Seanfram Manor

XXIV

The manor stretched across seven hundred and fifty acres, it was surrounded by a curtain wall, it contained the Lord's House, the fields, the Main Market, the cottages, and one hundred and nineteen of its square yards constituted the manorial cemetery. Rains had encouraged the growth of shamrock and high grass, which gave the area a natural, lively aura and matched the flowers that were left at the graves, but hid the excrements of dogs. He would have to mow them soon.

Erbium stood in front of the austere tombstone of Dubnium, which read "Pardon me if I do not stand to greet you". Congregated denebians held a wake in his honor at the Wolframium Plaza, and it was disrupted by the chivalry forces. He was laid to rest in the Seanfram cemetery, as his body would be snatched or profaned if buried in denebian grounds. When the general retrieved the body of Evita, he noticed that the junta had cut off one of her fingers. It was precisely because of the risk of defiling that the manorial cemetery had a groundskeeper, Erbium, who was also in charge of digging the graves. Many of the poorest villeins were buried raw, in close proximity, to fit in the limited space. Only fifty-four graves had headstones. Some of them were so shallow that dogs could easily dig remains out. Once, a skull had appeared unearthed, too far from any plot to determine which grave it belonged to, so he shoveled out all of them until he found the one missing a part, he took the time to gaze at the skull he was about to return, Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him, Horatio, he did the same with the other skulls before covering them again, this one is Yorick, that one too is Yorick, the entire graveyard was populated by Yoricks who were his friends in the long periods of inactivity, in the unbroken concentration, in the still and silent, and he played with them, making them speak back, years ago he had stopped the joke and never again repeated it, in respect to the occupiers of the earth. At night, he would entertain himself by reading the names in the tombs, belonged to past generations of fellow villeins with the strangest names, Mendelevium, Einsteinium, Rutherfordium, Copernicium, Roentgenium, Darmstadtium, Ununtrium, Ununpentium, Ununseptium, Ununoctium, those were probably relatives, with the light of a torch. The name of Dubnium now among them felt bitter. It was an honor to have him in his cemetery, but it was a shame to have him before his time, and a bigger shame that the kingdom that killed him could not harbor him.

Two small dogs of different species ran up to him. They had short, thick hair, under the dirt they would probably be white, the smaller one looked like a Lhasa Apso, the bigger one was a mix, could be a Maltipoo, but she was taller and more slender than a regular specimen, he petted both, the short one barked at him impatiently, the tall one put her paws on his shins and stretched, both were ready to play, snarling energetically as they tried to bite his feet when he walked. He had them fetch a stick and tug at loose clothing, but he later shooed them, for the tall one started digging enthusiastically. They came back and begged for more play time. He kneeled and petted them with more warmth, thinking they could not be strays, that they had probably ran from the Main Market with stolen charcuterie and the master would retrieve them soon, he was letting the tall one softly bite his finger when the small one growled at her and both lunged at each other, fiercely biting and barking, he removed his hand immediately and angrily yelled at them to stop, they pawed and scratched at the vulnerable parts of the face, the amicable spirit had disappeared and the adrenaline heightened, he seized the tall one by the neck and separated her from the small one, who went silent and tried to approach him. Noticing that both were still tense and trying to growl, he waved at the small one for it to leave. The tall one went languid, so he embraced her, but she wriggled in his arms and jumped off. On the ground, she exchanged glances with the small one from afar. Erbium scratched his chin, his incipient beard was white, and looked at both creatures in disbelief. He was hesitant to be responsible for his new acquaintances before. Now, he did not want to know anything about them. He would just walk away in hopes of being left alone, he checked his soles for excrement, gave a few steps and saw the two walking by his side. It would take long to get rid of them, they would leave if they got hungry and he did not feed them, until then he would have to tolerate them. He cursed them out, knowing they would not understand. They seemed unbothered. In turn, he feared they had another brawl in them. The sky was dyed indigo. The episode had reminded him of the embarrassing fact that he would observe the combat bout that was about to take place.