Jana's Death
The harsh trill of the phone woke me up early in the morning. For the first several seconds, I couldn't understand anything, there were only sobs in the receiver. Then I realized it was Jana's mother speaking. Her voice was trembling, she seemed to be making attempts not to burst into tears. "Jana's gone... yesterday... neighbors told us... we cannot arrive earlier than next week... if you could organize the funeral..." I felt my heart grow cold. My old friend, we would go out together only yesterday... Dead. A gust of thoughts and emotions was whirling in my head, and I answered mechanically that I'd do all I could. All of a sudden, the transcontinental disconnected.
After this message, the last sleep abandoned me. I immediately called Jana, but no one picked up the phone. Putting down the receiver, I quickly dressed and went to her place. The entrance door was slightly opened, I could hear voices coming form the apartment. Coming in, I saw a few women dressed in uniform.
"Who are you?" asked one of them.
I said I was a friend of Jana's.
"In this case, you will have to identify her," she said and showed me to the bed. There lay the body, wrapped in white sheet. I approached slowly and, hesitating, pulled the sheet aside a little. Her face remained unchanged, just a little bit stricter and calmer.
"Yes, it's she," I said in a broken voice.
"She died in her sleep," said the doctor. "Didn't feel anything."
They also told me that she would be taken to morgue form where I would then take her for the funeral.
It was evident that the funeral organizing was my responsibility, but I didn't have the slightest idea what to do and how. And there was something to be done: order a coffin, dress the girl, find room at the cemetery, arrange the transportation and the like. First of all, I went to the ritual store. There were almost no visitors in it. An old woman asked me to wait a little, and while she was absent I began looking through the catalogs. At last she returned and asking me who had died, showed me some samples of coffins. I thought that the most suitable would be the pale pink one decorated with fine lace. I thought that Jana, had she been with me now, would have liked my choice. Then I had to choose the dress. The woman invited me to the room with dresses and funeral veils. Having looked through them, I chose a soft dress of white silk. I also bought a veil, a pair of stockings, slippers, and three sheets. Paying, I watched the workers put all this stuff into the car, and then I went to the morgue. On my way there, I called a friend of mine and asked him to settle things with the cemetery and the catafalque.
In the morgue, I also had two workers carry the necessary things. In a few minutes came the clerk and asked me to follow him. We soon entered a small room with a table in the middle, on which Jana's body was lying. She was covered with a sheet. The coffin stood prepared on the other table. The man went away, saying that after the dressing I should call a clerk to help me put the body in the coffin.
I slowly approached the dead girl. Her eyes were shut, the lips were parted, her hands were stretched along her body. She had been washed and prepared for the dressing. At first I took a white ribbon and tied her jaws together. Then I took the stockings and put them on her slim legs. After that, in no hurry, I spread on of the sheets on the table, by her side, and wrapped her in it and then sew its ends. Now, came the dress. Making Jana sit, I inserted her arms in the sleeves and then pulled the dress over her head. Then I adjusted it. The sleeves were to be attached to the bodice, so that her arms and hands were in place. Remembering about it, I quickly did it. Making a short break, I looked at the results of my labor. She was beautifully dressed, serene and silent, I have never seen her like that when she was alive, and it was quite new to me. But I had to hurry up, for the catafalque could arrive very soon. I took some more white ribbons and tied her waist, knees and ankles. The final touch to the portrait was made by the white lace slippers, which I put on her feet the last.
Calling the clerk, I asked him to help me put the girl in the coffin. I put the sheet in first, then we carefully carried Jana and put her in. Covering her face with the veil, I closed the coffin. The clerk put it on a carriage and took it to the yard, where the catafalque was already waiting for us. Next to the driver, sat my friend. Together with him, we put the coffin in the car and went to the cemetery. The grave was ready and the diggers sat waiting for us. On our arrival, they sat up and helped us put the coffin on the ground.
It was time to say goodbye. I looked at Jana one last time and my eyes filled with tears. She lay there, in the coffin, dressed in white, her face was so strict and serene. It seemed, she would open her eyes and laugh like before, turning it all into a joke. But alas, it was severe reality. I bowed and kissed her. One last time. Then I waved my hand, and the diggers quickly closed the coffin and put Jana in the cold darkness of the grave.
Original Author: Undertaker (1998).