Think about The Night Watch today, when so many people push and shove with their wealth, fame, and power. In a few hundred years, all of today's movers and shakers may be reduced, at best, to another group of supporting characters on a canvas.
That painting brings to mind a headline from a few years ago: Sam Walton had died the richest man in America, making him, I realized, only the latest in an eternally long line of such record holders. As John Maynard Keynes postulated, in the long run we're all dead.
Time is the only resource that matters.
TO: awhitlock@digger.net
FROM: randy@virtual.net
SUBJECT: Re: One Last Question
I think it's up to you, Allison. If you want to pursue the idea that you and Lenny first discussed, you'll need to take the reins and pull Lenny forward.
You have nothing to lose. Try to answer as many of the questions as you can, but don't worry that you won't have all the answers. Plan how you will discover them.
Good luck.
best
r
Chapter Ten
THE
WHOLE
LIFE PLAN
“WE'RE GOING TO put the fun back into funerals,” Lenny said.
Was this my cue? “The fun back into funerals?” I asked.
“Cut it out, Lenny,” Allison chided. “I hate that.”
Lenny laughed. “I wanted to see your reaction,” he admitted.
He handed me a copy of his new business plan.
“Besides,” he said, “it's more the case now than it ever was.”
No denying it. Lenny's sense of humor left a little to be desired, but I was glad to see he was his spunky self again.
“Maybe I should say we're going to put the fun back into Funerals.com,” he said. “Except it's not Funerals.com anymore.”
Lenny pulled out his extendable pocket pointer, poked at the cover of the plan, and read the title to me: “Presentation to Randy Komisar.” Some habits were impossible to break. “Business Plan for Circle-of-Life.com,” he continued.
“I can read, Lenny, remember?” I looked at the cover page. “Circle-of-Life. What's that mean?”
“Let's go through the pitch,” Allison suggested. “It should all become clear.”
“Fine,” I said, my curiosity piqued.
It had been ten days since I'd heard from either of them, and I'd assumed the clock had run out. I'd felt sorry that Allison hadn't prevailed and frustrated with Lenny's steadfast denial, but I was also confident the Internet wouldn't lack for casket floggers too long.
Then out of the blue, an e-mail.
TO: randy@virtual.net
FROM: lenny@alchemy.net
SUBJECT: Still Breathing
Randy,
We are not dead yet! After a lot of soul searching in light of all that's happened, we revised the business plan and convinced Frank to give us one more hearing. He'll see us in two days, early afternoon. We'd like to run our ideas by you first. Can we buy your morning chai at the Konditorei?
Thanks,
Lenny
So, here we are again, déjà vu. As usual, the Konditorei had quieted down by midmorning; except for a young couple with a baby in a designer carrier and an occasional takeout customer, we had the sunny place to ourselves. A bootleg tape of the Dead's “Friend of the Devil” played in the background. Connie was kibitzing with the staff, taking a breather. She had welcomed Lenny like an old friend, forgetting for now the putrefying bacteria. She had a natural way with people, and she knew more about business than most of the young bucks who come around here looking for me. I really should discuss a partnership with her.
Lenny's “fun” remark had caught my attention because it was at least the third echo of my first encounter with him, some three weeks earlier. In his corporate uniform again this morning, he had greeted me at the door (without the arm-lock) and guided me to the table where he and Allison had set up shop.
There the similarities, thankfully, ended. Lenny was just as intense, but his energy was leavened with warmth and a sense of humor. Allison, too, seemed to have settled into her own skin, no longer ambivalent or hesitant. She and Lenny were in sync now.
After I sent her my reply, Allison explained, she had spent the weekend strategizing with Lenny. He had been ready to throw in the towel, but she had persuaded him to try another approach.
“So Circle-of-Life.com came out of that weekend?” I asked.
They both nodded.
“What we first described to you in Funerals.com,” Lenny said, “is still here. But it's only one part of a much bigger idea.”
“Does your family all live around here, Randy?” Allison asked.
“No,” I replied. “Upstate New York, New England. And my wife's family is from Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina. Everywhere but here.”
“It's the same with Allison and me,” Lenny said. “My family is strong in Boston, but two brothers live in the Midwest, and my sister lives in Florida. My father had seven brothers and sisters, spread all over the East and South, and one out here. Allison's family is scattered around New England and the Southwest.”
“In this day and age, families and friends have to work hard to stay in touch. No one writes letters anymore,” Allison added.
“When my father died,” Lenny explained, “I paid a neighborhood kid who knows HTML to make the site you saw. I wanted a place where the family could gather, post messages, and remember. Not only did it shrink the distance between us, but it made it easier to share feelings. You saw some of the postings. A couple of my aunts and uncles told stories about growing up with Dad, and some of my relatives posted old photographs that we'd never seen before, pictures of Dad as a kid and of the entire family through the years. It was a comfort to all of us to remember Dad and commemorate his life.”
“It was a good thing,” Lenny went on. “Many of my friends who have visited the site said they'd like to set up a place for their families, too.”
“Anyway,” Allison chimed in, “when Lenny and I looked at everything fresh we returned to a simple premise. The business should make it possible for people to come together and cope with death and dying. That's our mission.”
“And we'll sell caskets,” Lenny interjected.
“And we'll sell caskets,” Allison concurred. “Absolutely. That's an expensive decision people have to make at a difficult time. The more information you have, the better the choice.”
“Wherever we can find reputable funeral homes who provide good service and take reasonable margins,” Lenny said, “we'll work through them. There still needs to be someone local to make the final arrangements. We can steer people to the best facilities and protect them from gouging.”
“Not just caskets and liners, but other services too,” Allison quickly added. “Counseling, burial sites, gravestones, options for final disposal.”
I raised my hand.
“Whoa,” I said. “Let's start with the plan.” I generally prefer to get off the pat presentation and into the passion, but too much was tumbling out at once for me to absorb.
Lenny and Allison's original idea, the one buried beneath Funerals.com, was to create Internet communities in which family and friends could honor and remember someone who had died. In returning to that idea, Lenny and Allison had expanded it to include people in the process of dying, the terminally ill, and those who care for them.