Grace
Grace was a mortician who performed the formal mortuary preparation of Charlie Rivera and Logan Weston after their deaths in 2081. She accounted for their disabilities and medical histories during preparation, placed them in adjoining rooms, and played Charlie’s recordings while she worked.
Professional Practice
Grace regarded death as a transition that called for reverence. She approached mortuary work as care for a person rather than a task of making a body conform to an expected appearance. She did not regard disability, medical equipment, or surgical marks as features to erase for the sake of dignity. She spoke softly to the people she prepared.
After Tasha Porter and Mo Makani washed and dressed Charlie at home, Grace performed the formal mortuary preparation for cremation. She handled his feeding tube carefully and positioned him with attention to his joint hypermobility and the positions his caregivers had used to ease pain during life. She spoke to him while she worked.
Three days later, Elise Makani and Mo used Logan’s late-life transfer equipment to wash, groom, and dress him while Tasha handled the required calls and paperwork. Grace received Logan with Charlie’s scarf folded against his chest beneath his hand. She accounted for his spinal cord injury, fused spine, hip replacement, cardiac surgery scars, and other evidence of his medical history. She placed him in the preparation room adjoining Charlie’s, acknowledging that they were husbands, and brought the same careful attention to both men.
Grace played Charlie’s saxophone recordings during both preparations. She believed that the dead might retain some ability to hear and chose music connected to Charlie and Logan’s life together.
Tasha, Elise, and Mo took comfort in knowing that Grace had treated both men with care that recognized their disabilities and their relationship.
Main article: Logan Weston and Charlie Rivera