Down Among the Dead Men_ A Year in the Life of a Mortuary Technician - Michelle Williams [39]
That afternoon, Lizzie was placed slowly in the small white coffin that had been lined with pink silk with a pink pillow. Painted daintily on the coffin lid were pink bows, and once this was placed over her, Tony sealed the coffin and the family left the room.
TWENTY-ONE
I had decided shortly after this that I needed a break and thought that I would ring Dave. Dave is my soul-mate. We worked together for ten years, and from the first day we met we got on. No sexual attraction or complicated stuff like that, just pure friendship. Anyway, Dave moved to Lancashire about four years ago to be near his partner, Chris. They met online, and after a few weekends up there with him, Dave decided to move up to Lancashire permanently. I was pleased that he had met someone, but so disappointed he was leaving.
Dave is a few years older than me, eight to be precise. Sometimes when we are together though you would be forgiven for thinking we have a mental age of about five. Dave is super-intelligent and has a definite opinion about most things, and he fascinates me with the stuff he has locked away in his brain. A bit of an old glam rocker, Dave had hair down to his backside when I first met him, and always wore ‘Kiss’ T-shirts, jeans and Converse boots; the only thing different about him now is that he’s had his hair cut. He’s very focused, but I believe the world is missing out on a great man, a talented painter and a wealth of knowledge. He should be in the limelight, in my eyes.
We had vowed never to lose touch, and we haven’t. We see each other at least three times a year, always at Christmas and birthdays, and try to get a week abroad together once a year with partners and family. We saw each other Christmas Eve last year, but I knew he wouldn’t be disappointed to see me again, and I felt that I could really do with the break.
I spoke to Dave the next morning and, as luck would have it, he said that he was due some time off and could take it the following week. After checking with Clive that it was OK to have leave at such short notice and after half an hour of teasing from him, I arranged to go on Friday for two weeks. Luke and I would have the weekend with Dave and Chris, then just potter about till he finished work on the other days, when I was sure we’d end up in the pub, and that was just fine by me. The beauty of Lancashire is that it is such a friendly place. Steeped in history, loads of old architecture, fantastic countryside and not forgetting the fact that everything is about twenty per cent cheaper than Gloucestershire. Maybe I will move up there myself one day, but until then a fortnight would have to suffice.
We had the best time with Dave, two weeks of pure relaxation, food, ale, laughing, crosswords in the daily paper, hot chocolate – and starting with a champagne breakfast on the train on the way up which Luke organized, just because. The weather was still pretty shitty, but when I’m with people like Dave, Luke and Chris, it doesn’t matter.
As soon as I got back to the mortuary I knew that something special had occurred from the fact that Clive and Graham were laughing loudly. When I went into the office, Graham was red in the face and in danger of choking, and Clive’s eyes were watery.
‘Morning, Michelle,’ he said brightly, while Graham tried to get his breath back.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Nothing much,’ he said, although this was obviously a big, fat lie. ‘It was fairly quiet last week, wasn’t it, Graham?’
And Graham, who had been rolling some cigarettes in preparation for his morning break later on, began to laugh and choke again, just about managing to splutter, ‘Very quiet indeed.’
‘What’s so funny, then?’ I was beginning to wonder if the joke was at my expense.
‘Just a funny story I heard.’
‘Go on then, tell me.’
He said at once, ‘First things first. When you’ve checked the bodies in, we’ll have some