"Before They Call, I Will Answer, While They Are Still Speaking, I Will Hear." Part Six.

There was no time for tears. We had work to do, to clear out Eric’s flat in 7 days of his sudden untimely death. Eric had died that quickly, we didn’t have time to say goodbye. Eric was afraid of death, once when I was with him, he suddenly held his chest and said, “JESUS!” Although he was brought up in Church, we all went to Church every Sunday when we were young, but he didn’t believe in God at all, in fact it was the opposite, he hated God. The only card he ever gave my parents was a card that said, “Happy New Year,” They never had ever had a Christmas card. So, it was very odd when he said, “JESUS!” Then he said to me, “I thought I was a gonna then, I don’t want to die, I am frightened of death.”

During the clear out of his flat in those 7 days, I was still working, because of the nature of my job. After work, I would drive the five miles to Eric’s flat and carry on the various clearing out. Paul and I did it! It was really hard work in the time of Lockdown. On the 8th day, my cousin’s daughter said to me, “Can I have Eric’s telly?” I said, “Yes, if you had asked me last week, it would have been yours.” No one had offered to help us, we did it all on our own, but we were used to doing everything for Eric, we didn’t mind.

I had never done anything like this before, so When the Registrar, rang me up, she asked me, “How many death certificates would you like?” I didn’t know, for I knew I had to let quite a few people know of Eric’s passing. I thought of four, then I said, “What would you suggest?” She said, “I think two will be enough.” I said, “How much are they?” She said “Eleven pounds each,” So, I ordered two from her. But it wasn’t until later, I realized that I only needed one! So, I don’t know why with her years of experience, did she give me the wrong advice?

I also asked her, “Is there a funeral company that you can recommend?” She said, “Yes,” And gave me the name and phone number.

Before I rang them, I rang the Company that had his £5,000 funeral money. At first, I wasn’t sure what this money was for, were they going to organize the food and flowers and the place to eat? Then when I thought it through, after I had spoken to them, that it was only the money, it was I who would be sorting it all out. The Company said, “We can’t give you the £5,000 until we see the death certificate,” That made sense, I said, “OK,” She went on, “Please take a picture of it, and send it from your phone in an email to us,” I replied, “OK,” Having never done that in my life, I went to my clever young Manager, and within a few minutes, a copy of the death certificate was sent to them.       

I then rang the number, of the funeral Company, they were lovely, very professional, they put me at ease, as I was nervous. Because it was lockdown, everything was now on zoom. All communication was done by emails, phone calls and zoom. The different packages were sent to my email.

On a day that was arranged a zoom meeting took place. In the meeting was a funeral person, myself, my older cousin, and my cousin Garry. My microphone was not working, so the other three people were unable to hear me, Meghan was at work, so she was unable to help me, so I had to write in big letters on paper and hold it up to the camera so that they could read what I wanted to say. I was asked, “What flowers do you want?” I wrote, “What do you recommend?” Ashley said, “For the package you have chosen it comes with one long diamond shaped for the top of the funeral car, with yellow and white flowers,” I wrote, “I will have that then. Ashley said, “That will be £135,” I replied, “OK.” Then Ashley asked, “How many funeral cars do you want?” I said, “Two please,” Ashley said, “OK.” There were other things we could have had, my older cousin wanted me to spend all of the £5,000 but Garry said, “No, it is covid time, death is all around us, everything is uncertain, there is no need to be wasteful, there is no need to add to the bill, just stick to the basics.” As Ashley had asked, “Do you want a cylinder tube, to put his ashes in?” He went on to explain, “They come in different prints on the outside of the cylinder, and because he was an artist, he could have a watercolour print of a forest.” Garry said, “Maxine do you want this?” I held up on my paper that I had written the word, “No.” Garry then said to Ashley, “How will Eric’s ashes come to us?” Ashley said, “It will be collected from us and it will be in a large see through bag,” Garry said, “OK, that is fine, I will collect it.”

