David: Leo, let go of the handle right now before you fall into the pit!
Leo: I won't let go! Uncle David, you have to listen to me!
Evelyn: David, he’s traumatized. The poor child lost his grandfather and doesn't know what he's saying. Officers, please help my husband get him off the casket!
Two uniformed cemetery security officers stepped forward, but the boy wrapped his legs around the brass side railing of the casket, clinging with all his strength.
Leo: I’m not crazy! I saw her in the kitchen the night Grandpa got sick!
David: What are you talking about, Leo? Which night?
Leo: The night before he stopped breathing! I came downstairs to get a glass of juice because I had a nightmare.
Evelyn: This is ridiculous. David, we are delaying the entire burial service for a confused child’s imagination.
David: Let him speak, Evelyn. Leo, what did you see?
Leo: Aunt Evelyn was standing by Grandpa’s teacup. She had a small glass bottle with a blue cap. She poured clear drops into his tea!
Evelyn: That is an absolute lie! I was pouring his prescribed heart drops!
Leo: No! You hid the bottle in the bottom of the potted plant on the back porch right after! I watched you from behind the refrigerator!
David froze, his gaze shifting slowly from his trembling nephew to his wife. Evelyn’s face drained of color, her tears instantly drying as her posture stiffened.
David: Evelyn... you told me you were in upstairs bed all that evening.
Evelyn: He’s confused, David! A child’s memory is easily distorted by grief! Why would you listen to a seven-year-old over your own wife?
Leo: Please, Uncle David! Open the box! Grandpa isn't dead, I heard knocking inside the truck when they brought him here!
David: What did you just say?
Leo: I hid in the back of the hearse at the funeral home! When the car stopped at the red light, I heard three loud thumps from inside the box!
Evelyn: He’s making up stories! The coroner signed the death certificate! The doctor verified cardiac arrest!
David: The coroner was chosen by your family’s private medical firm, wasn't he?
Evelyn: How dare you accuse me like this at your father’s final resting place!
Leo: PLEASE OPEN IT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
The crowd of family members and business colleagues began to whisper loudly among themselves. The estate attorney stepped closer, looking uncomfortably at his legal briefcase.
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