Chapter 12 - The End

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"But surely it'll be better that you are free of the pain and don't have to battle anymore?"

"No."

We did not have a minister at Max's cremation.

Sara had talked to Max about heaven and the possibility of re-incarnation. I did not take part in these conversations because of my lack of religious belief. She wanted to re-assure him that he was just moving on to another world. She talked about Simon and other children who Max had known and died and how he would be with them after he died. Sara told him about her Grandmother and how he would not be alone after he died.

Max was fascinated by the idea of re-incarnation. He announced that he would came back as an echidna. This is an Australian animal which is similar to a hedgehog. He chose it because one of the characters in the Sonic stories was an echidna.

Max's spiritual presence was very apparent at the funeral. Sara helped him design a cover cloth for the coffin. The sheet was covered with cartoon designs which had been drawn by Sara and Max during the last weeks of his life. It depicted the Ying and Yang symbol which was his homage to his love of China and also contained many pictures of the video game characters Sonic and Knuckles.

Sara asked Max if he wanted to be cremated or buried. He was not at all happy with being buried.

"Will I be buried?. What if you decide to move away from here, then you won't be able to see me anymore. I just want to be with you and Daddy. What happens to the body?"

"The body will fade away."

"What will be left?. Will it just be the skeleton? Will the worms eat my body?"

"No."

"If I am burnt, then what happens? Where will I go then?"

"If you are cremated then your ashes will be given to us in a pot and we can keep them, and take them with us wherever we go"

"Oh yes, that's sounds much better. I'd like to have a grave and have ashes. Can they do that?"

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