Laid to Rest (From the Midnight Snacks Collection)

For Steve Harris, locking up the Resting Hearts Funeral Home each day was a major relief. He didn’t know exactly what it was that compelled him to study mortuary sciences, but it was the trade he knew and it kept food on the table for both he and his mother, Ina. His routine was where his comfort was.

Unfortunately, given his subject matter expertise, death was both an unpredictable and inevitable thing. On an average week in Cedar City, Utah, he split funeral duties with Abel Nixon at the Cedar City Funeral Home half the time. Fifteen deaths per week were not uncommon, so between the two businesses, they would generally divide between 6 and 8 preparations and services per week, less the occasional cremations requested.

Given the growth in the area, Steve and Abel met up weekly, touching base on the latest happenings over a cup of black coffee and butter pancakes at the Slippery Spoon, just off Main Street, and all the while sharing trade secrets, creepy stories, and discounts on the latest embalming fluids. About 5 years ago, they figured out buying fluids in bulk led to the best bargain.

Their businesses were on the north and south sides of town, respectively, and they would regularly make referrals to one another when their mortuary coolers were filled to capacity. Staging the body for the show was half of the art of the job. Sometimes it was much more effortless. That is, if the client died of natural causes. When an accident happened, or someone was discovered dead a few days after the fact, putting in overtime to make the corpse more presentable was not uncommon.

Abel had been in the business 50 years. He could sense his time to pass on was imminent, and wanted to make sure he was as close to perfectly prepped as possible. He also wanted to give his final preparation wishes and stipulations, which were mainly business as usual for Steve. The only difference was that Abel wanted to be prepped and staged at his own facility, Cedar City. He mentioned this to Steve at their most recent meeting, and Steve wanted to make sure he did what he could to honor Abel’s wishes. 

“Steve, I need you to know the respect I have for you, buddy. I’m getting feeble and weak these days, and I’m afraid the mistakes I’ve made in recent funeral preparations are being noticed. My hands aren’t as steady as they… used to be. I had to give Mrs. Jones a discount on the funeral the other day for nicking ‘ol Woodrow’s chin when I was shaving him up before the service.” 

Steve replied with a chuckle, “Oh boy, Abel. I bet that was fun to explain. She is a piece of work, isn’t she?” 

“You know, the less they know about what we do, the better,” Abel agreed. 

“Don’t you know that’s the truth?”  Steve joked.

Abel stood up to leave and exit the restaurant and said, “Well, I’ll see you later.”

As he walked to the car, he was notably winded, almost keeling over while pulling on the door handle to his blue Ranger pickup. He climbed in and drove down the street to the Cedar City Funeral Home.

He thought to himself while heading into the building, I’ll just go ahead and start putting the postmortem makeup on myself to prep things a little more for Steve. It’ll be my parting gift to him and MYSELF. God knows I haven’t gotten enough sun the last few years, and those bright lights are bound to make me paler than a bleached bedsheet.

He set up the lighting and arranged the mirrors and table for himself to begin preparations. He was so consumed with prepping for his own death that he had completely forgotten about Amy Drixler. He hadn’t paid much attention to her brother, Perry. Her body had been transported in earlier, and Perry’s brief explanation to her bizarre fate was now a little hazy in Abel’s memory.

…

Steve returned to Resting Hearts and saw the voice message light blinking on his phone. He went to retrieve it. 

“Steve, it’s mom. I’m not feeling very well, son. Can you give me a call when you get a chance?”…

NEXT message…

“Steve, I actually drank the embalming fluid, I thought it was WAT….GAG!!!!”....

NEXT message…

”Steve, it’s Abel. I’m prepping myself for my funeral over here. Stop by when you get a chance.” 

It was just another day in the business of death for Steve Harris, but this time he was a bit panicked. Embalming fluid, on its own, probably wasn’t fatal, but he had been adding cyanide to it recently to experiment with its preservation qualities. He had not yet taken the mixture back to the preparation room at Resting Hearts. It was still on his kitchen counter. His negligence of properly marking the recycled drinking water jug was certainly the cause of Ina’s gaffe — a mistake that could have cost him much more than it did.

