Lily
Dig, lift, toss. Dig, lift, toss. My hands gripped the handle of the shovel as I dug a hole in the ground, the pile of dirt beside me getting bigger and bigger as I did so. It was midwinter, my breath fogged the air, and icicles hung from my nose. Dig, lift, toss. Words repeated in my head like a mantra as I carried on digging. Dig, lift, toss. My reputation would be ruined if anyone found out what I was doing. No respectable woman goes out in the middle of the night digging up graves no matter how desperate she is. But what choice did I have? I had to feed my child somehow. Ever since my husband left, I could barely even afford the necessities. Tears threatened to spill as I continued digging. Dig, lift, toss. Him leaving had been a shock. He had always been good to me, making me laugh and constantly giving me gifts and flowers. Even after we married, he still gave me flowers, lilies in particular.
"A sign of our everlasting love," he used to say.
No matter how hurt I felt by my husband abandoning me, him leaving me lilies would always remain a fond memory in my heart.
"What are you doing?" asked a curious voice from behind me, startling me out of my thoughts.
I whirled around, holding the shovel before me as a weapon. A sharply dressed man stood there staring at me.
"You know that's a grave right? He asked.
I turned back around feeling strangely calm and continued digging. Dig, lift, toss.
"It's rude to disturb the dead," the man continued speaking. "Especially if you are just going to rob them."
I kept digging.
"What would people say? What would your parents say? What would your husband say?"
I stopped.
"He would say oh how far you've fallen, to rob the dead, to break apart so easily, you are better than that, my dear," the man continued. "Don't do this, he'd say. Just put the dirt back, and walk away."
Tears streamed silently down my face. He was right, I should just put the dirt back and walk away. So I did. I wiped my eyes with a handkerchief, composed myself, and started to toss the dirt back into the hole. Lift and toss. Lift and toss. After the last bit of dirt was back in its place, I placed a single lily, a sign of our everlasting love, on the grave and walked away.
As I walked out of the cemetery, I turned around one last time and saw the man standing on my dead husband's grave holding the lily and mouthing something at me. Deep down in my heart, I knew that he was saying goodbye, that I would never see him again.