By Coco Jane
Six of Dierdre’s grandsons carried her out of the church as ‘How Great Thou Art’ wafted from the organ. The seventh grandson stayed inside. Tony was not too young to carry Grandma. He was just the seventh, the one not carrying her. Nobody noticed Tony sitting on that bench, alone, while his brother and cousins hefted the cherrywood casket out to lie beside Grandpa Bernie. But he didn’t mind.
The hymn ended. As people continued filing out, Tony turned a few pages, adjusted the organ’s registration, smiled…and began to caress ‘Blessed Assurance’—Grandma’s favorite postlude hymn—out of the keys.
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