…

Steve went home to find his mother unconscious on the floor. At 78, she’d had some close calls through the years. He poured cold water on her. She revived. It didn’t appear she drank more than a sip from his analysis of the jug, so it was likely not a toxic dose. It had only been a small amount of cyanide that he was putting into the embalming fluid mixture.

His mother spoke up, clearly startled and shaken up from the fainting spell, “Steve, I saw the other side. I was following the bright light. What happened?! How am I here again?”

“Mom, you just had a little sip. Though I would never recommend drinking embalming fluid, I think it would take more than you drank to 'do you in.' It was the cyanide I had put in there that had me concerned,” Steve replied.

His mother’s heart nearly stopped as she raised her voice at Steve, “CYANIDE!!!??? SON, YOU REALLY ARE TRYING TO KILL ME, aren’t you? YOU KNUCKLEHEAD!”

“I’m not so sure that you are remembering correctly, mom. I told you the other day I had been experimenting with the embalming fluid and not to drink out of this jug,” Steve interjected.

“I don’t remember that. I don’t remember that at all,” his mother denied. 

“Oh, come on! You know you are getting older mom. You probably just forgot,” Steve said.

Ina shrugged it off, “You know what, Steve, you’re probably right. This year is hitting me pretty hard.” 

“Mom, I hate to run so quickly, but I need to head over to Cedar City. I have an appointment with Mr. Nixon. He seems to be counting down his days a lot here lately. I’m glad you‘re okay, I was concerned there for a bit,” Steve said.

Ina ignored Steve’s comment about her own brush with death, instead jabbing at Abel’s situation, given her knowledge of the spunky Cedar City mortician, “Oh, that ‘ol Abel… his whole life revolves around death, and he thinks he’s just going to keel over of natural causes at 78? Over my dead body…”

…

After Steve didn’t show up as quickly as Abel hoped, he began taking the funeral preparation make-up off, realizing he might still have a few days left. He prepared to turn in for the night, until he remembered of his need to tend to Amy. He knew it was imperative to get her prepped before he could call it a night. He went to retrieve her from the mortuary cooler, and much to his surprise, her body was covered in worms, dirt, and maggots.

He thought to himself, I keep my preparation room in such good order. This is NOT possible.

As he leaned in to roll the body over to clean it up, he noticed Amy’s eyes were gouged out. He continued to struggle, Did I just forget all of this entirely? I’m at a loss here.

It was clear, he needed to either hand over his duties as a mortician to someone else or get a little more sleep. 

Something has got to give. Drixler told me something about how she died, but I can’t remember what he said for the life of me... or what I have left of it.

He cleaned her up as best as his many years of experience could offer using a small mortuary dust-buster to suck up the worms, dirt, and maggots as he wiped her down and prepped the body. For gouged-out eyes, he had a system where he placed a couple of large marbles in the sockets to make the eyelids not sag inwards excessively. It wasn’t pretty, but they were cheaper than glass eyes, and the eyelids would be glued down well. He prepared to lock up for the night.

As he proceeded toward the door, he saw Steve driving up outside. He raced out of his vehicle and said, “I’m so sorry I’m late, Abel. My mom had one of her ‘senior’ moments.” 

Abel replied, “Not to worry, I can hang on for a few more days.” 

Steve asked Abel, “You want to show me around?”

In the 28 years that Steve had been in the business, he had never actually been back into the preparation room of Cedar City. There was an unspoken code between morticians that they wouldn’t reveal their workroom to each other unless absolutely necessary. Occasionally, unusual things would happen during the preparation process in both funeral homes, but Abel’s experience had offered him a considerably greater amount of “war-stories.”

Before Steve’s funeral home was a funeral home, it had been an 8-room motel. He made the rooms and hall corridor work to his advantage, but the viewing rooms were a bit smaller than he or his guests typically preferred. When they complained too much while taking the tour, he would refer them to Cedar City. The rooms were twice as big. There was just something about being cramped in a room with a dead body that left some people unsettled for more than obvious reasons.

…

Amy Drixler had been in Cedar City before. Her mother had reportedly been killed the previous year in a skiing accident. She had worked with Abel closely to handle most of the funeral preparations. It was just too difficult for her brother, Perry, to face her after she had passed on.

