the last great american dynasty

my tears ricochet

  "We are gathered here..." the officiant began, which woke James up.

  His first thought was "Where am I?", but that was answered as he was seated inside a wooden box on top of the church's podium. Looking down on himself, he found himself in his military uniform, and it was clean and fitted him well instead of it being in various shades of green, a bit baggy, and stained with the blood of both the enemy and his fellow military brothers.

  He never wanted a funeral, much less have it held in a church because it wasn't just the attendees mourning for him, even the angel and saint sculptures on the pillars and all over the church seemed to be weeping with them. The room felt tense and cold despite the warm sunlight glistening through the stained glass. The only person that mattered to him was his mother, and maybe her because he knew that he still loved her, and the feeling never changed even though years had gone by.

  James successfully climbed out of his casket and planted his feet onto the floor without knocking any of the lilies over, then walked over to the audience, trying not to focus on the fact that his shoes didn't cause any sounds when the wooden heel hit the tile floors with every step he took.

  Before he took the steps down the podium, he took a chance to look at the crowd, which to much of his surprise, was quite sizable, to where the little church was fully seated, along with some standing at the back near the entrance. In the front row was his mother, who couldn't control her tears and was quietly sobbing into a handkerchief. Then there was a man that almost looked like him, who James then came to the revelation that he was a sorry excuse for a man who he was supposed to call his father. Both of them sat at separate benches, which he was thankful for since his mother didn't need to suffer under his presence any more than she was at that moment.

  Then the few rows behind them sat the army mates who lived in Missouri or were close to James in their uniform. Dean was there among the others, with gauze to the top left of his forehead, refusing to look at the podium. A few more steps after the military brothers' section sat almost the whole of his town. He was surprised to see the whole baseball team back when he was in school all sitting there in their black suits, considering he assumed that after graduation, they would never be together in the same room until any sort of school reunion. He sighed. A few years in the military gave him a new perspective on life. Looking back, no one listened to him, but he also wasn't listening to others, causing him and his anger to constantly burst and hurt both parties. But he sometimes wondered whether he deserved the horrible treatment from them. Everyone was flawed and it was a fact, but maybe all of them, along with him, had the same mind, thinking that they knew everything and anything when in reality, they had barely scraped the surface.

  Then there were the smart kids with their wives. He had no clue why they were invited since his friends used to make fun of them. He also found Inez Hill in the crowd, sitting there stoically next to Fred Davis. He never liked Inez, but somehow he felt thankful that she showed up.

  Right behind the pair, a distinct color of blonde caught his eye. So he turned towards the person.

  And there she was.

  Betty.

  She had changed since the last time they saw each other. The bags that dawned under her eyes were visible even though she was wearing makeup. A few lines had started to appear around her eyes and in between her eyebrows. They weren't obvious from afar but they added to the beauty she was. With her blonde hair in victory curls hidden under a black hat, she sat there, head tilted down with sunglasses covering her eyes, wearing a black dress along with the same color heels. Even though she had changed, physically and, he believed, internally, her presence still made him tongue-tied, speechless. Even though his heart was no longer beating, she alone could give the shock it needed to come back to life.