This historical fiction was researched and written by Leah Larson.

I was on my way into Duffy`s Tavern, when Slim came rushing out the door and bumped right into me. I said to him, ``slow down,`` as I grab him to keep him from falling over. He just shrugged his arm out of my hand and started to walk away mumbling something that I really couldn`t understand. I watched him as he walked towards the parking lot to his car. Instead of getting in the front seat, he crawled in back leaving the door wide open. I thought, it was a good thing that he wasn`t going to try to drive. He was pretty drunk. When I got into the bar, I noticed Bill and Jim standing by the pool tables. I headed straight to the bar. I wanted to keep my distance from them so I couldn`t be the target for one of their practical jokes. Those two were always a fun pair to watch and listen to, but a fella didn`t want to turn his back on them. I kept my eye on Bill and Jim while I had a drink. They weren`t really doing anything exciting so I went and found a seat at the back of the bar. I sat there for a good hour or so and had a few more drinks while I watched people dancing, playing cards, shooting pool, and some light rough-housing. But I kept my eye on Bill and Jim for most of the night. They were really getting tuned up.

It was getting pretty late. I decided that I had better get home, so I started toward the door, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Bill and Jim getting up also, so I held back to see what they were going to do.

I waited for about five minutes before I started walking towards and they hadn`t got very far, because they were still walking through the parking lot, when all of a sudden Jim stopped at Slim`s car and grabbed Bill by the arm, pointing his finger and said, ``Hey, Bill, I think you`d better come take a looky here.``

I wasn`t too sure what they were looking at until I heard Bill say, ``Yeah, he`s deader than a rusty doornail.`` My mouth dropped open like a ton of bricks had fallen on my bottom lip. They were talking about Slim, the man that I had bumped into earlier that same evening.

Jim said, ``My god, Bill, we just can`t keep him here. What should we do.``

Bill shook his head and said, ``Well, since he was the town`s grave- digger for the cemetery, I think it would be only fair to say that we should take this man and give him a proper burial, or a least dig a hole for the man.``

Don`t you think that we should tell somebody that we found him? I mean, what are we suppose to say if someone asks if we had seen him?`` Jim asked nervously.

``Think of it this way, we are doing people a favor by not waking them up for a little ordeal like this.`` Bill went on to say, ``Don`t worry, everybody will thank us for this.``

So they took Slim out of the car, threw him in the back of Bill`s truck and took off. I drove to the top of a hill overlooking the old cemetery where they had stop just inside the cemetery gates. The moonlight was shining bright enough to see that they took Slim out of the truck, wrapped him in an old green tarp and dug a hole just about six inches deep so they could bury him. Jim seemed a little bit more eager to get the job done, and I was close enough to hear him say, ``Come on Bill let`s get this job done, I`m starting to get nervous.`` Bill tried to stop himself from laughing, but it all came out in one big burst like a firecracker. Jim sharply snapped at him, ``Shh, if you`re not quite we might get caught, and somebody might think that we killed him and we are trying to hide his body.``

``Don`t be such a knothead, there`s nobody around here for miles, unless you want to count the people underground. Just place him in there and I`ll cover him up, and we`ll be done in just a few minutes.``

I was planning on going down there to see what all they had done to him, but it was getting very late so I decide I would come back in the morning. The next morning I started out to the old cemetery, but when I pulled up on the top of the hill going down to the cemetery I noticed an older couple at the cemetery gates. They were bickering with each other about who should open the gate, and finally the woman decided to do it. the old man was in the car yelling at her saying ``Those dang hinges are going to rust before you get that stupid gate open. You know, I`m not going to be living for much longer, why don`t you try to hurry it up a little.`` She gave him a mean scowl then finished opening the gate. They weren`t paying too much attention to their surroundings, but boy did they pop to attention when all of a sudden Slim rose from the grave and started walking toward them. The old man backed his car up and yelled to the woman, ``Get your butt in the car or I`m leaving you behind.`` Sure enough, he took off leaving the woman running after him like a chicken with his head cut off, screaming some of the worst obscenities I have ever coming from a lady. He finally stopped about a mile down the road to wait for her and from her gestures you could see that he was getting the sharp edge of her tongue. I would have hated to be in his shoes right about then, I think maybe he was too.