Abel recalled he and Amy's conversation from the previous year as he looked at the body, “You know, mom always knew how to go out on a high note. I never expected that to mean she’d fly off of the side of Sidewinder’s pass. She really was an expert on the slopes.” 

Abel had prepped a handful of skiing accidents over the years. Bev Drixler’s body just didn’t fit the textbook description for this kind of death. The wounds and other environmental factors simply did not add up.

Coroners and morticians would occasionally have some intersect in skills, but typically a coroner had more medical experience in the field to make an assessment on the cause of death. Neither he nor Steve maintained the credentials to do so. Thinking back, he remembered finding dirt under her fingernails, inside her ears, and up her nose. It was one of the stranger situations that he’d prepped a body for. Now, he was doing much the same with her daughter, Amy. He remembered a few breaks in Bev's bones, but they did not appear to match a regular directional break like a skiing accident would have likely caused. This kind of scenario was an interesting ethical dilemma in the funeral business. That is, the concept of how many people died of natural causes versus the ones that were smothered by a pillow, so-to-speak. It was a fine line that a mortician had to walk, but, ultimately, the client was the one that was paying, not local law enforcement. He and Steve differed in their opinions on this.

Steve would turn in every potential foul play death to the authorities. They rarely could do anything about it, because the evidence necessary to prove such was not very easy to come by posthumously. That is, unless the family was very generous or forced to share more information in their time of grieving. It was rarely a safe thing to count on.

…

The two morticians were at odds a few times through the years, but generally were pretty amicable after a week or two would go by. Abel and Steve’s mother, Ina, had been an item in the past. This was indeed a touchy subject for Abel as they had not parted on the best of terms. It was just plain awkward for Steve. Mortuary business colleagues and family really shouldn’t mix. This wasn’t in any official “mortician’s code of conduct” book, but still a notably poor choice. There simply were not enough trade secrets to keep otherwise.

As Abel drove home, he spotted an old man on the side of the road changing a tire, or at least, he was changing a tire. It appeared he had passed away in the process. He called it in to the authorities. They brought him into Resting Hearts. It was a textbook “heart attack on the side of the highway” death. This was all too common a situation for Abel and Steve to play a part in. It usually was not much of a problem as long as they were discovered early, and they hadn't collapsed too far into the roadway near unsuspecting oncoming traffic. Shoveling snow and changing tires were both a frequent culprit for an unfortunate demise, especially in the cooler season. Steve received the call to prep the body for funeral arrangements at the direction of the family. Abel wasn't permitted to do the preparations since he was the one that had discovered and reported it.

There was nothing all that interesting about this preparation for Steve, but his mother was quite interested in the process this time around. It was indeed a "natural cause" type of death for an older man in these conditions. The only conclusion that Steve could come up with was that his mother had previous connections with the man, but did not seem to want to admit it.

As Steve removed the shirt off of the deceased, he saw a diamond-shaped branding on the man’s right shoulder as if burned into the skin by heat. He could not remember having seen this marking before, at least not recently. There didn’t seem to be anyone around that he felt was appropriate to ask any more questions, especially given the circumstances, so he just left it alone.

Meanwhile, across town, Abel discovered the same marking on the right shoulder of Amy Drixler. This wasn’t the first time that he had seen it, but he had never explored its meaning. Perhaps it was just personal. He wasn’t really sure.

…

Steve and Abel had agreed to meet for their usual black coffee and butter pancakes when Steve decided to broach the subject with Abel. He had been in the business for a long time, and this kind of marking seemed more unique than a tattoo. It must have symbolized more.

As such, he questioned Abel, “Have you ever seen a diamond branding on the upper part of the right shoulder of one of your corpses? I noticed it on the old fellow you called in on the side of the road.” 

Abel replied, “Yeah, I’ve seen it before. I never really paid much mind to it until seeing it on Amy Drixler.” 

Steve inquisitively responded, “Amy had the marking? Can you remember anyone else? I’m just trying to find a common denominator here.”

Abel rubbed his forehead for a moment and said, “Come to think of it, I saw it on Amy Drixler’s mother, Bev. Yeah, probably a few others through the years, too. That Drixler family... Do you think they were mixed up in something that they shouldn’t have been? Both of ‘em died WAY too young.” 

