Record:Burial at Sea
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Sailor: Signor, Signorina, we're almost there. We'll get tha body ready in a minute.
Arno Minestrici: Yes, thank you.
Bella Minestrici: Thank you.
Sailor: I still can't b'lieve I've been picked to witness the Dux's funeral. It feels unreal bein' here. Oh, and sorry for yer loss, of course.
(The Capitano shouts commands in the background. The young sailor walks away. Arno and Bella, nephew and niece of the Dux, are left alone.)
Bella Minestrici: I cannot bear to see the standards we have fallen to.
Arno Minestrici: I'm afraid there is no helping with people like that. When you're born in a household with no manners, you can't be blamed for not possessing any.
Bella Minestrici: It is just not right, f you understand what I mean. This being the last time we will all see uncle Leo, that is.
Arno Minestrici: I don't think a sailor or two could break my mood. I think we were all on edge since we got here.
Bella Minestrici: Maybe we should have visited.
Arno Minestrici: You know how father has been about him since Enrico got put in prison.
Bella Minestrici: We are adults, Arno. He couldn't do anything to stop us.
Arno Minestrici: But you know I mean.
Bella Minestrici: Yes...
(A man with a fading goatee loudly coughs in the distance. They turn their head around for a moment, glancing at Franco Morelio's frail figure. He is standing alone, at a slight distance from everyone else. It is not clear whether he is being avoided or if he is the one avoiding them.)
Arno Minestrici: I think they are all just a little shaken still, even all these years later.
Bella Minestrici: When haven't they been? This is the only way I've ever remembered them.
Arno Minestrici: They had a little moment in the spotlight when it all seemed good for a moment. And us, I mean, what did we know then? We were practically kids.
(The coughing continues. They look at Morelio uncomfortably.)
Bella Minestrici: (Whispers.) That Morelio is not sitting right with me.
Arno Minestrici: They told me he's been on some foreign psychedelic for years. He looks like the second corpse at this funeral.
Bella Minestrici: Is he the only one from there?
Arno Minestrici: The Morelios broke up like a wild flock, from what I hear. I mean, do you remember when cousin Rebecca married that Morelio girl?
Bella Minestrici: Yea. Though there has been a lot of weddings these past few years.
Arno Minestrici: I think they're pulling out of Lorma, spreading their wealth elsewhere to get away from the center of happenings. As for the old guy, his own kids dispersed, I don't think they see him anymore.
Bella Minestrici: What a sad fate.
(An older, balding man approaches them, and they go quiet. He extends his shaky head.)
Locaso Giannone: You are Minestricis, correct? My condolences, on behalf of the Giannone Family. I am deeply sorry for your loss.
(She shakes his hand.)
Bella Minestrici: Well, thank you, Signore...
Locaso Giannone: Oh, you probably do not remember me. I am Locaso of the Giannones. I do not think I have seen you since you were little ones. But your uncle was a great man.
Bella Minestrici: Oh, I imagine you knew him far better than either of us did. He was quite reclusive in his old age, especially after retiring. Did you serve in his administration?
Locaso Giannone: Oh, no, no. But I had the opportunity to see him a lot, as everyone else. We all benefitted. He most certainly helped us gasp for air one more time before we drowned.
Bella Minestrici: Sounds quite pessimistic.
Locaso Giannone: Mayhaps. But I suppose you younger ones will never truly know what you have missed out on. Maybe it is for the better.
Bella Minestrici: What is there to complain of? Especiall when one still has barely-countable, absurd amounts of wealth at their disposal.
Locaso Giannone: Maybe that is the correct mindset to take, being happy with what one has. There is an air of responsibility to it. Only when people continue to crave more do issues arise. Bella Minestrici: Is this about Uncle Leo?
Locaso Giannone: Yes in some ways, no in others. If we knew where it would lead under Vincenzo, maybe we would have turned back a long time ago.
(The Capitano rings a bell. The crier waits until everyone has gathered together before commencing. The murmur of the people goes silent. A white bodybag sits on the floor, being gently rocked by the waves of the sea.)
Crier: We have gathered here today to commemorate our final parting with the body and memory of one Leo Minestrici di Mineria.
In his 74 years of life, he has left a trace on this world far greater than any of us will have the opportunity of doing. Serving the highest honor this land may bestow upon a man, he dutifully served the nation of La Rossa as Dux for an eventful eight years. It is no exaggeration to say that he has given life to the current way of Rossan life, which has outlasted his own. Yet Leo Minestrici was no greater than life, he was a man, just as all of us.
Throughout his life, he has made many friends, and allies, who helped him rise to the occasion. Yet as with any work requiring such harsh decisions, he has also made many enemies, some in attendance today, others refusing to participate. He has made mistakes, he has erred, he has sinned. In this, he is more reminiscent of all the rest of us than he is not. And just as he was one man's savior he was another man's foe. He was a man, just as all of us.
And as a man, just like all of us, no amount of goodness causes one to be able to change the inevitable. No legacy makes men immortal. And as he has died on this previous week, may it serve as a reflection of the faith that awaits all of us, and may his example inspire us to do as best as we can ask ourselves to do while we stand on our two legs. For in the end, we will all be swallowed whole by the waters below, slowly cast into oblivion. May we remember him for as long as we can.
(Franco Morelio looks at the bodybag with a twitchiness to his eyes. As two sailors pick it up, he locks his gaze onto the flying, amorphous bag that once meant something to him. As the bag hit the water, and the splash rang across the oceans, he too felt he would be sunken into the floor.)