Long-Lost Cousin

On Friday last week I went to the graveside service of a first cousin that I hadn't seen for seventy years. At least I think it had been that long. When I was about eleven and he was about fifteen his family came to visit us. They lived two or three hours away. We played Monopoly. I thought I was good at it, but he thoroughly trounced me. My childish ego thought that he must have cheated, but no proof was forthcoming. He later joined the U. S. Air Force and got to visit some exotic places in the world. Meanwhile, his younger brother got into a bit of trouble with the law and spent five years in the state ‘pen'. I think the family was so embarrassed about that, they never visited us again as far as I can remember. Meeting his children and grandchildren at the funeral, and hearing so many good things about him made me wish that I had known him better. And I didn't even know that he was still alive… until he wasn't.