Big, puffy cummulus clouds moved slowly across the blue sky, sailing on winds that gentled by the time they reached the ground to soft caresses on the cheeks of the mourners gathered around the plain pine box. A surprising number of people had showed up for the funeral, especially considering it was Memorial Day. Even more surprising were the number of people who followed the hearse up to the head of Grizzly Holler, parked along the creek and in the cow pasture, then trudged behind the old hay wagon drawn by the neighbor's mule as it ascended the rough track up to the cemetary on the ridge behind the house. A few people looked askance at the unsightly dog that trailed behind Louie as he climbed the hill, and even more seemed slightly scandalized at the sight of the old nicked up cat that insisted on riding on top of the coffin, but the family ignored this.

Louie, Big Bill, Billy, Uncle Zeke, Henry and Abraham lifted the coffin from the wagon and processed over to the the bier above the gaping hole next to Cassie's headstone. Louie pulled a harmonica out of his pocket to accompany Sharon as she sang in her clear, true voice. Friends and family gathered round to hear the preacher's last few words, and as the box was lowered into the ground, the whole big crowd joined in singing come Thou Fount. As if by pre-arrangement, although it was not, all other voices ceased at the last verse, as Big Bill and Billy continued in close harmony:

Then we'll walk the streets of the city
With our loved ones gone before.
And we'll sit on the banks of the river
Never to depart no more!

Uncle Zeke cried unashamedly throughout the whole affair.