A funny scene at Joe's Funeral 12786

When I was writing about Marcus dealing with Joe’s death I wanted to have a fun with the funeral scene because funerals are usually anything but fun. Lucky for everyone involved Jack Connolly made an appearance but not by name.

I find one of the ways that helps me keep writing when I have a block is to comment on something stupid or funny or both. Or to make a side comment about some hockey things in general that no one will appreciate except me, which is fine by me.

Anyway this scene has very little to do with Marcus but amused me just the same. It was somewhat built off the scandalous story from a few years back when Janet Gretzky was caught in a gambling ring with a current NHL coach. How he got his job with the Lightning I have no idea. What a terrible organization!

Anyway I am at 12,786 I was on a roll tonight and here is the excerpt of the funeral scene.

Marcus would like to have you believe that he had grown up since that incident but after Tori left him and he regressed to his dark year’s state of mind, it’s tough to believe. That’s why to no ones surprised we can find Marcus the day of Joe Marleau’s funeral at Jackie’s Place trying to drown his emotions knowing full well that it won’t work.

Joe’s funeral had been well attended. Many scouts in the area came and paid their respects for not only a legendary scout but a legendary person. Wayne Gretzky even made an appearance, as did his gambling wife who was wondering the crowd to see who would take five to one odds on whether or not Joe would be called Mr. Crispy by a funeral home employee. One crazy person who rolled into every room took her up on the bet and lured the mortician out of his “work area” with a handkerchief that looked and smelled like it had been peed on. He then proceeded to ask if Mr. Crispy’s body had held up under the lights right in front of Janet Gretzky.

Ten people soon approached her afterwards looking for money. At a funeral she had somehow managed to lose $500,000 dollars and Wayne had to sell himself out again by doing a pathetic Ford commercial where he passed on the torch to Sean Avery. Ford was going for more of a bad boy image these days and wanted everyone to know buying a Ford is like getting sloppy seconds.

It really sucks to be Wayne Gretzky these days, I mean as Lucille Booth had said, “I’d rather be dead, then living in Phoenix.” I think that’s an accurate description of what everyone thinks too. Why the NHL decided Phoenix was the best place for an ice hockey team no one will ever know.

For Marcus the funeral passed in a blur and a haze. Apparently Joe had asked for an open bar at his funeral so people would have something to do. Not the best think for a borderline alcoholic on a good day and a funeral for anyone is never a good day unless of course you are a funeral director. Why…Why… would you ever want to be a funeral director?

In any case Marcus took too much liberties with the open bar and was visibly drunk and wanting to make a speech about people being bricks and being keystone bricks and foundation bricks. Apparently he thought Joe was a keystone brick. Needless to say Marcus wasn’t taking the funeral very well and you couldn’t really blame him.

The two pillars that had held Marcus’ fragile comeback life together had very suddenly crumbled and it would be expected that Marcus’ life would be reduced once again back to the substance abuse he lived with in his dark years. The beautiful bar that was Jackie’s Place had the potential to turn into a slum if Marcus had been bent on re-ruining his life.

Luckily for Marcus (Jackie’s Place) he had something that was going to force him to get out of his funk. Perhaps the greatest thing about Joe was his ability to seemingly know what every person needed to deal with their problems and for Marcus he needed a distraction, big time.