MIDNIGHT COFFEE AMONG THE TOMBSTONES

The funeral was held the next day and it was a beautiful ceremony. Benjamin Allenby might have been an old man and usually the death of an old man seldom sadden anybody because they're old and it is expected but in Ben's case it was different. He was cried for, he was hard to lose because everybody loved him. But at the end of the funeral service they all felt a little better, now that they believed Benjamin had rested peacefully and felt pain nor suffering no more.

It was 1 o'clock in the morning when Veronica was startled with a ringing of a phone in her bedside. This was definitely not a proper time for any phone call, she tried to ignore it but the ring sounded so persistent that she had no choice but to answered it.

"Halo!" she said annoyingly.

"May I speak with Mrs. Sinclair, please?" the voice over the phone sounded shaky and old.

"This is she."

"Mrs. Sinclair, this is Eugene Paddie, the graveyard undertaker."

"Yes, Mr. Paddie?" now Veronica sounded frightened rather than angry. Her heart pounded so loud.

"You brother, Ma'am, Mr. George is sleeping on Mr. Allenby's graveyard, he is drunk and now he is yelling."

Veronica could hear a faint sound of yelling and screaming of a distress man. "Oh, for god sake!" she sighed with relieved. She thought this old graveyard undertaker would say something scary or bring bad news because nothing scarier than a midnight call from a graveyard undertaker.

"Can you pick him up, ma'am?"

"Yes, Mr. Paddie, I'll be right there." she hang up.

Veronica caressed her chest to soothed her pounding heart. She took a deep breath before she got up from bed and suddenly a struck of genius came to her. She picked up her phone and dialed a number she knew so well.

It was awfully late to call someone and troubled them with one's affair but to Veronica she was on a mission of love and manners didn't include in the success of the mission. She listened to the dial tone, rhythm, hoping that the one she called for will answer it. She was determined to make this worked even if she had to woke the entire house on the other side of the phone line.

"Halo?" Bette answer the phone from the kitchen.

Bette was the one that Veronica was aiming and thank faith that she was the one who picked up the phone. Although Bette herself almost didn't answer. It was late and to be honest she was kind of nervous to answer an unusual phone call in the middle of the night.

"Bette?"

"Veronica?" Bette sighed.

It was Veronica and less likely she would bring bad news, thought Bette. Veronica hated bad news, there was always Herbert, the old butler in Veronica's house to do that for her. If Veronica called directly than you can bet it was something to chat on, a juicy gossip. "Do you know what time it is?"

"You haven't sleep, Bette? You don't sound like you have."

"I couldn't sleep, I.."

Veronica didn't let her finished, "Wonderful! Than you can help me, can't you, dear?"

"Help you? Whatever could I be of help to you in the middle of the night?"

"Yes. You see, Bette I just got a phone call from the graveyard undertaker, Mr. Paddie, you know him, right? Well, he called me and told me that George is sleeping in Benjamin's grave, he is drunk and yelling so loud! Can you believe that man! Ridiculous! You think that in his fifty he would be more sensible!"

"He is sleeping in Ben's graveyard? Oh my Veronica! He must've felt so hurt by Ben's death."

"Well, Darling, could you please pick him up and bring him home? It is late and I'm old and scared driving around to the graveyard and I saw you two talking I thought you might be friends with each other so perhaps you could talk to him, you know to cheer him up."

"I don't know, Veronica, do you think he'll mind me?"

"Mind you? Whatever do you mean? I think he likes talking to you,"

"Well, I guess I can help you then."

"Thank you so much, Bette darling! I know I could count on you."

Veronica hang up and satisfied with herself, she had accomplished her mission of love and now she could went back to sleep with smile on her face.

Bette took out her favorite car; a 1993 Ford Mustang Convertible. This was her first car, a gift from Elda when she finished high school. And for years even when the car was old Bette always took good care of it even when she didn't drive this one as much as she liked to.

She packed up a thermos of coffee and 2 cups; it was a cold night and surely a pot of coffee would be very much appreciated and she knew well that George was desperately in need for coffee now.

She parked her car in the front yard of the church and spotted old Eugene Paddie walked down from his little home beside the church to met her. He was a thin, old man, and has been the graveyard and church undertaker for 30 years.

"Miss Bette?" he said.

"Yes, Eugene, I'm here to collect the drunk man." They laughed.

"He is right there, " Eugene pointed to the west, it was unseen from where they stand but Bette knew exactly where that was. "And now he is crying, Ms. Bette."

"I hope he's not troubling you, Eugene?" Bette reached for the coffee thermos and cup and took her emergency light that shaped like an oil lamp as well.

"Not at all, I'm just worried he might catch a cold or something."

"Don't worry," Bette turned on the emergency lamp. "Get some sleep, Eugene, I got this," And off she went, walking from tombstone to tombstone and she could hear a faint cry in the air, slowly the sound became clearer and closer.

She put the lamp in the head of the tombstone and found George shocking face, looking at her like he was looking at a ghost. He clearly was drunk, with his puffy eyes and mud smeared face as a tale tell sign that he has been here for quite some time.

"Hi, George," Bette sat in the grass next to him. "Coffee?" she poured out a cup of hot coffee and passed it to George.

"Thank you," George looked at the woman sat beside him with wonder and somewhat relieved that after spending hours and hours, crying alone, a friend came to his rescue. "However did you find me here?"

"Chain of information," Bette giggled. "Eugene, the undertaker called Veronica and Veronica called me, she asked me to bring you home."

George scoffed, "Veronica! Always treat everybody else like her personal maid, doesn't she have enough maid working on the clock for her!"

"I'm happy too that she called, you know," Bette sipped her coffee. "I get to sit here and chat with you, having a long story telling that we said we're going to have, remember?"

"I do," George said. "I'm sorry to have bother you, Bette. But I'm so sad, I feel like I lost a father, half of my self exist because of this man, and I didn't even know that he was sick all this time. I wrote him letter but never received any reply I just thought maybe he was busy so I just brushed it off. And Veronica! Jesus Christ! That woman really annoy me! How long did she think she could keep information like this a secret from me? I regret that I wasn't here, beside him when he was sick."

"I understand, George. But you can't blame yourself or anybody for any of this, especially not Veronica. I know she withheld information from you but I think I could understand her aiming. I probably would do the same with Aunt Elda if I could. I wanted to withheld every bad news from her. I'm scared that I wind up upsetting her and her heart give up. But Ben was her brother and she needed to know. Veronica loves you so dearly, she just didn't want to upset you, and yes she might've made a mistake about not telling you but that I think was her instinct to protect you no matter how wrong that was. You should be able to read between a lines."

"I know. I just...I wish I could've done something for Ben." George wiped his tears, "You must think that I'm a sissy for crying like this."

Bette laughed, "No, you're not, George, you are sad and crying will make you feel better," Bette sounded so blue again, "then again, Benjamin Allenby is someone worth crying for."

"Yes, he was," George sipped his coffee and he actually felt a little better. He looked at the stars and all the memory came back to his mind. "He saved my life. I was a bad man back then."

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***