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It tookIt had never been so hard to tell Lena no Sure, my soul would sizzle in the bowels of Hell for eternity, but on the other hand, I was going to live for at least another thousand years I wouldn&039;t have to worry about Hell for a long time

And I believed her when she said she could help me She wouldn&039;t have shown up here if she couldn&039;t help me Even noas tempted to yell for her, call her back, make a deal

Had she said funerals, as in plural?

The desk extension rang, and I nearly jumped out theWhat now? I snatched up the receiver "Hello?"

"Betsy? It&039;s Mom"

"Hi, Mom You&039;re up late"

"Babyjon had a late nap," she said ruefully "But I don&039;t have anything scheduled for toood"

"Sohow are you?"

"Not so good," I ads are kind of a mess" And I deeply, deeply covet Satan&039;s footwear

"I&039;m sorry," she said at once "I can relate to what you&039;re saying, hon, make no mistake Do you believe the funeral announcement didn&039;t come out until yesterday? I could have sworn I made the newspaper&039;s deadline, but they said I missed it by twenty-four hours"

"What? You mean Dad and the Ant&039;s funeral?"

"Isn&039;t that stupid? My point is, I&039;ve been a bit of a scatterbrain since the accident And I know Itime My only excuse isI don&039;t really know It&039;s not like I was still in love with your father I guess I wasn&039;t ready to say good-bye forever Not so soon after you died, anyway"

"I didn&039;t think about it that way," I said "I guess I shouldn&039;t have been such a jerk"

"Your father died, dear You were entitled"

"Well, I wasn&039;t there by myself So how did Dad&039;s coworkers know to be there?"

"Oh, I&039;d called your dad&039;s secretary-Lorraine?- the day I heard about the accident And I guess she called the others And you know your step Lorraine for her charity work That&039;s how her friends knew to come And of course, I had called youreat that reat that ere patching things up Why, then, did I feel so weird? Sort of sick to my stomach and excited at the same time? I was filled with a kind of happy dread, if there was such a thing

"I thought I&039;d bring the baby to see Jessica to

I barely heard her Start at the beginning The funeral was the beginning There was no announcement So the only people there, would have been people who knewwho knew

"I&039;ll visit during afternoon hours if you&039;d like to join us"

"MARJORIE!" I shouted and heard the receiver crunch as I squeezed it too hard