8755. ALL THESE HANDLERS

ALL THESE HANDLERS

In the White Mountains not

all houses have curtains. Things

can be seen inside. From afar, not

much happens, but up close, oh 

the things you see. Down South,

by contrast, things are different

again. They have Lane Cakes :

a particular cake of a shiny white,

with boiled icing. It signifies that

someone has died in the night.

The woman carrying it down 

the street, with its frosting slightly

sweating in the heat, was headed 

for the church, or the house of the

survivors, or the union hall that

might now bear the bunting for

the dead. The other ladies from the 
church would come by, as mourners,
 and to sit with the family members. 
They'd talk, only good things, about 
the deceased. Sometimes it was
amazing how biographies changed.
My friend's Grandpa used to say : 'If 
you want to be truly reformed; 
it's best to die.'