The Business of Death

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow,

Caroline's RA has flared up. It is unsurprising, she's had a big week of ups and downs. Probably more ups, but all the uncertainty takes its toll.

All the same she seemed in good spirits today. I heard her on the phone with Feefs, discussing her interview yesterday. 

Caro is very upbeat about potentially working at the funeral home. She really enjoyed the people and the fact that there is a funeral home dog (a little Jack Russell). 

"I never expected so many laughs in a funeral home," she told them. 

Understandably, she also told them about her RA as it might affect her ability to do her job. She has lost all the strength in her wrists and dropping a corpse is a bad look. 

"Oh I have RA too!" said one of the funeral directors. "Some days I'm in here like a little old lady!"

You see? Caro felt so much better and happier and more confident after her interview. 

Caro was also concerned that she'd have to drive the big monster of an Oldsmobile that the funeral home uses. 

"Oh we ALL hate driving that thing," laughed one of the women. "And anyway, you'll never be sent out on your own."

Caro asked them what part of the job they found confronting at first. 

"Oh, the crematorium, definitely," they both agreed. 

"It was like facing the Gates of Hell, the first time I saw it," one said. 

They told her that ashes often contained partially unconsumed bone and this could be disturbing at first. I overheard Caro telling her sister that one woman had found an entire human skeleton in ash form, when the crem had done its work. 

"But then when she touched it, the whole thing turned to ASH," said Caro. 

There was a pause. 

"That is so COOL!" said Feefs. 

Feefs is not at all bitter that Caro may get to pick up where her dream career left off. "Maybe one day we could start our own business!" she enthused. "We could be SISTERS IN DEATH."

It sounds like a great name for a 1980's metal band. 

So Caro had a good Friday. And her wrists are much better now.

S.