Steve replied to the unsettling revelation, “I’m starting to think so. I will do some more digging around to see what I can find out. Can you do the same? Let’s touch base as soon as we have any more breakthroughs or developments. Something just isn’t adding up here.”

They went their separate ways and began to check around for more information. Abel hadn’t volunteered the details on the Drixler deaths that might have been useful to Steve, but he just didn’t see it as relevant at that point. This probably had more to do with his old age than anything else. Steve would have more than likely seen any additional information as relevant.

…

Steve came home to find his mother, Ina, dead on the floor of his darkroom. It was a chilling image to take in as her body was cast in a red aura. He had left only the red lamp on for the other hobby that he had, taking photographs of the deceased before and after preparation, and developing the film. She was covered in worms, dirt, and maggots, and it seemed as if she had been dead for several hours.

As he recovered from the shock, he began to talk aloud, “Okay, it’s just my imagination, right? I’m going on NO sleep. Mom wouldn’t be dead like this. This is all just a setup, right? I’ve nearly seen more dead bodies in my life than I have live ones.” 

Steve knew this was real and was unsure of what to do next. He snapped a shot of her on the floor. Her skin illuminated her body in a haunting skeleton-like image for a split second. Hanging on clips around the room were photographs of his fifty most recent funeral assignments and the efforts that he had made to make them look their best. Most of the time, he took pride in his handiwork.

The images had an odd look with only the glow of red light on them, but he was accustomed to working in this kind of lighting, and he preferred it this way. He also worked in similar lighting in his workroom at Resting Hearts. He would play ambient and shrine-like meditation music throughout the process to drown out the unruly sounds of carving and maneuvering through and around the flesh of the dead.

He had done it long enough for it not to bother him anymore. Sometimes it would be challenging with the smaller and younger, but he would always pray for the family as he started and also for peace for himself while he went throughout the preparation process. He started the standard method on his mother rather meticulously, trying not to get choked up.

As he began, he became quite emotional and struggled to accept her passing. He cleaned her up and removed the worms, dirt, and maggots from her body. He could see that her skin had been completely immersed and covered by the dirt. He began to check under her clothing when he found that she also had a diamond-shaped branding on her right shoulder. Ina never wore sleeveless clothing or dresses that would have exposed this in the past, and when swimming, she had always covered up with a dark t-shirt. How have I never noticed this? This is just weird, Steve thought. As he walked through the house, he could see a small trail of dirt leading to the back door…

…

Abel went into his workroom to continue the preparation process on Amy. He noticed in her jacket pocket, a small item that resembled a business card. 

All for one and one for all, we are one with the dirt and man’s fall. BE AWARE OF THE EARTH YOU LOVE AND GIVE IT YOUR ALL!

He had read it aloud, and when he finished, it felt like the echo of the eerie saying had sent a chill down his spine as it continued reverberating through the dimly-lit workroom. There were no other marking indicators on the card, no phone number, no group name, just the strange saying, and the same diamond branding that he had previously seen on Amy’s shoulder in the upper right-hand corner of the card.

He felt as if something was missing. Perhaps there was a dimension in the empty space of the card that was not visible to the naked eye. He kept a Smacklight black light on standby in his workroom. He shined it on the card. He usually kept this to ensure that there were no iridescent or fluorescently visible fluids, blood, or build-up that he needed to clean off of an incoming body. He couldn’t find anything else on the card. He turned it over and tried the same on the back with no visible success. The texture of the card was not cardstock paper, but rather some kind of very-fine wood. He thought about it a little longer. He began to lightly spritz water on it and continued to use the black light. He noticed some small text beginning to appear at the bottom. The card read 313 Center Street, M, F, 12-2AM.

Abel thought, I’m 78 years old. I will literally do myself in trying to stay up that late. I will talk to Steve.

As he called over to Resting Hearts Funeral Home, he received no answer and left a voice message, “Steve, it’s Abel. I have something to discuss with you. Call me at Cedar City as soon as you get a chance, thanks.”

