The Duke

"I'm glad you made it. Son! It was so important that you did, your livelihood just may depend on it." his mother proclaimed.

"I'm glad to make it, as well," Joseph responded, "especially if you were to die as you stated in your correspondence."

"Oh, it is not that dire. We all do die sometime, don't we? Your father, the Duke, is being laid to rest this afternoon. I wouldn't want you to miss that on my account."

"My father died a long time ago, when he showed me the door, the staff door as it was!"

"But all was forgiven! Didn't you know? He regretted it the next day. He was so remorseful, he tried to contact you, but it seemed you had fallen off the face of the earth." the Duchess replied.

"It was a long time ago, I truly have no father!"

"It was only a few days ago that I remembered where you might be. That was why I chose to email you, rather than send you a letter. It sure was a fast response and I really didn't lie, we could all die any day now? Don't you wish to see your father one last time?"

"Well, I am here, aren't I. Even if you did bend the truth, slightly. I suppose, I could. Then of course, there is the reading of the will. As father never left me anything, I wouldn't want to miss the humiliation of his neglectful nature."

The funeral went as well as could be expected. The Duchess of Camelot was misty eyed under her veil of black. Even Joseph became misty when he viewed his father.

He was now the Duke of Camelot, although he never forgave his father.