Robe and Crown

By Shakey Smith

Weddings and funerals; funerals and weddings: about the only time an extended family comes together is for one or the other. There has been a death in the Dupee family. Oldest brother Dud Jr. has gone on to his eternal reward... or at least to somewhere beyond this earthly realm. The sudden loss has the entire family unhinged.

As the feuding Dupee family gathers to mourn, each family member realizes the cold fact of his own mortality. Dud was dropped in the cornfield by ‘the big one’. Is he off to heaven to claim his robe and crown, or is he headed for a more tropical destination?

Each generation of Dupees has wandered a little farther from their parent’s stark version of morality. Never mind the old Dupee standbys of Pride, Lust and Wrath, the youngsters have been dabbling in sins of biblical proportions and calling it free thinking: fornication, intemperance, sundry abominations and that old one about knowing thy brother’s wife.

Now as they prepare to send Dud off to an uncertain destiny, each Dupee vows to reconcile and live in peace. This funeral only lasts three days; how long can their good intentions endure?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shakey Smith
• Release date: Apr 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370961252

Shakey Smith

A resident of Kansas, Shakey weaves her stories from a simple fabric of life, creating beautiful tapestries that are a testament to everyday existence, highlighted with the addition of those globally familiar colorful characters who touch all our lives. A widow, a mother, a Spanish teacher, she draws on all of her own roles and trials as she brings to life ordinary people, sharing with us the depth of their emotions, making us aware of ‘the every man’s’ daily triumphs and troubles. While she might claim to have majored in bead-stringing, and minored in hitch hiking and Neil Young, her official parchments show degrees in English and Spanish.

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