This makes me nervous. I’ve released ebooks online before, for years actually, however, this is the first work of fiction that I’m releasing into the wild…and in a format other than PDF. So, there’s plenty of opportunity to learn (and I’ll certainly share that in future blog posts). But, now, the ebook.
Erica’s Funeral was written in late 2009 and has been collecting virtual dust on my hard drive since then. I didn’t do a thing with it, except release it in limited quantities to interested readers. But this is a story I’m fond of and decided to put it out there. For the time being, I’m releasing it for free (which may eventually change, or not).
Description: A mother, carrying out a final wish, recounts her daughter’s unorthodox funeral. (This story doesn’t contain coarse language, explicit situations, or violence.)
Length: approx. 1,100 words (4 pages)
First Page:
Let me begin by stating a fact: Funerals in general tend to be dreary affairs. Erica Johnston’s was an exception. Before she died, she had it planned out—and when I say before, I mean since the tender age of ten.
One afternoon when she arrived home from school, she sat down at her art station—the one she begged me to buy every six minutes until I caved—pulled out a yellow sheet of construction paper and a purple marker and wrote at the top: ERICA’S FUNERAL. Some might think it was a rather morbid undertaking for one so young, but those are the people who never knew her, the real Erica.
Beneath the title, she began to spell out every detail of her funeral beginning with Slappy, the clown/magician who entertained at her third birthday party. She didn’t really remember him, but she’d watched a video of the event and fell in love. When she grew up, she planned to marry Slappy and have a bunch of magical clown babies, so it was only fitting he should be invited.
Next on the list was cake. Erica loved cake. She preferred red velvet with extra red. It was her favorite color and she appreciated that an experimental baker somewhere in the world devoted an entire cake to it. On top of the cake would be candles—one for every year that she lived. They’d all be lit and everyone who ever loved her would help blow them out.
A girl in the world who loves stripey knee socks and her cat. She also loves to read, write, draw, and a bunch of other things in between.
sending...
Awesome! That is all that comes to mind. I felt their pain and yet felt their joy at remembering her and fulfilling her wish.
Finally i found the time for reading your short story. Sorry it took so long but it seems like the internet is always distracting me from what I actually planned
First thing I want to mention is your beautiful writing style. I was surprised by the tone of this story. No melodrama though it’s a pretty sad topic (Erica died when she was still pretty young right?). But you describe the whole scenery of this party-burial with so much empathy that I was not sure if I should rather be sad or happy. That’s really a strange mix but there’s always been a very fine line between these two feelings. And in my opinion that’s exactly what you’re describing with this story. Extremely touching and beautifully written!
I’d put up a warning for anyone who’s lost someone because it can push them to tears. Very lovely and moving story.
I read your other story, the one about Tessa, and can’t wait until you finish it, but figured I’d read this while I waited.
Now that I’m finished I stand by my first comment: WOW. This story is intense, but beautiful. The other commenters weren’t kidding.