A Different Kind of Freedom by Corinna Turner

Author:Corinna Turner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, mental illness, prison, young adult, teen, catholic, christian, dinosaurs, dystopian, jurassic
Publisher: Corinna Turner

Father Timaru moving in as though to close Wilhelm’s sightless eyes snaps me out of it.

“Wait! We’ve gotta do it right.”

“Right?”

“I need some cloth...” I hunt around in the bedside cabinet. The main cupboard is empty, but in the top drawer I find a small pile of candy wrappers and a single pigeon feather—the contents of Wilhelm’s pockets, clearly. I also find a little stone with a u carved into it. He must’ve been waiting for a chance to slip it to me. Swallowing painfully, I put it in my own pocket.

But in the back of the drawer, I find a couple of lengths of bandage. Ideally, it should be a cloth woven specially, but that’s fine for old folk dying at home in their camp. In other situations you use what’s available.

Taking one of the pieces of bandage, I carefully weave knot-crosses into both ends, then shuffle to the sickly plant on the windowsill to collect the healthiest two leaves I can find and a good pinch of dirt. I put both ready on the bedside table then gather up half the dirt and try to wrap one pathetic leaf around it to make a little parcel.

Guess that’s as good as it’s gonna get. I open Wilhelm’s mouth and slip it inside. “May your body rest in the soil from which it came and your soul unfurl in the presence of its Creator like a leaf in the sun,” I recite.

Placing the cloth under Wilhelm’s chin, I tie it tightly at the top of his head with an eternity knot to keep his mouth closed, then gather up the rest of the dirt, slide Wilhelm’s left eye closed, and place the dirt on his lid. I take one of the bandage-end crosses and place it on top. “May the eyes of your body open to new life at the time of your Savior’s choosing.” I close Wilhelm’s right eye and lay the leaf on top then place the second cross over it. “May the eyes of your spirit be open now in eternal life.”

A second strip of bandage I wrap carefully around his eyes to hold everything in place, tying it with another eternity knot, and it’s done. I didn’t forget nothing. “Amen,” I whisper.

“Amen,” murmurs Father Timaru. “I have never seen that before. That’s how hunters do it, is it?”

“Sure is,” I whisper. “Offering soil and leaf.” Though since Wilhelm were city-born, he might not’ve actually cared all that much. I struggle to think. Soil and leaf is the priority, but... “Uh, he needs washing, next.”

Father Timaru rests a hand on my shoulder for a moment. “That’s not your job, Joshua, don’t worry about it. There are people to do that.”

“But it should be someone who cares. Who else...”

“I’m sorry, Joshua. I’m sure those two out there don’t mind if you take a few minutes with him, but the morgue attendants will have to do everything like that.”

“But that ain’t right…”

“I’m sorry, Joshua.”

Ugh, city-folk! They let strangers care for their dead? But if I make a fuss, they’ll probably just drag me straight back to the prison.

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