4
4
<
Kevin was running around, looking stressed.
He had just gotten Mark’s death certificate
when I stormed in.
“Mark, what happened?!”
“How could this happen?!”
My little performance got Kevin and his
crew’s attention.
Kevin turned white as a sheet.
“Who told Mrs. Johnson?
How did she get here?”
People were shaking their heads.
I started sobbing and beat Mark’s chest.
I mean, I was just a grieving widow who’d just
lost her husband.
I put all my anger into each punch, right on
Mark’s face.
He didn’t even flinch.
He probably had his doctor friend pump him
<
full of sedatives so he could pass for a
corpse.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
This was even better.
Kevin saw me whaling on Mark and freaked
out.
He grabbed me by the arm.
“Mrs. Johnson, he’s gone. Please, you need to
calm down!”
“If you keep hitting him like that, he’ll…”
He stopped.
I stopped, too, and gave him a cold look.
“Are you saying there’s still a chance he could
make it?”
Kevin looked like he was going to have a
stroke.
“No, no, no!”
“I’m just saying, the doctor just signed his
く
death certificate!”
Kevin held out the certificate.
I looked at it.
Yep, hospital seal and everything.
I tucked it in my pocket.
“If my husband’s really gone, then I should be
with him in his last moments.”
“You must be exhausted. Go get some rest.
I’ll handle everything.”
Kevin turned even paler and blocked my path.
“I can’t, Mrs. Johnson.”
“Mark specifically said he didn’t want you to
be upset. I need to take care of everything.”
He was basically begging, while frantically
making phone calls.
“Answer the phone! Where are those guys?
How did she get past them?”
I heard every word.
I glared at him.
<
“What was that, Kevin?”
Kevin suddenly had an idea.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me aside.
“Mrs. Johnson, Mark was worried about Nana
Betty. Could you go get her? She needs to
see him one last time. It’s hot, and he needs
to be cremated. Meet us at the funeral
home.”
Classic Kevin.
Trying to get rid of me again.
I didn’t move.
I just smiled.
“Kevin, who’s the assistant here?
If you need someone to get Nana Betty, that’s
your job, not mine. Mark’s my husband. Even
if he’s dead, I’m staying with him.”
“You want the funeral home? I’ll call a cab
and we can go there right now. You get Nana
Betty.”
