Read Online Abomination by Bradley Convissar - Free Book Online

guilty for enjoying his own repast while his mother suffered.
    They ate in a bubble of silence, the raucous screams and giggles of a pair of young children echoing loudly around them muted by the weight of personal tragedy.  The hush was finally broken when Steve finished his lunch.  Jamie was mindlessly picking at the small shards of broken fries spread before him when his stepfather looked at him and asked, “Have you given any thought to what you want to say at the funeral?”
    Jamie stopped playing with the remnants of his food, his fingers freezing. He looked up slowly, his mind churning.  “I didn’t even consider it,” he said slowly.  And he hadn’t.  The thought of getting up before a small group of geriatric strangers to deliver a eulogy had never crossed his mind. 
    “You really should,” Steve said.  “It would mean a lot to your grandfather.”
    “Did he ask me to?”
    “No.  But I think it would be nice if you did.  You were close, after all.”
    “I figured grandpa would say something.  And mom.  And maybe Great Aunt Barbara.”  Barbara Jackson was his grandmother’s youngest sister (and now the only living Blackwell child out of five); a spry seventy year old widow who had her hair professionally dyed a reddish-orange color every other month and still walked four miles every day on a pair of artificial hips.  His grandmother and Aunt Barb hadn’t always been close, Anna being the oldest and Barbara the youngest, but when their only brother died of a cerebral aneurism seven years ago, leaving just the two of them (the two other sisters had died over a decade earlier), their relationship found a new life.
    “I’m sure they’ll all say something,” Steve said, “but you should, too.  You’re the last of the bloodline.  I know your grandfather would appreciate hearing you say some nice, heartfelt things about your grandmother.”
    Jamie opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it.  Steve was right.  Of course he was right: he was a licensed therapist specializing in marriage therapy and grief counseling.  Besides, Jamie didn’t want to come off as a petulant child.  He was twenty-six years old, a doctor, and a loving grandson who owed his existence to his grandmother.  He wasn’t being asked to stand in front of hundreds of his fellow dentists and give a professional lecture.  He was being asked to spend five minutes sharing memories of a woman he loved very much.  That much he could do.
    “Okay, I’ll do it.”
    His mother looked up and smiled at him.  Thank you , it said.                     
     
     
    They piled back into the car and continued their trip towards Boca Raton, where two rooms at a Best Western had been reserved for them.  Steve found a single classic rock station on the radio, the only station not playing rap or Spanish music, and the jovial voice of Paul McCartney and his fellow Beatles filled the car.   
    Jamie’s eyes drifted beyond the window as the upbeat Penny Lane played in the background.  He watched as an endless parade of palm trees rolled by under a perfect blue sky dotted by wisps of clouds.  He sighed as the magical state of Florida transformed before him. Ever since his grandparents moved to Boca ten years ago, his family had taken a yearly sojourn down to the sunshine state.  Sometimes they drove, sometimes they flew.  But every year they came.  Every year.  Sometimes they would go to Disney World and Epcot in Orlando, other times they would go to Miami and shop and sit on the beach.  But they always took at least two days of their vacation and spent it at his grandparents’ house.  To Jamie, coming to Florida was like stepping into another world, a beautiful and mystical land of sunshine and enchantment where the cares of everyday life just vanished.
    That façade faded as Jamie watched the miles disappear before him.  The magic was gone and suddenly Florida felt like a flat, alien place to him,