From Bunkers to Palaces

Part 12 - Creep

A month passed...

Taking the hand offered her, Kate allowed Harry, the driver, to help her from the car.

She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, then when he closed the door, she saw her image again and looked around in the case an older-looking woman was standing behind her.

The black dress, the grey wig, the old-fashioned round glasses, slightly darkened; not to speak of the black hat that looked like it came from a costume collection in a museum, Kate looked every bit a matriarch of the church. Taking Doctor Foreman's arm, she limped along beside him, using a walking stick in her other hand. Yes, a walking stick, and she needed it too. The time it had taken her to be able to walk upright using the walking stick was annoying to her. At last, today, she was allowed up and out of the confinement she had been in for the past month.

This funeral, today, it was HER funeral! Ouch.

The minister at the graveside urged the few dozen people to move closer. He read scriptures...

Drawing a deep breath, she longed for this part to be over. It'd been bad enough, at her home-town church, she could barely stop herself from screaming out the truth —"Hey it's me, here! I'm not dead! I'm alive!"

But, Amma and Richard, her doctors, all, had threatened she not be permitted to come today if she had any thought of not playing this part. She had thought long about that — not coming today. Half of her didn't want to be here, especially now, when they were going to bury her and it was a great, big lie.

Kate still felt resentment to Richard, and especially so to her father who was yet to attend. She wondered now if he was even going to come. The only one she felt sure she could depend on was Amma. Even when she had learned that Amma was, in reality, Richard's grandmother, she believed in her.

Amma had known her since she... well, forever, Kate mused. Richard had been sitting beside Amma in church back when he saw Kate for the first time, and she had seen him, but for some reason, she'd got caught up with her girl friends and Richard had left with his grandmother before they could talk. Kate had been really upset that she hadn't had time with Amma who often took her out for lunch after the service. Richard and Kate's clandestine friendship had begun after that day.

That was all a lie too, Kate told herself. Ten years being a pen-pal to him and it was all for nothing.

Amma moved to the other side of her now, pushing an arm under hers, holding her hand from beneath. The month hadn't been long enough for Kate to recover. For the final stage of Kate's rehabilitation, some rebuilding of her system and healing needing to take place. There was so much more life ahead for Kate that she had agreed with Amma that it would be best to put the former part of her life way behind her.

The minister spoke of Kate as being 'a troubled soul now at peace with her Lord'.

A troubled soul. One thing for sure, she did not want to be that troubled soul any longer... but where and how, would she find peace here on this earth? Would she have to wait for heaven for such peace?

She watched the coffin lowering into the ground and couldn't bring herself to join in the singing of the hymn, 'In the Sweet By and By'.

She tried to free her hands, her arms, but found them held firm. Bowing her head, it was all she could do to stop herself weeping. She shouldn't have come.

"You can begin again," Amma said, her voice a whisper, but oh so kind. "Be glad that you're not in that box."

Part of Kate felt she should be there, her soul would be in the arms of the angels, flying away. What a beautiful song, it would be playing soon, she'd asked them to play it here. The haunting music had always been of comfort to her.