Of course, any day is a shitty day to bury your wife of forty-something years. Red can’t exactly remember how many years they were married; Josie was the memory between the two of them. Now, he’s got to remember things for himself… He’s lucky she’d been so meticulous about writing names, phone numbers, and addresses in her tiny little blue book, or he’d have had to put up posters to invite people to this goddamn travesty of an event. Part of him is still hoping no one will come. Then again, he knows very well Josie was well-adored in the town, and the majority of its residents will probably stop through to offer their condolences. Shouldn’t that be comforting? Maybe if she’d died of natural causes, but not with a murderer on the loose.

Next stop is Kane Funeral home. A bright white colonial with black shutters, and a red door. It’s picturesque, too well kept to be natural. It’s almost sad that some little family doesn’t call it home. No, it’s just another stop on the road of the dead-- the last one before they meet their final resting place. Josie’s body has sat, rotting as slowly as science can ensure, at the Allen County Coroner office for the last month after an extensive series of testing, podding, and poking. Every couple days they’d move her body from cold storage to the sterile, stainless steel examination table, and take another stab (quite literally) at figuring out exactly what happened to her. They’ve come up mostly empty-handed. At this point, no more information can come from Josie’s corpse, and if they do need it again, they can always exhume it. The Johnson family needs to lay her to rest. 

It’s an open-casket event; after all, Josie’s body was in nearly perfect condition when it was found, save for the gash that was hiding on the back of her head. Her body has been dressed, her most precious jewelry put on, and healthy smattering of the strongest makeup known to man has been applied with a delicate hand. When the mortician left her, she looked peaceful. Hands crossed, eyes closed firmly… as if she was just sleeping. And she is sleeping. Eternally. 

The casket is rolled carefully into the viewing room, and the flowers are arranged ahead of time. Josie’s body is left alone in the room for exactly forty-six minutes before the guests even begin to file in to say their final goodbyes to her. 

Naturally, Red, and his two daughters are the first to enter the viewing room. People have already begun showing up, gathering in the lobby of the funeral home, and preparing themselves for a whirlwind of emotion. 

No one expected this, though. 

Red, tears already pouring down his face (so much for a stiff upper lip), makes his way to the casket, truly prepared to see his wife for the last time. But when he reaches his final destination, all he sees is white silk. An empty casket. 

Shock sets in, and shock for Red Johnson means silence. He stumbles back slightly, towards his daughters, who are confused, immediately asking questions, almost afraid to go look for themselves. Red can only point to the casket, wondering if there’s been some type of mistake. They’re there at the right time, right? This is the right room, right? Where is she?

His eldest daughter musters up the courage to peek into the casket, and just as quickly as she's heading straight to find someone who can help them. Josie’s disappearing act part three. Jesus Christ. She pushes her way through the townspeople waiting in the lobby to get to the back office. Fred Kane, third generation funeral home director has seen some shit, but this? This is unbelievable. He’d been in that room exactly… fifty minutes ago now, and the body was just lying there just as it should have been. 

“Is this some kind of sick joke, Kane?” Red has moved past shock, and has gone straight into anger… as per usual. But wouldn’t you be angry, too? How could something like this happen? Was it negligence? A cruel prank? Something else?

There is no surveillance equipment in the funeral home. Can you imagine if there were? Cameras in every room watching people grieve? That’s a sick joke in itself. There’s no way to know exactly where Josie’s body has gone. Kane doesn’t have any answers. The mortician (only a woman of thirty years, or so) doesn’t have any answers. 

As per usual in Wade NO ONE has any answers. The waiting room just steps outside of the viewing room is slowly filling up with mourning Wadians, almost to the point where there’s no breathing room for anyone. Fred Kane has to come out of his office, and urge people to please wait outside on the lawn for the time being while last minute details are worked out. 

Everyone can sense there’s something strange going on, even for Wade. 

You, like everyone else, are now standing on the sprawling lawn of the Kane funeral home wondering what the hell is going on, and when you’re going to be able to go in, and say goodbye to Josie. 

After about twenty minutes of chatter, Fred Kane is standing in the doorway of the funeral home, practically just a shadow. He speaks from his perch, “Everyone should go home.”

Leave it to Josie to have a fucked up funeral. 

Event Prompts: 

WE WANT ANSWERS: Characters may consider trying to enter into the funeral home to figure out what’s going on (perhaps once it’s gotten dark). As stated previously, the Kane Funeral Home is a converted home; there are other entrances/windows towards the back of the house that may be accessed. There’s no guarantee any characters will discover anything but it’s the hunt that counts! Just try not to get caught by any workers, or members of the Kane family. 

The main blog may be able to interfere with threads of this nature. If you receive a message from the main blog regarding your thread, you will have to cease what you were doing, and abide by the main blog’s instructions. 

This could include: simply being kicked out by the Kane family, the Wade Police Department becoming involved, allowing your characters to uncover a clue, etc. 

Threads may continue after moderator intervention, but must keep in line with what the moderator has determined to happen. 

No real punishment/harm will come to your character without your consent. This is just a fun way to make the game a little more interactive. 

DRINKING OUR SORROWS AWAY: Some townspeople will choose wisely, and leave the Kane Funeral Home with their unanswered questions in tow. A good option for those still wearing black is to drown their sorrows at the Conifer Lounge. It’s Karaoke Saturday, and given the circumstances Fucking Hipster Bullshit has elected to begin the festivities early. Dollar drafts are also a thing. So go get drunk. Sing one for Josie. 

