Book 9 - Page 54 (1/2)

Ada and her mother said “Amen,” like it was the Lord’s prayer, while Perry was staring at me, perplexed, like it was the weirdest eulogy she’d ever heard. Or maybe it was the way I beheaded half of the bouquet.

She stepped up the bank next, gathering the few nice stems left in one hand. “Maximus, I don’t have much to say. I…I don’t even know what to say. But, you came into my life for a reason and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

“Don’t say grateful,” I said out of the side of my mouth, my hands clasped in front of me. “I just used grateful. Pick a different word.”

She looked at me aghast. “This isn’t funny, Dex,” she said.

I shot her a sad smile. “I know it’s not. But I need it to be. Just for now, just to get through it.”

She shook her head, not understanding, and went on. “So I wanted to thank you, Maximus, for being a friend. For being that guy I wanted to call when everything went wrong. For showing up and helping me. For looking out for Dex. Sometimes I was never quite sure about you but I was always sure about you and Dex. You were friends, even when you weren’t, and I want to thank you for that. I hope wherever you are, it’s a warm place.” She sniffed and wiped away a tear. “I hope that it’s nice and that you’ll one day be with Rose again. I hope I’ll see you too.”

She closed her eyes and a wash of tears spilled down her cheeks as she threw her flowers in the river. I put my arm around her, holding her close to me.

Ada took the flowers next and gave half to her mother.

“Maximus,” she said. “I’m gonna miss you. I never thought I’d find a ginger with a soul, but you proved that wrong.” She kissed her fingers and then pressed it into the sky. “Peace out, ginger bro.”

She threw her flowers in and so did Perry’s mom, who said a simple, “thank you” and that was that. Daniel, of course, was standing wide-stance, arms folded across his belly. The interesting thing was he was starting to sweat a little. There was a tinge of “oh s.h.i.+t, maybe these b.i.t.c.hes weren’t tripping” on his brow, of course phrased in a theologian way.

But ever the master of the house and of the smooth moves, he covered it up and said, “Well, now that it’s all done, who is up for a visit to MOMA and then some lunch?”

Yes, because nothing tops off a funeral like looking at abstract art.

Perry’s mother put her arm around Ada and said, “I think that would be a good idea. Good way to keep busy, right Ada?”

Ada just shrugged. They could have suggested an all-expenses paid shopping spree and she still would have looked the same.

“What about you?” Daniel asked.

I looked to Perry, who was red-eyed and dabbing her cute little nose with tissue. “Um,” I said, “I think we’ll pa.s.s on that.”

“Wait,” Perry said, turning to them, “can we go eat first? Then you guys can go to MOMA.”

“What are you going to do?” Ada asked, like she wanted an invite.

Actually I had no idea what Perry had in mind, but I was suddenly hit by a crazy idea, brought on by all the sorrow and s.h.i.+t that was swirling around us.