Lying, barely revised

"What a lovely spot, Abe."

"I know it doesn't look like much now, Joel, but I think you'll be pleased with what we do with it."

"No, no. That is...of course. I'm sure."

"We've decided to landscape it a little differently from your typical cemetery -- well, your typical American cemetery, you know. Ephram has some big ideas. Some great ideas."

Mildred had been a saint, really. Looking after that motley bundle of barely functional offspring and this odd door prize of a husband all those years. And Joel had no idea about Abraham's mental situation. A saint. The injustice of her dying first escaped no one at the grave side service except the four people she'd lived with for forty plus years. 

Stunned, yes. The children were certainly stunned anyway. Too stunned to feel anything else about her death, the unusual burial site, or even about their immediate futures. Russell, the eldest, would leave on Monday for his fourth sex tour of Southeast Asia. Sei would meet the bailiffs that same day to begin serving his four-year sentence for growing pot. Rachel, Sei's twin, will go home after the funeral to live alone with her father, too weak from all her surgeries to work or do much more than nap or watch t.v.

Joel worried that Rachel wouldn't be able to take care of her father if he really was deranged enough to dump Mildred's body in a deserted lot like this. Not that he was so concerned either about his brother-in-law or about his niece. He just didn't want to get roped into helping them.

They all went back to Joel's house afterwards. There was a lot of food and wine and not many tears. 

[my reading partner had great feedback that I haven't been able to implement quite yet -- most grateful for other ideas as well]