The Country Doctor’s Wife related a story about her husband’s nurse picking up her mother’s ashes at the post office. This reminded me of a story that happened at the law firm I used to work for.
Long before I went to work at the law firm, they had a German client that died. In his will he requested that he be cremated and his ashes sent to relatives in Germany for burial. The probate paralegal notified the family in Germany that we would be sending his ashes to them and we received a letter back saying they didn’t want him. The paralegal thought it was her duty to carry out his last wishes so she boxed him up and sent him on his way. After all, what are they going to do? Once he’s there they will have to keep him. Right? She closed the file and sent it to storage and forgot about him.
Several months later the mail man delivers a package and lo and behold – it’s the dead German sent back to us. Apparently, he was not a very nice man and when the relatives in German said they didn’t want him, they really meant it.
By this time no one can remember his name so we can't find his file. What to do with the dead German? Finally the paralegal stuck him on a shelf in the storage room and everyone forgot about him.
Years and years went by and the dead German became more of an urban legend than a reality. Strange things would happen from time to time in the office. My boss and some paralegals, working late at night would hear doors shutting when there was no reason for it and lights that would come on or go off by themselves. They all thought the place was haunted - by the dead German in the closet.
One day, a few years ago, someone attempted to put something very heavy on one of the shelving units in the back of the storage closet and the whole thing gave way and fell down. Guess who came tumbling out? The long forgotten dead German.
For some reason he ended up on my desk. One of the Attorneys’s said to just throw him in the trash. I didn’t think that was such a good idea. What if some one found him? So, I said I would take him home with me and scatter him in the creek near my house. On second thought I decided it would probably be breaking some kind of pollution laws (who know what was in that guy) so I just put him on the work bench in the garage.
One day my son came home for a visit and I said “sweetheart, there’s a dead German in the garage, would you please bury him in the back yard”? And he did.
3 comments:
Oh my gosh! very funny, and I already sorta new of the dead German, but funny non the les.
I thought dead German was buried across the street. I didn't know he was in the back yard with the dead pets.
Sonja
Yes dear - he is right next to the gerbils.
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