“Tell me you not about to try to use my nephew’s funeral as a press opp,” Day stated. He shook his head. He didn’t even wait for a response. “See yourself out, Da’vi. I got somewhere to be. I got a funeral to plan.”
Day stood inside Williams Funeral Home. He had been in this position many times. Only this time, it wasn’t some fallen rapper or an old friend from the block that he was there to pay respect to. This time, he was there to make arrangements for his nephew, and it made him want to vomit. He had been there the day DJ was born. He remembered it like it was yesterday. They had popped champagne right in the waiting room to celebrate. It had been a joyous occasion. It was the day that Demi had forced him to make a pact to take their business legit. He hadn’t wanted to be a father who brought dirt into his home from the streets. He didn’t want his wife to worry about him not coming home one day. They transitioned into a full-blown corporation and pulled out of the drug game the day after DJ’s birth. The boy had basically saved their lives because shortly after that, their old partner, Duke, had gotten sent upstate for drug trafficking.They would have been right beside him if they hadn’t made the decision to fly straight. They still had a firm hold on their old territory and collected taxes from the local hustlers for allowing them to occupy those blocks, but on paper, they were clean. They went from block huggers to CEOs. Day was positive that he wouldn’t be alive today if DJ hadn’t been born. A baby being in the picture had forced them to accept their responsibilities as grown men. DJ was a gift, and they had failed him. It never should have ended like this. Day had been around death his entire life, and never did it shake him to this extent. DJ’s body was hard to stomach.
“They can’t see him like this, man. This ain’t my nephew,” Day stated as he turned away from DJ’s body. It was so hard to see this child lifeless in front of him.
“It’s just a natural process that happens after death. Gas starts building up almost immediately. It’s just bloating,” the funeral director said. “There isn’t much that we can do to stop it. That’s why we urge families to hold quick services. Within the week is best. Do you have any idea when the parents will want to hold the funeral?”
“Soon,” Day said as he checked his phone. “They’re pulling up now. I want this as uncomplicated as possible. The insurance isn’t necessary. They can keep all that. I want every bill to come to me, and don’t hit me with no inflated prices. Just give my nephew the very best on his way out.” Day went into his back pocket and pulled out a platinum card. “Put it all on there and be sensitive. Whatever they want, you hear me?”
“Understood, sir,” the man replied.
Lauren walked into the building and her body reacted. Her stomach twisted as pangs of panic caused her throat to constrict.She was so lightheaded that she had to reach for Demi’s forearm to steady her.
“Mr. and Mrs. Sky, I’m Michael. My deepest sorrows. On behalf of Williams Funeral Home, I’d like you to know we will make this process as uncomplicated as possible for you.”
“My son died. How can you uncomplicate that?” Lauren asked. No sarcasm lived in her. She was truly inquisitive, desperate, in fact, for the solution to this conundrum. “It’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to live through. It’s taxing. To breathe. To walk. To talk. It hurts. Please help me uncomplicate this,” she whispered, tears returning. She spoke with so much despair that the man’s eyes misted.
He took one of her hands and clasped it. “God be with you, Mrs. Sky.” He gave Demi a glance and a concerned look. “God be with you both. May I show you some options for you to lay your boy to rest in? We can’t control when they go, but we can controlhowthey go. I want your boy to go in something handpicked by his mother.”
Lauren wanted to resist this entire process. She kept waiting for this nightmare to end. She had dreamed of things like this before. Usually, the moment before doom arrived, she would pop up in a cold sweat and thank God that it hadn’t been real. That had to be what this was. It was a bad dream, the worst dream. She could tell by the look in everyone’s eyes that it wasn’t. She wouldn’t wake up this time.
“Come on, sis,” Day encouraged gently. “We got you.”
Demi’s hand on the small of her back reminded her legs to work, and she followed the man through double doors into a conference room. Kleenex rested on the table in anticipation of her tears.
Michael sat at the head of the table while Demi and Lauren sat beside one another. Day stood near the door, arms folded in front of his body.
“We have many options for you guys to choose from, but I think the most important will be deciding how you want to prepare the body,” Michael stated.
“There’s more than one way?” Demi asked.
“Well, we could embalm him and prepare him for burial, or we could cremate him and send him home with the two of you.”
“You want to burn my son’s body?” Demi asked, offended.
“Typically, parents of young children prefer it,” Michael informed.
“We’re not doing that,” Demi protested. His answer was astute. He didn’t even need time to consider it. His son would be laid to rest peacefully, not burned into nothing.
Lauren was silent. She reached for a tissue and then soaked up the tears racing down her face. “If we cremate him, we’ll still have him with us. He’ll still be here. I don’t know if I can just stick him in a hole and walk away.”
Demi looked at her in shock. Of the many conversations they had indulged in over the years, dealing with death had not been one of them. Her answer surprised him.
“We’re not walking away, Lo. We’re giving him back. The earth is a living thing. The dirt. The grass. It all grows. It’s peaceful. My son went through hell these last few months, and you want to burn him? He got to know peace now. It’s my job to lay him down peacefully.”
“He’s not just your son! You don’t get to come in here and play dutiful father after how you abandoned us. You get a say, but I pushed him from my body. The final say will be mine.”
Demi saw red. He leaned into Lauren and took her face into the U of his hand as he gritted his teeth. He was stuck somewhere between sadness and rage. He could feel sorrow burrowing in. The sting behind her accusation was enough to hollow his stomach, and he was a grown man. Life was undressing him, exposing him. The man presentingthe information to them tensed, and Day stepped forward to intervene, but Demi conceded, releasing her as he shook his head.
“That’s the bullshit he heard you say time and time again? How many times did you tell him that shit after I left?” He couldn’t imagine how many bitter moments Lauren had put negative thoughts in DJ’s head about their divorce. Demi hadn’t abandoned DJ. He had left Lauren, but the way she had presented the split damaged DJ’s perception of things. Demi knew he had been wrong for cheating; he wasn’t innocent, but he had a right to move on. He had never wanted to leave DJ behind, however. Lo had made things difficult for him following the divorce. She had played games. She hadn’t respected the custody agreement all the time, and he didn’t press it because he knew she was hurting. He wished he had. He wished he had insisted on having DJ in his presence more than he conceded to her wishes to keep him home. He pushed his rolling chair back from the table. “You still think them cuts on his arms came out of nowhere?”
Demi opened the conference room doorwith so much force he cracked the glass pane. He doubled back and placed a stern finger in her face. “Marriages end, Lo.”
“Marriages don’t end, Demi! They aren’t designed to end! You deserted ours! The truth fucking hurts, don’t it?”
“I don’t think we should focus on the negative in this…”
The funeral director tried to interrupt the chaos, but Demi was on Lo’s ass like white on rice.
