Чума
Part III
Ofcourseonecouldalwaystrynottosee,coverone’seyesandrejecttheobvious,butithasaterribleforcethateventuallycarriesallbeforeit.Forexample,howcanyouavoidburialswhenthedaycomeswhensomeoneyoulovehasneedofone?
Well,themainfeatureofourceremoniesatthestartwasspeed!Alltheformalitiesweresimplifiedandingeneralfunerarypompandcircumstancewerediscarded.Victimsdiedfarfromtheirfamiliesandtheritualwatchoverthedeadwasbanned,sothepersonwhodiedintheeveningpassedthenightaloneandtheonewhodiedinthedaywasburiedasquicklyaspossible.Ofcourse,thefamilywasinformed,butinmostcasesitsmemberscouldnotattend,sincetheywereinquarantineiftheyhadbeenlivingwiththesickperson.Incaseswherethefamilyhadnotlivedwiththedeceased,theywouldarriveattheappointedtimefordeparturetowardsthecemetery,thecorpsehavingalreadybeenlaidoutandputinthecoffin.
SupposethisformalityhadtakenplaceintheauxiliaryhospitalwhereDrRieuxwasincharge.Theschoolhadanexitsitedbehindthemainbuildingandtherewerecoffinsinalargebox-roomoffthecorridor.Inthecorridoritself,thefamilydiscoveredasinglecoffin,alreadyclosed.Immediately,theygotonwiththemostimportanttask,whichwastohavesomedocumentssignedbytheheadofthefamily.Afterthatthecoffinwasloadedintoamotorvehicle,whichwaseitheraproperhearseoralargeambulanceappropriatelymodified.
