Mar 26, 2010 14:23
Memere tells this story about her twin brother, Larry, and their brother-in-law, Freddie. Each time she kind of adds a little more to it. She always preludes with a quick anecdote about Uncle Larry, how he was just a fun guy and liked to have a good time.
"Freddie was an undertaker," she says, "real nice guy, but you know, he was serious about his job. Everything had to be just so. One time Larry came home, saying I wouldn't believe what happened. He couldn't stop laughing enough to tell me the story, and Freddie was so mad. Everytime I brought it up to find out what happened, Larry would laugh and laugh and couldn't tell me, and you know, Freddie was offended by it. Finally, Freddie got him to tell me the story to just get it out."
"Freddie had to go get a man's body way up in Mount Vernon to bring back to the funeral parlor so he asked Larry if he would like to come and help. Larry said, 'Sure.' He was always willing to help somebody out." Memere is already giggling to herself, and those of us who've heard the story start grinning because we know how this is going to go. "So they get there to find out the man is up on the second floor of this big house, Larry told me, it was so beautiful. It had marble stairs and this beautiful bannister along the side.
"So they go upstairs and put the guy in the basket. They each take one end of it, but it starts to tip to one side on the stairs, the man's body falls out--" The rest of the story is told between bouts of laughter. Not even just a few hahas, but hysterical laughter. Among other things, the Carrier women are known for laughing long and hard over EVERYTHING. "--and it rolls all the way down the stairs, flat out on the floor. Freddie was horrified. It struck Larry so funny, he was just laughing the whole time and the whole car ride home, and Freddie was so mad, he didn't say one word. Poor Freddie."
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