Abel assumed that the “M” and “F” on the card were indicators of the days of the week, and the 12-2AM were office hours that the business or club was in operation. It was Thursday night. He debated on if he should just try going to the early Friday morning meeting or activity himself or try to drop in at Resting Hearts to see if Steve was just tied up and unable to answer the phone when he had previously called.

As he went across town, he began thinking about 313 Main and what was housed at the address. He was quite surprised when he pulled up to Resting Hearts to find that it was, in fact, located at 313 Main. Was Steve mixed up in this? Abel didn’t think so, but it was becoming apparent, his place of business was.

...

Steve had finished preliminary preparations on his mother. He called it in to the authorities after the fact. They usually permitted this, especially given Steve and Abel’s line of work and the trust they had earned over the years. His residence was very close. In fact, it was just three doors down from his business.

His mother had been working as an apprentice and assistant to Steve for several years now. There were even some rare occasions when he would let her take the lead. He gave her a key to the business about six years ago when she moved in with him after his father had passed away. He didn't keep tabs on her every move after hours, so he was unsure how frequently she needed to use the key, and he rarely asked. In the past, she had expressed to Steve numerous times her own fear of being alone for too long and what might happen to her. He felt compassion for her at this time and was later motivated to invite her to move in with him. To give her further purpose, he hired her at Resting Hearts.

…

The People of the Earth met in Room 8 after hours at the Resting Hearts Funeral Home. The Drixler family had been part of the group since forming it in the 1970s when Resting Hearts was still a motel. They had managed the property. To Bev and Joe Drixler, their acknowledgment for the “things of this earth” needed to be appreciated more, and the experience needed to be shared with others that were equally passionate about it. The initial struggle was figuring out who really “appreciated” the earth enough to have a membership or a place in the meetings and gatherings. “Room 8” in Resting Hearts had formerly been “Room 8” in the SleepyTime Inn.

...

1984

Bev and Joe had been in the hospitality business for several years. As a way to add value to the property, they had spent a considerable amount of time developing a courtyard area in partnership with a local commercial landscaping business. Trees were put in. A small stream was built with two waterfalls. Sitting areas were carefully planned to be made in the shade as the trees grew more substantially. The garden also had 14 varieties of plants and flowers.

This vision had flourished into a beautiful courtyard area now belonging to Resting Hearts, which was ideal for grieving family and friends to catch their breath for a moment, take a smoke break, or step outside for a chat that was not conducive inside the funeral home. Bev and Joe’s two children, Amy and Perry, had grown up on the grounds and spent a lot of time in the garden. Their parents made sure their “appreciation of the earth” was up to the standards of the People of the Earth so that they could one day take over the group in their absence.

…

1991

Steve Harris bought 313 Main Street from the Drixler’s. Joe Drixler’s untimely demise was what had motivated the sale. Bev and the children needed some time to grieve and thought the proceeds of selling the business would buy some time for them to do so. His decision to buy the property was all about the location and the incredible value of such a beautiful garden and courtyard area for the guests to maintain their composure in difficult times. It would indeed give him an advantage over the unappealingly sandy and dry backyard of Cedar City Funeral Home, a local competitor. At least, that was how he had felt in 1991. He had a lot to learn about the funeral business early in his career, and his relationship with Abel Nixon and Cedar City would only blossom as they grew closer to one another through the years.

…

The biggest adjustment in losing his father for Perry Drixler was having to step in to be the new leader of the People of the Earth. Joe Drixler had been such a visionary and a mission-critical piece of the group. Perry really didn’t want to short change the members with inexperience. The earth didn’t "appreciate" his father’s final offering. He had gotten sloppy in his care for it. As a standard ritual, the People of the Earth would regularly bury a member in the dirt at the closing part of the meeting and leave them in the ground overnight. Underneath the property time capsule in the backyard was a hollowed-out area where the person would be placed and covered in dirt kicked on them over and over by each member in a routine closing ritual. This was completed, not to the point of being unable to breathe, but rather only to the point of the person being covered from neck to toe in dirt. They were "laid to rest." The time capsule placard and rock would then be placed on top of the hollowed-out area in the ground, with one participant left overnight, and leaving “the earth” to determine their fate.

