Something Different

Emma May Barnes never would have noticed she was dead, if one of the other ladies hadn’t pulled her aside. “Pardon me,” the woman said, as if she were going to mention that Emma May’s slip was showing, “There’s no good way to say this…”

Emma May’s slip was not showing, and her hair was not out of order.

The undertaker had made certain of that.

No, it was nothing like that.

It was just that she was dead, and had been for several weeks.

She was still walking around, smelling flowers, and complimenting babies, just as she had when she was alive. Aside from the fact that the babies were frightened, there was the matter of the smell. The ladies were sure she didn’t know, but… Well, she was dead, after all.

Oh, they were polite enough about it, but they left no doubt. There was no place for someone like her in a town like Grover’s Corner.

No room at all.

She’d have to go somewhere else.

She’d have to go somewhere else?

She’d spent her whole life walking around Grover’s Corner. She’d spent her whole life smelling flowers and complimenting babies. She’d known all of these women since they were tiny girls on cradle roll in the Grover’s Corner church. She’d watched them grow up, and then, she’d watched them grow old.

She’d spent her whole life there.

But maybe, her afterlife could be different.

Don’t forget to visit the other writers in this month’s blog hop.

0 – The Fool by Raven O’Fiernan
Big Enough by Elizabeth McCleary
Grumpy Old Demeter by Vanessa Wells
Say Please By J. Q. Rose
Provoking the Muse by Moira K. Brennan
It all Started… by Bill Bush
Zombies by Barbara Lund
Before The Dreams by Katharina Gerlach
To Wake A God by Juneta Key
The Sprite In The Well by Angela Wooldridge
You are Here —>Something Different by Karen Lynn