2124. A lonesome funeral © Bruce Goodman 12 May 2021

It was a very sad funeral. It wasn’t sad simply because there had been a death; it was sad because to all intents and purposes Natalie was the only person who attended it. Some might think for a small funeral that the undertaker and pallbearers and the musician paid to sing Be Still My Soul all count as mourners. But the truth is a funeral attendance headcount can really only include the genuine mourners. Hence, the funeral Natalie attended had a headcount of one. Natalie sang at the top of her voice. She didn’t care. As far as she was concerned, she was the only one there: Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide; In every change, He faithful will remain. In fact there was no organist to help out. She was singing the hymn to the accompaniment of a recording. She had loved Randolph. They had been together for seven years. The volume of Natalie’s singing spoke volumes of her love. When the singing was over she carefully place her dear dead canary in the hole she had dug and filled it in. Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story