Robe and Crown

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?