Tommy and Kimi Pickles' twin Son and Daughter: John and Kayla Pickles at the Funeral House (In Memoriam: Joe Alaskey (1952-2016))
33 Year Old Tommy Pickles knew a lot of things. He knew that his parents and grandparents loved him, knew that his wife, Kimi Pickles and their good friends and in-laws, Dil, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Angelica and Susie liked walking around in Eucaipah Park, and even knew about the good stories Grandpa Boris told him that he enjoyed more than anything.
Tragically, Tommy and Kimi's twin son and daughter, John and Kayla Pickles also knew their father, grandfather and great grandfather, 79 year old Louis Kalhern Pickles, had developed unknown cancer complications and wasn't around just as much as before. They would hear their parents and grandparents talk about Grandpa Lou at the dinner table, hoping that all would be well right before the new year.
Days passed just as they were in black suits. John and Kayla were confused just as they were sitting in the backseat with Katrina, Mikey and Millie, whose parents were on a business trip.
"Where are we going?" John asked, looking a bit confused.
Katrina answered in frustration. "Do I always have to tell you everything? we're going to a funeral house."
"What's a funeral house?"
"It's where they respect deceased people, Millie." Katrina said to her as Mikey looked a bit nervous.
"Why do they need do to that? won't they be nervous?"
"I don't know, John, but I promised my parents that I wouldn't tell you anymore about the funeral house we're going to."
"Okay, Katrina."
John and Kayla wondered about the funeral service that they, their true family, and everybody was going to. All they knew that Stu was carrying a card with him. There wasn't anything bright on the card, neither was Reptar or a Dummi Bear, who was a most favorite of theirs was on there, either uninteresting John and Kayla the minute they saw it.
They stayed silent just as Didi and Stu had reached the funeral house. John and Kayla walked with Didi, Stu, Chaz, Kira, Charlotte, Drew, Betty, Howard, Lucy and Randy, just as they saw Katrina with her parents, Chuckie and Angelica Finster and Mikey and Millie with their parents, Phil and Susie DeVille.
What disturbed John and Kayla was that all of their good friends and neighbors were very silent just as they (especially Mikey and Millie) were usually loud when they'd play with 1 another. Mikey and Millie waved to them just as they waved back while noticing a bit of depression appearing in their eyes.
John and Kayla didn't really know why Mikey and Millie looked the way they did, but they knew what being depressed was like just as they had experienced it with Spiffy running away from their house and with John's Reptar trike going missing.
Their minds wondered like it normally did when they were curious just as they walked right into the funeral house with their parent, grandparents and great grandparents.
John and Kayla, their true family, and good friends had arrived to a place filled with pictures, flowers, and a red casket.
"Great Grandpa Lou? here? If he is, he's gotta be really nervous by now." John thought to himself, worried about their great grandfather who was terrified about everything from a messed up squash to things not going exactly the way he planned.
They looked around for their great grandfather, but to no avail just as Didi and Stu led their twin grandkids to the red casket where they saw a sleeping face, grayish-purple hair, purple glasses in his shirt pocket and a little blue suit and tie.
There, they found their great grandfather just as they remembered the fun thrilled times they had with Grandpa Lou from going fishing, camping in the wilderness and staying overnight at the beach house.
John and Kayla were not crying in depression, they were only shedding silent tear drops.
They heard his parents, grandparents and great grandparents speaking with Tommy, who offered to take them outside for 1 minute. They nodded their heads in agreement.
"You miss Great Grandpa Lou more than we do, right, kids?" Tommy asked them.
"Yes, of course we do." Kayla said to him when they were outside of the doors of the funeral house, sitting near a bare tree that was growing its leaves. The 6 year olds looked at the blue skies, seeing clouds that looked like their great grandfather.
"You kids wanna go back inside?" he asked them just as John and Kayla silently shook their heads, not wanting to go see the place where their great grandfather was gonna be in when the burial service would begin. Didi, Stu, Charlotte, Drew, Chaz, Kira, Grandma Lulu, Grandma Minka and Grandpa Boris agreed, not wanting to move away from the spot they were on.
They stayed on that spot for the entirety of Grandpa Lou's burial service and half of his funeral service due to Stu and Drew having to speak about the wonderful years that their father had given them.
Later, they went to Eucaipah Cemetery to visit Grandpa Lou's grave. They never forgot about him and they hoped that Grandpa Lou never forgot about them either.