Life has always been curious, I often find myself considering that more and more as the years go by…
You know, I’m still asking myself why I am sitting in a small room with two officers in front of me. I’m not the one they should be trying to find, it isn’t hard to find me at all, they would only need to go to the churchyard or the extended graveyard behind.
I am but a simple gravedigger after all. I follow a manual and follow the instructions, every word. Every word, I follow it with religious zealot… after all, the manual is all I have together with the shovel…
Then why did this happen if I followed all the instructions?
The officers look between themselves for a moment before speaking
“I am not saying is your fault kiddo…but you know that Eye of yours spoke with us… it said some stuff that we can’t be sure of unless, you speak with us”
The other officer nods at his partner while they look at me still… they shouldn’t be afraid, I mean they do have my shovel locked away, so is not like I can hurt them, still…
What a horrible lie to try, the Eye is not allowed to speak with members of any one that hasn’t been given authorization through the church, and even with an authorization I doubt that Eye in particular is willing to speak up. We don’t exchange more than a few words, and we have been seeing each other every day for the last ten years.
So, what makes them think, that it is willing to talk? Is obvious they are speaking with me for that same reason after all, I am not forced to secrecy, I have freedom of speech, not like anyone would believe the words of a gravedigger for starters. Though I do feel like asking something…
“Is sexton Jonathan okay?”
That is truly my only worry… the man is the closest thing I got to a father…or family…does the Eye counts as family? We do see each other every day even if we don’t speak that much…still the churchyard wouldn’t be the same without him…so yeah maybe he is part of my family.
One officer looks for confirmation at the other, like asking if it would be a promising idea to tell me…
“Tell you what kiddo, you tell us what happened and I tell you how is he doing?”
I hate those fake smiles; do they think that I can’t discern a real smile? Sexton Jonathan always said…
“Forgive them, is in their nature to believe they can get away with their schemes, simply look past that, if you keep your eyes open you will be able to see the truth”
I hope he is okay…
“Is only fair if you share the olive branch first officer, after all you were the ones who took me here to interrogate me…”
Their smile fades, in their place a frown appears...
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt me to review the actions that made us meet like this…”
Is funny, I will tell them what they want to know yet the frown remains…don’t they know that if they do a face like that it will remain?
Today had been a good day, sunny as I like them, I could saw the sun entering through my window. I moved from my old bed to reach for my glasses in the night stand. As I put them on, the world was once again in order, I took my old friend, a coat that had seen better times, it had patches all over…but it has been with me for too long as if to throw it away.
When I was dressed, I took my hat and the shovel in the corner of my humble abode… it is simply a small room with a bed, a night stand, a chest for my clothing and a window. That is all I can have with me…
My shovel… my brother for the last ten years… he has also seen better days like my coat. But it is my shovel…
“Morning sexton” I take my hat away as I wave at him, is only formal manners to not use my hat when saluting.
He laughs before saying hello himself and ushering me to go to the graveyard. Work started early that morning.
The family brought their uncle in a wooden coffin, nothing too nice nor beautiful, rudimentary but useful. The family said the man was just like his wooden box, simple. I proceeded to dig and place him down. The family speak of their late uncle as I dig. No more than thirty minute and the man is on the earth and the family asks my opinion if he will find peace.
I smile at them before speaking “The man is surely at peace, after all his family was here to give him the last good bye”
They seem content with my answer, I ask if they want me to add a detail to the ground, a flower, maybe a design on the ground, the brother of the deceased told me he didn’t wanted anything on it…
The loud sound of the officer hand on the tables breaks my narrative…
“We don’t want to know what happened back then! We want to know what happened at exactly two hours before midnight!”
Their frown is confirmation of their anger, but I don’t get it… he wanted to know what happened, and I was telling him…he should be better asking…though, it will be hard to explain what happened back then.
“That will be a problem though”
The officer frown deepens as I find myself in reflection. The man anger is obvious before he speaks
“And what problem would that be?” He said between the grinding of his teeth.
He should relax, he looks really tense…he looks like he will be dying soon.
“The problem is, I don’t own a watch, so I don’t know what time it was, also you shouldn’t be so tense officer, you don’t want to be on the ground so early…”
He starts the motion to punch me before his partner intervenes, the bulking man seemed unable to move when his partner who didn’t had the same bulk stopped him. He takes him out of the room before coming back alone. Seems it will just be the two of us in the room… I guess that is better…I was feeling tight in the room, the people who designed these places didn’t made them for more than one in my opinion.
The officer breathes before speaking to me, he looks more relaxed.
“I apologize for my partner…he is rather tense about the whole thing…look kiddo I will be honest with you… the sexton was found lying on the floor heavily hurt and with an open wound from a cutting object...alive mind you… no one saw anyone else enter the church or getting out, and then we find you around there with your shovel full of blood… so please try to explain me what happened… why did we found you there?”
“Well officer, that would be because when I was making my way to the church you were already there... The Eye did fulfill its job to call the authorities as I asked it to do”
“I meant why did we found you with blood on your shovel and your coat...”
Oh, that... well, might as well explain it I guess... not that it can get worse...still, he looks nervous as he asks, I guess he is afraid... but, why fear a man unarmed, isn't he the one with the gun on the room?
“Officer… would you believe me if I said I didn’t hurt sexton Jonathan... but that I did kill a man stealing a corpse by accident?”
The officer eyes open like plates after my words.
“What’s more officer, the corpse then took the more recent corpse and started running with it…I must say, I wasn’t quite ready for that...once again, I do not own a watch, so I am not sure what time it was when it happened...”
And judging by the officer face, he wasn’t quite ready to hear it either…but hey, that’s how things are often with truth...no one is really ready to hear it.
Because the truth is often more unbelievable than a lie.
Comments (0)
See all