Loved and Wanted
by Seth Rosenbloom
When bodies burn, they blister and hiss, and unlike summer bonfires, or camera-ready orange infernos, open pyres are squat and humble. The Burning Ghats descend into the dank slap of the current, as the flames recede into heat, bones and sandalwood wash into the river that flows, supposedly, from the source of everything.
I carried a man’s body to the Burning Ghats from The Home for the Dying Destitute. A place Mother Teresa renamed ‘The Home of the Pure Heart.’ For me and my patient, a Bengali man on cot number 11, there was little about our time together that made hearts pure. I washed him with a rag and pail. Changed his soiled gowns, tried to be attentive to his grunts and in the end, held his waxy hand as his breathing became shallow.
Two years earlier, my father’s body is at the morgue. A man from the Funeral Home climbs the steps of the house on Idaho Avenue. He carries a laminated price sheet and a set of carbon copy forms. He says that only he and his assistant witness the cremation. Dad’s naked body rests in a cardboard box. It is wheeled into a chamber called a retort. After the chamber cools, he and the assistant gather the fragments and ashes.
The police report says Dad left the car running. His body was found under the bridge that goes over the Rock Creek Parkway. The police report does not say how the mind first smolders, then erupts into a blaze. It is silent on what the drug company withheld about the first class of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. It makes no mention of fear. Fear of falling. Fear of dying. Fear of loving what we are unable to protect.
Mother Teresa said The Home of the Pure Heart was for people who lived like animals, so they may die like angels. Loved and wanted.
When the man from the Funeral Home leaves, he provides the goldenrod copy of the form. The authorizing signature from the original is illegible. But clearly printed at the bottom are the words Paid in Full.
About the Author:
Seth Rosenbloom is a writer, solo performer and management consultant. His theatrical work has appeared at On the Boards, Bumbershoot and on the Seattle Channel. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Main Street Rag, Evening Street Review and Tipton Poetry Journal. Seth holds a BA in Drama from the University of Washington and he lives in Seattle with his wife and son. Follow him on twitter: @sethrosenbloom
About Weekly Flash Prose and Poetry:
CutBank Online features one work of flash prose or prose poetry every Friday. Submissions are free and open year-round. Send us your best work of 750 words or less at https://cutbank.submittable.com/submit.