1 Straight to Hell by Michelle Scott

arrangements and peering fearfully at her grandmother’s body.  I caught her eye, held out my hand to her, and she rushed over.  She hugged me tightly.  “Grandma Carrie sure knew a lot of weird people,” she whispered.  We both looked over at a pair of men who were dressed in biker’s leathers and had bandanas tied around their heads.  They had matching eye patches and enormous, mutton-chop sideburns.
    “Yes,” I wearily agreed.  “She sure did.”
    When my father came through the door, I’d never been so glad to see someone in my whole life.  Even if he was accompanied by his current wife and Jas’s mother, Evelyn.  I don’t exactly hate her, but on the other hand, I’ve never forgiven her for marrying my father and bringing Jasmine into the picture.
    Evelyn, as always, looked perfectly groomed, like she’d stepped out of the salon and then dressed in clothes that had just come off a drycleaner’s hanger.  I, on the other hand, was wilting like an uprooted weed on a hot summer day.  My dress was as limp as the used tissue in my hand, and there were great, spreading circles of dampness under my arms.  I hadn’t looked at my makeup in the mirror since arriving at the funeral home.  I was too afraid.
    Grace gave her grandpa an enthusiastic hug, and shyly greeted Evelyn who smiled thinly and nodded.  Evelyn is not a bad grandmother; she’s just a distant one.  “I’m so sorry for your loss,” she told me.
    “Thanks, Evelyn.”  There was something about this whole funeral thing that made me extremely vulnerable, like a freshly-healed cut under a Band-Aid.  So Evelyn’s greeting, as perfunctory as it was, made me weep.
    She hugged me, something she very rarely does, and whispered, “You’re a very good daughter.”
    The unexpected compliment made me cry harder, and Simon offered me a fresh tissue and Grace hugged my waist until I was able to regain control.
    “There are a lot of people here,” my dad said, impressed.
    “They’re all Carrie’s friends.”  If I sounded bitter, it’s because I was.  Even though I’d called every person I knew, none of my old friends and neighbors had stopped by.  Never mind that Ted and I had lived in the same house for ten years, or that I’d been on every single committee at Grace’s former school.  And all those parties I used to attend?  Yeah, no one from that circle, either.  Not so much as a single flower arrangement or condolence card.  It was as if, once the divorce was finalized and the fire forced me out of the house, I’d moved to another continent instead of only another zip code.
    Simon, knowing full well what I was thinking, whispered, “Screw them.  They’re not good enough for you.”
    Have I mentioned how much I love my dad?
    “We thought we’d take the girls out for a bite to eat,” Evelyn said.
    Immediately, Jas’s selective hearing kicked in, and she came over.  “Can you drop me off at the movies?  And I need some cash.”
    Evelyn’s lips tightened slightly.  I knew she hated how childishly her grownup daughter behaved.  It was one of the many reasons she’d ousted Jasmine from the house in the first place. Simon, however, was already pulling out his wallet.
    “Can we go to Chuck E. Cheese or MacDonald’s,” Grace asked.  “Or that place that has the double fudge sundaes with the sparklers on top?”  Evelyn winced, but she nodded in agreement.  Like I said, she’d not a bad grandma.
    After they left, my cell phone vibrated.  It was a text from Ted, my ex.  “Whatcha doin?”
    His callousness made my insides shrivel.  I texted back, “I’m the funeral home.  My mother died.  Remember?”  It was all I could do to keep myself from adding: a$$hole.
    From the corner of my eye, I saw a man watching me.  He stood near the display of family pictures that Jasmine and I had affixed to a large piece of cardboard.  With his v-necked sweater and leather loafers, he looked more like one of Simon’s