BROTHER RUDY'S SECRET



Brother Rudy died.

Just like that.


One minute he was running his pickup up and down the road

the truckbed filled with branches from a cut tree

or trash

or furniture

that he was taking to the dump

or to someone's house


and the next minute he pulled his pickup over to the side of the road

started to get out

and died

half-in and half-out of his truck.


It was a terrible shock

to our congregation

who had come to depend on him

for all their hauling needs

and home repair

and fence-building

and errand-running.




Nevermore would we hear his cackling laugh

or hear him say he was a jack of all trades and master of none.



Nevermore would we hear the strange tale

of how his wife died

while measuring coffee into the pot


how she just turned around and said to him

"Honey, I have to go now."

and fell to the floor, dead.




Daddy took Brother Rudy's death real bad.

He spent all day and most of the night

locked in his study at the church.

He said he couldn't get out of his mind

the picture of Brother Rudy waiting for us at the train station

waving his hat.


Mom fitted me out with buckets and rags

and all of us church ladies

went to his house

to get his Sunday suit to be buried in

and to straighten up his house.




We stepped into his kitchen

which was a warm and cozy kitchen

with piles of newspapers sitting on the counter

next to a Philco radio


and a little table

covered with a tattered printed tablecloth

with a toaster sitting on it

and a half-loaf of bread

and some melting butter.


Sister Noni went to the sink

and picked up Brother Rudy's coffee cup


and was about to rinse it and put it on the drainboard

when she lifted it to her nose

and her eyebrows darted up in surprise.


"Now I may be wrong", she said

"but don't this smell like whiskey?"


There was a lot of hen clucking over that!




The two cupboards directly over the sink

held bottles of whiskey and vodka

lots of it

at least 20 bottles


and the silverware drawer

had gum of all kinds

stacks of it

at least 50 packs.


"Now we know why he chewed gum all the time!"

Sister Alfreda said.




On Friday, Brother Rudy lay in his coffin

in his Sunday suit and tie

and the church was decorated from altar to nave

with flowers and garlands.


Daddy chose as his text for Brother Rudy's funeral

Matthew 25:21

"His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

thou hast been faithful over a few things

I will make thee ruler over many things

enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."


When Daddy was finished

giving Brother Rudy back to the Lord

our congregation walked single-file to his coffin

and gently tucked their remembrances of him

around his stiff little body.




His yellow suspenders

his torn old cap

five dollars Brother Bob owed him

thank-you cards for all he had done for us all

the picture of his wife that sat on his bureau

a pack of gum just in case there was liquor in Heaven

his battered Bible

a magnetic picture of Jesus that had decorated his icebox

daisies

roses

a teddy bear

a wooden nickel that he liked to show the little ones

his three rubber juggling balls

the collar off his dog "Boy" who had died years ago.




All of the church ladies kissed his cold cheeks

and rearranged his little bit of hair.



Not one of them ever told his secret.





Music playing: When They Ring Those Golden Bells

This page contains copyrighted material

Story taken from my actual diaries

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