Prometheus, Marieta Maglas [a court of thorns and roses ebook free txt] 📗

so sweet when you want to help us. I suppose that no other person really knows that you are here talking with us,"said Ella laughing.

"We must employ new workers,"said Laura.

"How can we recruit them?" Sam was boring asking so many questions.

"We can publish announcements in our newspaper. We can choose online postings and fliers," said Ella.

"The book design can turn the manuscript into a professional quality book,"said Laura.

"Ella, tell me about your money,"said Michael, tenderly looking into her eyes and smiling. "You're more beautiful now than ever."

"My mother gave me some money. She decided to help me to realize the dream of my life."

"Generally, people judge a book by its cover. We will work to create the best book design for the audience. The authors are dependent upon our careful attention to detail in this customized book design.This kind of design needs some book printing skills. I will introduce you to the book design preparations, technical information and design decisions, required for a successful book printing. Even you are not designers, you must know everything about this,"concluded Laura.

Lisa's heart was beating very fast and her head was spinning. Being so powerless, she suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

"What has happened to you?" Samantha asked her.

"Give me five minutes,"she told Samantha, suddenly feeling very weak. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Being worried, Samantha nodded and went to get Lisa a glass of water. Lisa sat back in a chair, having her eyes closed and shaking her hands. She realized she was having an anxiety attack, probably because she attended the funeral. Moreover, going to those things, she felt brought on waves of panic and nausea.

"I still cannot realize that Jeff is dead," she said.

After a few minutes, six lanky boys appeared at the funeral and three of them clambered down from the hearse. One of them had one of those thermometer style tire gauges with him and he was scrabbling around the hearse on his haunches, testing the tire pressures. After a few minutes, he said,"We have come to take the charge of the body. Tell two of you to lend a hand."

"Of course," said Samantha, "Klaus, be kind and ask David to come here."

The coffin was got out of the room for being placed in the hearse. The people drew back enough to make space for it. No one said anything. The engine panted heavily. The lanky boys looked helpless at the driver. The driver turned to David because he was the only one, who could be addressed to ask him for help.

"The body will be directly taken to the church," said David. He stooped and took hold of one of the handles of the coffin.

The liveryman opened the door of the hearse and prepared to mount the coffin's seat. The hearse began slowly to move for some miles with Jeff's daughter and his family's cars following behind. It was pouring with rain, thundering and lightning. Then, a flash of lightning lit the hearse and a crack of thunder sounded like ten thousand drums, which were beaten by invisible hands. The liveryman took one look at Jeff and his coffin, which was gleaming in the bright light. His face's color was turning into a white shade of pale. The lamps of the town began to shine and their artificial light reached the emptiness of the cloudy sky, wrapping everything in a very strange silence. The hearse backed up to the sidewalk of the church. The gate, which was hanging on two hinges, was opened. Something black had been tied to the front door, before their coming.

"There are old chairs made in the chapel by his family," said Samantha.

"Lisa and Jane are going to serve everyone tea, coffee and food, after the funeral," said Marie.

"His photograph in remembrance, embedded in the gravestone, is a good one," said Mary.

"People like something to spark their memory and the photograph is exactly what they need," said Samantha.

"I think that there has always been a need to say a special last goodbye," said Roxanne.

"Lisa chose a very impressive casket," said Dusty.

The rain stopped falling. The coffin was taken out from the hearse for being placed in the church. The casket was making a grating sound. It was answered by the scream of Jeff's daughter, Jane. She was a woman with flat and angular features. She had a long blond hair, very blue eyes and she was entirely dressed in black. Whilst grieving for her father, Jane found herself not wanting any contact with the people around her, except for those to whom she was closest. The bearers carried the coffin along the narrow boards, while the undertaker ran ahead with the coffin rests. There was a logo, having some black and orange flowers. Some white funeral flowers were placed on the casket. They bore the coffin into the church and set it down there. It was a Catholic church, with cream-colored walls and a dark brown carpet. The building had the sober style of the medieval art. The podium sat at the front of the hall. In front of it, there was a table. The people approached the coffin.

"Condolences, Jane," said Roxanne, embracing her.

"Thank you," said Jane, having tears in her eyes.

John and Victor seemed to be engaged in a conversation without end.

"Lately, the funerals have changed because of the secularization of society," said John.

"In many cases, people find the personalization to be valuable. The personalization changes the way in which the people view the funerals," said Victor.

"Klaus, be kind and take the lid off and let me see his face," wailed Jane between her sobs.

