Chapter 2: The Version Karen Wanted Everyone to Believe
By the following morning, Karen had already created her own version of the funeral.
According to her social media post, she had been “attacked by an angry man” after an innocent phone notification.
She claimed Thomas had threatened her.
She described herself as the person who had been humiliated.
She never mentioned the shove.
Susan discovered the post while sitting at her kitchen table, still wearing yesterday’s black dress.
She stared at the screen.
Her mother had been buried less than twenty-four hours earlier.
Already, someone was rewriting the day.
Susan’s brother Michael called.
“Did you see it?”
“Yes.”
“She’s saying Uncle Tom attacked her.”
Susan closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“What are we going to do?”
Susan almost said nothing.
Part of her wanted to ignore Karen completely. Margaret had taught her that not every rude person deserved a response.
But this was different.
The funeral had been about their mother.
And Karen had turned it into a story about herself.
Thomas called later that morning.
He sounded tired.
“I don’t want this becoming a circus.”
Susan understood.
Neither did she.
So they did something simple.
They saved every recording.
They saved the social media post.
They wrote down what had happened while their memories were still fresh.
Daniel, the funeral director, also contacted them.
His building’s security cameras had captured the entrance and part of the chapel hallway.
Unfortunately, the camera did not cover the exact spot where Thomas had been pushed.
But it showed something important.
Karen had entered the chapel already carrying her phone.
She had spoken with Daniel before the service began.
And the footage showed her laughing with another guest before the ceremony.
There was nothing accidental about her presence.
Still, Susan did not want revenge.
She wanted the truth preserved.
Then another problem appeared.
Margaret’s longtime friend, Evelyn Parker, called Susan.
Evelyn was seventy-four and had known Margaret for more than forty years.
“I heard there was trouble,” Evelyn said.
Susan hesitated.
“There was.”
“I also heard Thomas started it.”
Susan’s stomach tightened.
“Who told you that?”
“Karen.”
Susan sat silently.
That was when she understood the danger.
The issue wasn’t simply that Karen had behaved badly.
She was already influencing what other people believed.
By afternoon, two more guests had heard Karen’s version.
One had even apologized to Thomas for “losing his temper.”
Thomas stared at his phone after hearing that.
“I can’t believe this.”
Susan placed a hand on his shoulder.
“We know what happened.”
“That isn’t always enough.”
She looked at the saved video.
“No,” she said. “Sometimes people need to see what happened.”
They decided to give the recording to Daniel and, if necessary, to the authorities.
But before they could decide what to do next, Susan received a message from Karen.
It contained only one sentence:
You should tell your uncle to stop spreading lies about me.
Susan read it twice.
Then another message appeared.
Otherwise, this gets much worse.
Susan looked toward the funeral program still sitting on her table.
The situation was no longer about a ruined funeral.
Karen had decided to make it personal.
