Marietta is sitting in her living room when she hears her doorbell ring.
Marietta: No one’s home!
Tammy: I hear you!
Marietta: Dammit.
Tammy: We need to talk, come on, let me in.
Marietta gets up and opens the door.
Tammy: Why do you have a blanket over your head? You look like a kid dressed as a ghost on Halloween.
Marietta: The press are absolute vultures, I don’t need anyone seeing me in this state.
Tammy: Not that I’d ever expect otherwise after this, but I take it you’re not doing too well?
Marietta: It’s hard. One day he’s here, the next he’s not. There was no warning, just… gone. I’ll never talk to my father again. I’ll never get to hug him, or get advice from him, or see his smile. For four days, I’ve just been a depressed mass, curled up on my recliner, under a blanket, sobbing intermittently while watching House Hunters and Hacks and Abbott Elementary. Anything to get my mind off of it. The second it hits me, I’m just a puddle.
Tammy: You know, it’s been a long time for me since I lost a parent, but I get it. You could be ten, twenty-five, forty, sixty… you’re never ready. I just wanted to check on you. You haven’t been answering your phone, no one’s seen you. We’re all just worried.
Marietta: I’m as good as I can be. You don’t have to worry about me.
Tammy: I brought a casserole. I don’t know what you’ve been eating, but -
Marietta: Yeah, I’ll take that. Big improvement over reheated frozen pizza and Chinese food from DoorDash that I’ve had to stretch into three or four meals.
Tammy: Couldn’t you just order more?
Marietta: Every time I answer my door, it increases the risk someone will see me. You know, I haven’t showered since I was in… whatever state we were last in.
Tammy: That’s… that’s not something I needed to know.
Marietta: Speaking of being on the campaign trail, how is the campaign?
Tammy: We have surrogates on the ground, and the other candidates have been very understanding, too, not going too hard. It’s nothing for you to worry about.
Marietta: I know. I just don’t want Karen to think I’m ghosting her or anything. I just need some time, then I’ll get back out there.
Tammy: She understands. Amy and I have been in constant contact with her, obviously this is an odd situation, but she’s getting creative, she’s keeping us in the press. There was the one inced- no, you don’t need to know now.
Marietta: Now I’m curious! This is the first time I’ve cared about this campaign in days, I need to know what you did wrong!
Tammy: Why do you assume it was me?
Marietta: It’s often you.
Tammy: I’ve been laying low, too. I haven’t been out there.
Marietta: So what did happen?
Tammy: A tweet was posted to your account talking about the election and Twitter did as Twitter does and they dragged you for posting about politics a day after your father died. It was a scheduled post, we just forgot to take it down with everything going on.
Marietta: That’s less bad than I thought. Now, you want some casserole? I’m done talking politics, I need some good company to distract me.
Tammy: Why, who else is coming over?
Marietta: Just you. You’re the good company.
Tammy: Aww, that’s sweet. People rarely say that about me.
Meanwhile at Patty Lynn’s…
Patty Lynn: Planning a funeral is not easy, why did no one ever tell me this?
Kathleen: It’s not exactly a topic people like discussing. It’s sort of a downer.
Patty Lynn: I don’t know what you mean, it’s a blast! Sure, someone you love dearly is gone, but you get to pick our music, pictures, decor, food… it’s basically like planning a party! It’s only hard because it’s too hard to pick which pictures and songs will be used!
Moira: A party?
Patty Lynn: I’m being sarcastic, dear. This is far from fun. I just want everything to be perfect.
Milton: The funeral home did offer to help us make music and decor selections.
Patty Lynn: I don’t want him to have a cookie-cutter funeral, he deserves something special.
Milton: I understand, but it would’ve been easier for you. You need time to grieve, you don’t need to be working so hard. This isn’t your job.
Patty Lynn: All the work helps. It gets my mind off of things.
Milton: How does it get your mind off of dad’s death? You’re spending hours planning his funeral!
Patty Lynn: I don’t know, it just does. I can bury myself in it.
Milton: No, dad is the one being buried, not you.
Kathleen: Too soon, kid.
Sarah: If you need help with the music, I have a whole playlist of sad and reflective songs.
Milton: Why?
Sarah: I’m a sad girl, I feel feelings.
Milton: Okay, we need to get you some therapy.
Moira: You say that like she’s alone.
Kathleen: Patty Lynn, have you considered who you want to speak at this funeral? And who you want to invite? We need to let people know immediately, we’re five days out from the funeral.
Patty Lynn: Martin actually made up a whole list of people he wants to invite, and he said no one beyond this list. It was updated in September of last year. So just get in contact with all of those people. In terms of speaking at the funeral… he only wanted Marietta to speak, no offense to anyone else.
Milton: Why not me?
Patty Lynn: He didn’t want a big fuss to be made. She’s the eldest living child, she can represent the family. The priest will speak as well.