The People of the Earth would nominate "a checker" the previous evening to confirm acceptance of the offering early before sunrise and determine if it was “appreciated” or “unappreciated.” An “appreciated” offering would leave the member looking younger and feeling healthier as they became “one with the earth.” An “unappreciated” offering would be “spit out” of the ground dead and covered in worms, dirt, and maggots. If they had desecrated the earth beyond belief in some unforgiving manner, their eyes would be gouged out. This was usually an indicator that the spirit of the person was not worthy of offering or that they had been exceptionally unkind to the earth in recent times. Joe, Bev, and now, Amy had been unappreciated to death by the earth. Twelve others had also suffered the same fate through the years.

Hundreds of offerings were made, and thankfully, most of the time had been well received, but the People of the Earth were sworn to secrecy. If someone had been unappreciated by the earth, the group had committed to making the death appear to be caused differently. They did this to protect the integrity of the group. Perry could no longer stand this part of it and began trying to drop hints to Steve and Abel about the People of the Earth without excessively betraying the group's trust. He had done this by delivering the last few bodies in their unappreciated forms. This was a high risk if any other members had seen him doing so, but he really didn’t know what else to do. He was the last Drixler standing. It was a matter of self-preservation at this point.

…

Abel went into Resting Hearts. It was late. All of the lights were turned off, and only the red exit signs glowed. He went to the back of the building and found one of the doors ajar. It was Room 8. Perry Drixler and a few others from around town were present in the room. They looked at him and were slightly puzzled—that is, everyone but Perry. He was relieved. Abel was considerably older than the average attendee and didn’t meet the common “earth-loving” demographic. They didn’t kick him out of the meeting and graciously allowed him to participate. Most of the members had met him at some point through the years; his closeness to death certainly played a factor in this. Death affects everyone eventually, and that cannot be avoided.

As the meeting came to a close, Abel was chosen to be laid to rest that night. They placed him in the ground and covered him in dirt. He awoke the next morning and saw Perry hovering above him, trying to pull him out of the ground before the sun had risen. He indeed felt like a new man and found the bizarre ritual to be strangely refreshing. Perry did not speak to him and left rather abruptly. Abel went home and showered. He began to inspect himself a little closer and found that his shoulder must have been branded with the diamond shape while he was asleep in the ground. This revelation put him into shock. He collapsed dead in the shower of a cardiac arrest. 

…

Perry Drixler knew something was wrong. Abel wasn’t returning his calls. Amy's funeral was to be held later that day. Steve Harris was the only other person that he could think to call upon. He’d known Steve’s mother, Ina, well from her experience being a member of the People of the Earth up until when she’d been unappreciated. If only she had picked up that piece of trash that she had seen the other day. In her old age, laziness prompted her to just kick it into the street. No one quite understood what the measuring rod was for the appreciated persons of the People of the Earth, but the health benefits of being laid to rest generally seemed to preserve most members pretty well. It wasn’t understood to an exact science, and admittedly, some members still died of natural causes as they got older. However, in their earlier years of membership, they seldom became sick. This is what kept the members coming back. It felt too good to feel good all the time. All they had to do in return was be good stewards of the beautiful green earth they were elected to be a part of.

…

Steve attempted to reach out to Abel after finalizing his mother’s funeral arrangements and couldn’t get through. When he saw that Cedar City was not open for business, he became concerned. He went to Abel’s residence. He wasn’t picking up the phone either. He found Abel dead in the shower with dirt scattered all over the floor and the diamond-shaped branding mark on his shoulder. He didn’t know what to do or where to go. As he prepped Abel for his funeral, he noticed several unidentifiable markings on his skin and a wooden business card in his jacket pocket that had fallen out on the floor.

He read the card, All for one and one for all, we are one with the dirt and man’s fall. BE AWARE OF THE EARTH YOU LOVE AND GIVE IT YOUR ALL!

Steve never found out about the People of the Earth or what the mysterious diamond branding marking was, and Perry never told him, at least not directly. He received some flowers and an unmarked card at his mother’s funeral, which was as close as he would ever get.

There was a note that read, Pay attention to the earth beneath you. Flee now and take refuge somewhere else, so you don’t end up laid to rest with your mother.

He didn’t take the message lightly. He locked up the Resting Hearts Funeral Home one final time, packed up, and left Cedar City never to return again.