h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So, my dad and I drove three hours on a HOT day to deliver family mementos and half of my husband's ashes to my mother-in-law's house. We arrive about ten minutes early. I rang the doorbell--twice, with no answer. We sat in the hot sun till about twenty minutes after the agreed-upon time, and just as we were about to leave (no kidding), my father-in-law pulls up. He has a flower vase (with no lid) that he wants to put the ashes into. He wants to do it on the driveway, in the wind. We explain that this won't work because the ashes will blow away. He seems befuddled. He goes in the front door to open the garage door.

He comes out with his wife and middle son. They were in the house the whole time, but would not come to the door. We unload the stuff. Only my father-in-law says thanks. They do not invite us in for a cool drink, or even offer to bring something out. The middle son is who I sat next to during the memorial service. I cried terribly, the kleenex were just on the other side of him, but he did not pass any to me. When his mother (further down the row) cried, he lept to action to pass the box to her, though. My aunt in the row behind me passed me some kleenex. I had made a point to sit with my in-laws, because I felt that doing so would show that I considered myself part of their family.