Yesterday's Giant

The Casket

THE CASKET

Virtually the whole town showed up for the funeral. Because Ralph had kept up the storage payments to the McNulty Funeral Home for the past twenty years, Horace McNulty had kept up his end of the deal. The highly polished redwood coffin reflected a warm red glow from the multitude of candles, positioned at the head of the church.

The Reverend Peter Wilson was effusive in his praise for the deceased. "Many of you newer folks in town may not know the story behind the brass plaque on this casket, but truer words were never written." The reverend then proceeded to tell the story about the harvesting of Yesterday's Giant and how the special two-thousand-year-old wood was used in the construction of the coffin.

The reverend continued. "Mr. Ralph Ogden was a true friend to many in need over the years. He was also a faithful member of this congregation. He will be sorely missed by us all. May God bless his soul."

One by one, the town folks shuffled to the front of the church to pay their respects. When Lily, at last, stood in front of the closed casket, she slowly read the shiny brass plaque for the first time: "ON THIS DAY, TWO OF YESTERDAY'S GIANTS ARE RETURNING TO THE EARTH FROM WHICH THEY CAME."

Lily searched her heart to try and determine how she truly felt about the dead man. She addressed her remarks to the man within the casket.

"Ralph Ogden, you were a pygmy twenty years ago, but I honestly feel that you might now have attained the giant status you have been desperately seeking. You raised a fine young man in Cory, and you are the natural father of one of my beloved children. Without you, one of them would not have been born. I forgive you, Ralph. May you rest in peace."

Tears dropped slowly from her eyes as Lily placed a single white rose on the redwood casket and left the church. She never looked back.

Lily could tell from the increasingly warm attention Cory was paying Tammy that Ralph had never had the opportunity to persuade Cory to abandon the budding romance. She was deep in thought when the phone rang.

"Hello, Mrs. Hunter?" a deep male voice said.

"Yes, this is Lily Hunter. What can I do for you?"

The caller was the lawyer Dennis Underwood. He advised her that certain terms of the late Ralph Ogden's will potentially could involve the Hunter family. He asked if she and her husband would be available along with David and Tammy to attend the reading of the will at 3:00 p.m. the next day. Lily lie awake half the night worrying about the contents of Ralph's will and what it could mean to the family.

At 3:00 p.m. sharp, Lily, Johnny, David, and Tammy arrived at the law offices of Underwood & Scully. Dennis Underwood greeted them at the door and escorted them into his private office. The only other person in attendance was Cory Ogden.

Tammy whispered to Cory as he was hugging her, "What on earth is this all about, Cory?"

He just shrugged. "Tammy, I'm as in the dark as you are. I have no idea what my Dad said in his will."

As soon as they were all seated, the lawyer proceeded to explain the mystery. "Mr. Ogden's will is fairly straightforward. He left his entire estate to his son, Cory Ogden. However, he recently added a codicil that could have some major impact on the estate. I have made individual copies of the codicil for you to read."

Tammy asked, "I'm sorry, Mr. Underwood, but what is a codicil?"

Underwood quickly explained that a codicil was a legally binding amendment to an existing will. He then handed out copies for them to examine. The codicil read as follows: