How to die a beautiful death
By: Paulo L.P.
Chapter I:
Ext: E.Rodriguez, Quezon City
Int: Saint Luke’s Hospital
BGM: Pouring rain and strong winds
Time: Night, 7:30
Ever wonder what’s death? Where would you go after dying? Or simply what’s the logic behind giving flowers to someone you visit in the hospital? I mean, how did we ever got accustomed with this strange tradition? Perhaps giving flowers is just a gesture of empathy or if you put logic into it, maybe it’s just a simple present to make the room feels healthier.
The strange thing with customs is that, sometimes we forget where these strange customs came from, and how important these customs are.
It was 7:30 pm and the traffic jam was barley moving at all. The mid September rains poured heavily outside Saint Luke’s Hospital; the wind was cold and the breeze sounded like different whistles blowing from everywhere.
Inside room 314, Mary Lou Javier, age 91 is staring aimlessly on the plain white sealing of the hospital, lying weakly in her bed. Different monitoring machines attached to her were beeping different sounds that made the room feels eerie. Get well balloons and cards from close friends and relatives who visited, was scattered around the small hospital room.
Mary Lou wears a blank face not showing pain or grin, she doesn’t want to make her family worry about her, specially her only granddaughter that is sitting right beside her. But her family knows that she’s in a lot pain, just by listening to her every breath, deep pauses for every 5 seconds, and a random cough that made her granddaughter suffer in pity for her sick grandmother.
Mary Lou was diagnosed with multiple complications, not uncommon for her age, but primarily she was suffering from pulmonary edema (water in lungs) due to her weak heart condition. Mary Lou was already weak; her doctors said that she was already in a critical condition considering her age and other multiple complications like pneumonia and high blood pressure; she’ll need a miracle to recover.
Generally, Mary Lou Javier was a strong woman; she fought her way out of poverty when she was still a young girl. She’s a fighter in any situation, only this time, her body was the one who is quitting out on her.
Mary Lou’s family were sitting together on an old sofa, praying the rosary, facing the old crucifix that was hanging on the right corner of the room; everyone was silent, everyone was remorsefully asking for a miracle to happen, all of them seemed like they have given up hope already, except Mary Lou’s beloved granddaughter Jenica, who was holding her grandmothers’ hand tightly as she prays silently for her grandmothers’ health.
Jenica Javier, 18 years old, is a college student studying tourism in Ateneo de Manila University; she has a fair complexion, a wavy black hair that she would always ties-up, a natural pink lips and a beautiful Spanish eyes that would be impossible to ignore. Jenica is a pure Filipina, but her radiant Spanish beauty screams out her great grandfather’s Spanish roots; she is very simplistic and has a great personality; she is smart, cheerful but a little clumsy sometimes.
Mary Lou was living with them ever since her late husband died from a gunshot; he was a soldier who fought on the southern part of the country fighting against the rebel army in the Philippines.
Jenica doesn’t remember much about her grandfather, although sometimes when her grandmother is feeling nostalgic, she would listen to her grandmother talk for hours on how did Mary Lou and her late husband met, Jenica loved the story so much that she has already develop a notion of love at an early age.
Jenica and Mary Lou were very close; in fact Jenica calls her grandmother “nana”. Her grandmother was always there for her, sharing secrets with each other and always telling Jenica stories when she’s about to go to sleep, Jenica was spoiled by her grandmother. Every time Jenica is being scolded by her mother, she would run straight for her Nana; Mary Lou was the only grandparent Jenica ever knew.
The old lady was in a lot of pain, she already knew that her end was approaching; she can feel her-self slipping away little by little, but she was still acting though for her granddaughter who was standing beside her.
Mary Lou looked straight at Janica’s eyes; her right hand was giving Jenica a gesture that she wanted to say something to her. Slowly, Jenica moves closer to her suffering grandmother.
The old lady pulled up all her strength just to speak with her beloved granddaughter. She softly caresses Jenica’s lovely face, and speaks calmly, “I’m sorry sweetie for making you worry so much.” Mary Lou was interrupted by her coughing.
“Nana please… Save your strength, you’ll need it to get stronger” Jenica was summoning all her strength to stop herself from crying.
Mary Lou smiles and replied “sweetie, do you remember the stories I told you about angels when you were still little?”
“Of course Nana…” replied Jenica with a warm smile, “How could I ever forget your bed time stories?”
Mary Lou laughs softly from Jenica’s reply. She then continues talking. “Sweetie, I see a young man standing close to me right now… He looked very kind; I believe he is just about your age.”
Jenica was somewhat puzzled by what her grandmother said. Jenica thought that her poor grandmother might be delusional from all the medicines that she was taking; Jenica is standing right beside her grandmother and she couldn’t see anyone near her.
“He said that it was time… I believe that… he is an angel sweetie, like the ones from my stories” the old lady whispered.
“Don’t say that Nana, please… You’ll get better, so please hang in there…” Jenica’s voice was already cracking out. Her eyes were already filled with tears. She knew that her grandmother is already saying her goodbyes to her.
Jenica heard stories about dying people who says that they see other people who weren’t really there, or seeing dead relatives that were picking them up. Jenica thought that this was the same thing that is happening to her grandmother.
Jenica holds her grandmothers hands tightly; with this gesture, she hopes that her grandmother could realize how much she cares for her.
The old lady spoke with a calm voice. “I’m very blessed to have a granddaughter like you sweetie; please take care of your brother for me, always listen to your mom and dad, and always remember that I always, always love you”
Jenica can’t find the words to say for her dying grandmother. She didn’t realize that tears were already pouring down her face, her hands were trembling uncontrollably, and breathing suddenly becomes so hard. Jenica’s mind was still in control of her consciousness, but her emotions were in control of her body, Jenica was already weak and helpless as she burst into tears.
Jenica suddenly heard a sound that broke her heart into pieces; she felt that a part of her universe crumbled in an instant… A long beeping sound came from a machine that was attached to her grandmother. All hopes crumbled that night…
Suddenly she felt a warm tight hug coming from behind, and when she turns around, it was her mother hugging her, Jenica’s mother Hilda was also crying. Jenica suddenly realize that everyone was already aware of what has happened; that Mary Lou, a person so dear to them, had already left them.
Mary Lou Javier was declared dead on September 7, 2012 at 8:14 pm on Saint Luke’s Hospital room 314.
Chapter II:
Ext: Plaza Noli, Espaňa Manila
Int: Jenica’s House
BGM: people talking
Time: Night, 6:30pm
A year later
Jenica was running back and forth from the kitchen to their living room, she was busy preparing the foods for their guests. She was already exhausted. After going to school, her mom made her run errands for her, asking Jenica to buy some groceries, go to the market, and help her father with the cooking. Jenica didn’t mind at all, after all, she knew that it was all for her late grandmother’s first death anniversary. Jenica was a little upset because she knew that her big brother was not as busy as the rest of them. He had it easy by just accommodating their guests.
Jenica’s older brother, Justin, is 21 years of age, he looks like the typical boy next door, but a little immature for his age; his height is 5’11 foot and has an athletic body built. He has a fair complexion and a mixture of a punk and emo image, He wanted to be viewed as a rebellious trouble maker; even though he is really a kind hearted guy.
Jenica and Justin always fight for no reason. Justin has an unusual habit of pissing Jenica off just for fun. They attended the same high school together and he’s also currently studying in Ateneo de Manila for a course in architecture.
Many of their friends think that Jenica and Justin are rich just because they are both studying in Ateneo de Manila, a prestigious school in Katipunan Quezon City with a tuition fee that burns cash quicker than gasoline; but actually, their tuition fee came from an education plan their parents invested years ago; allowing them to choose any school they wanted.
It has been their daily routine to quarrel over something since they were still little, but on the other side of the coin, Justin is a very good brother to Jenica, he’s always thoughtful and protective to Jenica without even Jenica noticing it.
The picture of Mary Lou was displayed on top of a small wooden desk that was covered with white table cloth, matching with a red runner; two candles are placed on both sides of Mary Lou’s portrait and a lovely violet orchid that was placed behind the old silver picture frame (which Hilda picked earlier from her garden).
The small altar to commemorate Mary Lou was set in the middle of their living room. The atmosphere in the Javier’s living room was very homely, the guests which was basically composed of few relatives, where sitting anywhere they can. The living room is small, but it is always clean.
Generally the whole house is kind of old. Hilda inherited it from her parents, being the only daughter. Old portraits hang in almost every wall, old furniture like glass cabinet, tables and chairs are built from Narra trees (which is sold at a very high value now a days).
Their house is a small two story building. It is a mixture of wood and concrete which was very popular back in the 70’s. The design is old but it is well preserved. Hilda has no plan of renovating the house; after all, it was the house she grew-up with, the house was quite sentimental for her.
Hilda now 43 years old, is still beautiful and fit, she looks really good with her short black hair-style in which many people compliments her; she is a very understanding mother who loves her family dearly. She is the disciplinarian in the family. She can be impatient at times and be quite the nagger, especially when it comes to Justin, despite of some short comings; she is a very reasonable mother. Hilda is a mature woman who takes pride of her profession. She is an accountant, working at a private accounting firm whose forte is in auditing. Many have tried courting her back in the days for her simplistic charms but she refused them all. It was after college when she met her first and last boyfriend. Hilda was married to charismatic business man named Raul Javier.
After their guest left, there is still much to do. They still need to deal with the aftermath of the reunion. They don’t have any house maids, so they are obligated to do the chores themselves.
The Javier family is financially stable, they are not rich, nor they are poor, even thou they could afford a house maid, Raul and Hilda have decided not to get any. They wanted to teach their children to be responsible.
In their kitchen, Jenica and Justin are fighting over who should clean the dishes.
Jenica was insisting that Justin should be the one to clean the dishes since all he ever did through-out the gathering was to accommodate their guests.
“You clean the dishes! After all, you’ve had it easy, all you’ve ever did was talk with the guest!” Jenica protested in anger while she was holding a broom.
Justin hates washing the dishes more than anything, so he was defending himself convincingly, “do you have any idea what I have to bare in there?! I have to talk to old people about politics and old actors I don’t even know about! You wouldn’t even survive in there for five seconds!”
“Well it’s a lot easier than what I did!” Jenica was already yelling.
The siblings were yet again fighting with each other from something very insignificant. Their father over heard their quarrel and decided to stop the fight immediately.
Raul Javier is 47 years old. He owns a small family restaurant along Quezon Avenue called “lobster corner”. Raul is often seen wearing polo shirts; he believes that it’s the perfect combination of comfort and style. He has a fair complexion, brown eyes, and a big tummy. He always says that he will find time to jog, but eventually, it never did happened.
His height is about 5’6 feet; He also has a rugged type beard which made him look very fatherly. Raul is an honest businessman, he has a devoted passion for cooking, that’s why most of his costumers always come back for more, and they all feel Raul’s enthusiasm through his cooking. Raul is very friendly towards his costumers, when he’s done cooking, he would always be seen mingling with his costumers accommodating them in any way he can, Raul strongly believes that “business is built-up from relationships”. As a father, Raul is very approachable; he always makes time for her family no matter how busy his day was. He is seldom to get angry but when he does, everyone acknowledges his authority without even blinking.
With just a single raise of an eye brow, both of them stopped immediately and compromised to help each other wash the dishes evenly. Although Jenica was still feeling a bit cheated, but she just decided to let it go, after all it was all for her grandmothers 1st death anniversary.
After Jenica finished cleaning up, she went directly to bed. Jenica’s bedroom looked like any stereotypical teenage girls bedroom. There are a lot of cute and fuzzy stuff toys that are scattered everywhere, a small studying desk that used to belong to her mother, a light lamp that her father bought from IKEA, a messy white cabinet that she always forgets to clean, and a small bed that was with her since she was 5 years old. All of her stuffs are full of memories, some are good and some are harsh, but in the end of the day, those where the memories that made her who she is today.
Before going to sleep, Jenica prayed like she always does before sleeping. Jenica was sitting cross legged as she makes the sign of the cross. She was murmuring her prayers, asking God for the well being of her family, for her upcoming exam and for the soul of her dear grandmother. After praying, she dimed the lights and she went directly to sleep. Jenica doesn’t like to sleep without any lights, even though she was already nineteen, she’s still afraid of the dark.
Inside Jenica’s room, a man and a woman was standing beside her bed, the two of them was talking about Jenica, while she was in a deep sleep.
The man spoke softly. “So, she will be my next assignment?” the man asked the woman next to him.
The woman talked back. “Yap. Go get her tiger.”
The woman suddenly left the man and disappeared into thin air. The man was watching Jenica closely, examining her; after a few minutes, the man slowly moves near Jenica’s window as he stares at the stars… the man looked troubled like a wonderer who was lost; after a short while, the man decided to leave, and with a blink of an eye, he was gone like the woman that was with him.
CHAPTER III
Ext: Valley of Death
Int: Inside Thanatos Mansion
Time: day, unknown time
The unknown man and woman from Jenica’s bedroom was talking as they were walking inside a huge hall.
“Hurry up kali! We wouldn’t want to be late in our meeting!” the man was walking in a hurry.
“Yeah, yeah… hold your horses!” the woman replied.
The man’s name is Azrael, a reaper. Reapers are angels that serve “Death”. Some people call them the angels of death; in the Old testaments they are called “Memitims”. Like other angels, they are immortal beings that can’t be seen by the human eyes unless they wanted to be seen; in popular cultures, they have often been portrayed as black winged angels carrying a scythe. Reapers are neutral beings, they aren’t good nor they are evil, God has created them for one purpose only, and that is to collect the soul of any individual whose time has come.
There are thousands of babies being born every day, and thousands of deaths also occur. Our Universe has a web of rules, and these rules cannot be changed by anyone except God.
One of the most important rules is that “in order to create life, one should also be taken away.” This rule applies to everything and to anyone. Destiny is the one who decides who should be brought to life and whose life should be taken.
Although Azreal looks like he is in his 20’s, he has been a Reaper since the beginning of time, in fact all angels looks like in their early 20’s; the fact that they are immortal beings, the age range of 20 to 30 has been the ideal age when a man is at his prime.
Azreal’s height is only 5’9 feet but he looks tall due to his broad shoulders; his hair is wavy black like the stereotypical angles hair style artist portrayed in their paintings; his skin tone is fair and captures an angelic radiance that reflects light as it bounces to his skin. The most noticeable feature of Azreal is his deep black almond eyes that resonates a melancholic feeling when you look straight at it.
All the Reapers wears exactly the same, for the male reapers they all wear black formal suit, black neck tie and black coat; likewise the female reapers also wears black formal suit and black skirt. The Reaper society runs like a corporation, even their suits are updated; angels like to cope with the humans in their current fashion.
Azrael has witnessed the history of mankind through his own eyes. He has seen the rise and fall of the world’s strongest empires, he has met many kings, heroes and every great minds that changed the faith of humanity; he loves the world so much that he spends all of his time roaming anywhere the wind took him; but Azrael is nothing more than an invisible specter, he is incapable of experiencing and living the beauty of life. Azrael feels that even though he is a part of this world, he is incapable of making even the slightest dent to be recognized as a part of this world.
Kali on the other hand, enjoys being a reaper; in fact, the Hindu’s worships her as a death God in their religion. Kali and Azrael have been friends for many millenniums but they have different view on how the world runs.
Kali looks like a supermodel; she is even taller than Azrael by three inches; her curves are perfect in every portion. Kali’s tan complexion compliments her small face very well, long natural eye lashes and a soft gentle lips that is pink as a ripe strawberry. Kali’s dark hair is very long and wavy. Most of the humans that saw her awe in her beauty; most of the painting and sculptures that depict the modern notion of beauty were inspired by her and by the other angels.
Azrael and Kali are running late for their weekly report. Their big boss Samael (commonly known as “the Grim Reaper”) has implemented that all reapers should give a full report of their weekly reaping to maintain organization.
Samael is a very organized individual, he have been running the “Reaping business” since the creation of mankind. Samel had been assigned by God so that no mortal can ever cheat death.
Azrael and Kali finally arrived at the entrance of the conference room where the meeting is being held. Azrael took a deep breath before opening an old huge iron door that is sculptured with thousands of human faces. The door was a little bit heavy as it made a creaking sound while Azrael opens it.
Flock of noises from thousands of reapers greeted them as they enter the enormous room. The scene is like a huge class room without the presence of the professor, each reaper where make a casual chit-chat with everyone, no one even noticed Azrael and Kali’s arrival.
The room is filled with gothic theme; warm light illuminates the entire room like a late afternoon ambiance; thousands of sculptures surrounds the conference room, each sculptures are holding candles that adds light to the room; all the tables and chairs looks medieval, and in front of the room was a huge podium made of gravel.
Azrael and Kali decided to sit near the exit were they join old acquaintances, Felicity and Andamond.
