The Curious Life and Death of Don Fernando is a fable by Jack Rusher, published here Wednesday, January 16, 2008. It is part of Stories.
Farewell, Don Fernando.
Part One: Funeral
Midday quiet broken only by a church bell ringing in the distance. Ding-dong, ding-dong. Lazy but insistent under the hot sun.
A dog barks once, whines for a moment, barks again.
The bell stops.
Down the path from the church a man leads a donkey pulling a cart on which rests a simple unpainted coffin. The cart bounces on the cobbles, the coffin on the cart. Clop-clop, clop-clop.
A donkey featured on a set of cigarette cards used to teach children their ABCs. c. 1918.
Villagers flow from shadow to shadow the way a river meanders along its sunken path.
Man, donkey and coffin breach walls built to repel long-dead invaders; Charon crossing a dry river drawbridge. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, air full of arid inland sea sediment.
All along the road twisted trees beg for rain with outstretched branches, still-cursed serpents slither beneath rocks, and Don Fernando rots in a wooden box.