Free Fran Rizer - Callie Parrish 06 - A Corpse Under the Christmas Tree by Fran Rizer Page B

children than someone who only has one? You can’t replace a child, no matter how many you have.”
    “You could replace a wife and a child, Granpa,” Johnny suggested. “You could marry somebody new who had a child or your new wife could have a baby.”
    Daddy’s eyebrows lifted in that way he does sometimes when he’s surprised. The rest of us laughed at the thought of Daddy with a new baby. “And I might just do that someday, but a new wife would be just that—a new wife, but not a replacement, and I’m perfectly happy with the kids I’ve got, though a few more grandchildren would be nice.” With that, he cut his eyes toward me.
    At that moment, James Brown embarrassed me by shouting from my bosom.
    “Hello,” I answered.
    “This is Otis. What’s the chance of your coming back by here when you finish dinner with your family? Didn’t you transfer all the prepaid funeral files to the computer?”
    “I did.”
    “Where are the original folders?”
    “In boxes upstairs on the second floor.”
    “Frank Patterson is coming over, and we’re going to need to access some files. It’ll be easier if you’re here and can pull this stuff up on the computer instead of having to dig out the box and paperwork.”
    “I’ll be back soon. We’ve finished eating, and Daddy’s going over to Miss Lettie’s again.”
     
    • • •
     
    Otis may have needed me to find what he wanted on the computer, but when I arrived, he was bringing a big box of files down the stairs from the upstairs room that had been casket storage until recently and the Middletons’ living room before then.
    “What’s going on?” I asked.
    “Have you heard of that new natural burying ground?”
    “The one in the green cemetery where we buried that lady’s husband and planted the crape myrtle tree?”
    “No, this is even newer. They advertise that ‘you can be your own undertaker’ and not involve anyone except the owner of the ground.”
    “What’s the name of this cemetery?”
    “It’s not a cemetery! It’s a field where they’re burying people without caskets, not even those cardboard or basket ones; no vaults of any kind, not even concrete blocks around the body to keep the earth from sinking; no memorial markers, don’t even plant a tree; no service at all. The burying ground man just digs a hole, dumps the body in, and covers it up. The family doesn’t pick the spot. He’s got them lined up and ‘planting’ bodies side by side, back to front, so he doesn’t drive his tractor over an existing grave because he’s packing them in as close as possible. It’s a field, just a common field. Go look it up on the Internet. I think it’s called Fields of Flowers Green Funeral Services.”
    I did as I was told. Fields of Flowers had a webpage fit for a rock star. Across the top in sparkle letters was, “Save $ and our environment with natural burial.” Below that, a picture of beautiful wildflowers served as background for bold goldenrod-colored letters: FIELD of FLOWERS NATURAL CEMETERY. For under a thousand dollars, Field of Flowers would sell a plot and provide opening and closing of the grave. For an additional one hundred dollars plus seventy-five cents a mile, they would transport the body from place of death or the morgue to the cemetery with no stops. Since embalming, caskets, vaults, and memorials weren’t allowed, those were the only choices. They also provided (for one dollar) a brochure explaining how to obtain death certificates. As each section of the cemetery was filled, the owners would plant it with wildflowers. Sweet, simple, and cheap without having to pay a preacher or musician either.
    I have to admit that if I wasn’t involved in the mortuary industry myself, it would sound pretty good to me, but I’d been with Middleton’s long enough that I believed in the value of a funeral service where the family and loved ones could be comforted by their pastor and remember the deceased together.
    Would