The foyer of Moore Funeral Home was slightly cooler than the afternoon warmth of October just outside, and much darker. RJ stood blinking for a moment and tried to read the announcements on the wall while his eyes swam.  He could hear indistinct music in some other room, vaguely spiritual but not immediately recognizable. He wondered as he walked forward if there was such a thing as “Ambient Gospel” just for funeral homes. Still half blind he moved near a couple of doors trying to determine where everyone was and spun in surprise when a soft voice behind him said “Mr. Jervis?” He blinked rapidly trying to focus on the small, smartly dressed woman before him who was holding a door open and giving him a slight smile.

“Yes, I’m mr. Jervis, one of them anyway.”

“Come this way, your family is downstairs.” He followed her down a short flight of stairs into a open area that would not be out of place in anyone’s basement. Comfy, overstuffed sofas sat in a circle around a oval coffee table. Along the walls were discrete speakers and religious symbols set back in shallow alcoves. Sitting at one end of the coffee table were the owners, Mr. and Mrs Moore, and at the other end, his two brothers Ronnie and Kelly-Ray.

Ron exclaimed a bit too cheerfully as he walked in. “There he is! Come have a seat son.” And Kelly chimed in “About time too. We can’t get anything done here without you.” Ron stood up and hugged him, following it with a slap on the back, then looked around sheepishly, as if the extra noise and quick movements were discouraged in this place. Kelly fished in the front pocket of his coveralls and stuck something in his cheek. “We can’t get anything done cause none of us has any money. I hope you brought your check book cause its going to cause a helluva lot to bury mom.”

Ron sat down and gestured to the seat next to him. RJ swallowed, surprised to be confronted by the financial issues so soon after arriving. “Good to see you too.” he replied gruffly while eying his middle brother. Kelly looked back at him critically while shifting whatever it was in his mouth. RJ seriously thought he was going to spit on the carpet, or possibly on RJ.

“Well you’re the big city One, living in Indiana with your Hoosier wife and all, clearly doing better than either of us S.O.B.s.”

RJ looked around the circle of people about him, all expecting him to say something encouraging.  “I wouldn’t call New Carlisle a big city, and besides, I have 2 kids and a wife in school, there’s not much leftover….”  The comment was answered with silence and uncomfortable shifting by everyone. RJ noticed Ron sat rigidly and he wondered if he’d hurt his back recently. He wasn’t going to ask though he desperately wanted to change the subject. There was no real choice though, it was the Big Question of the night. He frowned at his brothers and the professionally passive faces of the Moores and said “So ummmm, how much money are we talking?”

Mr. Moore cleared his throat and said “Usually the surviving members of the deceased split the costs. I think we offer a very reasonable funeral for community members such as your mother starting at $20,000.”

The silence got longer and the looks at RJ deeper. Kelly sat forward and barked out “$20,000! Mom made less than that in a year, and mine’s not much more. Why’s it cost so much to dig a hole and put someone in it anyway?” He leaned to the side to spit, looked at the horrified faces around him and thought better of it. “How much is that each anyway?”

“Call it $7000 from each of us.” offered Ronnie, who was trying to be helpful, even though he had turned slightly green at the number. Mrs. Moore stood and excused herself, flipping thru papers on a clipboard as she left. Kelly got up as well “That’s no damn good either.” and walked back into the room where muted signs could be seen for the toilets. RJ watched him go and said “What else did I miss? Is her insurance handling any of this?”

Mr. Moore looked more uncomfortable and said “Mrs. Jervis didn’t seem to have any…active coverage.”

Kelly walked back up and barked out “Stevens!, she’d got remarried after Dad died. Where are any of them now? She’s gave up being a Selkirk when she did that. They should have to pay, not me.”

Ron gave Kelly a withering look and turned to RJ “I called our half-brother Glen and told him about mom. He hadn’t heard from her directly since the adoption, but I have stayed in touch. Even took him hunting with me last fall.”

RJ tried to conjure up an image of his half brother while Kelly proceeded to tell the story of their abortive hunting trip. “Boy has hay-fever or something…couldn’t stop sneezing, had dirt and dried snot all down his face by the end of the day.” Then he laughed harshly, “Sounded like a buck in rut!”

RJ couldn’t picture what his half brother Glen might look like now, he was 18 months old when he’d last seen him. Nor could he imagine what was going on inside Kelly’s head right now,clearly he was doing a poor job of dealing with the situation. Relations between RJ’s middle brother and his mom had been strained since their father’s death, and Kelly pretty much stayed on his side of Wilson’s creek, and Mom on the other. He didn’t seem to care much for anyone or anything save his gun, his pickup, and his son Justin. RJ wasn’t even sure he had that order right.