Felicity greeted Azrael and Kali casually, while Andamond stayed silent as if they were never there. Despite Andamond rather snob approach, all of them know that Andamond is a good and very caring friend despite his silent nature. Andamond is a tall man with a big body built; he was even compared to Samson from the Old testaments. His facial figure is very masculine and well defined, his long blond hair which he always ties up matches his rigid beard adds manliness in his image; His silent nature makes him very mysterious even for a reaper.
Felicity on the other hand is very talkative. She loves to talk about anything under the sun; despite her verbal compulsiveness, she is very knowledgeable and she considers herself as an intellectual. Felicity was present in all of Socrates and Plato’s discussions. She watches the life of Copernicus to Galileo with her own eyes like a house wife watches her favorite prime time series in her television. She was watching Nicolai Tesla’s progress, up to Tomas Edison’s light bulb from the shadows, she have witnessed every failure and success of the Wright brothers; She adores all the great minds that contributed their ideas and innovations. Felicity is the perfect example of beauty and brains. She has a small face, slender body and a pale complexion that complements her red cherry lips beautifully. She always have trouble fixing her long chestnut hair that always get tangled with her geeky eye glasses.
Kali and Felicity was chit-chatting about the current human fashion tread; moments later a small figure approached the podium, as soon as everyone saw what’s happening, the entire room was dead silent.
The man standing in front of the podium suddenly broke the silence.
“Okay everyone, let’s get this over with so that we can return to our own business.” The man spoke clear as everyone inside the room treated the person in front of them with a high degree of respect. The person who was speaking was none other than boss of all the Reapers, “The Grim Reaper”.
Although in the popular cultures, the Grim Reaper has always been portrayed as a skeletal hooded figure that brings instant death from just a single sight; Samael looks nothing like it. The modern image of the grim reaper has been confused with the image of Charon, the boatman of the river of Styx from homer’s epic of Greek mythology. The real image of “Death” has a more gentle nature, in fact, it’s too gentle. Samael’s image is of a young boy, he looks like a 8 year old kid whose face is always serious. Unlike in the popular culture where death always wears black, Samael suit is pure white with a silver neck tie; He always carries a black crystal ball with a size of a baseball, where “Faith” tells him whose soul to rip. Samael always means business.
Samael starts started the meeting by reminding every reaper of their current assignments. Samael starts to distribute the profile of every individual that needs to be “taken” to their assigned reapers. Swarms of black crows gather above Samael, each crow was carrying a piece of paper that contains the complete profile of the people whom faith had chosen. The crows distributed each paper to their respected reapers.
Kali received an order to take the soul of Martin Webber, a 70 year old American who has live his life to the fullest.
Felicity’s new assignment is a harder than Kali’s assignment, she was assigned to take the soul of a 12 year old girl who suffered her whole life from leukemia; never the less, Felicity has been doing this job since the beginning of time, she was already used to do her job professionally, although cases like this bothers her some times, she is well aware that the consequences of not delivering this job properly would lead to the destruction of the mankind.
Like always Andamond silently reads his assignment, not showing any signs of emotion as he carefully put the piece of paper in his brief case.
When Azrael received the data of his new assignment, he already knew who the girl was. It was Jenica Javier. In the Information, he was require to take Jenica’s soul before the 3rd full moon, so he still have 3 months before the deadline.
CHATER IV:
Ext: San Juan, Manila
Interior: inside a big Mansion
BGM: none
Time: around 3:00 pm
Don Roberto Falcon was enjoying his Afternoon tea inside his huge study room; the floor is made from oak trees imported from Canada, he have a mini library that is full of expensive books, a fire place filled with trophies and awards, a carpet that is authentically made from a bears fur and a smell of peppermint and tobacco lingers the whole room. Behind his desk was a huge window that shows a view of his wide well maintained garden. He asks one of his maids though his answering machine to bring him some lemons for his tea. He was looking at an old picture of his late wife that he took from his wallet. Don Roberto’s face was full of nostalgia as he tries to remember his glorious days as a business tycoon, fighting all the odds with the help of his loving and supportive wife. He runs his old trebling fingers thought his late wife’s picture as he recalls all of the sweet memories that her beloved wife left him.
After a short while, he heard the doorbell rang.
“Come in!” Don Roberto shouted.
