After a pause of at least a year, Dragoslav Kožul came to see me this afternoon. Most of the time he is in England, but he spends chunks of his time in Istria, as well. I love to tease him about his misguided advice for me to move back to the land of my ancestors. Anyhow, at some point I asked him about his family, and he gave me an exhaustive account of them all. When he was finished at long last, he sighed: “I will never forget something you have told me years ago.” Seeing that I was puzzled, he continued: “You told me that I would have a big funeral.” We both laughed. Although I forgot this wisecrack of mine, I felt it was right on the mark. Indeed, Dragoslav’s funeral is destined to be much bigger than mine.

Addendum (October 7, 2017)

Actually, I will have no funeral. Earlier this year, I made sure that this is how my life will end. After my death, my body will be taken to a crematory in Zagreb. After cremation, the ashes will be strewn around a meadow designated for this particular purpose (“Sunny Meadow,” March 1, 2017). All this will be accomplished by a funeral company, which already has a statement about my last wishes. A copy of the statement is with a notary public in the Croatian capital, as well. There will be no witnesses and no ceremony of any kind. Everything will be taken care of by the employees of the funeral company in question without any fuss. In short, Dragoslav’s funeral cannot but be much bigger than mine, for I will have none. Hooray!