“Listen to me, old man,” said Jared, standing. “We didn’t pay all that money to resurrect you so you could talk to us like this. You can’t call us idiots and punish us like when we were kids. Things are different now.”
“You sound like Jane,” said Dominic. He swilled more wine. “And what did you expect? That the holy light of heaven would render me less of an ornery badger? You kids are all still the same, so where does that leave me?”
“You didn’t go to heaven,” said Jared.
“Jared, stop. Don’t,” said David.
Dominic replied, “He’s telling his truth, isn’t he? It’s how he really feels. I can see it. I can taste the anger. Just sound and fury, a whole lot of nothing. I’ve faced far worse than you, Jared. You’re mad you paid so much for me to be reanimated and I’m not thanking you oh-so-kindly. You’re mad I hit you with the hard truth. It’s about time we had some truth around here. Fine day for it. Here’s another: You’re mad you didn’t get any of my money.
“But this family can be made whole yet. First we have to purge the rage, get the truth out there. A sad time weighs on us, but we can love each other like we should. A broken bone stitches itself together stronger than before.”
Jared—panting, seething—asked, “If we’re having so much truth, why don’t you tell me why you didn’t leave me anything?”
“All right, I will, though I think you won’t like it.”
“I already got shut out of my father’s final legal act, and I became a lawyer because of him. What could possibly be worse?”
“I wasn’t sure you’d resurrect me, being as ungrateful as you are,” said Dominic. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to return to you. I killed myself, I’ll admit it, because there was nothing left for in this family. No future. My eldest children spiteful and thankless, my youngest disappointing, my wife turned fat and ugly giving birth to them. Resentful, every one of us. Can you even begin to understand the hopelessness of a father who feels that way? It’s crushing. It’s unbearable. I had failed at raising a family. So I gave myself a rather sharp snake bite in the heart.”
Love the references to Lear and Hamlet.