Fiction. Dead and Buried

Dead and Berried.
Josef Maxwell and his future bride Joanna Cooper had arranged an afternoon with their parents to discuss the wedding reception details. Living in a small rural town with no caterers it was decided they would all cook and prepare the food.
Josef’s mother Merle suggested, “ we can make use of family friends who offer to help in making certain dishes”. Joanna’s mother Mary said, “ As it is only a small gathering of about thirty guests, and being a farming community neighbours always help each other.”
There would be lots of vegetables and meat wasn’t a problem. An aunt of Joanna’s offered to bake and ice the wedding cake.
Josef said, “ My cousin Tom has a large orchard of ‘pick your own’ fruits, also two hectares of juicy strawberries and raspberries which would be at their best around the time of the wedding.”
All arrangements went to plan; Josef happily stated to Joanna, “ all we have to do now is to look forward to our special day.”
Joanna had always been a popular girl and in demand and admired at dances or country functions and many young men tried to date her but Josef had always been her close friend from their school days. Josef was to take over the family farm after they were married so they were both kept busy decorating the workers cottage, that would be their first home.
About a month before their wedding, Josef received a very disturbing letter threatening him with a horrible accident if he marries Joanna. It was signed, ‘death will be swift’. During the next two weeks, the letters kept coming and getting more gruesome, with wording like ‘ don’t gamble with death’ and ‘ death is getting close’
Finally Josef confided in Joanna what was happening and had fears for her as well. Things like this hardly ever happened in small communities.
“We will need to go and show the police the letters, maybe there is someway to identify the writer.” Joanna told Josef.
“Have you any idea who might be jealous of us?.” Josef asked
“ Most of my friends are also yours, Josef, we need to discretely ask around our friends”.
“I’ll check up with my best man Jim. He gets to hear lots of things as the local store-keeper.”
A few days passed and no new letters, so maybe the person has decided not to keep up the threats.
The morning of the wedding and the little town was alive with people busy preparing their contribution for the big day. The meats were being cooked and loads of fresh vegetables arrived, also a nice variety of fruit from cousin Tom.
Two p.m. saw a gathering of guests at the tiny church waiting for Joanna to make an entrance and join her beloved Josef. Soon the promises to each other were made and a happy married couple left the church to meet up with their friends and relations.
The reception was all laid out and looked lovely. Guests took their seats and soon a real country cooked dinner was served. The sweets followed with bowls of fresh fruits laid out along the table. Josef said, “ I have been waiting to enjoy some of Tom’s juicy strawberries.” “They give me a rash,” Joanna added, “ so I had better not have any.”
After Josef’s second helping of his favourite fruit and before the speeches he excused himself saying it was very warm inside and he needed some fresh air. He suddenly bent over with pain and collapsed on the floor. Doctor Jones was a guest and rushed to his side. He noticed fluid coming from Josef’s mouth and his pupils were dilated. The doctor announced, “ I need the air ambulance here as soon as possible.” then he tried to talk with Josef who had drifted into an unconscious state.
Doctor Jones had thoughts of food poisoning, so advised everyone not to eat anything else and needed samples to be sent for testing.
The air ambulance arrived and they soon decided Josef was in a very serious condition. They stabilised him and were soon on their way to the area hospital.
The guests were now in a state, waiting to see if anyone else showed similar symptoms. “ We must try and keep calm for Joanna’s sake,” said her mother but everybody was in a frenzy and soon accusations were being made.
Joanna’s mind went back to the threatening letters and decided the police needed to know. Josef’s cousin Tom said he would tell them, meanwhile Jim the best man disappeared from the gathering.
An hour later came the call everyone dreaded, Josef had died of suspected poisoning. Now the homicide squad was being called in, forensic people were soon taking samples of the food for analysis.
A visit from the chief of the homicide squad to the family later confirmed his suspicions, “ I have the sad news now that Josef has been murdered, and the strawberries on the bridal table had been injected with a lethal dose of poison.”
The long task of interviewing all the guests started and there wasn’t much progress until a disturbance outside the police station between the best man Jim and Tom, “ I have been to the shed on your orchard and searched around and found a syringe, plus a bottle of poison, I had my suspicion about you.” Said Jim.
The sergeant in change heard the commotion and immediately took Tom inside for questioning.
It seemed the evidence was there and Tom had no answer to why he had the poison. Finally Tom admitted to causing Josef’s death saying, “ I have always been in love with Joanne and become insanely jealous of losing her. There was only one way to put a stop to the marriage.”
Tom was swiftly taken away by the police before the whole community could carry out their own judgement and sentence.
There is a lesson to learn from huge juicy strawberries. It is the added ingredients that are bad for your health.