Burial at Sea

Photo by Joey Genovese on Unsplash

There is no easy digging on the island of my wife’s childhood. Inches below the topsoil it’s alluvial coral, bleached white and bouldery. You want a grave, even for a body reduced to five pounds of ashes, to be dark and easy. I could have buried the bodies in the backyard, hauled out a pickaxe and had at the ground, but it would have been a long, sweaty labor.