Maddie sipped at her morning coffee taking care not to spill or slosh any on her dress. She sighed heavily waiting for the time to pass. Looking out her kitchen window she saw that today was going to be nice after all. What did weathermen know? They guessed she figured like everyone else.

She looked up and saw that it was 10:30 and pushed away from the table reluctantly. She shuffled over and slipped on her shoes that were waiting by the back door. Peering into the birdcage hanging by the window she twittered at the small yellow canary inside. The bird ruffled it's feathers and stared back with it's bright little black eyes. "Time for the funeral my pet. I won't be gone long. Won't be anyone there but me anyhow. Always new the Old Coot would die afore me." She pushed a pudgy finder through the bars and wriggled it at her bird. The bird stared back unblinking at the intrusive finger.

Beside the grave site Maddie looked down watching the first shovel of dirt fall in. Spilling over and settling it made a hollow noise in the silence. "Leon," she began with a sigh. "Ya always were a pain in my ass. Right from the get go. And I tried to be a good wife to ya, ya know?" Maddie stepped back and brushed a tear away. "I suppose you'll be awaiting for me when I get ta where ya are, ready to moan and groan some more." Maddie smiled at her joke and looked away towards the horizon.

The mist that lingered most mornings over the hills had dissipated leaving just a slight dampness. The sun shone bright in a cloudless sky casting a shadow over Maddie and the shallow grave. Another shovelful of dirt and another were the only sounds on the side of the hill where Maddie and Leon had spent most of their lives. Even the birds seemed to be watching in quiet solometity barely uttering a twitter.

Maddie leaned on the handle of the shovel and wiped away the glistening sweat from the side of her forehead. "Iffin I'd had known ya were going to be this much trouble old man I'd of just left ya where ya lay." she muttered trying to catch her breath. Her vision blurred as new tears threatened to eke out of her bleary grey eyes. Wiping at them with the back of her hand she looked into the grave, the patchwork quilt still showing through the dirt outlining the body wrapped inside.

"I must have loved ya...giving ya my best quilt and all. Lord only knows twasn't no way I could build ya a proper coffin nor a deep enough hole ta put ya in!" Maddie sighed wearily. "Almost 40 years old man...don't seem possible ya know?" A small chuckle and a smile escaped her. She looked around at the hillside and the house further up. When she and Leon were first married her parents had given them the land. They had both worked hard to build the house and clear the land. A nice little house it was too. All white with yellow trim, a small two story with two bedrooms upstairs for the children, but they hadn't been blessed with any.

Another sigh and another shovelful of dirt sifted down over the quilt. Maybe if they had had kids things would have been different. Kids would have filled the long days and given them both something to talk about other than the bickering that seemed to increase year after year. Arguments and snippets of heated words flooded Maddies mind as she angrily threw in more dirt. The grave was almost filled when suddenly she stopped. Like a statue she stood staring across the landscape at nothing. And like a statue Maddie felt nothing, it was as if everything in her and outside of her had stopped.

A small wind pulled at her dress and the shovel slipped from her hand. Suddenly Maddie collasped sobbing and running her hands over the dirt. "Leon....oh Leon." she moaned. "Why'd ya have to go and make me so mad? Didn't I always tell ya ya'd push me to far? Didn't I? Well! Didn't I?" she screamed into the ground. "You jest had to keep goin on and on'bout the damned coffee bein cold." Maddies voice faded to a whisper. "It weren't cold...ya was jest tryin ta get me mad...and ya did ya old coot...ya got me real good and mad for the last time."

Maddie rose to her knees and sniffled loudly angrily wiping away the tears she hefted herself up with the help of the shovel and threw in the last few shovelfuls of dirt. Smoothing the small hill of dirt she stood back and looked at the finished grave. Drawing in a deep breath and another sniffle she started up the hill towards the house. "I loved ya old man." she called back. "But ya just made me to darned mad!"

End