Anna in the Afterlife

Anna in the Afterlife Read Online Free PDF

Book: Anna in the Afterlife Read Online Free PDF
Author: Merrill Joan Gerber
Tags: Fiction, Literary, Anna in the Afterlife
Shura Sheindel .”
    â€œI thought it was Rifka .”
    â€œNo, that was Grandma, I think.”
    â€œLook, the cemetery needs a Jewish name for the records and for when the rabbi says the prayer.”
    â€œWe’re not having rabbi,” Anna’s girls said in unison. “Our mother didn’t want a rabbi,” Janet added.
    â€œHoney, we’re not burying a pet here. Don’t you want Anna Goldman to depart with dignity? What kind of funeral can it be for your mother without a rabbi?”
    Because the funeral had to be on a Sunday, there would be a charge of $200 to open the grave and $200 more for overtime. Because the mortuary didn’t want the coffins shifting around in wet weather, they required a two-piece sealed concrete grave liner, an additional $400. “You wouldn’t want your mother to end up under the plaque of Hymie Schwartz, would you?” their counselor prompted.
    â€œDoes the concrete liner keep out the bugs?” Carol inquired.
    â€œHoney, nothing keeps the bugs out. I’m sorry to tell you this, but even the $10,000 bronze casket doesn’t do the trick. Dust unto dust, it’s the way of the world.” She checked her list. “You brought clothes?”
    Janet handed over a paper bag that the woman peeked into.
    â€œA bathrobe? You want your mother buried in a bathrobe?”
    â€œWe want her comfortable,” Carol said. It was Anna’s favorite red quilted bathrobe with little blue anchors on it. She could see that one of her daughters had replaced the plastic buttons with new gold ones for the occasion. (Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that her sister Gert had taught the girls to sew.)
    â€œYou want anything buried with her?”
    â€œHer book of Chopin nocturnes. It’s there in the bag.”
    â€œA musical mother, how nice.”
    The girls stared at one another and inhaled deeply. Janet consulted her watch. The Russian Czarina went down the list of costs: the transfer of the body to Burning Bush, the use of the refrigerated holding area, hairdresser, cosmetics, bathing, and the placing of the features in repose as well as the fees for the memorial arrangement coordinator, the personnel for traffic service, ushers, flower arrangements, clerical support, memorial prayer booklets, acknowledgment cards, seven-day yahrzeit candle, filing fee, death certificate, burial permit, and sales tax.
    â€œWe have one copy of the death certificate here. You’ll have to pay to have others made; you’ll need them for social security, insurance, other legal matters. And you’ll need an announcement in the paper. Do you want it mentioned that your mother died from Alzheimer’s?” the Russian asked.
    â€œAlzheimer’s!” Anna’s daughters cried at the same moment.
    â€œSo it says on the death certificate.”
    â€œIt’s wrong. The doctor, if he thinks my mother’s mind was gone—he’s the one with Alzheimer’s.”
    â€œThey often write down Alzheimer’s, it covers everything,” the Russian said. “If the doctor had to fill this out on New Year’s Eve, as I see he did, he made it easy for himself.”
    â€œWe have to have it changed,” Janet stated. “She died of pneumonia.”
    â€œDarling, what’s the difference? You want to spend a week calling up people? You want to hold up the wheels of bureaucracy?”
    â€œNever mind,” Carol said. “It doesn’t matter, does it?” Carol turned to Janet. “Let’s just get out of here.”
    â€œWe want to be sure that no one uses makeup on her. Our mother doesn’t want any makeup.”
    â€œLook, girls, I understand your mother gave you a lot of instructions, she sounds like a tough cookie, but you’ll want a little makeup if the skin turns black or blue, and it sometimes does—especially since you have to wait so many days I’d say, go for
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