Watery Grave - Sharon Hamilton Page 0,3

think they would have opened the case, looked inside. I would have,” said Danny Begay. He shuddered. “I don’t want to touch that thing. The Dine don’t like ashes or dead bodies. I’m going with my ancestors on this one, Kyle.”

Kyle shrugged. Each man had his private and public thoughts. They all took turns commenting on what should be done, as Christy appeared at the back screen door, and opened it. Kyle’s three kids stood behind, faces plastered into the grid, watching their mom.

Her long shapely legs were now fitted into a comfortable stretchy pair of leggings and a sloppy top which nearly hung down to her knees. With her blonde hair scrunched up in a clip, she headed directly for the bag in her bare feet, filled with attitude and purpose, almost appearing angry. Her red nail polish sparkled in the late afternoon sun.

The crowd of muscled warriors in front of her separated without a word like drops of oil in a glass of water.

She leaned over the table, grabbed the bag, and, before Kyle could yank it away from her, she unclasped the lock, using her combination code and opened the lid like slicing the top of a man’s skull and peeling it back. Her red nails dug into the contents and out she pulled the much-tarnished steel tube engraved with a Trident on the front. About the size of a small milkshake at the Scupper, she held it over her head, and shook it like she was mixing a martini.

The men looked on in shocked horror.

Nobody came for her, so she eyed them all and shook the contents again, which rattled around as if it was filled with pieces of small rocks and topsoil. With a devilish grin, she began to twist open the container and immediately Kyle and T.J. were all over her. T.J. yanked the container away as Kyle held her back several feet, but she tried to resist, without luck.

Several of the men guffawed. “Remind me where you got your courage, Christy?” T.J. mumbled.

“She’s been holding out on us,” added Cooper.

“Holy smoke!” swore Fredo.

“And that’s exactly what we got here. These are genuine Joseph Hoskins ashes all right,” T.J. said as he poured part of the chunky grey mixture on the table. Little clusters had formed in the ash, several looking like tiny rosebuds. T.J. wrinkled his nose, prepared to smell something he’d live to regret and reserved the rest, re-securing the bottom plug. A tiny gust of wind picked up a whirlwind and drove some light grey ash toward Heaven as if it had been divinely ordained.

Three of the members crossed themselves. Someone swore, and Tucker, who had been in the path of the cloud as it was moving, brushed his shirt off and rubbed his hair free of anything lingering. “Goddammit,” he mumbled, displeased. “I’m gonna need a fuckin’ shower before I can walk through my own front door.”

Fredo examined the contents on the table. “That’s kinda chunky, don’t you think? Are those pieces of his pacemaker or something?”

“They take those out. Nuclear waste,” barked T.J. But he too was examining the grey clumps.

“Maybe teeth?” asked Fredo.

Christy wiggled free from Kyle’s grip and addressed the team, with her hands on her hips. “And you guys are in charge of keeping this country safe. Look at all of you, afraid of a little bit of ash, remains from a friend.”

“Well, that’s the point, Christy,” said Coop. “We wanted to make sure it was safe. We weren’t afraid. And it was out of respect for Gunny. Even though Fredo here wanted to blow him up.”

“Again,” said several others, in unison.

“And what’s this clumpy stuff?” asked Danny, his face also reflecting disgust.

“How did you get the balls to do that?” Fredo asked.

Christy smiled, relishing the moment she knew was going to quickly pass. “When no one at the funeral home had an answer, I figured it was no biggie. And I remember studying about an ancient dig in Egypt, where remains were found in clay pots and stored for thousands of years. You actually think his ashes would explode?”

“Kinda makes me glad we didn’t go asking for the Xray machine,” whispered Coop.

“No kidding,” answered Kyle.

“But I still want to know how come it looks like that. Is that from the sea water getting into it?” persisted Danny.

Christy grinned. “I added potpourri so it would go through customs, just in case they tried to open it.”

There was a collective “ah” as the mystery of the grey