I turn to the casket. "So I thank you, Father, for your final lesson. In showing me everything a leader shouldn't be, you helped me become the man I am. May you find peace knowing the Litvinov name will endure---not through fear, but through loyalty freely given. Not because of you, but in spite of you. Not with you, but without you---and we are all better for that. So let this be a sign: today, I put you behind me. I put you beneath me. And in whatever hell you end up in, whichever lowest circle of the f*****g afterlife will take you... I can only hope that God shows you the mercy that you never showed anyone else."
As my last word dies in the rafters, I step back from the podium. The crowd eyes me strangely---no surprise there.
What's surprising is how little I care.
Let them whisper.
