Chapter 11
The room began to fill with dark colors and solemn faces as everyone arrived at the funeral. At the front of the room was a closed cream-colored casket with red and yellow roses arranged on top of it. All the seats were empty at this point because everyone was greeting and talking to one another before the funeral was to begin.
Dunn, his wife December, and Brianne went up to where Bam and Gina stood. December placed a hand on Bam's arm.
"How are you holding up, Bam?"
Bam let out a slight sigh "I'm doing all right. As far as that goes right now I guess."
December nodded her head and looked at her husband. Dunn glanced over at the casket and then at Bam.
"This is really weird. She was always right there with us. A lot of the time she'd try to get us guys to slow down and not be as much of the crazy idiots that we were, well still are, and then she's the first to go."
Bam looked at the casket "Yeah I know…"
Brianne cleared her throat "So um… where are Dyllan and Samantha?"
"Oh they're in the next room with the other kids." Gina said
"Ok thanks."
Brianne walked away from the adults and went into the other room to be with her friends. Raab and his wife Lilly walked up to them and stood next to Bam. Lilly and December looked at each other and gave each other an uneasy, and somewhat fake, smile before looking away.
"So here we all are." Raab said "Just the other day we were celebrating a birthday. Now today we're here for a funeral. Funny the way that life works."
"That's pretty profound coming from a guy like you, Raab." Bam grinned
"Yeah I have my moments." He laughed a little
In another room close by, all the teenagers gathered together. Mark entered the room with a young woman on either side of him. The others took notice to his presence right away.
"So Mark, why'd you bring dates to a funeral?" Dyllan asked, pointing to the two girls
Jason laughed "Yeah it's bad enough that you would bring one date to a funeral, let alone two."
Everyone except Mark and the two girls with him laughed. Mark rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"You guys are sick."
"How does that make them sick?" Asked Christene "You mean you wouldn't date them?"
"Oh yes. I'd love to date my little brother." The older of the two girls said sarcastically
"Little brother?"
"Yeah." Mark said. He looked at the two girls and then at his friends "You didn't know that I had sisters?"
"Now that you mention is, Mark, I do see similarities between the three of you."
"Well we all did come from the same mother." The other, younger, girl said
"Yeah, guys, this is my sister Sami and my other sister Lizzie. Sami, Lizzie, these are my friends Darren, Nick, Jason, Jay, Jade, Christene, Brianne, Dyllan, Samantha, Stacey and Ava."
"Not that I'm complaining," Jason said "But why did you bring your sisters here? They didn't know Jenn."
"Well I'm here more as a baby sitter actually." Said Sami with a slight roll of the eyes "Mom wanted to make sure that Mark didn't hit on any of the women while they're grieving. Since she knows that he's so much like his father. Which is scary."
"Yeah whatever." Mark mumbled
"Mom said that, 'Just because you're 17, doesn't mean that you don't need a baby sitter anymore.'" Lizzie grinned at her younger brother
Mark rolled his eyes while everyone else laughed.
"Yeah! Mark's dad was 27 and my dad hired a baby sitter for him!" Dyllan said with a laugh "Face it, Mark, you're just like your dad!"
"Look who's talking." Mark snorted "I have some news for you guys. We are ALL just like our parents."
This caused a momentary stunned silence followed by a burst of laughter among the entire group. Their fun, however, was quickly broken up once someone came in and reminded them that they were at a funeral that was about to begin.
The funeral began and the minister up front spoke for a few minutes. It was the typical funeral service except, instead of one person giving an elegy, many people went up to give their fondest memories about Jenn. Dunn, Raab, Rake, Jess and even Novak went up to share what they remembered most about Jenn. Then came Dico's turn to speak, and everyone prepared themselves for what they thought would be a typical hilarious, off-the-wall Dico speech. But he wound up surprising everyone by showing off a very serious and very unexpected side of him. But he wasn't completely stone-faced during his speech, and he did allow a little bit of humor to come out once in a while.
"Jenn loved being around the insanity for the most part, and usually wasn't afraid to join in on what us guys were doing. She was real tough, and much more adult than the rest of us. She really was the adult figure that we needed in our group of friends, but she wasn't a parent to us. She knew that what we needed wasn't another parent, but rather someone who would take some of the edge off of our insanity. As much fun as it is to be insane, it is still nice and needed to have a glimmer of sanity waiting for us at the end of the race. I don't know if she knew that I appreciated her sanity, but I did, and still do. After all," He paused to wipe a couple tears away and then he let out a small laugh
"I can talk but I can't see." This caused everyone else to laugh a little "Any way, as I was saying, we would and should have died many times over a long time ago. I still wonder how we all survived as long as we have. But then I remind myself that we survived because of that little bit of sanity in our lives. And now I look around and see our kids, and I laugh. I laugh because it's the only thing that keeps me from running for my life. Those kids are nuts; neither of us would trade them for all the world, but they're nuts. And it's no wonder they're the way that they are since they're just like us. Except they just might be a little more grown up than we are. I still don't think that we've grown up." He laughed "Watching our kids, and seeing this insanity coming from them, makes me appreciate the sanity that Jenn provided even more. And I hope that these kids of ours find their sanity like we found in Jenn."
