sat in dark wood seating with dark orange padding. In the front of the room there was a podium and behind it sat a black casket with brass handles that was closed for now. Inside that casket, rested my mom, Julian Sadie Hathaway. I sat in the second row between Earl and Adrian. Other guest were already there, some I recognized, others not so much. My eyes rested on him, the man that spent years making me and my mom feel like shit, Clyde Freeman. After all these years and how mamma told me that he left her for someone else, what the fuck was he doing here? He didn't see me but I saw him. He sat on the left side of the room with his sister and a stern looking and fat light brown colored woman with her hair worn in a long braid down her back. She sat next to Clyde dressed in a dark brown button down dress and black open toed heels. Her arms were folded across her busty chest. My mamma's friend, I guess, Anita sat two rows behind Clyde and his folks. Anita looked well and she had two identical teenage girls that sat with her, those must be her daughters. They were both light skinned like her. One wore glasses and a short sleeved white blouse while the other one did not have on glasses and she wore a sleeveless gray dress. They both looked bored while Anita checked her make-up in a compact mirror. Earl excused himself to find the men's room as soon as a middle aged couple came walking in. There was a dark skinned man who was quit tall and had a bit of a belly underneath his white button down and metallic gray dress slacks. He was a balding man with specks of gray in his neat looking dark and wavy hair. He had kind looking brown eyes that were hidden behind a pair of gold wire framed glasses. He was holding the hand of a little girl that walked beside him, my little sister Ebony. Her hair was done in corkscrew curls that came to her shoulders with a cute pink ribbon pinned into her hair. She wore an adorable dark pink sleeveless dress with a floral design. She wore cute black patent leather flats on her feet. Right behind the two was a beautiful and petite Native-American looking woman who's dark hair was pinned up in a French bun with wispy side swept bangs. She wore dark blue form fitting slacks, shiny black pumps, and a black satin looking sleeveless shirt. They took their seats in the row behind us. The service started a few minutes after Earl returned from the bathroom. Rev. Gregory Yancy, a pastor from a community church down the street stepped up to the podium and said the first words. After 15 minutes of his speech, a choir sang "Swing Low Sweet Chariot". After the song was over, now came time for guest to approach the podium and say a few sweet words.