Shall we rise?
May the soul of the departed rest in the bosom of the ancestors, as he is welcomed by those who have gone ahead of him. Though we mourn, it is for his presence and not for his soul.
Dede kept saying a word of consolation to all present, especially to the family of the diseased, Helen, the first granddaughter of the family strolled to the casket, robbing it mildly with her right hand, innocently she did it, as her mother wept silently on her seat. Before the ushers could take her away from the coffin, she began to walk back to the congregation herself. In everyone's mind, what would have gingered little Helen, a girl of three to have acted that way? She had always loved to stay with grandpa, perhaps that was to say goodbye. After the mass, the casket was carried by the undertakers as the procession to bury the remains of Chief Maxwell in the church private cemetery matched out of the church hall.
As the people's warden for over thirty years, chief Maxwell served in the cathedral faithfully. His death was not too much of a shock to everyone. He is old and stricken in age. The congregation believed he's gone to rest among the saints.
The guest was entertained hosted by a local band with traditional food after the laying to rest had been completed and the grave cemented. The first song that blasted through the speakers was when the roller is called yonder, a hymnal that most people were already used to but the song sounded different today, reminding everyone who cared to mind the lyrics that life is but for a time, a season to impact the world as a day will come when everything will become bleak. The singers sang the song so softly that it massaged the soul of all guests. Most could not eat what they were served.
Late Maxwell's bosom friend, Makinde was just there sitting speechlessly, holding his third leg, the walking stick. Before the reception came to a close, he took a step to the grave where Maxwell now lives and said:
Prepare a home for me too. I'd join you in no time, Captain.
He then walked away.
Exactly a week after the burial of Maxwell, Makinde also passed away in his sleep. Before he died, he was said to have laughed loudly that everyone in the house woke up that moment. He launched so loudly that the tremor was felt in the street. Mak collapsed into the bed, he is gone with a wide smile all over his face. He's buried in a grand style like his friend, Max. These two folks had something in common. They were good at heart but kept a little secret. Mak was buried next to Max. The headstone of the grave reads:
In honor of the Lord of the sea, Captain Max. 1891-1991.
The same thing is reflected on Mak's headstone. The lettering on the stone was in italics.
A year after the burial, families came to visit the cemetery, no one noticed any change. Only Helen, the little granddaughter saw a change. Max was buried in the right while Mak was on the left but the headstone had changed and Max now laid on the left and Mak on the right as inscribed on the headstone. Immediately, a loud laugh burst from the graves, loud enough that it deafened all that came to visit the tombs except Helen.
A tremor erupted as the laughter continued. The whole cemetery was turned upside down and the sky rolled like a merry-go-round. The shaking continued until Helen laughed back and it stopped. Immediately, they all retired from the cemetery and started heading home. But Adeline was not comfortable. She looked at Hellen from the rear mirror and she smile back at her. When the entourage arrived home, Adeline, Helen's aunt asked her what she heard at the graveside. Helen answered in the negative but she said:
Grandpa told me a little secret.
Then she began.
When grandpa said while he was still a seaman, fishing the pacific ocean, Mak and grandpa caught a little mermaid. And the mermaid is in this house.
In this house? Adeline queried. Bobby and other guys in the living room opened their mouths in shock. Then Helen continued:
The mermaid promised to give them both a treasure box if they spared him. Grandpa and his friend accepted to spare the mermaid but that the mermaid should give them more than a treasure. So that they shouldn't think about killing the mermaid, she accepted to give them her soul in a bottle which they brought home. So, the soul of the mermaid is still here. Until it is released into the pacific ocean, that gravestone will keep alive.
Helen led all of them to the basement of the house and searched an old abandoned store where Max had kept all his sailing tools. In a small Captain box, they found a small but heavy bottle with tiny sparkling fish.
Adeline called the presiding Bishop at the cathedral and explained these things to him. He rushed to the house and found everyone in the living room panting like they had been working all day. This sounds a little strange, the Bishop said. He went further to say that there is nothing new under the heavens. To clear their fears, he asked that the prays with them. Just as he was about to commence prayer, the heavy laughter erupted again. It was so loud that the Bishop looked around from where the laughter. Helen chuckled and she said, grandpa, said we shouldn't be scared. All we need do is to open the soul of the mermaid to set it free on the clearwater beach in Florida.
Since he couldn't continue the prayer, Bishop Simeon suggested they move immediately to empty the bottle into the clear-water beach.
As soon as they arrived at the beach. Adeline asked Bobby to hold on tight to Helen, fearing that something strange may likely happen here. The Bishop held the bottle, opened it, and poured the content into the sea. Then the unimaginable occurred. The sea roared with high waves, it traveled far from its shores, like sheep lurking horns and running back to gather momentum.
All fun seekers at the beachfront seemingly ignorant at what just transpired took to their heels, leaving the shores. Bishop and other members of the entourage that came on the mission also joined in the race to walk away from the seashores.
Now, there seemed a little calm on the face of everyone. They went back with flowers to the cemetery and now Max's headstone had returned to its rightful position. In tears, Adeline dropped the flowers because her father had just gone to rest in the real sense of the word.
Hope the grandpas rest in peace in their own cemetery.