After class had ended the children made their way out of the classroom. However, Rosemary noticed Opal was slow packing up her books, almost as if there was something on her mind. "Opal? Are you okay?"
"Do you think Mrs Thornton got to say goodbye to Mountie Jack?"
"I know she did. Why do you ask?"
"Because I know she loved him, I think you always need to be able to say goodbye to the people you love."
"That's very true Opal."
"Do you get to say goodbye when you go to the funeral?" Rosemary nodded, "We will."
"But if you already said goodbye then why do you have to say it again? Why does he need a funeral? Funerals make everyone sad."
"They are an important way of remembering all the good things that a person has done."
"What if they were a really bad person?"
"Everyone does good things sometimes, and everyone has people who love them."
"What if someone never did something good? Would they still have a funeral?" Rosemary thought about it for a second, "well I suppose it would just be a very short one."
"Well in that case Mountie Jacks funeral is going to be very long. Because he was a very good man."
"One of the best," said Rosemary with a smile on her face. "Did you get a chance to say goodbye to Mountie Jack?"
"I did. As you said, we should always get a chance to say goodbye to the people we love the most."
Opal smiled as she put the last book into her bag. "Goodbye, Mrs Coulter" Rosemary smiled "Goodbye Opal" Rosemary watched Opal leave before turning to wipe the chalkboard with a sigh. Sometimes life just didn't seem fair. She flicked through one of the workbooks left on the desk, only a few of the questions had been answered. She didn't feel like she was cut out to be a teacher