After lunch, consisting of more blue gill bream, the old man wandered to a special spot along the creek. As if he had long ago made this selection, which he had, he began to make an arbor of willow. This was to be his final resting place, at least the place he would accept death on his own terms. What happened after that, was of no concern of his, this was his choice, his measure of dignity in dying, not in some cold sterile nursing home where no one cared. When the arbor was complete to his satisfaction, he began to drag his coffin over to its final resting place. This was a difficult task, the coffin was heavier than he had suspected, or his strength had played out earlier than expected. Finally the task was complete, with a sigh of relief he trudged off to the camp site.

His bedroll he rolled up and tied. He picked it up, and the satchel and went to the area of the arbor. When there, he took the bed roll and spread it in the coffin as a liner. From his satchel he removed a suit of dress clothes, taking them with him as he went to the creek to bath. Showing no hurry, he seemed to enjoy the creek, its freshness, even its coldness. Ah! He thought to himself, the luxury of a bath after such a hard day, thank you Lord. After drying he put on the dress suit of clothes, including a tie and dress shoes. Picking up his other clothes he returned to the arbor, stuffed these into the satchel and placed it and its content at the head of his coffin.

One more pipeful of tobacco, wonderful aroma, and the night so quiet and peaceful. It was a good time to be alive the old man thought, a good night to go home. He patted his breast pocket, the letter was there in its plastic wrap, with a sigh, he got on his knees and looked up into the sky. The old man was silent for a long time, just looking into the sky. Then he began to pray out loud, “Dear Heavenly Father, this is Jerome. I will be coming home soon, but before I start that journey, I wanted to thank you for giving me a wonderful life. You gave me a wonderful wife in Betsy and you know it almost killed me when I lost her in that automobile accident, and Molly too. How I cried that night, losing the only love of my life, my beautiful Betsy. Lord, its hard on an old man to lose all he loved, my two boys in that war, my Betsy and my Molly in that accident. How I cried, like a baby. But Lord, I want you to know that I thank you, thank you for smiling on me all these years. I had a good family for a long time and they brought me great joy, thanks. A man could not have asked for a better wife in Betsy, thanks. I loved my three children and I think they loved this old man. So Lord, now you know how I really feel, how happy I have been with the life you gave me, and I am ready to come home. With a smile and gladness, I come home to you. Thank you Lord, Amen, amen.

He got up from his prayer, lay down in the coffin pulling the lid over him the best he could. From his breast pocket removed the plastic wrapped letter and placed it upon his chest. It was his wish that should he ever be found, whom ever found him would know this was his choice of how he wanted to have dignity in death. For them not to grieve for his poor coffin and unusual death, for he was going home, that”s all that counted. He closed his eyes now full of tears, he went home.