2698. Stuffy people © Bruce Goodman 18 April 2023

They advertised it in the paper. They asked about it here and there. The little country parish church was an earthquake risk. There was no fixing it. It has to be pulled down and replaced. The most viable way to rebuild was to build over the ancient church graveyard. What they wanted to do was to track down as many descendants of those buried in the graveyard and get their consent. Several thousand people were contacted by letter. A plaque with the names of those buried there would be placed at the church entrance. All happily agreed… … except for Calvin Dragg. No way. No way. He would not have his ancestor’s grave desecrated. Calvin Dragg took the church to court. The proposal to rebuild the church was put on hold. A good deal of the money the church had raised was used in lawyers’ fees. Calvin Dragg didn’t hide his glee: “Who gives a hoot if they build a church over the graves of old dead people? But yippee! I pulled those stuffy church people down.” Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story