Klaus looked almost beseeching into her face with red and swollen eyes. Her beautiful nose was distended and there were tears on either side of it. Her mouth and eyes drawn down solemnly, awaiting the opening of the coffin. Silently, she began to weep. Feeble steps were heard on the front of the stairs and a tall old man, having a very gray hair and a long gray beard, slowly entered the church. He went up to the coffin and stood, keeping a cross between his hands and being seemingly so embarrassed by Jane's grief. His name was John and he was priest. At this point, she began weeping again and the priest prayed silently for wisdom to help her.

"Sorry to hear about your loss, Jane. Death is the most horrible thing to live through, but we can learn so many things from someone's death and we learn to pass through this," said the priest.

"This life of ours is so short and we have an eternity to spend together. Love is the strongest link in that invisible chain that connects us," said Jane.

Jeff's head, artificially reconstructed, seemed to be even more indifferent in its rigid stillness than in life. No one could see that chaste repose on his face, which we expect to find on the face of any dead person. Death could not wholly relax the tension and smooth the countenance for expressing a perfect peace.

"He was a very good person, but we did nothing to understand him and to help him," said Klaus.

"Poor girl, I think that she suffers very much," remarked David, referring to Jane.

Lisa touched her. Soon, the people started to come to the church from all sides of the town. It looked like it was going to be a long funeral, with more than a dozen of speakers. A little before the start of the funeral, Michael came up to the group. From the moment that Alexander saw him approaching, he felt his reaction inside, which increased as Michael came near him.

"How are you, Michael?" Alexander asked him.

"I am elected as the director of the theater. It is a real honor to serve on this prestigious art as a director," said Michael.

"Congratulation," said Alexander.

"I want to do the best to honor Jeff's memory as a director. I outlined an overview of the further development of the theater in a bid to attract the audiences. I want to promote some playwrights as well as some classical and modern scripts," said Michael.

"I really don't know what happened to him. It is very strange that he didn't seem to commit suicide," said Alexander, seemingly not paying attention to what he said.

The family started to talk about Jeff's life because they wanted the time to pass in waiting the religious service. When the services started, everyone quit talking. Then, a little while later in the service, after a short litany of Psalm twenty three, Jeff's friends wanted to do something special at the service and they sang a liturgical song. They finished the service with one of Jeff's favorite religious songs. Many people commented on how uplifting the service was. It didn't dwell on the sadness, but on the joy of Jeff's life and on the hope and promises of our Lord. After the funeral, Michael came to Lisa and found her sitting on the small bench in front of Jeff' grave.

"How do you feel now, Lisa?" Michael asked her, while he was staying in front of Jeff's grave.

"I loved him," said Lisa.

"The loss of a loved one is, generally, never easy and nobody will ever expect it to be. For you, this funeral passed as a hazy memory. So, don't feel guilty of not remembering the details of this last farewell from now on," said Michael ironically.

"I loved you both at the same time," continued Lisa. "Don't blame me."

"Some day, I will leave you," said Michael.

Chapter 20

 

After Ten Years

 

Three months after graduating the University, Susan tried to find a job at the Village Mayor's Court as a village administrator. It was the village, where Theodore had lived once. She wanted to go along with the social life. She thought that it was the time to explore new adventures and a new chapter of her life. For this purpose, she met James, who was the mayor of the village. He told her that he had started the construction of a school house, a church and some successful farms. He wanted to give a spirit of education to the land. It became a place, where many families had built their homes. He wanted to know the reason that determined her to search a job in a village. She was ready to motivate her decision. James told her that no one else wanted this job. The reason was that it was very poorly paid. She told him that her fiance has been already hired as a Math teacher at their village school and she was searching a job for being with him. James told her that the young people left the village in order to look for good jobs in the town. He advised her to be involved in every aspect of her job. He also told her that the employment of the members of the personnel was based on their qualifications.

"Everyone was hired by staff here and I will never deviate from the rules of our village. Congratulations! You got the job," he said.

"Thank you," Susan told him, smiling and expressing her happiness.

"You will start to work here tomorrow. Your first duty will be to purchase and operate a new fitness center. You will have to pick up the center's lease. You will spend some public money to cover the equipment, too. I want to know your opinion about this," said James.

"It is important to know if the center is too expensive to operate, if there are enough users and if there is sufficient staff," said Susan.

"The center isn't too expensive to operate and there is sufficient staff, but we need more users. Let's talk about the users. Generally, people dislike their appearance. If