ASSIGNMENTS:
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Rachel DeTrinis
New Orleans, Louisiana USA
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REPORTS:
PREVIOUS NEXT
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I hope that when I die my family and loved ones would decide to cremate me. I hope that a party, located in any house in the uptown area of New Orleans, would be planned and everyone free that day would attend with walking shoes on. I hope that a jazz band would arrive, and stand in the front yard, staggering from side-to-side, smoking cigarettes, and talking low. I hope that the people at the party would be so busy in conversation, food, and drink; they would not even remember to watch for the musicians. Someone would finally look out the window, hopefully a gentlemen impressing a lady with his hot-rod vehicle, parked on the curb, or an older woman checking for rain, and they would shout, "Everybody out, it's time to start."
The procession would begin, people stepping in unison from left-to-right, slowly they would move towards the French Quarter, with the destination already in mind. It would be late afternoon, when they begin and beads of sweat will fall to the cement, forgotten. The music will drone and sweat will become tears, some of my closest will not be able to move without another beer to wash this moment down. They will say, "It's too much." The head of the band will notice the people falling out and he will direct a faster beat. The citizens of New Orleans will begin to file out of their houses, and join. My family and friends will start to smile again. Singles will become couples, and enemies-friends, the river close, the sun beginning to lower. I hope that by the time the crowd reaches the Mississippi, it would be three times its original size. People will begin to wonder what they are doing there in the first place. The sun fully sets something beautiful behind the St. Louis Cathedral; the music stops.
My best friend moves to the firework that is set into the rocks and pointed out over the big river, she will attach my ashes with a heavy breath and shaky hand; someone will offer her a lighter. One-two-three, the firework screams through the air, everyone can hear the loud boom before they see the little sparkling lights. A weeping willow soon presents itself, falling into the water, the people smile. The sunset is so pink, they wonder if it looks like this everyday, they decide the next destination, and I hope they all can go.
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