Chapter 25 - MARGARET’S FUNERAL
Margaret died at eighty-one.
Heart failure.
I attended.
Daniel was still incarcerated but granted no funeral release.
He watched a private recording later.
Vanessa attended quietly.
We did not sit together.
At the service, the priest spoke about contradiction.
Margaret’s philanthropy.
Her family loyalty.
Her late-life governance reforms.
Her granddaughter.
No sainthood.
Afterward, I found an envelope Margaret left me.
Inside:
Sofia’s kindergarten drawing.
Three people.
Me.
Sofia.
A dog.
Daniel missing.
On the back, Margaret had written:
She drew this the week before she died. I never knew whether to give it to you.
I laughed.
The dog had purple legs.
Sofia always wanted one.
I framed it.
Not the funeral portrait.
This.
May you like
A child’s bad drawing.
Better.
