Looking after the neighbourhood

摘要

THERE WAS no secret, James McManus thought, to running a good funeral home. First you had to know your customers, and he knew them all, right down to the sort of prayer cards they needed. You had to help them through their grieving, persuading them, for example, not to spend all the insurance money at once. And then you had to be there on the day. He always was, thin-faced and mild-looking in his glasses. That way he could make sure that the family flowers were placed closest to the casket and that, if some venue-owner tried to curb the wake, he could be told, with only brief pressure against the wall, to take himself away.