The Loved One
Predecedent 'Arrangements'
Mary Ann Edman
October 1, 1997
"The story you are about to read is true. The names have been changed to protect the living." Necessities of life require dealing with the subject of death and the details relating thereto. "Arrangements" must be made, and to prevent great anxiety during the period of grief, our family determined to deal with this subject prior to my mother's "need." Thus one Saturday afternoon, virtuously avoiding the family penchant for procrastination, my brother, elderly aunt, and I ventured out during the height of a violent preseason hurricane to the Pasquale LaMosca Funeral Home. Pitch blackness, thunder, lightning, and bats were the only props missing at the LaMosca Funeral Home—why are they called "homes"?—a large white edifice attempting to imitate a colonial mansion. Silk clematis vines grabbed at us from their plastic trellises as we sought entry to the locked building in the driving rain. Aunt Basilica finally found a doorbell, and after a long pause the door creaked open. A blast of frigid air hit us. (They keep these places pretty cool so the make-up won't melt.) A shadowy figure led us past a darkened "viewing room" (with occupant) down a somber hall papered with inch-wide gold and green stripes, to the minuscule office of the senior partner, Mr. Pasquale LaMosca, Jr. The funeral director was younger and more jovial than I had expected, the subdued-used-car-salesman type. Aunt Basilica, who had chosen Mr. Pasquale's establishment, had gone through the preliminaries the previous week, so they acted like old friends. We confirmed these preliminaries and also noted that the predecedent has a spot reserved in the family bury patch—thus fortuitously avoiding discussion of the concept and costs of burial locale, ...
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