The Undertaking: Life Studies From the Dismal Trade
By Thomas Lynch
Published in 1997
“Every year I bury a couple hundred of my townspeople. Another two or three dozen I take to the crematory to be burned. I sell caskets, burial vaults, and urns for the ashes. I have a sideline in headstones and monuments. I do flowers on commission.
“Apart from the tangibles, I sell the use of my building: eleven thousand square feet, furnished and fixtured with an abundance of pastel and chair rail and crown moldings. The whole lash-up is mortgaged and remortgaged well into the next century. My rolling stock includes a hearse, two Fleetwoods, and a minivan with darkened windows our pricelist calls a service vehicle and everyone in town calls the Dead Wagon.
“I used to use the unit pricing method–the old package deal. It meant that you only had one number to look at. It was a large number. Now everything is itemized. It’s the law. … At the bottom of the list there is still a large number.”
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Suggested by Ginny Mikita, Rockford, Mich.
