Seen on a gravestone.

Adhuc Vivo!

(It’s Latin, look it up)

Yes, the parentheses were on the gravestone too. – RecklessPrudence

(#00307)

[AN: For those too lazy to do as the parentheses suggest, it translates out to “Thus far, alive.” which is a very ironic thing to stick on a gravestone]

It was a long trip home, and lead naturally to introspection.

“Plant a tree and think of me,” Rael recited. “Did you choose that epitaph?”

“I wrote it. In one o’ me diaries.”

“Pretty glum business for a teenager…”

“Aye, I know. Awareness o’ mortality is part of grown’ up. I was thinkin’ of how it’s a waste of time and effort to carve a ruddy great hunk of rock when the world needs all the trees it can get. Besides, there’s been worse epitaphs.”

“Oh?”

“Aye,” she started counting on her fingers, “I told ye I was sick, Who’s sorry now? An’ there’s some right cute ones. LIke; Here lies the body of Adrian Peas, Under the meadow, Under the seas, Peas is not here, Only the pod, Peas shelled out an’ went home tae God.”

“Twee,” judged Rael. “Trees are a better idea. If someone carves something horrible in them, it just gets overgrown.”

“I never wanted tae be nailed down t’ a name and two dates. It’s bluidy depressin’.”

“But… you’re not there to be depressed.”

“There’s one that nearly made the grade, though,” said Shayde, nimbly avoiding the argument, “Adhuc Vivo. Followed by brackets, It’s Latin, look it up.”

Rael’s lips moved. “Thus far, alive?”

“Could boil down tae ‘so far so good’ - sort of,” Shayde grinned. “Life goes on, ra lala how the life goes on.” She giggled at a joke nobody else could get. “Those reading’ it are still alive. They’ve got proof. An’ ideally, they should go do somethin’ with it.”

“Like, bungee jumping?” teased Rael.

“Up tae them,” Shayde shrugged. “Never saw th’ point of extreme sports meself. But then, I’ve been a pedestrian in New York.”

Rael was suddenly glad the things in Shayde’s past were five hundred years ago. History was at its best when it was a long time away.

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