Milton: Oh! Okay…
Moira: Honey, are you okay?
Milton: No, it’s fine. It’s not jarring at all to hear your father doesn’t want you speaking at his funeral.
Patty Lynn: It’s not that he didn’t want you to. It’s that he didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. He felt bad enough about asking Marietta to write a eulogy, let alone anyone else. He just wanted us to relax.
Kathleen: Doesn’t that include you? I don’t think he’d want you pouring every waking second from the day after he died until the day of the funeral planning it and making it “perfect.”
Patty Lynn: I just need to honor him. It’s the final duty I have as a wife, to see him off in proper fashion. Milton, you said earlier I was acting like this was my job. This is my job. I made a vow, and I’m going to keep it.
Kathleen: All right, fair point. I suppose I acted the same way when Allen died. Everything had to be just right, for his sake.
Moira: Do you need any help from us.
Patty Lynn: You all can help me sort through pictures. I want pictures from all throughout his life, I want to show the most joyful, incredible moments in a slideshow that we’ll play during the viewing.
Milton: We’d be happy to help.
Patty Lynn: And Sarah, bring me that list of songs, you know music so much better than I do. I just need one song certainly included.
Milton: What’s that?
Patty Lynn: Your father’s favorite song, the song that makes me think of him instantly when I hear it. Unforgettable by Nat King Cole. He said it was our song.
Moira: He was pretty unforgettable, wasn’t he?
Patty Lynn: The most.
Later that night…
Kathleen: Milton, I wanted to thank you for stepping up and being here for us. I know your sister is hurting and I respect that, but it’s nice to be together at this time.
Milton: Marietta hides sometimes when she’s down. It’s not good, but we all grieve differently, I want to let her be.
Kathleen: I agree. I do worry about your mother, though. Especially when you two go back to work, you to DC and your sister to the campaign trail. She’s putting on such a brave face, but I know inside she’s just broken.
Milton: Yeah, I’m worried too. It’s like it hasn’t hit her yet.
Kathleen: It definitely hit her after it happened. Ever since the day after, though… she’s not the Patty Lynn I know. She’s so unaffected now, she talks about it so matter-of-factly. Like she’s not allowing herself to feel because she’s too afraid.
Milton: No one likes to feel sad. I think she’s just trying to dodge the reality of human emotion.
Kathleen: I suppose it’ll hit her eventually. Hopefully, when we’re all around to help her back up. I know I go in cycles myself. It’s just hard to believe.
Milton: It’s so cliche to say this, but you just know it’ll happen one day, but you’re never ready for it. You just think maybe, somehow, you’ll be lucky enough to dodge one of life’s few absolute certainties.
Kathleen: It didn’t feel like his time. I don’t know. It was, though. We don’t get a say in that, sadly.
Milton: It still doesn’t feel real.
Kathleen: It’ll be a long time before it does.
Milton: I’m still waiting to hear his laugh every time mom says or does something crazy, or to feel him pat me on the shoulder and ask how things have been.
Kathleen: I still wake up surprised not to smell him burning something in the kitchen. Every morning.
Milton: Like clockwork!
Kathleen: It was usually sausage or French toast. I can’t believe in all these years, he never started a fire.
Milton: He was close sometime. I remember when we were kids, Marietta started screaming once when something he was cooking caught fire. Mom came running in and put it out.
Kathleen: Yeah, a cook he was not, but we loved him just the same.
Milton: He was one of a kind.
Kathleen: I have two brothers, and I love your uncle Marvin, but the bond I had with your father was something so uniquely special. I feel guilty that I let something stupid get in between us and keep us from seeing each other for all those years.
Moira: Hey, honey, you coming to bed?
Milton: I guess I should go, we do have an early morning at the florist tomorrow.
Kathleen: Well, it was nice to reminisce.
Milton: It was! It’s a good way to keep his memory alive.
Kathleen: His memory will always be alive.
The next day, Marietta hears another knock at her door.
Marietta: Who is it?
Patty Lynn: Your mother!
Marietta: Mom, what are you doing out?
Patty Lynn: Life goes on, kid. You can’t keep hiding, I need you to be okay. Tammy told me you’re alive at least, but I need you to be part of the family.
Marietta: All right, I’m opening the door now. Come on in.
Patty Lynn: Oh my god, Marietta! This place is a mess.
Marietta: I am not doing well. My daddy is gone!
Patty Lynn: I know. It’s awful. I just want you to be okay. Don’t allow yourself to be lost amid the grief. We’re planning the funeral.
Marietta: I can hardly think about that! It’s just awful.
Patty Lynn: I understand that, but I need something from you.
Marietta: What’s that?
Patty Lynn: Your father’s wish was for you to deliver the eulogy.
Marietta: Why me?
