Bereavement

He passed away in the mid 90s and I was one of the pall bearers. When we got to the cemetery the hearse parked on a road about 50 yards from the burial plot. About half way to the site it seemed to me that the casket had suddenly gotten heavier, as if something had suddenly been dropped onto it. Or jumped on top of it.

I was eleven months post a serious knee injury and surgery, and thought it might have just been me. We were able to get the casket to the bier without further problems, but later I asked the other five guys, “When we were carrying the casket at the cemetery, did it suddenly. . .” To a man, they all interrupted and said, “get heavier? Yes!”

To this day, I think it was Pete having one last joke.