“Run a successful funeral business.”
“Oh,” she said. “That.”
“I liked your ceremony,” I said. “For Maxine. I know I was being a little bitchy about it, but the truth is it wasreally nice. It was better than anything my dad has done. That’s probably why he crawled into his shell.”
I watched as a bag boy waited for an old woman to open the trunk of her enormous Monte Carlo. I kept talking.
“I think you did something really nice for that woman. And it seemed to actually help the family. I’m not sure my dad is there yet. How’d you learn to do it?”
My dad was coming out of the store now, carrying two heavy bags. He pretended they were too heavy and smiled like a goof.
“Why don’t you come to my office?” Grace said. “My assistant can get us some coffee. We’ll talk about it. When are you free?”
I laughed out loud.
“What’s funny about that?”
“I’ve ruined my future,” I said. “I got nothing but time.”
“Come by this afternoon then,” she said.
My dad was loading the bags in the trunk. What would he think if I was meeting with the enemy? Before I could respond, Grace spoke again.
“I’ll see you at three,” she said. “The address is on my card.”
¦¦¦
In the end, I lied to my dad.
What other choice did I have? I sat around half theafternoon trying to think about how I could get him to understand why I needed business advice from his rival. But when the time came, I just told him I needed a giant box of tampons. Then I drove my ugly car to a neighborhood full of art galleries where Grace had her office. When I got there, I stood in front of a big window that faced the avenue. There was a sign hanging just behind the glass that read:
WHAT IS A DEATHCARE MIDWIFE?
Beneath these words was a list of answers to a question that I hadn’t asked:
AN ADVOCATE!We help you deal with anything you need in your time of loss, from legal paperwork to negotiation with area cemeteries and preserves!
A PLANNER!We arrange for in-home wakes and green burials outside of the traditional parlor system!
A STEWARD!We protect local ecological cycles and our planet as a whole with every decision we make!
A few too many exclamation points for my taste (!).
I had just finished reading it all when I heard the tap of fingernails on the glass. I looked past the sign to find a woman in square glasses staring back at me. I walked overto the door and stepped inside the modern office space.
“Miss Fowler?” the woman asked.
She squinted at me like I was out of focus.
“Yes,” I said. “But...”
“You’re early,” she said.
“Right,” I said. “That’s why I was outside.”
“I’ll let Grace know you’re here.”
She walked away and I looked around the small space. Aside from a very tiny coffin display, with models made of wicker, bamboo, and other planet-friendly stuff, you’d never know anyone dealt with death in this place. It looked like the acupuncturist’s office in Manhattan where my mom went.
