A couple of years earlier, Elner Shimfissle had fallen out of her fig tree and been taken to the hospital. Her neighbor Verbena Wheeler immediately spread word all over town that Elner was dead. Which had not been exactly true but Cathy Calvert didn’t find out until after she had written Elner’s obituary. When Elner came home from the hospital she had gotten a big kick out of reading it. Sadly, this time when word got out that Elner Shimfissle had passed away in her sleep, it had been true. Cathy printed the same obituary that Elner had liked so much. And because Elner had been such a strong presence in everyone’s lives for so long, Cathy decided to ask people in town to give her a one-or two-word description to add.
She got “funny,” “sweet,” “childlike,” “wise,” “good cook,” “generous,” “hilarious,” “wonderful neighbor,” “best fig preserves I ever ate,” “one of a kind,” “loved animals,” “loved bugs,” “true Christian,” “unique,” and two “irreplaceables.” You can’t do any better than that.
Although Elner Shimfissle’s death was a sad occasion in town, it was a happy time at Still Meadows. Word spread quickly. “Elner Shimfissle is here! Elner is here!” Lucille Beemer was particularly delighted.
She knew that Elner would be such fun for people to chat with. She always had such interesting opinions on things.
But then, everybody liked Elner, and being so old, Elner knew an awful lot of people and had quite a few relatives out there. It took almost an entire week for her to say hello to everybody. And after she had been thoroughly greeted, she said, “Well, you can’t imagine how surprised I am. I just couldn’t wait to see everybody again, but I thought I’d be traveling way up in the clouds, way up to heaven, and all the time, you were just right up the street!”
Her husband, Will, laughed, “What I want to know, woman, is what took you so long to get here? I’ve been waiting for you.”
“I know you have, honey. I wasn’t trying to live so long. Just too healthy, I guess.”
Her nephew, Gene, was so glad Aunt Elner had arrived. The first thing he asked about was Dena and whether she was okay. “Oh, yes, honey. She’s married to the nicest doctor and so happy.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes, Norma just got a letter from her last week.”
“Well, that’s good news. Thanks for telling me. How is Norma?”
Aunt Elner laughed. “Still jumpy as a cat, sweet as ever. I’m gonna miss that gal. Little Macky, too.” Elner was sorry that by the time she arrived on the hill, most of the old-timers had already left, but she sure was enjoying the ones who were still there and all the conversations going on. Before people got up to Still Meadows, they just loved to talk about their operations. Now they just loved to talk about how they’d gotten there.
This morning, Mrs. Bell was telling her story again, for at least the tenth time since she’d been there. “So, the doctor calls me in and says, ‘I’m sorry to tell you this, Mrs. Bell, but you have cancer, and I need to start setting up your treatments right away.’ So I said, ‘Don’t be bothering me with all that. I don’t have time to fool with cancer. I’ve got too much to do.’ So I walked out of there and lived another five years. But you know when it’s your time, it’s your time, and it was mine, so I have no complaints, but here’s the funny part. I died of a heart attack.”
Gustav said, “I don’t know if you know this, Elner, but a tick got me.”
“Oh, no, where did you get a tick?”
“Alaska. Got it off a moose I shot. The bite got infected, and I was gone in a week.”
“That old moose certainly got even.”
He laughed. “Yeah, now that I think of it, he did.”
Macky was sitting in the window of the coffee shop having his lunch when Tommy Lindquist, Jr., the new high school football hero of the hour, strolled by. Macky watched as everyone went out of their way to smile and wave at him.
Macky had once been The Kid, the town’s fair-haired boy who had thrown the winning touchdown and married Norma, the prettiest girl in town. He had been the one who was going to set the world on fire. The one everybody waved to and smiled at. And then one day, he wasn’t.
After he came back from Korea, he had to help his father run the hardware store. He never did try for that professional football career everybody thought he would have.
Now he was going a little bald, his knees were bad, and somebody else was The Kid. He and his contemporaries had been pushed aside to make room for the next wet-behind-the-ears gang coming up behind them. Now he was just another aging nobody sitting around watching the new kid strut around town, so sure of himself, so sure life would stay this way forever. It wouldn’t do any good to tell him how fast his big-shot days would be over, how soon he would find himself wondering what had happened, still thinking he was just getting started in life, then having to realize it was almost over. What was that song? “Is That All There Is?” Surely there must be more to life than this.
God, he usually wasn’t this maudlin. He missed Aunt Elner, he guessed. It was hard to realize he would never see her again. He had known her since he was a boy. His parents used to buy eggs from her, and then he married her niece. And up until the day she died, she had called him “Little Macky” and had always made him feel young. Jesus Christ, what the hell was the matter with him? He was sitting in the window feeling sorry for himself, he guessed. God…life gets away from you so fast. Stupid things distract you, and by the time you realize it, it’s too late, and you wind up some old fart whose time has passed, being jealous of some kid.
When the young waitress walked by, she noticed he was wiping his eyes and blowing his nose on a napkin. “Mr. Warren, are you okay?”
“Oh, yeah.” Macky sniffed. “I’m just fighting a cold.”
“More coffee?”
“Sure. So, Becky, are you still planning to take off in the fall and go to community college?”
Becky frowned a little. “You know…I’m not sure, Mr. Warren. It depends.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what. If it’s a matter of money, Norma and I will be happy to float you a loan.”
Becky was overwhelmed. “Really, Mr. Warren?”
“Hell, yes.” Then he looked at her. “Don’t stay here, Becky. Go now, honey. Don’t wait.”
Besides being with her beloved Will and so many friends and family again, what made coming up to Still Meadows especially nice for Elner was that within a few years, the last of her old neighbors would be joining her. Verbena, Ruby, and Tot had all bought their plots around the same time and, happily, they were in the same area. It was just like old times. Same people, different address. Verbena came first, and she came up with a bang, literally.