“We should wait at least two weeks before we even think of burying him this time,” Mama said. “ Make sure he's good and dead.”
At that, Meg and Corey stopped and turned to look at their mother. Both girls had heard the stories of old Uncle Jed's dying and coming to life again, but they had never been witness to it, and they had never heard their mother speak of it.
“Okay, I'll come by later. Bye,” Mama said. She hung up the receiver and paused a moment before turning to face the girls.
“We'll have to prep a wake for Jed,” Mama said to the ceiling. “A long one.” She looked at the girls and said, “We have a lot of food to make.”
“Could it happen again now?” Meg asked.
“Yeah,” Corey added, “He's so old. Wasn't he young, you know, when the dying thing happened before? And how did it really happen anyway?” she asked.
Meg elbowed her. “We don't speak ill of the dead,” she said.
“We don't know for sure if he's dead!” Corey elbowed back.
.
— Excerpt from “Uncle Jed is Dead?,” by Gena Williams