RJ stood up and stretched, still stiff from the long drive and too tired to think. He felt like he’d been here hours, and since there were no windows to let in the light, he might have been. It could be any time out there. He cursed the state things had fallen to here, and wanted to confront his brothers about taking care of their mom, but he wouldn’t do that in front of Mr. Moore. No airing family laundry here, though he was sure his brother Kelly was itching to get into it.  The last time RJ were here, Kelly had decided to bring up some childhood slight 25 years after it happened. Never mind that his father was lying in front of him in a casket, with all his relatives gathered round. Any time and any place was good for a scrap where Kelly was concerned.

A delicate clearing of the throat announced Mrs. Moore’s return. She said “Richard, there’s a phone call for you.” RJ blinked at her not understanding for a moment. “Who knows I’m here?” He asked no one in particular as he walked toward the office door she was holding open. If he was feeling less fatigue he might have gently corrected her with a “Call me RJ, everyone else does.” But instead he silently followed her thru the hallway and back upstairs to an office facing the entrance.  She gestured to the phone lying off its cradle and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. She apparently did a lot with doors in this job. RJ watched her go and then picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Selkirk?”

“Yes.”

“You’re the eldest son of Geraldine Selkirk-Stevens?”

“Yes, I believe I am.”

“Wellsir, I have good news for you. I managed your mother’s insurance policy and it appears that she was still covered at the time of her death after all. Not by much, but it should cover a SMALL funeral and her hospital bills.”

“That is good news. I’m sorry…I didn’t get your name sir?”

“Wilson, I represent Private and Casuality Insurance.

“And my mother had a policy with you?”

“She was a good, close friend. I am so sorry for your loss Mr. Selkirk.”

RJ had never heard of the company, but he could dimly remember a salesman coming by years ago when he was in college. He was certain the company name wasn’t P&C Insurance though. He was about to ask about the actual amount when the silence was interrupted.

“I won’t keep you long, if you could put Mrs. Moore back ….put Mrs. Moore on the phone I will make all the arrangements with her.”

RJ looked up from the phone to see Mrs. Moore standing silently in the door, she looked as if she expected RJ to be esctactic about the insurance news. In fact, the slipup Mr. Wilson just made led him to believe she had called him, not the other way around. He gestured her forward. “He wants to talk to you now.”

“Good news, yes?” she said as she took the phone from him. RJ was determined not to be manipulated into gushing his thanks, so he nodded solemnly “It appears so. Thank you for taking the time to talk to him.”

She looked disappointed at RJ’s reaction, but then waved it off. “Its nothing, we talk to insurers all the time in this business.”

RJ went back down the hall to the basement and Mr. Moore nodded at him and turned to his brothers. “I think your brother has something to say.” Both brothers quit bickering where they stood and looked over. RJ wasn’t going to say anything but it seemed he was being guided along a path whether he wanted it or not.

“That was an insurance company. He said mom had a SMALL policy that should help.” Ron showed immediate relief and sat back down, Kelly eyed him suspiciously “How SMALL is SMALL big brother?”  RJ shrugged “I didn’t ask for an exact amount, he’s talking to Mrs. Moore right now. RJ gestured to the door “Go and ask if you like.” He let the offer hang for a long moment, but Kelly made no effort to move towards the door.

Mr. Moore cleared his throat again and said “The evening grows long. Let us proceed under the assumption that a…modest funeral can now be afforded. Please look at the brochures I have placed on the table before you…”

RJ’s mind was trying to shut down on him. He didn’t want to be here picking out dresses for his mother to be buried in, he didn’t want to be awake at all at the moment, but every question came around to him, what he wanted, his brothers either being mute on the subjects of coffins and color schemes, or turning the question around on him. He remembered the final amount barely fell short of the estimate Mr. Moore had originally put forth, he must have had years of guiding people thru difficult questions at at time when they were most in denial, the most emotional. Kelly left during a discussion of makeup and skintones saying he had to get back up Wilson’s creek before it was too dark. Ron stayed thru the final decisions, and they got everything covered but picking out a tombstone which had to wait till the next day now that it was long after closing time. When the Moore’s walked them to the door and said their goodnights Ron turned to RJ and said “Son you look like 45 miles of bad road.”

“Isn’t that just 5 miles of bad road?”

Ron grinned and thumped the top of his pickup. RJ noted he was walking stiffly and holding his back rigidly. “In this case Bro, I mean every mile of it!  Follow me back to my place you can sleep on the sofa. Pay no mind to the sound of gunshot, just stay close.”

RJ gave him a startled look and he laughed again “You are so easy to rattle Big Bro, I’m just pulling your leg.”

RJ turned his car around in the parking lot and pulled up behind his brother’s pickup. Ron hit the gas and spun out in a cloud of dust and gravel as he got traction on the hard tarmac surface. RJ was hard pressed to stay close as his brother sped confidently thru town in the half light of the evening. Someone waved to Ron from the drugstore doorway and he drove around the courthouse and back to talk to whomever it was. RJ pulled into the spot behind him and waited while his brother talked and joked with whoever it was. He had time to read the bumpersticker on his brother’s truck just before as it pulled wildly away again. It read “If God is your co-pilot, you need to move over.”