Patty Lynn: You’re a great speaker, and you’re the eldest child. It’s a natural fit. I know it’s hard, I need you to do it for him.
Marietta: I wouldn’t do it for anyone else.
Patty Lynn: Anyone?
Marietta: Anyone but you and him.
Patty Lynn: Okay, that makes me feel better.
Marietta: I miss him. The ironic, cruel thing is, no one would know better about how to help me navigate this than him.
Patty Lynn: You had sixty years with him, you can imagine what he’d say to help us through this.
Marietta: I feel guilty saying this, but I try so hard not to think about him. It’s so painful.
Patty Lynn: It’s been five days. It’s going to be painful. Just allow yourself to feel what you want.
Marietta: Are you doing the same?
Patty Lynn: Why do you ask?
Marietta: You’re so calm, collected, unemotional. You’re not yourself.
Patty Lynn: I need to be strong for my family. I’m the matriarch in a family without a patriarch, I have no choice but to steer the ship with a steady hand.
Marietta: You don’t need to be strong for us. You need to be free to feel every feeling you have inside.
Patty Lynn: Don’t worry about me.
Marietta: All right. Well, I appreciate the visit. I guess I have a eulogy to write.
Patty Lynn: Good luck! If it makes you feel any better, I have flowers to go pick out, and that’s just about as tough a task.
Four days later..
Kate: Wow, Patty Lynn put this all together?
Amy: Incredible, right?
Ellie: All those pictures. Look how young they were!
Tammy: Marietta looks like a baby.
Marietta: Did I hear my name?
Ellie: We were just commenting on how good of a job your mother did with this funeral.
Henrietta: Is that me he’s holding?
Marietta: It sure is. How could you tell?
Henrietta: I know what I looked like as a baby, come on.
Marietta: I don’t know what I looked like.
Kate: Hey, some of those pictures from thirty, forty years ago might as well be you as a baby.
Marietta: Are you calling me old?
Kate: As old as I am.
Ellie: So, yes.
Tammy: How ya feeling about the eulogy?
Marietta: Nervous.
Kate: I’m sure it’s going to be wonderful. You had such love for him.
Amy: Wow, look at those flowers!
Tammy: My god, she’s like a toddler. Shiny objects!
Marietta: Hey, mom apparently took four Horus to pick out those arrangements, let her appreciate the decor.
Milton: Marietta, they’re starting the viewing, they want immediate family up there.
Marietta: Apparently, I have to go. You’re all free to come up.
Tammy: We’ll see you very soon.
One hour later…
Priest: And now, we turn things over to Martin’s beloved daughter Marietta with the eulogy.
Marietta: Hi everybody. I was very scared to do this today, it’s hard to pour out your heart an soul into a speech honoring the greatest man you’ve ever met. Thankfully, I am experienced in public speaking, I’ve done it just about my whole life. That’s because of my father. I idolized him, I watched him run for office, captivating crowds with his warm personality and speaking abilities. I practiced myself, readying for a run of my own. No one supported me more in that time than my father. He supported me when I ran for office, like he supported me my whole life. Regardless of what I wanted to do in my life, my father was there to support me, to guide me through it. He was everything you’d want a father to be - caring, compassionate, supportive, and honest. If I was wrong, he didn’t revel in it, but he didn’t shy away from it. He wanted me to be the best I could be. He made me better. He made everyone around him better. He was the sort of man who could light up a room. Everyone felt comfortable in him presence, everyone was happy to see him. He led with kindness. He was a governor, a mayor, and a cabinet secretary, and while those jobs are time-consuming, and often lead you away from home, he was still always there for us. He love his city, his state, his country, but he loved us more. He wouldn’t like me telling this in public, but regardless of his love for all of those jobs, he was willing to call it a career and step out of the public eye in a second if he felt it was impacting family life. He was as selfless as they came, and I was so lucky to have him. He was the best grandfather to my son Kyle, and he helped keep me sane during that pregnancy - not an easy task! I lost my senate seat, and my father helped get me through it. I lost my sense of purpose for a while there, but he helped guide me through the fire. I wouldn’t be half the woman I am today without him and my mother. I don’t know how I’ll go on without him, but I had an incredible teacher for sixty years, and I hope that some of that knowledge he instilled in me will with with me, that his inherent goodness will carry over to me. He’s irreplaceable, he’s unforgettable, he was one in a million, and I’ll miss him forever. Thank you, dad. You’re with me always. And to all of you, I apologize for the word salad I’ve just left you with, it’s just hard to put into words what he meant to me. I feel as if everyone in this room, everyone ever lucky enough to interact with him, can relate.
Kathleen (whispering): Milton, your mother is finally crying again.
Milton: Ah, well that’s good.
What did you think of this episode of Marietta? Let us know in the comments and make sure to read the new episode next week!
