Grave Mistake
It was a grave mistake. The crew leader glanced at the words on the paper in his work gloved hands then up at the newly excavated holes in front of him. He turned the paper up-side-down and squinted.
“What’d you guys do?”
They shrugged. “What you told us?”
“Nah, this ain’t right.” An auto collision had taken the lives of a family. A young mother, loving husband and their beautiful toddler. A tragedy of winter weather reported on every local news station in the area complete with photos of the smiling family cuddling together just the day before.
“Nah, this ain’t right. The kid was supposed to be in the middle, the lady on the right and the guy on the left. You guys fucked it up.”
“Not if you stand looking this way.” The guy with the shovel scoping in dirt around the caskets suggested.
“Nah. The little one is over here and flowery casket supposed to be the one to the side and the bronze one is in the middle. It just ain’t right.”
“An hour from now we’ll have the dirt smoothed out and then once the sod goes down in a month or two...Hey, they are all together and tucked in snug. One stone...what’s the difference?” The young guy tired and cold explained, “That’s how I see it.”
The sun was setting purple in the west. The winds were picking up. More snow predicted that night. The crews’ breath freezing smokey white on their black hoodies. The heavy equipment already gone from the site. Driven back to the mintenance building hidden from view right before the interment. “They should have lined them up right at the ceremony.” The guy with the shovel mumbled still scraping and packing.
The crew leader scaned the scene. Looking north. Signs of the coming blizzard mounting. “Yeah, whatever. Get them covered up good. Pack it down tight..then let’s get back to the shed and get stuff ready. Looks like we’ve got some work ahead of us tomorrow with the other two funerals and all. Hell of a crash.”
The graves now almost covered. The men filling and tamping the ground firm. “Okay guys just get them finished up. Okay?”