Kaiser

The Funeral

Kaiser's fatal brain tumor had took over my head. I had forgotten about all other important things;school, myself, the war and my papa...
"Anjelica," said my mama at dinner one night, "I know that there are a lot of things going on in that little head of yours, but it's time we started arranging your papa's funeral." I dropped my fork at once, my mama looked at me, expecting me to say something. But there wasn't much I could say, it was nothing exciting, "Oh," I said, raising my eye brows, "what are you planning on doing?" my mama held my hand from across the table, "Dear, I know I'm the adult, and I am your papa's wife, yes? But you are his daughter Anjelica. It's not just my decision dear, you also have a say in this, do you hear me?" I nodded and ate my food again, feeling quite uncomfortable.
It was decided over dinner that my papa's funeral would be in 4 days. We asked Florence to set up a few flower arrangements for us, as she was a florist. While Florence was getting the flowers ready for us to see and judge, my mama, started talking to me, "You know Anjelica, your papa always wanted to be cremated. So we can keep his box on the mantelpiece, with a little picture of him beside it, sound nice dear? And grampapa can build a bench in the cemetery, just for him, people will walk past and think of him as a hero, won't they?" it was only then that I noticed mama was crying, "Mama," I said sweetly, "he'd be so happy. But don't cry mama, papa is looking down on is now, hoping for us to be happy, we must not mourn over his death mama, we must be happy for him, we must be proud." I felt that my speech worked when I my mama dried her tears, "You're right darling, we must be strong. Oh Anjelica," she said, pulling me close to her, "I don't know what I'd do without you, I really don't..." "How do these look Dorle? And what do you think Anjelica, do you like them?" Florence had arranged 4 beautiful bouquets of flowers, my mama smiled, "Thank you so much, how much mon-" "Ah, Dorle! No need, you are family if you are my friends, know? Now money? I no need any, this is for Dagobert, a brave man, I would never ask of a return. Now I'll see you on Sunday in ze church, goodbye my dears, you shan't worry, okay?" she waved us out of the shop and smiled.
"Today, we are being reminded of the brave soldier, Dagobert Herrmann, and may he be remembered with such honer as the other brave soldiers were. Now let us pray.." that was all we did for the rest of the service, but I only listened when mama walked up to say her speech. Before she started she looked at me, I smiled at her and she smiled back, I knew she'd need my support, "Well, as you should all know, my beloved Dagobert was very brave. And I know that everyone here supports Germany in this war, and everyone of you are so proud of him because you thought he was a vicious man who fought for Hitler-but you are all wrong. You see, my husband as well as being brave, was a soft hearted man, and the only reason he fought for Germany was to prevent the younger soldiers from being killed. He was a wise man, he died for your son's sake Karin, and your son's sake Greta and I could go on. But I just wanted to put the point across that he never wanted war, his heart was just to big that I guess he..He..Sorry.." she stopped for tears and ran out the door, I went after her and Velken followed. I can't say every single thing that happened, but it was mostly tears. Then we went to the graveyard, but as mama said would, we had a bench built in memory of papa, my mama didn't cry then, all of her tears had already been cried out, she just kept a straight face and held me and Velken's hand.
Next, we went to a restaurant to eat some fancy food for a change. We left as early as we could, as we were all so tired. Plus there wasn't much that happened, apart from papa's mama making rude remarks against my mama, "There she is, Dorle Bauer. You're the reason my Dagobert died! He did everything for you, and what did you do?" "I'll have you know that I didn't do anything to disrespect Dagobert!" shouted my mama, standing up, "And for your information, my name is Dorle Herrmann, I am married to your son, remember? And I will grieve over his death until I die, he was, and always will be my one true love. Now come on Velken and Anjelica, we are going home." and with that, she grabbed us both by the arm and we followed her back home. Mama was never the one to say these things, but it was the alcohol she had drank that made her feel brave, and I wouldn't usually stand by this, but it worked, granny was always moaning about these things, so mama was in the right state of mind saying that. Mama went straight to bed, while Velken and I stayed downstairs and laughed about what had happened. "So," Velken said, after we had our laughs, "what about this dog of yours?" I had forgotten all about Kaiser, and I suddenly started to panic. "Oh," I exclaimed, standing on my feet, "Velken, we need to get her out of there! I know that he is aggressive, but still! He is my lovely dog, he just a brain tumor. And brother, he's too young for the operation, they're going to kill him!" he looked awkward, then we pulled out an envelope from under the sofa, "Here," he said, handing it over to me, "I saw mama hiding this under here, I can't think of anything else it could be than-" "They're going to put Kaiser to sleep!" I called out aloud, reading from the page, "If the decision is made to euthanize a pet, veterinarians can explain the medical aspects of death, how euthanasia is done, and how the pet will look in death--that eyes do not close, that the body may be warm for a few hours, and that the body will become stiff later! Why Velken? Did you know about this? Did you?" he shook his head, "I would have told you if I knew Anjelica." it was when I heard the bottom of the letter that I became raging, "Listen here Velken," I said, hand on hip, " 'If you'd like treatment for your pet, other than putting him to sleep, it would require €150 per month! Thank you Velken, I needed something to open my eyes." I walked upstairs to my bedroom, and cried. Either way we'd lose; if Kaiser was put to sleep, I'd be sad, and if we started paying for treatment, mama would be sad as she and her 2 children wouldn't be able to eat or anything!