Gravestones: a short story

this is a short kindof essay story thing. Its partially true, but not totally. still, it sounds pretty good read aloud.

To Walk Through the Gravestones

By Seth Lesondak

 

            Last year I was a pallbearer at my great grandfather’s funeral. It feels like an eternity has gone by since then. Now, my family and I go to visit the cemetery where my great grandfather and grandmother lie in eternal sleep. I like to leave my family and walk alone through the immense tombs. The air is misty with drizzle and the sky a heartbreaking grey. My eyes glance over the names on the headstones. Most of them are Eastern European, like “Bedrick.” The stones in this cemetery are old and dramatic, towering over me like hundreds of gateway arches. The names there are transcribed in a calligraphic Blackletter font that conveys both something fanciful and primitive. I imagine what the people were like who lie under these stones. My great grandfather was a ballroom dancer. As I think this, I see his stone. My family is not rich and thus his marker is small, very distinct against its background of eight foot tall tombstones. I sit with my back to it.

            As I look into the mist, I can see only three headstones. The rest have been swallowed by the ever thickening fog. It feels quiet here, but not silent. It is as if each deceased person whispers their life story to the rare passerby. I can remember back many years to my great grandmother’s funeral. The weather was similar, just more rain and less mist. There I had tossed flowers on the casket after it was lowered into the grave.

            Now I stand and take the cell phone from my pocket to check the time. I still have a good half an hour before I must meet up with my family. I realize how truly alone I am. Even if society discovered a cure for cancer, or someone invented the ultimate fuel efficient car, I would not know it. Here at the graveyard, there is no technology but for the silent phone in my pocket. There are barely any people. It feels like the whole universe consists only of the whispering dead, the towering tombstones and me.