Look Homeward Angel

“Hi my names Angel and I need to get buried.” I have to admit this on of one the stranger calls I have received. Of course I was not called by the little person herself since she had already passed but by one of the other private on-profits in the area seeking help for the family to bury their little girl. In fact, this has been a strange week to live in Salt Lake City. I have to admit I am still adjusting to the Trolley Square Rampage” I don’t what to think about it or talk about it but that is what I end up doing. This morning coming into work I was sitting next to my “train buddy Don” a conservative, local culture, guy whom I have let into my circle just because I tend to see him a couple of times a week. Don was griping on and on about how the local media will not just let the whole massacre go. The local media is beating the whole thing to death. “When will they let the whole thing go?” “When the whole thing stops selling toothpaste” I responded and then we realized that we were not letting ‘the whole thing go’. We stepped back a bit and laughed. Then we decided that this was our way of processing the events of this last week since neither of us were about to take advantage of any mental health supports offered by our respective employers. We laughed again and felt like a character from a Stephen King novel.

I noticed the flags at half staff, again, at the Arena, the old Delta Center, as I caught the train last night. I sighed and took a deep breath. I thought myself ‘ I have never seen the flag at half-staff as many times as I have the past couple of years. Now, they will probably be at half for at least a month! Maybe they-who ever they are- should save them some time and leave the flag for ever at half.

I remembered some where in my resource materials seeing something about a ‘burial fund’(BF). Thank god, I have never had to use this resource until today. I did a search on my computer and the County Burial Fund (BF) popped up. I called and the number rang and rang and rang…this was a little spooky I was about to hang up when the answering machine caught the call. Just a name saying they were the ‘Burial fund’ and to leave a message. I did so, quickly and hung up. An hour later, I got a call from the County District Attorney’s office it was someone named Cathy. Since the number I had initially called had not identified it self as the D.A.’s office I was a little started to hear this response. It was the lady from the Burial Fund. This was the right place and they had been contacted by a number of different folks about this little girl. Things were under control.

Now, it seems that the County Burial Fund offers the deceased remains the cremation. If the family, or who ever, wants a burial they are pretty much out of luck. She did give me this caveat however; the BF basically gives what funding it gives to the vendor doing the job i.e. the mortuary. If the mortuary can do the show for the price of a cremation the you got yourself a burial. Sounds like the mortuary will try to respect the family’s needs as much as they possibly can.

Don’t mind me I am just processing.