The Funeral

THE FUNERAL

Left. Right. Left. Right.

The group of six men carried the thick wooden box between them. They were perfectly in step. Their faces were stoic and neutral, but their eyes were misty and filled with grief as they carried their loved one to their final resting place in the ground. A few were dressed in military uniforms while the rest were in funeral suits.

The men carrying the casket all were completely oblivious to their surroundings, focusing only on the ground in front of them and the memories of their loved one. One of the pallbearers was a young U.S. Marine, dressed in uniform, he remembered as his grandmother would talk about how proud she was of him, how she took care of him when he was younger and how she always wanted to make sure everyone was taken care of before herself. When he found out about her passing, he was deep in the mountains going through training. He had broken down in sadness and anger. Sadness at her being gone forever, and anger at the God that supposedly existed and took her away from him.

"It's unfair!!", he yelled as he punched the wall-locker in front of him, making it almost fall over, indenting his knuckles into the metal. He then chuckled slightly as hot tears trickled down his face, "you promised Jacob that you would live to be 100", he knew it was a hard promise to keep realistically. He thought about how she would think of his outburst, how she would have scolded him softly for being childish, and how she would smile and tell him to "buck-up" and "be a man". He had then wiped his face and got on the soonest flight back home.

No tears were on his face this time. He had to be strong for the other members of his family. He had to show to weakness so they may do the same. This was no time for grieving as he knew she had been in a bad condition for the past few months. She could rest peacefully for now. This was something everyone in the family tried to get her to do, but she just wouldn't. She cared too much for everyone else.

The group of pallbearers loaded the casket onto the mechanism that would lower here to the bottom of the grave. The military men saluted and then everyone bowed their heads for a prayer as the box was lowered slowly to the bottom.

The Marine kept his eyes open the whole time, watching. When the box was completely lowered, the men grabbed shovels and tossed a full load of dirt into the hole each. A line was formed for everyone in attendance to drop a shovel-full. At the end of the line was the Marine. A single tear fell as he threw the dirt into the hole.

"Love you granny.", he said with a small smile as a sob escaped him.