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Paying Homage

Paying Homage

– Fiction by Damon Yeargain –

Homemade Insanity

The morning dew soaked through the pants on Hans’ suit.  He was on his knees, both hands clasped in front of him, as if paying homage to a shrine.  His wrinkled fingers traced the rough gray stone, although to him it felt smooth, the way her face did when she was young.

“I go to the movies and buy two tickets,” he whispered. “I go to the store and ask if you need anything.  I open the closet and see your pink dress—the one you wore on those special nights—and I think it has been a while since we have gone out on the town.”

“Then it hits me…” his voice trailed off and he became conscious of the wind.  It seemed to howl in the distance like a lonely, forgotten voice. “It’s been so long since I’ve come. I just couldn’t find the strength…not even to bring you flowers.”

He ran his fingers along some moss near the edge of the stone.  His hands shook; he felt dizzy, nauseated.  He tried to remember the rest of the words, the ones he had rehearsed before coming here; but they were gone, swept away by the wind into the silence of the cemetery.

He thought of her in those final days, lying in her hospital bed.  She reached out her pale, thin hand and touched him. 

“What if it were reversed?” she asked. “You would want me to go on, wouldn’t you?”  Then she smiled in her usual warm, radiant way.  No matter what cancer had done to her physically, it had not defeated her spirit.  She was, even at that moment, the most alive woman Hans had ever met.

 “You would like her,” he said finally, lifting his head towards the stone. “She’s strong like you.”  Then he placed his lips against the name etched into the marble–Gertrude-and kissed it. He stood up and looked out over the graveyard.  A light drizzle had begun to fall, but it felt as if a violent storm had tapered off, leaving small rays of light peeking through the clouds. He had been seeing Alice for the past two months, and in the distance, he could see her, kneeling, hands clasped in front of her, paying homage to a gravestone of her own.

Damon Yeargain

About the Author – Damon Yeargain

Damon is an IT Security Professional by day and a storyteller by passion. In his free time, he crafts both fictional and non-fictional narratives. His work has been published in outlets such as Bust Out Stories, The Toastmaster, Careers and the Disabled, Coping Magazine, and The Challenge. Damon has also completed the draft of a novel about a man who continues to pursue his dream despite battling leukemia.

He lives in Livermore, CA, with his wife, ten-year-old son, a dog, two cats, and several fish.

The story was inspired by my grandfather, after my grandmother passed away from cancer. My grandfather is not the character in the story, but I created the character based on what I thought he must have been going through.

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