04.09
my father used to cross himself every time we passed a church
it was a strange habit i thought
it didn’t matter what the denomination of christianity the church spewed
he just crossed himself
sometimes at sixty-five miles per hour
it became quite comical
especially if we were travelling through the South
where there’s a church it seems every hundred yards or so
i asked him once why he didn’t pay his mobile respects
to mosques or hindu temples or synagogues
we had those around our city as well
his answer was defensive convoluted and circular
much as you would expect from an intellectual or academic
(which is what he was)
but to his credit he had read the Qur’an
as well as countless pages of hindu texts
buddhist shinto tao and zen as well
he devoured non christian religious literature as if it were comic books
my father died at the end of the last century
instead of burying him as he wished
my sisters and i had him cremated
we had very little money and turning someone to ashes it seems
is a better financial choice if you’re on a budget
he would have no doubt protested our choice
but
ashes to ashes is how it goes i think
the church to which he belonged all his life
(greek orthodox)
burned to the foundation not long after he died
only the lower third of the giant cross remained
i drove by the site once on my way to settle some accounts
my father had left unresolved
there were two boys rummaging for something just next to the burned cross
one of them picked up a rock and heaved it at the charred remains
and then they laughed and ran away
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