A burial is about to take place in a relatively small cemetery beside the shop that I work in. I watch from the window as the caretaker carefully digs a small rectangle that measures three foot long by 2 foot wide between the rows of the older tombstones. The dirt from inside the four foot deep hole is placed on the ground fairly close by, and then covered over with a green type carpet that looks like grass. Just a few hours earlier, surgeons at the local hospital perform an amputation on an elderly mans leg. After it's removed it goes to the clean room and is prepared for a trip. I imagine the limb is now fitted with a sock and a shoe, and is placed into a baby sized pine casket. A hearse pulls up to the cemetery gates alone without it's blinking lights and flags and without it's usual trail of slow moving cars that normally follow behind it. The driver is met by the cemetery caretaker and they remove the small coffin box from the back of the car. After walking it over to it's final spot, they gently lower the box into the prepared hole. Immediately the caretaker begins to cover the casket over with the near by pile earth. The hearse driver funeral director stands close by and waits until the first shovel of dirt hits the top of the casket and then leaves the cemetery grounds. The caretaker brings any leftover dirt to a secluded spot in the back of the cemetery grounds. I wonder if this foot will ever be reunited with its original body again? Will it be exhumed...casket opened... removed and placed back into a new full sized coffin? I quit my job shortly after witnessing this so ...I guess we'll never know.
