Stephen King moments...........

In my own little corner of the world I have been blamed for many things. Sometimes, and only sometimes I am guilty and will admit to those definite blundering mistakes, but if I didn’t do anything and I am blamed, I will fight tooth and nail to absolve myself of blame, that is until an encounter I had Thursday evening.

This passed week a very dear and sweet man passed away. His passing was felt by all who knew him. I really wanted to go to the funeral home and pay my respects to this man and his family, so I had someone cover my shift Thursday night so that I could attend. This is when the “strange encounter from the very weird kind” occurred. Upon arriving my P.I.C and I were shocked to see so many empty spaces in the dark parking lot. We were worried we had the wrong funeral home so my P.I.C rummaged around and found the obituary noticed she had clipped from the paper. Sure enough we had the right place and were well within the allotted visitation time slot. When we got to the door, the usual formal dark suited employed door opener did not open the door for us. He said he didn’t see us, but in all honesty I think the poor bugger fell asleep standing up. Anyway he was able to direct us to the “viewing room” so onward we quietly step. Now we all know how uncomfortable some funeral occasions can be, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect this. The room was empty except for the daughter (I think), the deceased ones grandson, 2 other people and of course the deceased one himself. When we enter the room the 2 people were saying goodbye and giving their condolences to the other 2 family members. My P.I.C and I stood back graciously while they hugged before exiting the room. When we were alone with the 2 family members, the quietness became rather awkward, at least for me, so I introduced myself and my P.I.C. as staff members at the community centre where the deceased had been very active and well liked. There were no smiles or pleased to meet you hand shakes, instead the woman stood with her arms crossed and said as bold as can be……” yes, I think that’s what finally did him in. All the work he did and then he was left with nothing to do”. In a few short seconds I felt like I had entered a very weird Stephen King movie. This woman actually made me feel like I was to blame for this person passing away! To say I was speechless is an understatement. I was passed that and well into the middle of “oh my God I’m so sorry I didn’t mean for this to happen to him! I really did feel like saying please forgive me. My P.I.C. chose that exact moment to step away and pay her respects to the deceased. I hurriedly followed suit and tagged long behind her feeling literally dazed and confused. We both had a moment of quietness with him and then wandered around to look at pictures that had been placed on various tables. Since there was no one around, we signed the guestbook and made our way out. The woman had disappeared along with the formal looking dark suited door opener leaving only the grandson to thank us for coming. Again, Stephen King entered my thoughts giving me the hebe gebe’s and desperately wanting to get out of that place. My P.I.C and I decided to go for a coffee since time was on our side and low and behold, the busiest Tim Horton’s was not busy at all. In fact it only had a few spatterings of customers…enter Stephen King yet again. I’m not sure what was going on Thursday night, but it was certainly a quiet night for the city and rather a strange one at that.