The Altar of the Dead

He carries the weight of a single, unfulfilled love—Mary Antrim—who died before their wedding could begin. Each year on the anniversary he retreats to the quiet suburb where she lies, feeling the presence of countless other lost souls that have accumulated over his long life. This ritual becomes a solitary pilgrimage, a way for him to confront the relentless ache of absence.

Gradually, George fashions a private altar for the dead, a space lit by ever‑burning candles where he can offer his own quiet charity. The altar is less a formal religion than a personal creed, a means of giving meaning to the void left by those who have passed. As he tends this secret sanctuary, the story explores how memory, grief, and the need to honor the unseen shape a man’s inner world, inviting listeners into a meditation on loss and the quiet rituals that sustain us.