Chapter 36

“Oh, dear,” she finally said. “He lost so much weight while he was sick—that suit swallows him whole.”

She gazed at her late husband for another long minute or three; then she pressed her fingers to her lips and touched them to his forehead.

“Okay, boys,” she said, “that’s enough.”

She moved over to one end of the casket and stood, the two of us still at either side. It was evidently the signal everyone had been waiting for, and a receiving line formed almost at once. Many of those present knew Kevin, or at least remembered him as a boy or young man. I was introduced to everyone in line, but after the first dozen, the names and faces became a blur. Kevin’s parents and siblings were polite, but not chatty, and mercifully, his siblings’ rug rats weren’t in evidence

Finally, it was over, and we drove back to the farm, each of us lost in our own thoughts. We changed into casual clothes and joined Mrs. Simpson in the living room.