MEET ME AT THE PARK: Other Wadians may ban together, and move their conversation over to the Wade Recreation Center. Even though it’s likely raining again (not to mention that it’s probably getting dark), some suspicious individuals may elect to converse about all of the oddities that have been taking place in Wade as of late at the park. Rumors of the Mayor’s Letter may spread during conversations that take place here. Henry Gregory may also be brought up. Citizens are encouraged to start thinking deeper. Sure, there’s a dead old lady to worry about, but is there something deeper happening, too? 

Characters are not limited to these three prompts, and may do whatever they’d like in the advent of Josie’s funeral being cancelled (postponed?), these are simply suggestions to get the ball rolling. 

Have fun, attempt to interact with those you have not, and happy writing! Threads for this event may commence immediately, and should be wrapped up in about five days (04/30). 

Once a year, just as winter is winding down, and spring is creeping in, the townspeople of Wade stuff themselves into a tiny catchall meeting hall, which sits on the far side of the recreation center property, and pretend to like each other for a couple of hours. Mostly everyone chats about the weather warming up, (which never feels much warmer than the days prior, but whatever, it’s Illinois-- it gets over fifty degrees here, and people contemplate sandals) munches on poorly made potluck dishes, and talks about people who are standing half way across the room with little concern as to whether or not they can hear you. So yeah, typically a fun time had by all. You might want to consider getting drunk, or high beforehand to make the entire thing more bearable; that’s what most of the town teenagers do before they ravage the snack table. 

There is a cash raffle which Thomas Jones typically wins by purchasing more tickets than any one else cares to purchase, and some type of live music (either an awful cover band headed by one of the town councilman, or a birthday party DJ who plays “shout” one too many times for the grandmas in the back). The mayor, rarely seen around town, comes for about an hour to kiss some babies, or something. Allen County United Methodist Church typically sends the good Pastor Man of God out there to collect donations (that will likely go straight into his pocket), and put on a show, which he is, of course, absolutely fantastic at. The local children’s dance studio may hold a small performance. You get it. 

All in all, it’s not the most exciting, nor the most boring thing that happens in Wade throughout the course of the year. Typically it falls flat in the middle. 

But this year is different. There’s a strange tension in the air with Josie’s passing, along with the gnawing feeling that you cannot trust any of the people standing alongside you. Do you even really know them? Are they really your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers? Are the satanists, cannibals, murderers? John Wayne Gacy seemed like a nice guy, too, you know. 

Though the event still could have gone as planned, even with the silent discomfort lingering in the air, if it wasn’t for Red.

Red Johnson’s appearance. No one had expected the old man to show up this year; after all, Josie practically had to drag Red out of the diner to get him to go anywhere with her, and he certainly wasn’t one for the ass-kissing, or hand-shaking that this event was built around. Wasn’t his style. The room practically went silent from the second he opened the large, gymnasium-like doors, face completely deadpan, eyes locked directly on his target. The band nearly skipped along with the hearts of each individual in the room. It was the first time he’d been seen outside of the diner, and the police station in what had seemed like months (but which was actually only about a week, and a half), and he did not look well. Eyes sunken in, hair ruffled, clothes clearly unwashed.

He walked clear across the hall with purpose, unflinching, toward exactly the man he was looking to speak with. Mayor Daniels, who had previously been engaged in some discourse with a concerned citizen about lowering the speed limits on some of the backroads where children could get hurt, had not seen any of this coming. The forty-five year old had not exactly been prepared for the seventy-two year old man to slam him up against the cinderblock wall behind him. 

Blinking, desperate, Daniels speaks, “Red, what’re you doing?” 

Red hadn’t been sleeping. He’d been spending the majority of his time down at the police station, attempting to get someone, anyone, to look deeper into Josie’s death. Wade, a bureaucratic little shithole, was not working fast enough. Josie’s body was somewhere cold, and metallic, rotting away, Red could just feel it. Every day they weren’t looking for some kind of explanation was a day they got further, and further away from the truth. 

“Listen to me you son-of-a-bitch, Daniels,” Actually, Daniels’ mother, Holly, was quite a lovely woman, and contributed greatly to the Wade school system with twenty-five years of service as a secretary. Red, of course, isn’t thinking about that in the moment. Nor that they were quite close growing up as children. “Either you’re gonna get your lazy, no-good cops to start solving this goddamn case, or I’m gonna burn this entire town to the ground doing it myself.” The words are pure venom, and Daniels is visibly shaken by the altercation. A stutter, which Daniels had overcome around the third grade, begins to make itself present as he attempts to formulate some type of rebuttal, but comes up short. A few men take it upon themselves to grab Red, and pull him off Daniels. Though it’s three against one, they still have some trouble restraining the old man. It’s that “lift a car off a baby” type adrenaline, or something. The guy’s still got it. 

The scuffle leaves everyone who witnesses it in a general state of shock. The gentleman who got Red off of the mayor attempts to calm him down as much as possible, but it’s clear he’s still incredibly angry. They convince him it’s time to leave, but he won’t go without one last gesture to show he’s dead serious. Just before he turns to walk away, Red Johnson flips one of the tables holding the home made goods the townspeople had brought for sharing over onto the ground. It makes a horrible sound, and he walks out into the daylight without another word. 

We will pick up with the Spring Celebration just as Red is leaving, in the aftermath of the whole scene. 

Basically, this is a “Welcome to Town” party with a big Wade twist. Events with more details, and elements of the story are to come, but this one is simply to offer writers the opportunity to interact with those they have not gotten a chance to, and witness some of the storyline moving forward. You can decide how your character reacts, who they talk to, and what they do after witnessing Red Johnson threaten Mayor Daniels. Be creative, have fun, and try to think of ways this will factor into the game as we move forward.