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"… Floyd," mother said "You need to understand I want a final look"

"Suit yourself," he said over his squeaking chair Glancing over the steeple he forers he continued, "James, please step into the hall"

I rose fro back to Floyd "He's entitled to hear what you have to say "

"So be it," Floyd reached for the baseball he kept atop his desk "If you choose to view the remains, they won't resemble your father You'll be better off -spiritually, e his likeliness before the accident What you see will be upsetting"

"That would be for me to decide" ers over the seams of the baseball "This would be a closed casket deal if Stanley wasn't being creether He was crushed - like a grape, splat" I jued his fist on the desktop

"You're out of line," et people to understand," the minister retorted

"He proves you don't have to be a dork to be a ht I called from the hospital

"If I can't talk you out this - it's a bad idea - at least allow ained with reed - on the condition she would have a few reed At the hospital, Floyd said, "she would have gone to the funeral parlor anyway" After taking a long, nervous drag off his cigarette, he continued, "I had a gut feeling so would happen"

"Don't worry about it,' father said "You did us all a favor" Later, father let it slip that Floyd would have done us a bigger favor by stuffingthe lid "We could have got a two for one deal"

"She's been concussed," the Eency Room Doctor told us "As a precaution, I want to keep her over night"

I stepped back from the doctor

"We also stitched a laceration on the back of her head," he continued in a professional monotone

"He needs a Tic-Tac," I complained when the doctor walked away

"I kneas a bad idea," Floyd vexed "I never iined such a reaction"