We Shall Not Forget

Title: We Shall Not Forget
Author: J.S. Michel
E-mail: [email protected] 
Web: www.geocities.com/js_michel/
Classification: 155-word challenge.
Spoilers: Season 9.
Rating: G.
Keywords: Barbara Doggett.  
Archive: Sure, just let me know and include this header. 
Disclaimer: Not mine. Thanks, 1013, for sharing your sandbox. 
Feedback: Always appreciated.
Completed: May 24, 2003.
Summary: A man of honor.

--

By the time they'd quoted Walt Whitman, John's allotted mound of 
dirt was running in rivulets between Barbara's muddy shoes.  

"I'm so sorry, Monica."  She reached through icy rain for Monica's 
hand.  Nodded to Monica's parents; she'd heard they'd convinced 
their daughter to take some time off to recover among family.

Barbara could have been friends with Monica Reyes.  They'd shared 
love and loss in a violent world.

Administrative tasks are a refuge for the grieving.  Barbara knows 
this all too well.  

"John had this lump-sum put aside for alimony," Monica's letterhead 
reads.  "He'd want you to have it. You supported him all through 
college."  

Her dutiful ex-husband, true to the motto etched on his biceps, 
never missed a payment.  A man of honor.

But the diction, the plain courier font, the impossibly-timely check 
in that number-ten envelope...  

The closed-casket funeral...

Christ.  

Heart pounding, she promptly shreds the stationery and whispers a 
prayer for them.

--

Thanks to Why Incision for the challenge, and Meridy for the
dead!Doggett inspiration.  ;) Feedback is welcome as always.

J.S. Michel 
www.geocities.com/js_michel