A Grave Visit

We were putting flowers and candles on my dad’s grave when my older brother muttered out loud, “I wonder if the ordinary lapida will be replaced in the future by interactive ones.”

“You know what would be a great invention?” I said.

“What?”

I pointed at the marble tablets on the ground. “Imagine they’re weatherproof touch-screen tablets with sensors,” I began. “When it detects someone approaching, it flashes information on screen while a Siri-like voice says, ‘Welcome! You’re visiting Mr. So-and-So. He was born in Dec. 4, 1944 and died of a heart attack on April 1, 2003. Needless to say, he pulled a cruel April Fool’s joke on everyone.’ Ahahahahaha!”

My younger brother chimed in. “The tablet should also be able to recognize the visitor. So when it does, then a pre-recorded voice of the dead will playback: ‘Thank you, Vanessa, for visiting my grave!’”

“How about all the tablets are wired to the person’s Facebook account?” I wondered. “If he or she has one, of course. So the visitors can leave messages on the deceased’s wall.”

My nephew, who’s a third year college student now, quipped, “Wouldn’t it be so tacky if there was also a Like button?”

We all burst out laughing.