Scott Nicholson - Burial to follow

"In the living room," Marlene said. "On the hearth by the chrysanthemums."

"You sure you’re okay?" the widow asked.

"Just a little heartburn," he said. "It’ll pass."

"Hope it wasn’t them deviled eggs," Sarah said. "I knew we should have put them in the refrigerator."

"Probably ate too much of that goddamned Parsons pie," Alfred said.

Sarah turned from the sink. "No, if it was the pie, we’d all be sick. We all had some."

"Not me," Marlene said. "I’m on a diet."

Roby nearly dropped the flowers on his way out of the room.

He’d forgotten Marlene.

Barnaby left first, followed by Cindy. Alfred had to drive her home because she didn’t have a car. The widow had turned in early, and Anna Beth went upstairs to read to her, to help take the edge off the loneliness. Buck, Sarah and Marlene sat on the couch, Roby on a worn vinyl footrest. Jacob’s rocker sat empty beside the coffee table, and the four of them were turned as if Jacob still sat in it.

"I still say we sell it all," Buck said. "Except the tractor."

"When did you become part of ‘we’?" Marlene said.

"He’s my husband," Sarah said. "We share and share alike."

"He wouldn’t be saying that if Alfred was here."

"Don’t worry about Alfred," Roby said. He was trying to figure out a way to get Marlene out into the kitchen. He’d have to scrounge through the trash can and find some of the pie that he’d swept up. Then trick her into eating it somehow.

"Well, I don’t want to stay in these mountains forever. You ever been to that mall in Raleigh? They got a fountain right there in the middle of it, under a glass roof, and a hundred stores, half of them selling nothing but clothes. Name stuff, fancy, not those off-the-rack seconds we get in Barkersville."

"Marlene, why don’t you think about somebody besides yourself for a change?" Sarah said.

"Just ‘cause you’re stuck here don’t mean I have to be."

"We’re all stuck here. You’re part of this place, no matter how far you run."

"Now," Roby said. "You girls just lost your daddy. Don’t be at each other’s throats."

"Since when did it get to be any of your business?" Buck said.

"I’m almost as much family as you are."

"Why don’t you take your ass to the kitchen and let us work this out? Better yet, why don’t you just get on home? You’re way past polite, to be staying this late."

Roby knew it. There were unwritten laws to sittings, the food, the settling of affairs, the burial arrangements. He was a creature of habit, steeped in tradition, and had been to more sittings than he could count. He’d eaten dozens of death pies, he’d served up thousands of plates to grieving relatives. And easy rested those who’d trusted their hearts and souls to Roby.

Except for Jacob Davis Ridgehorn.

Roby stood. "Maybe you’re right, Buck. Forgive me, ladies." He bent low. "I reckon I’ll see you at the viewing tomorrow."

"Wait a second," Marlene said. "You going to help clean up the kitchen?"

"It’s the least I could do," Roby said.

He’d washed the last round of dishes, including another go at Jacob’s denture glass, before he tried anything on Marlene. He knew he didn’t have Harold’s good looks or charm or pure heart. All Roby had was a stubborn streak. And a crumpled piece of pie.

"Want to go for a walk?" he asked, careful to keep his voice even.

"I don’t know. I’m awful tuckered."

"Just to get some fresh air. I’ll have you in bed before you know it." He realized what he’d just said, how she might take it. "I mean-"

She grinned and shook her head. "Roby Snow. I thought you didn’t have a single bad thought in your head."

"I don’t-I mean, well, it’s a pretty night, and I could use some fresh air. This kitchen has got me feeling cramped." He thought of Jacob, who’d soon be confined in a casket.

Marlene looked toward the kitchen entrance, considering. "Well, okay. Just don’t try nothing. I’m not in the mood."

"I’m not, either."

She gave him that patented Marlene pout and put away the last of the food. The Frigidaire was jam packed, the freezer so full that bags of raspberries fell out when the door opened. The top of the refrigerator was covered with the remnants of cakes and homemade loaves of bread.

They went outside into the cool darkness. The dew had settled early, fat and slick on the blades of grass. Alfred had put the cows in the barn on his way out, and now the pastures were empty under the weak gleam of moon. Black trees stood like long, scrawny scarecrows along the fence line.

Marlene walked a few steps ahead, following the worn path that bordered the garden and led to the creek. The water was silver in the night, gurgling and licking at the smooth stones. The aroma of cow manure and cut hay filled the sky. The tobacco had been harvested and speared on stakes to dry, and the silent rows seemed alive with small moving shadows.

"How could you ever leave this place?" Roby asked.

"Easy. If you lived here, you’d want to be gone, too."

"No. I’ve been out there, to other places. The big city. I’ve been places where you wouldn’t believe, even if I told you."

Marlene stopped along a broken wooden fence and leaned against a post. Her face was turned to the moon, its light soft on her cheeks. Roby realized she was probably beautiful. Maybe this is what Harold saw in her, what all those other men had seen in her. A glow that came from inside.

Maybe that’s why people gave their hearts to each other.

No. That was foolishness. Roby had a job to do. Something more important than the things between a man and woman, the twin beating of hearts. His business was between life and death.

"Can I ask you something?" Roby asked.

"You just did."

"Something scary."

She looked at him, then back to the house with its distant squares of light. "Roby, I do believe you’re trying to get fresh."

"Hey, I’m serious."

"Yeah. Just like every other man."

"It’s about your daddy."

The crickets chirped louder. Something moved in the shrubs along the creek.

"I don’t want to talk about him," she said, so low that Roby could barely hear her.

"This is important."

"I don’t care. He’s dead."

"I know. But he talked to me, told me what you folks ought to do."

"Well, he told Momma, too. And Barnaby Clawson. And just about every damned body except us. The ones who have to decide."

"He told me last night."

Marlene had no answer for that. Her breath came fast and shallow, her eyes wide and wet with moonlight. "Don’t talk like that."

"He come to me, Marlene. While I was asleep." A little lie, but he’d told worse. In truth, he hadn’t been asleep at all.

"Don’t tell me you’re one of those crazy people who dream about dead folks? I liked you better when you was just another guy trying to work his way inside my dress."

"This ain’t about liking or not liking. It’s about doing what’s right." Roby eased forward, his boots hushed in the grass.

"Marlene turned, tried to run, but was cornered by the fence and the underbrush. "Get back, or I swear I’ll scream."

He stopped a few feet from her. She could scream, but Buck and Sarah wouldn’t find them for at least two minutes. Plenty of time. "I ain’t going to hurt you. I just want you to do one thing."

"Sure you do. And I was ready to do it. Only now I don’t want to."

Roby reached into his pocket and brought out the mashed and balled wad of sweet potato pie. He held out his fist, hoping his hand wasn’t shaking. "Here."

She was suspicious. "What’s that?"

"For you."

She looked at his hand as if he held a snake. "What is it?"