Chapter 41 forty one

Gage was buried at two o'clock the next afternoon.By then the rain had stopped, but there were still a few scattered clouds floating in the sky.Most people who go to the cemetery carry the black umbrellas that the undertaker provides them with. Rachel asked the funeral director to read a requiem from Matthew, and Louis stood at the end of the foundation, facing his father-in-law.For a moment Goldman glanced at Louis, then lowered his eyes again.Today he has no intention of fighting again.His face was haggard, haggard, more alcoholic, and Louis felt he gave the impression of not knowing where he was.Louis tried to sympathize with him, but could not.

The small white coffin containing Gage was lowered into the telescopic vault.The grave was covered with a harsh green blanket, and there were several baskets of flowers.Louis looked over the shoulder of the funeral director, only to see behind him a hill full of graves.Louis watched and thought.Suddenly the funeral master said: "Let us bow our heads and pray silently for the dead." Louis was stunned for a while before he realized it.When the funeral director said "Amen," Louis took Rachel by the hand and led her away.Rachel murmured a protest and wanted to stay longer, but Louis firmly pulled his wife away.As they approached the car, Louis saw the funeral director taking umbrellas from people and handing them to an assistant, who put them on a shelf.Louis held his wife with his right hand and his daughter's little white gloved hand with his left.Elle is in the same outfit she wore to Norma's funeral.After Louis sent them to the car, Chad came over.He also looked like he hadn't slept all night.Chad said, "Louis, are you okay?"

Louis nodded. Chad bent down into the car and asked, "How are you, Rachel?" Rachel whispered, "I'm fine, Chad." Chad touched Rachel's shoulder lightly, then looked at Elle and asked, "How are you, baby?" "I'm fine," Allie said with a wide-mouthed smile, as if to show Jud that she was fine. "What painting are you holding?" For a moment, Louis thought, her daughter would hold on to the frame so Chad couldn't see it, but Allie handed the photo to Chad timidly and painfully.Chad took it with his big hand.Those big hands, clumsy and clumsy, seemed only fit for railroad work, but it was the fingers of those big hands that deftly pulled the bee sting out of Gage's neck.

Chad said, "Oh, that's right. You pull him in the sled, I bet he likes that, don't you, Allie?" Ellie started to sob, and she nodded as she cried. Rachel started to say something, but Louis took her arm hard, as if to say, don't talk.Allie cried: "I used to play with him. He would laugh out loud and we'd go back to the house and mum would make cocoa for us and say, 'Take you guys. Put your shoes away.’ Gage would hold up the shoes and scream ‘Shoes! Shoes,’ so loud it hurt your ears. Do you remember, Mother?” Rachel nodded. Chad handed the photo back to Ellie and said, "Yeah, I dare say it was a good time. Ellie, maybe he's dead now, but you can have him in your memory."

Ellie wiped her face and said, "I will, I love Gage. Mr. Crandall." Jud leaned down, put his head out and kissed Elle and said, "I know you love him, baby." Then he stood up and gave Louis and Rachel a stern look.Rachel saw the look in his eyes, and was a little puzzled, and a little unhappy.But Louis was clear.That look said, "What have you done for her? Your son is dead, but your daughter is alive. What have you done for her?" Louis looked away. There was nothing he could do for his daughter, not yet.She had to do what she could to ease the pain gradually, and all he could think about now was his son.