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Shortly before he died, my father-in-law gathered the family
together and announced:
"I know that death is just a passage, and I want to be able
to make this passage without any sadness. To put your minds at rest,
I shall send you a sign that it was worthwhile helping others in
this life." He asked to be cremated and for his ashes to be
thrown into the ocean at Arpoador beach in Ipanema while a tape
played his favorite pieces of music.
He died two days later. A friend arranged for his cremation in
São Paulo and when we returned to Rio we all went to Arpoador
beach with the radio, the tapes and the package with the little
urn containing his ashes. Standing facing the sea, we discovered
that the lid of the urn was closed with screw-nails. We tried to
open it, but to no avail.
There was nobody around, just a beggar, who came up to us and
asked: "What do you want?"
My brother-in-law answered: "A screwdriver, because my father's
ashes are inside this box."
"He must have been a very good man, because I just found
this lying over there," said the beggar, holding out a screwdriver.
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