FERNANDO'S POV:
As soon as we heard about Coach Buzzer, we immediately came to New England to be with Genevieve's father, Marcus Higgins, one of my dad's childhood friends. As soon as we got to the church, where the funeral was being held, we hear my dad tell my little brother Greg that cell phones weren't allowed.
"Wait, no cell phones! Then I'm out!" Marcus said, announcing that we had just gotten there, making Genevieve and I laugh at his comment.
"Higgy!" My dad greeted.
"Who's ready to get their funeral on? I'm sorry, death makes me weird" Higgins said as we approached my dad, after doing a weird dance and people were giving him weird looks, especially my mom, since this would be the first time that they formally meet.
"Higgins, you're acting weirder than you usually are," I added.
"And it's saying something considering that it's you that we're talking about" Genevieve added on, which made us all laugh.
"Why didn't you tell me that Higgins was your father, Genevieve?" My dad asked my girlfriend.
"With all due respect. Mr. Feder, I thought you would've figured it out since we met since we all know how my father is. No offense, dad" Genevieve said to my dad and he looked a little offended of the comment.
"GENEVIEVE! FERNANDO!'' We hear a little girl yell. We turned around and we see that it's Becky towards us.
"Hey Becky, how was the plane ride here?" I asked my little sister as my dad caught up with his friends.
"It was good, did you grow up here, Genevieve?" Becky asked.
"Me and Fernando did. that's how we met" Genevieve explained to Becky.
"Alright guys, let's go in" Marcus said and we all walked inside the church.
Inside the Church:
Genevieve and I are sitting in the same section as Higgins is and we see him move forward, most likely to butt into my parents' conversation.
"It's your money, it's his money, it's my money, it's Genevieve's and Fernando's money. Let's all put it in a cash pile and split it" Marcus said to my parents and we all gave him a weird look.
"How we survived with him for so long is the biggest mystery to me" I told Genevieve quietly, which her laugh.
"That's a nice hat, it brings out the death in this room. I'm sorry, I'm nervous. It's a funeral, I get weird," Marcus said as he sat back to the bench.
"Higgins, you're always weird," I told Marcus before the service started.
"Coach Robert 'The Buzzer' Fernando, was a caretaker by profession. What a wonderful word that is to describe a fellow man, he truly took care. When Robert knew that his time was short, he told me that there was one specific man to memorialize him. So. I'd like to ask Lenny Feder to come up now," The priest announced and we all looked in my dad's direction.
My dad got up and we all watched him go up to the podium to make his speech.
"I'm sorry, I'm not prepared at all. I'm honored that Coach asked me to do this. I also feel terrible because I haven't seen the Coach in so long and he always wanted me to come to town to see him. I got caught up in what I've been doing and I regret it. I understand that the Saint Marks Championship of 1978 is the only team that Coach ever had and that's very impressive judging from the talent we had to offer. I mean, believe it or not, Robbie and Marcus were shorter in 1978," my dad said, which made everyone in the church laugh.
"Yeah, bu they mastered something you never have. They knew how to pass the ball," Eric said, making some of the people in the church laugh at his remark.
"Looks like someone has to learn how to pass the Kentucky Fried Chicken," my dad fired back, making people laugh.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Look, we're saying to a big part of our lives. All of us. You affected everyone in this room. And I hope we get to live our lives like you, have no regrets when life's final buzzer sounds. So, let's bow our heads in silence," My dad finished.
Soon after, his weird friend, Rob, came up on the podium and started singing 'Ave Maria', to which Genevieve and I were trying so hard not to laugh since we're in a church for a funeral.
"Hey guys, let's make a buzzer sound when he stops singing," Marcus whispered to Genevieve and I, and we nodded.
He counted down and the three of us made the buzzer sound when the countdown finished, which made people laugh.
"Grow up, will ya?" Rob said angrily, which made us laugh even more.
We need laughter through these times.
YOU ARE READING
The Irony of Life
FanfictionLenny and Roxanne Feder have an older son who was by Lenny's parents while they were starting their careers, so it led to their son to grow up in Lenny's home town. The Irony of that is that he grew up with Higgin's daughter, who is the same age. T...
