“Are you serious?

You just threw it in the dirt?” I asked.

Dustin jingled the loose keys in his dress pants pocket.

He stepped up next to our father and chuckled quietly.

“He means the old bat was broke, sis,” Dustin said.

“Good thing these plots are rent-free.

Otherwise we’d be paying for her forever.”

Pastor Samuel cleared his throat loudly.

He closed his thick leather Bible and stepped back from the slippery wet grass.

“We commit her to the earth,” Pastor Samuel said quietly.

The service was over, ruined before it had even finished.

We walked back toward the parking lot.

The dry oak leaves on the pavement rustled like sandpaper under our dress shoes.

The smell of damp wool coats filled the cold air as we gathered near Pamela’s luxury SUV.