24

6 -- Gumbo Ya-Ya
through headquarters, there must be plenty of music, coconuts on his grave. Maybe Mayor Maestri could be persuaded to proclaim the day a holiday in Zululand.
But Johnny had a sister; Victoria Russell appeared on the scene and put down a heavy and firm foot. All attempts to make the wake coorful were foiled. 'Ain't nobody gonna make a clown's house out of my house,' said Sister Victoria Russell.
Even the funeral - held on a Sunday afternoon, amid flowers and fanfare and a crowd of six thosuand -- was filled to disappointments. Louie Armstrong had not been able to make the trip down from New York. Sister Russell banned the coconuts and the Zulu costumes.
At the Mount Zion Baptist Church Reverend Duncan mumbled his prayers in a whisper, peeping into the gray plush casket every now and then. He opened with a reprimand. 'Does you all know this is a funeral, not a fun-making feast?'
A drunken woman in the church yelled: 'I knows. It brings a pitiful home.'
Reverend Duncan went on, while pallbearers raised Zulu banners. 'In the midst of life we is in death.'
Reverend Horace Nash knelt and prayed: 'Lawd, look at us. Keep the spirit alive thatm akes us bow down before you. Keep our hearts beating and our souls ever trustful today and tomorrow.'
Somebody shouted, 'Don't breakdown, brother.'
Outside waited a fourteen-piece brass band and eighteen automobiles. Thousands marched on foot. The band struck up 'Flee as a Bird,' and the cortege was on its way toward Mount Olivet Cemetery. Everyone was very solemn, and there was not a smile visible. All Zulus wore black banners draped across their chests and their shoulders.
Then, after the hearse had vanished into the cemetery, the entire aspect of the marchers changed. The band went into 'Beer Barrel Polka,' and dancing hit the streets. Promenading in Mardi Gras fashion lasted two hours, ending in MEtoyer's own place of business, where the last liquor was purchased and consumed. Sister Russell, returning to the scene, then ordered all Zulus out.