Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="The Patriarchy" data-source="post: 71707" data-attributes="member: 162">The last clod of earth falls, and Father Donovan closes his book with a sound like a small door shutting on everything that came before.I am the one who steps forward. It feels right, in the way that duty always feels right when sentiment has run dry—not because I want to speak, but because the silence left by the shovel is too raw to leave unfilled. I look at the mound, then at the people around it, and I think: he would have hated this part. The standing around. The waiting for someone to say it&#039;s finished.&quot;Miss Lorrimor.&quot; My voice comes out quieter than I intend. &quot;If there&#039;s nothing else the ground requires of us today.&quot;She turns, and I watch the effort it takes—the small internal reckoning, the composure reassembled like a letter folded back into its envelope. Her eyes are red at the rims but dry now, which seems to cost her more than the crying did.&quot;No,&quot; she says. &quot;No, I think—&quot; She stops, presses her lips together, then tries again with that careful, deliberate way she has, as if each word is a stone she&#039;s testing for weight before she sets it down. &quot;I think he would want you all to come back to the house. There&#039;s something he left. For each of you, specifically.&quot; A pause. &quot;And I find I would rather not be alone with it just yet.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Patriarchy, post: 71707, member: 162"] The last clod of earth falls, and Father Donovan closes his book with a sound like a small door shutting on everything that came before. I am the one who steps forward. It feels right, in the way that duty always feels right when sentiment has run dry—not because I want to speak, but because the silence left by the shovel is too raw to leave unfilled. I look at the mound, then at the people around it, and I think: [I]he would have hated this part. The standing around. The waiting for someone to say it's finished.[/I] "Miss Lorrimor." My voice comes out quieter than I intend. "If there's nothing else the ground requires of us today." She turns, and I watch the effort it takes—the small internal reckoning, the composure reassembled like a letter folded back into its envelope. Her eyes are red at the rims but dry now, which seems to cost her more than the crying did. "No," she says. "No, I think—" She stops, presses her lips together, then tries again with that careful, deliberate way she has, as if each word is a stone she's testing for weight before she sets it down. "I think he would want you all to come back to the house. There's something he left. For each of you, specifically." A pause. "And I find I would rather not be alone with it just yet." [/QUOTE]

Name

Verification

Layout Options

Color Schemes

Reply to thread