Afterwards

This is another chapter from my unpublished novel The Mummy and Daddy Christmas Present Fund. In this chapter, Lizzie is grown up with her own children and her Dad John has just died and is about to be cremated. Lizzie, in Germany, cannot attend the funeral in England. John (Dad) is the main character in the chapters Fish and Chips in the Park and Stolen Time.

Wednesday 31^st May 2006

Lizzie woke up. Today was the day. Her father was going to be cremated and she wasn’t there. But it didn’t matter, he had died already. It was just his body, wasn’t it? He wouldn’t feel anything. He was everywhere, she had said to Brigitte, he wasn’t right there in the church, not right there in the crematorium. He probably wasn’t on Earth at all. They could say goodbye to him here, couldn’t they?

Couldn’t they?

Still, it was a significant day and it meant looking nice. It meant washing one’s hair and dressing up. It meant getting up, not lolling about in bed although you had work to do. Lizzie got up at 8:30; it was early for recent weeks, showered and washed her hair. You couldn’t be depressed today, you had a commitment. You had to get out of bed.

It was important to look good. There was hardly anything in the wardrobe that fitted her any more, since she had recently put on some weight, but she had made an effort to do all the washing yesterday, so the wardrobe was at least full. Everything was several years old and falling to bits but there were some dark clothes that she could still manage to squeeze into. At least a skirt and t-shirt, and some tights without holes.