Dico sat down and then people turned to look at Bam. Bam knew that they were looking at him and expecting him to go up and talk about Jenn. He felt like sinking deep into his seat, hoping that it would stop everyone from looking at him, but he knew that, that wouldn't work. Gina placed her hand on top of his, and gave it a little squeeze. Bam took a breath and then walked up to the podium. Once up there he gazed around the room at everyone for a second before turning his eyes down.
"I um… I wasn't sure if I wanted to say anything about Jenn, or if I would be able to. I don't even know what to say now, but I feel like I should say something." He paused and took a breath. "Just about everyone here should know that Jenn and I, for the past few years, haven't exactly had the greatest relationship. We fought with each other almost every time we were around each other. As weird as it may sound for me to say this, but I would love to be able to fight with Jenn again. We never hated each other, even while we were fighting. We fought all the time, even when we were together and in love. That's the thing; our love for each other was so strong that we didn't know how to express it. To us "Fuck off" meant "I love you". We met as kids, and acted like kids as we got older and closer together. What I mean is we were always happy to be together as long as we were having fun, but once it came time to express our love for each other, I'd obnoxiously pull her hair and run away, and she'd throw me to the ground and make me eat dirt. And then we would go behind each other's back and tell our friends that the other one had cooties; just like the little kids we were when we met." He smiled with a laugh. He looked back at the casket for a moment before looking back at everyone else
"Jenn, as you all may know, was a mother of two beautiful daughters. One of which is my own daughter with her. Both girls are amazing in their own way and are both destined for great things. Jenn would be beaming of pride for her daughters, and should be. And even though she never really acknowledged it to him, she did care about my son, and I'm sure she's sorry for how she's treated him and spoke to him. I think that she always seemed like she didn't like him, not because he's not her son, but because he's too much like his father." They all shared a short laugh "But any way," He turned to the casket "Jenn, I love you, and always have. I'm really honored to have ever known you, and I'm really sorry for any bad feelings we've had for each other the last time we ever spoke. Samantha gave me the birthday card that you were trying to give me that I was too much of a selfish immature prick to accept from you. I read what you had to say in it and I really appreciate it. I'll keep those words in my heart."
Bam stepped away from the podium and went back to his seat. When he sat down, Gina put her arm around him and kissed him on the cheek.
"That was really nice what you said up there." She said softly
"Thanks. It just came to me right as I was saying it. But I meant every word."
"I'm sure Jenn would have loved it."
"Yeah she would."
"So what did she write to you in your birthday card?"
"It's private." He grinned and then kissed her on the cheek
Once everyone had spoken, the minister said one last thing to close the funeral. Everyone passed the casket one by one to pay their last respects to Jenn. Dico placed a hand lightly on the casket and whispered.
"It's been real, Jenn." He paused "For definitely real. I don't know where you're headed, but if you happen to run into Vito there, tell him I said "Yo" and that one day I'll stop by with a case of Bud to share with him." He stepped away from the casket
"And tell Vito that if Dico shows up with a case of Bud, and not all the beer is there, I probably drank it." Raab whispered to the casket and then grinned at Dico knowing that he heard him "Gonna miss ya, Jenn." He walked away
Dunn walked up to the casket "Jenn," He said softly "I just wanted to apologize for Dico and Raab for being idiots. But you were probably expecting that. Any way, I love you, and I'll miss the hell out of you. I'll meet ya on the other side."
Rake was next to speak to Jenn "Well I guess this is goodbye, Jenn. You were… you were all right. You pissed me off and picked on me the least out of the group. I've always appreciated that."
When Rake stepped away, Novak went up to the casket "Hey babe. You were awesome. When I was living with Bam, and you two were together, you were sort of like my mom in a way. I guess that makes Bam my dad." He laughed "And you'll be happy to know that I didn't drink, smoke, or hit on any broads while I was here. Love ya Jenn."
After Novak walked away, Bam stepped up to the casket. He placed a hand on it and held it there for a second as a tear slowly rolled down his face.
"Jenn… I cherish every moment we had together, including the bad ones. We've been through a lot together during all the years we've known each other." He took one of the red roses from the top of the casket and put it behind his ear "I will always love you and never forget you." He patted the casket and stepped away
The pallbearers went up to the casket and carried it out of the building. Everyone else stood outside in two rows; one on either side of the pathway that lead to the hearse. Bam stood with one arm around Gina and the other arm around Samantha, with Dyllan right behind him with a hand on his back near his shoulder. The pallbearers came out with the casket and put it into the back of the hearse and then closed the doors. They all stood back and watched the hearse drive away. To some that would appear to be the end of one life, but to others it is more like a whole new beginning. For when one door closes, another opens; and these doors were just beginning to open.