Chapter 21: THEY THOUGHT YOU WERE COOL

Just as he promised, Christopher played with the kids for a while and then it was time for the funeral. They climbed into the car. There were two limos, for Uncle Ray, his kids, and his grandkids. They headed to the white church; named that because it was built of wood timbers and whitewashed. The red church was brick and they did things a bit differently; like speaking in tongues. The white church was where they had their family plot. He'd have to visit his brother Walt's grave after Aunt Lonnie's funeral. His older brother had died in a car accident at the age of eighteen. Everything was shit back then; losing Walt, moving to Covington where people made him feel like a freak, and not having his best friend Debbie.

His mom was stoic during the funeral service. He held her hand but she didn't allow one tear to fall from her glistening eyes. He wanted to tell her that it was alright to cry and that he knew that she'd always had to be strong. But instead he just squeezed her hands gentl