Rest In Peace

Rest In Piece by James Bryant

The news of his death had reached the village of Grimsby on the
Wednesday, his funeral would be held on the Friday. The small village
near the stormy sea was shocked into disbelief. The Merton family had
lived in the village as far back as any living soul could remember,
probably since the village was born, when it started its days as a few
small run-down buildings by the beach used to store Fish. The Merton's
had always lived above the local corner shop on Duke Street, opposite
the beach. It was a great little store, still up and running and hadn't
changed a bit, the new owners weren't fond of change. 'Merton's' sold
everything from newspapers to Baked Beans in the corner on the back
shelf. Meredith and Albert had bought the store a year after their
marriage in 1947. Less than a year later John and Jack, their two sons,
twins, had come along in the harsh winter of 1948. The family was close
and the boys received an upbringing of high standard. Admittedly Albert
was a strict father, but he was devoted to his family. Meredith was a
kind woman, she loved her husband and children dearly and although she
didn't always approve of her husbands method of upbringing, she loved
him all the same and never spoke against him. Her proudest moment was
the day she won the town baking competition for two years running in
1954 and 1955; she was famous for her cooking. Unfortunately one windy
day in 1962 Albert had gone missing at sea whilst fishing and had never
been seen again, the only trace of him was fragments of his small boat
washed up on the shore and a pair of smashed glasses lay in the sand
nearby. Meredith was devastated and couldn't go on. Her sons, both 14
at the time, had to grow up quickly, but by the time they were 16, they
were orphans. Their family seemed to have tragedy running in their
blood. At only the age of 22, John had been killed in a small plane
crash that his wealthy friend was flying. The plane had crashed and
exploded on impact in a swampy area of a National Park.
That left only a devastated but 'determined to carry' on Jack
Merton.
He was married in 1975 when he was 27, to Sylvia, but the marriage
never really worked out. She had run off with the Vicar in 1980. Sylvia
and Jack never had children and Jack was deeply upset by the loss of
his 'true love'. Jack was a hard-working man, he was a dedicated
policeman but it seemed all he wanted out of life was to be happy and
after a string of unsuccessful relationships he was destined to be
alone.
On the 25th August 2001 Jack Merton died in a car crash. Witnesses had
described it as "one hell of a crash!"
"The car just went zooming off the edge of the road and into the ditch,
but it must have been a bumpy ditch 'cause as it rolled down it bumped
and went flying really high and bits were flying off everywhere in all
directions then it stopped, all battered like, and caught fire. We
stood by to watch, well there was nothing we could do was there? He
must have been dead already, poor git if he wasn't, that was nasty
man!"

The atmosphere, like any other funeral would be, was sombre. Faces were
kept hidden and down, the odd loud sniff would be heard above the vicar
as the spoke and then there would be a "stoppit! Sit still!" Echoing
around the candlelit hall for five minutes as a little child scrambled
to get away and touch the coffin at the front. It was a modest event
for a modest life of 53 years. The arrangements were planned by work
colleagues; well there was neither wife nor children to do it. Guests
included work friends, very distant relatives, people who hadn't spoken
to him for years and then the odd person who knew him from various
events throughout his life and happened to still be listed in his
address book.
Jack was buried in the churchyard back in his hometown of Grimsby. His
grave sat beneath the trees, next to his mother, father and brother.
The Merton's were reunited again. His grave-stone simply read-
Jack Albert Merton
1948-2001
RIP

After the funeral the guests who had attended the small ceremony
gathered in the quiet hall to have a few drinks and sandwiches before
retiring home.
"Ah well, worked will never be the same again&;#8230;" sighed Bill
Jones, an officer of same age as Jack sighed. He took a swig of whisky
and wiped his mouth.
"Yeah I suppose, at least we'll know we can go and sit in the canteen
more than we're meant to eh? We won't have him breathing down our
necks!" Giggled Linda Barton, a short plump woman with red bobbed
hair.
"Eh, I wonder who'll be replacing him?"
"Oh yeah&;#8230; do you think one of us will get promoted?" Asked
Bill inquisitively.
"Maybe" Linda pondered this for a moment as she took a sip of wine.
"Yeah, well, someone will have to fill his place"
"I could do that job hands down"
"Old Jack wouldn't mind if he was here would he? He'd want it to go to
one of his mates!"
"He was very proud of his job" Sarah Blockhouse entered herself into
the conversation.
"All he had left really. No marriage or anything. He was only married
the once, eh just the once was it?"
"Just the once aye" nodded Bill simply. "Sylvia"
"She isn't here now is she?" Asked Hillary, desperate to mingle, she
peered amongst the groups of quiet talking people.
"No, hasn't been seen for years, not round these parts anyway"
"Ran off with the postman"
"Milkman"
"Oh"
There was a pause.
"Did he have any kids? Are they here? Surely he had some" Hillary
looked around again.
"Didn't have any no"
"Oh, what a shame" Hillary paused, broke off some sandwich and sat
down. "Never mind" she muttered.
Again, there was silence, unless you counted grumbling stomachs.
"Where is everyone? I can only see mainly people from work!"
"Well there wasn't many other people in his life was there? Not at his
age anyway"
"He was only fifty-five. Surely he had more people in his life?!"
"Fifty-three"
"Oh I see"

Over in the other corner, three old school friends sat discussing the
life off Jack Merton.
"No but that was after his mum died"
"How did she die? Was it cancer?"
"Nobodies sure really. When his dad died she didn't want to go on. At
least that's what my mother always told me"
"Then there was the accident, his brother I mean"
"I always thought he was a bit 'off'"
"Who, his brother?"
"No, Jack"
"Its his funeral! You can't say that!"
"Well its true, I mean, God rest his soul, but&;#8230;"
"But what?"
"But, come on, this was his life- orphaned, brother died, married
unhappily, divorced, dull job&;#8230;"
"He loved his job he did"
"That was the only thing he did love!"
"&;#8230;Alcohol, car crash, dead"
"That's terrible"
"But it's the truth isn't it?"
There was a very, very awkward silence.

The rain fell lightly over the gravel drive as the sun began to set on
the day. The stones crunched and moaned under the guest's feet as they
left the small hall and drove back to their lives in their cars. Jack
had taken up the day; it was now time to get back to normality.
And that was that. Finally the last guest left and the doors were
shut.
Another life, done and dusted. Forgotten. A young family-a mother,
father and two small boys bought his house. Most of his belongings went
to charity stores mainly. There wasn't anything of real value.
Bill took his job and Jack's office was cleared.
A fortnight later, nobody would have known that Jack Merton existed,
apart from the old bearded man in the churchyard who came to take
rotting flowers from gravestones. Jacks gravestone always stood out to
the man- it was the only grave without any flowers.