Tannerton paced in front of him, a freckled, mop-haired bundle of energy. “How important is it to you to have the usual viewing?”
“Usual viewing?”
“An open casket. Would you find it offensive if we avoided that?”
“I hadn’t really given it a thought,” Joshua said.
“To be honest with you, I don’t know how … presentable the deceased can be made to look,” Tannerton said. “The people at Angels’ Hill didn’t give him quite a full enough look when they embalmed him. His face appears to be somewhat drawn and shrunken. I am not pleased. I am definitely not pleased. I could attempt to pump him up a bit, but patchwork like that seldom looks good. As for cosmetology … well … again, I wonder if too much time has passed. I mean, he apparently was in the hot sun for a couple of hours after he died, before he was found. And then it was eighteen hours in cold storage before the embalming was done. I can certainly make him look a great deal better than he does now. But as for bringing the glow of life back to his face…. You see, after all that he’s been through, after the extremes of temperature, and after this much time, the skin texture has changed substantially; it won’t take makeup and powder at all well. I think perhaps–”
Beginning to get queasy, Joshua interrupted. “Make it a closed casket.”
“No viewing?”
“No viewing.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“Good. Let me see…. Will you want him buried in one of his suits?”
“Is it necessary, considering the casket won’t be open?”
“It would be easier for me if I just tucked him into one of our burial gowns.”
“That’ll be fine.”
“White or a nice dark blue?”
“Do you have something in polka dots?”
“Polka dots?”
“Or orange and yellow stripes?”
Tannerton’s ever-ready grin slipped from beneath his dour funeral director expression, and he struggled to force it out of sight again. Joshua suspected that, privately, Avril was a fun-loving man, the kind of hail-fellow-well-met who would make a good drinking buddy; but he seemed to feel that his public image required him to be somber and humorless at all times. He was visibly upset when he slipped up and allowed the private Avril to appear when only the public man ought to be seen. He was, Joshua thought, a likely candidate for an eventual schizophrenic breakdown.
“Make it the white gown,” Joshua said.
“What about the casket? What style would–”
“I’ll leave that to you.”
“Very well. Price range?”
“Might as well have the best. The estate can afford it.”
“The rumor is he must have been worth two or three million.”
“Probably twice that,” Joshua said.
“But he really didn’t live like it.”
“Or die like it,” Joshua said.
Tannerton thought about that for a moment, then said, “Any religious services?”
“He didn’t attend church.”
“Then shall I assume the minister’s role?”
“If you wish.”
“We’ll have a short graveside service,” Tannerton said. “I’ll read something from the Bible, or perhaps just a simple inspirational piece, something nondenominational.”
They agreed on a time for burial: Sunday at two o’clock in the afternoon. Bruno would be laid to rest beside Katherine, his adoptive mother, in the Napa County Memorial Park.
As Joshua got up to leave, Tannerton said, “I certainly hope you’ve found my services valuable thus far, and I assure you I’ll do everything in my power to make the rest of this go smoothly.”
“Well,” Joshua said, “you’ve convinced me of one thing. I’m going to draw up a new will tomorrow. When my times comes, I sure as hell intend to be cremated.”
Tannerton nodded. “We can handle that for you.”
“Don’t rush me, son. Don’t rush me.”
Tannerton blushed. “Oh, I didn’t mean to–”
“I know, I know. Relax.”
Tannerton cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I’ll… uh … show you to the door.”
“No need. I can find it myself.”
Outside, behind the funeral home, the night was very dark and deep. There was only one light, a hundred-watt bulb above the rear door. The glow reached only a few feet into the velveteen blackness.
In the late afternoon, a breeze had sprung up, and with the coming of the night, it had grown into a gusty wind. The air was turbulent and chilly; it hissed and moaned.