Sinister (roguemoon) wrote in oh_marvelous, @ 2010-09-11 17:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | z: om1: !closed, z: om1: location: california, z: om1: past character: nathaniel essex, z: om1: past character: remy lebeau |
Putting the 'Fun' in Funeral
Characters: Anyone who decides hitching a ride out to LA for a funeral is a good idea
Setting: Los Angeles, California
Content: Nothing bad, unless you dislike Jewish funerals.
Summary: Faye Livingstone is buried and other secrets could be unearthed.
"Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, the true Judge," the Rabbi who had been quickly found for this occasion by the Carlysle Nursing Home recited. First in Hebrew and again in English for those who were not of the Jewish faith who had decided to attend. As he did so, he tore a black ribbon into several pieces. There were no immediate family members of the deceased to wear them. But it was part of the rituals of life and death and family or no, the would would be buried properly.
Her casket and the ceremony was held just inside the gates of the estate, a small crowd of no more than twenty people had managed to attend. Half were staff from the Nursing Home, a few were fellow residents, a couple were old colleagues of the woman who were close to their own deaths and only managed to come by virtue of still living in the Los Angeles area. And one, just one, was related by blood. A grand-niece in her thirties who had just enough time and money after seeing the announcement and sharing it with everyone she could, to fly out for the weekend.
Following the ceremony, the small group of casket bearers would take Faye's body up the low hill to the back of the old estate where a small cemetery sat. Empty of any gravestones save the one for Faye. They would stop seven times to recite Psalms 91 along the way and the mourners could trail after and watch the body innerred from a respectable distance.
The nearby home, an old hollywood mansion of marble and stone with a tiled roof that stood no more than two stories tall, would host a small post-funeral get together with a humble amount of food in it's entrance hall. The hall doubled as a ball room, not as large as some places, but sizable enough to hold 50 people comfortably for dancing as it had many, many years ago. The rest of the home was off-limits due to age and lack of upkeep that led to crumbing walls and nests of feral animals in unusual places.
The Essex estate was no longer in regular use, having been practically abandoned in the late 30's as World War II was under way.
The master of the house himself was there of course. He looked every bit the old and tired man someone of his age should and sat as far back from everyone during the ceremony as was polite and acceptable. When it came time to socialize and eat and share stories of how one knew the woman, he made his slow way up the stairs of the crumbling home in silence, his cane his only companion.