Chapter 53
Indigo's Tales -- Part 2
The afternoon was bright, though there was a cloud cover that sent shadows rolling slowly across the rolling hills of Crown Ridge Cemetery. The gathering around the open grave included dozens of nurses from University Hospital who had taken the afternoon to pay their respects to Valerie Seeburg, who had died a week earlier of a heart attack while at home.
Towards the back of the crowd stood Indigo Gibbs, who at 6'3" stood a head taller than most of those gathered. She wore a sleeveless black dress that ended just below her knees and black leather calf-boots. Indigo stood alongside Andrea Jarvis, one of the very few African-American nurses that also worked at University Hospital. Andrea also wore black, though she wore a short-sleeved blouse with grey accents and matching knee-length shorts. Andrea wore comfortable black flats as well, though she was not a tall woman. Andrea was just much more comfortable in flat slip-on shoes and had a habit of kicking them off when she wasn't moving. As they stood listening to the pastor speak, Andrea had one foot out of her shoe and lifted behind her leg.
From their distance at the back of the crowd and the occasional gusts of wind, Indigo heard very little of what was said by the old pastor, Father James, who also worked at University Hospital. Around her, she recognized other nurses, both male and female, from the hospital, and a few she knew that tended the clinics. Valerie was a well-known and well-liked woman in the community, and the grave-side gathering was indicative of that love and admiration. Indigo saw Valerie's sons standing at the far side of the grave. Peter, her youngest, stood hand in hand with his fiancé, Dr. Zarine Chopra, a Neurologist at the hospital who was a dozen years his senior. Beside them stood his two half-brothers, Jack and Jake Miller, sons of Valerie's first husband, who was also in attendance with his latest wife. Dr. Henry Miller was a pathologist living and working in Portland now, and Indigo had known the man for some time, though only recently learned that he had been Valerie's first husband. His sons were both only known to her from stories Valerie would tell at lunchtime, where she would often brag about them and their careers in the military. Jack, the oldest, was a Coast Guard officer and helicopter pilot. Jake, the younger, was an Army Surgeon based in Germany at present. Both stood proud near their father in their uniforms. Both were very handsome, Indigo thought, though neither had a woman with them.
"I wonder if anyone's even working this afternoon," Andrea whispered from beside her. Indigo turned her attention away from looking at Valerie's family and to the woman who stood beside her, holding her hand. Most of their colleagues knew that Andrea was a lesbian and the 40-year-old nurse was very open about it. On the other hand, very few knew that Indigo, a widow and mother, was also leaning towards that life-style since her husband's passing.
"For a woman who seemed to not have much of a social life, she sure did have a lot of friends," Indigo observed. She took notice of several nurses she knew, including Rebecca Thomas and young Jennifer Cooper. She also noticed Dr. Katherine Heron, the new head of the Radiology Department, and Ishani Kalita from her own records department. She had been unaware that her co-worker had known Valerie at all. There were also several men and women she didn't know. All in all, there were close to a hundred in attendance at the funeral.
The ceremony ended and Dr. Miller asked for those wishing to attend, refreshments would be served in the pavilion near-by. Most of those gathered did make their way to the shelter, Indigo and Andrea among them. With a small plate of finger foods and a drink in hand, Indigo led Andrea to a table near the corner and they settled in. The drone of conversation began to pick up as more of the attendees relaxed. Funerals had a way of bringing people together to talk, and this one was no exception.
Andrea lightly touched to back of Indigo's hand to get her attention. "You know, Valerie was beginning to change her life."
"What do you mean?" Indigo asked.
Andrea paused and gave those near-by a casual glance before continuing. "From what I understand, she used to be a very up-tight and conservative woman. Recently, though, she had started letting loose and enjoying herself more."
Indigo was intrigued by her friend's hinting. "What do you mean? Was she becoming a late-life-lesbian, like us?"
Andrea laughed. "Who you calling "Late-Life"? Besides you, I don't know of anyone who hasn't been a lesbian around here since "early-life". But to answer, no, I don't think that was it." Andrea sipped at the generic cola the funeral home had provided before adding, "That don't mean she wasn't experimenting. I know that first hand, as a matter of fact."
"Are you telling me that you slept with Valerie?" Indigo asked with astonishment. Valerie had been quite a bit older than Andrea, who was only just into her forties.
"Not really slept with, if you know what I mean." Andrea took another drink of cola while again giving those near-by a glance. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about this stuff here. I don't think she'd want it to get around. Only a few of us knew her kinky side."
Again, Indigo chuckled at her friend's words. "I can't believe Valerie had a kinky side," she said. "I think I'd have heard about it."
"The only way I found out was through Peter," Andrea admitted. She and Peter Seeburg had worked together for most of his internship in the ER, Indigo recalled.
"You're getting me seriously interested," Indigo admitted. "Let's take a walk among the tombstones."
Outside the pavilion, Indigo and Andrea again took hands as they walked up the path towards the older section of the cemetery. Crown Ridge was the oldest cemetery in Regal Bay, and quite possibly in the entire country, and with the many hundreds of trees that lined the walkways as well as being scattered out across the plot sections, it was always a favorite place for people to enjoy a quiet walk, especially when the sun was high and hot, as it was that afternoon. As they walked, they didn't see anyone else, so Andrea felt free to relate to Indigo what she knew about Valerie Seeburg's secret life.
"Peter and I have been friends since he started as an intern," she began. "Maybe three years now. Anyways, he and I got along pretty good from the start, and it didn't take me long to figure out why, either. Peter likes the older women."
"Given his current fiancé," Indigo added, "I'm not surprised."
"That's right. Dr. Chopra is probably eleven or twelve years older than him. Before that, he was playing around with other older nurses. I heard he might have been with a couple of his teachers in high school at one time or another, too. Besides the point. We were talking about Valerie."
Andrea paused as an old man stepped onto the path ahead of them and headed back down the hill towards the pavilion and the parking lot beyond. They nodded and said good afternoon in passing. "From what Peter told me over coffee one afternoon was that he had been sleeping with his own mother, and she didn't know anything about it."
"What?" Indigo gasped. "How could she not know?"
"He told me that he found some of his mom's romance novels after they moved into an apartment, sometime after his dad left them. This was years ago, he said." Andrea pulled out a pack of Kool's and lit one before continuing. Indigo, she already knew, didn't smoke. "Any way, Peter told me that he became fascinated by the stuff she was reading, and since his dad left her, she hadn't been happy, or going out with anyone. Eventually, he started thinking about ways to make his mom happy."
"Like any good son should," Indigo added.
"Exactly! But, unlike every other good son, Peter was finding ways to peep on his mother, when she bathed or was in her room changing. He told me that try as he did, he never caught her masturbating, and didn't think she even did it."
