Meet our narrator, “I’m the youngest, nicknamed Flaky Suzy.” She’s one of three siblings and has just lost her mother. Someone’s got to write the eulogy. “Three days before her funeral,” we learn, “in an uncharacteristic act of democracy, Dad tells the three of us to decide who will deliver the eulogy.” And so, here we have the portrait of a family, each member with his or her own disposition and traits, and to each a unique set of memories surrounding mom’s life that intersect with family dynamics. Suzy’s narration, however, includes not just her unique take, but a hidden strand of events.
“We determine all of us will speak. It’s only fair.” And so our narrator sets to work planning what to say for her part of the eulogy. This, of course, takes her down memory lane—and us along with her. Which memories to tell? And which to withhold? “Should I tell about the times Mom let me play hooky from high school?” With this, we learn that Suzy shared more than just a day off with mom, “Before I’d go to change out of my fake sick-day pajamas, she’d hand me the coffee can, lid on, to hide in my bedroom closet, a place Dad would never venture.” They had a bond that included a secret pact between them, and it started early-on.
And continues. “I didn’t know then how often I would tell my dad half-truths. How it would continue long after Mom’s death,” says Suzy. The narrative then pulls us back through time—through a lifetime—and connects all the critical junctions. This is what a terrific storyteller does: detail those key events when life could never go back to the way it was before. The action that formed new insight. That time when a bond grew closer. The decision that required steely resolve. “Who loved her best? I know we all loved her best, each in our own way. But I also know there’s no competition, really, because I’m the one who knew her best.” Go read it.
Source: Ferranti, Lisa. “The Eulogy Competition.” Fractured Literary Magazine, 18 July 2024, https://fracturedlit.com/the-eulogy-competition/.
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