Ashley then said the total bill will be, “Two thousand seven hundred pounds,” I said, “OK, thank you,” Shown on my paper to him. I then wrote on my paper, and held it up, “Thank you Ashley and cousins.” Then the meeting ended.

I was told by the crematorium people, “The service will be 30 minutes long. The lovely gentleman had rung me up and said, “You can choose who you want to say a few words, and he too would say a few words.” I said, “I will say a few words and my cousin Garry will do the eulogy,” He said, “OK.”

I was thinking in my mind where can we go after the funeral, as I am NOT conventional, I didn’t have to think too long before the solution sudden came to me. In lockdown, some places refused to accept cash! So, I had to make sure I had cash and card with me.

I had told those going to the funeral, “You can wear what you want.” 

On the funeral day, there was in total at Eric’s funeral 11 of us! Who knew that in the future, that only 11 people or less would be at a funeral?  Garry spoke first, he said things I didn’t know about my brother, it was beautiful and light-hearted, and he talked about his artist side. Then I stood up and spoke, I am very shy and do not speak in public, but at Eric’s funeral, it was almost like I was in my cousin’s home, because the 10 people that I was looking up when I looked up from my notes, were my brothers and cousins who I have grown up with, and known all my life. I made them laugh and smile. Then on a serious note, I turned to Eric in his coffin and said, “Eric, you wanted me to bring you KFC everyday you were in the hospital, well when we leave here, in your honour and memory, we will all be having KFC.” I finished with, “Rest in Peace, Eric.”

We all drove to the KFC, I said to the Staff at the till, “We have just come from my brother’s funeral, this is the refreshments, all eleven of us here, will choose whatever they want, as by brother Eric will be paying for it, when everyone has ordered, I will order last, then let me know the total.”

I then said to my brothers and cousins, buy whatever you want, as much as you want, and take them home too, to your families.” No one did, they chose what they wanted just for themselves, and we all went into our own cars, right there on the car park we ate our food and drinks, in silence in Eric’s memory.

The bill came to £72. I thought, who knew that a meal at a funeral could come to so little? I made sure I brought KFC home for Daniel, and Meghan.

It was strange after the funeral, Eric was SO much in our lives, that I had to say to Paul, “Make sure my car don’t automatically drive to Eric’s flat!”

The £5,000 that the Company had given me, I had put in a separate bank account.

I then went to his building society, that I had been to many times before, and in a private room, I said, “My brother Eric has died,” And I showed her the death certificate. She said, “I need your bank details to put his money into your account.” Shocked, I looked at her and said, “You want me to give you my bank details, so that you can put his money into my account?” She said, “Yes.” I still in shock, gave her my bank details. Then in a few minutes, all of his money was in mine and Pauls joint account, we went from in the red to rich in seconds! I actually didn’t know what I thought was going to happen, I maybe thought the government was going to have it, I didn’t have a clue! Dazed I then went to his bank and told them too of his passing and showed them in a private room his death certificate, and the same thing happened there.

Then there was the task of letting the people who he had paid all his bills in one go, for the year know. They each said, the same thing, “We need to give you the refund for the now over payments, please can we have us your bank details so that we can send you the refund.” Some of the refunds came in the form of a cheque. It was incredible, money was coming to me in all directions. I truly felt Blessed! We were SO poor, and now we had plenty. When it sank in, it was wonderful.

I always said, all my life to myself and to some, “If ever I had plenty of money, I would help those in need, I would not keep it to myself. I know what it is to be in dire need, financially, and I know how wonderful it is, when someone has given me money, when we were skint and in the red. I felt on top of the world.

Without going into detail, I gave a tenth of the amount from both banks to my Church in my tithes and offerings. I gave some to my Mum. I gave some to Paul, for without him, there is a lot I would not have been able to do, he is a Gem. Then I gave to individuals, as I felt moved to.

All our selfless, hard work, over the years, had been noted, and now thanks to Eric who wanted me to have everything when he died, it happened.

RIP Eric.