Theo adjusted the microphone.
“Okay,” he said. He sniffed. “So. I actually wrote a real eulogy.”
He held up a stack of papers.
“Seven pages.”
From the back of the chapel, one of Jack’s friends called out, “Seriously, Theo?”
Theo laughed.
“Exactly,” he said. “Jack would’ve started complaining before I finished page one.”
He set the seven pages down on the edge of the podium.
“So I’m not reading them.”
Instead, he just started telling stories.
He told everybody about the summer they were twelve, when they broke our garage window with a hockey puck. They spent four hours in Jack’s room coming up with excuses. Then they decided to blame a bird.
When Daniel came home and asked what happened, Jack looked him dead in the eye and said a bird did it.
Daniel asked what kind of bird could possibly throw a hockey puck through a window.
And Jack said, “A very strong one.”
The whole chapel laughed. Even Daniel. Especially Daniel.
Theo told us how Jack made up his own Monopoly rules. And insisted it was impossible to cheat at Monopoly because “the bank has insurance.”
He told us about the first week of ninth grade at Worthington High.
How Theo got so overwhelmed by the crowds and the noise that he had a panic attack and locked himself in a bathroom stall during third period.
And how Jack found him there. And sat down on the floor right outside the stall door. And pretended they were skipping class together on purpose. For forty-five minutes. Talking about nothing. About monster movies. About Burkina Faso.
Until Theo felt ready to come out.
“He never told anybody,” Theo said. “Not one person. He just made it look like we were cool rebels who skipped chemistry.”
Then Theo’s face changed. It went softer.
“When Jack got sick,” he said, “everybody started telling him how brave he was.”
He paused.
“And honestly? He hated that.”
I smiled through my tears. I remembered.
“He said cancer wasn’t something he chose,” Theo said. “It was just something that was happening to him. He said that’s not bravery. That’s just not having a choice.”
Theo’s fingers tightened on the podium.
“But I think Jack was brave in a different way.”
He looked right at Daniel and me.
“He understood that his treatments might not work. Way before most of us were ready to even think about that.”
My eyes filled up all over again.
“And even when he was scared,” Theo said, “he kept trying to make everybody around him less scared.”
Sophia Rivers is an experienced News Content Editor with a sharp eye for detail and a passion for delivering accurate and engaging news stories. At TheArchivists, she specializes in curating, editing, and presenting news content that informs and resonates with a global audience.
Sophia holds a degree in Journalism from the University of Toronto, where she developed her skills in news reporting, media ethics, and digital journalism. Her expertise lies in identifying key stories, crafting compelling narratives, and ensuring journalistic integrity in every piece she edits.
Known for her precision and dedication to the truth, Sophia thrives in the fast-paced world of news editing. At TheArchivists, she focuses on producing high-quality news content that keeps readers informed while maintaining a balanced and insightful perspective.
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