One of his maids was carrying sliced lemons on a shining silver plate. The maid served the sliced lemons to Don Roberto without giving any eye contact to her master. The maid left the room after serving the lemons.
Don Roberto’s mood was ruined. He took a piece of sliced lemon and squished it on his tea. Suddenly, he heard an ominous voice echoing around the room.
“Robert… Your time has finally come!”
Don Roberto’s face was a little annoyed as he shouted back.
“Your timing couldn’t be any worse you little prick!”
The ominous voice was laughing hard as he heard Don Roberto’s reply.
Don Roberto turned to face the chair near the fireplace.
“That joke is running a little too old, don’t you think?”
Azrael was seating there as he was try to stop himself from laughing.
“Sorry bob, I just couldn’t help but to remember the first time I’ve pulled that joke on you, your face was priceless” Azrael burst in laughter once again.
Don Roberto was getting irritated. “For a man a million times older than me, you’d expect to get a more mature conversation…” Don Roberto replied.
Azrael finally stoped laughing as he tries to fix his suit.
Don Roberto asked Azrael casually “so how’s life and death lately?”
“Well, you know usual drill… enough about me, how’s your business empire?”
Don Roberto took a deep sight… “It’s a little ironic that my business is going very well but I don’t have anyone to leave my wealth to.” Don Roberto said to Azrael in a serious manner,
Azrael noticed that Don Roberto was feeling under the weather, so he quickly change the topic.
Don Roberto 72 years old; is a wealthy business tycoon, he owns the majority shares of symbiosis corp. the top pharmaceutical company in the Philippines that he himself founded. Don Roberto built himself from rags to riches. He was a son of a farmer from the small province of Albay in the Philippines. He was an only child. As a kid, he was already helping his mother and father with hard labor in the farm. His father died when he was 15 years old. That was the turning point of his life.
Don Roberto was eager to make something out of him. He vowed that he would give his mother a better life. Don Roberto never experienced a normal childhood; He would always wake up at 3:00 in the morning, preparing their daily harvest so they can sell it in the public market, at 7:00 he would go directly to school wearing the same pair of uniform he wore every day, after his afternoon class, he would go straight to the public market and help his mother by selling their harvested goods. Never did Roberto ever pitied himself even once, he was a strong determined individual who’s mind is already set and is ready to take on the world. Roberto was someone who was born poor, but poorness was never born within him…
On the summer of 1958 at the age of 16, he bravely traveled alone to Manila (Philippines capital city) believing that thousands of opportunities were waiting for him in the most urbanized area in the Philippines. The only weapon Don Roberto was carrying that time was his high school diploma from an unknown school in the province; with all this uncertainties, Don Roberto’s knees never once weakened.
Although it was hard for him to have left his mother in the province, he knew that he needs to take this leap of faith for the sake of his dreams, for his ambitions and for his mother.
As a boy who lived his entire life in the province, he was overwhelmed by the big city. It was an instant culture shock for him. Everywhere he looked busy people trying their best chasing their future that they neglect to recognize their present. They exacerbate their lives by trying to live a lifestyle base on a culture where the media dictates what is good and what is not; what’s worth spending your money and what’s people to admire. The young Don Roberto understood clearly that he was not in the Province anymore, he needs to adopt with his surroundings quickly in order to survive, as the saying goes: “when in Rome, do what the Romans do.”; but he won’t let the big city swallow him completely.
Don Roberto started working at a small pharmacy in Quiapo Manila near Quiapo Church. He was hired by an old Chinese businessman; Mr. Chua. Don Roberto always work hard in the pharmacy, even after his shift, he would still check the store from time to time. Don Roberto treated the store like his own. Not long did his boss, Mr. Chua take notice of Don Roberto’s dedication. The Old man took a liking on Don Roberto; Mr. Chua had been secretly training Don Roberto to be his successor, he had even gave Don Roberto a place to stay near the small store.
Mr. Chua and his wife never did have any children, at that time they don’t have any way of finding out where the fault lies (unlike now a days). Mr. Chua’s wife was 5 years younger than him. She was a sweet old lady who was strict in following Chinese traditions and can only speak Chinese. Mr. Chua and his wife’s marriage were arranged by their parents without their knowledge and consent; as the years past, the couple naturally learned to love each other, they were both faithful and committed to their relationship, and as the years past their bond becomes stronger and stronger. Sadly, they were never blessed to bare children.