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By Root 148 0

– met together and socialized and that was the Christmas party. Apparently, this sometimes took the form of a disco or cabaret but, according to Clive (who had strong views on the subject), the only time it was worth going to was when there was a decent nosh-up in a nice restaurant. This year it was to be in Number Sixteen, a restaurant that he approved of, often taking his wife, Sally, there. It was to be held on a Wednesday night in early December because it had been booked late; husbands, wives, boyfriends and girlfriends were not invited, the exception being the consultants, who were paying for it all. Graham had been invited and had accepted, which surprised quite a few in the department

As was usual when going out with Clive, we changed at work and went straight on to the nearest pub for a few liveners, where we met up with Graham. He looked well, although he was limping badly and walking with a stick. He had a grin you could fall into for Clive and me, but I thought he was a bit off with Maddie, and I couldn’t help but notice that he kept ignoring her when she spoke. During the first part of the evening, Clive explained the way these events usually went.

‘You see, you have to understand, girls, that we might all be eating the same grub in the same room on the same night, but we’re not really eating it together.’ Graham chuckled and nodded at this. Clive went on, ‘The histology technicians mostly sit together, the cytology technicians likewise, the secretaries huddle in their own group, the consultants that choose to turn up usually talk amongst themselves, and then there’s us. Nobody wants to talk to us.’

‘Except Ed Burberry,’ pointed out Graham. ‘He always makes an effort.’

Clive nodded. ‘Except Ed.’

I’d been there for nearly nine months now and was beginning to understand the way things went, especially because, knowing her as I did, Maddie had given me the low-down on some of the characters upstairs in the lab, and how they looked down on us because of what our job entailed; they seemed to think that anyone who works with the dead must be weird, forgetting the fact that we care greatly about what we do and that we provide a good service for the next of kin.

Clive said, ‘Part of the fun is to be as nice as you can to them. Go and sit at their tables and chat with them; doesn’t half make them uncomfortable. We know that we do a bloody good job, but they don’t know what we really do, so it’s fun.’ I must have looked a little worried about all these undercurrents, but Clive reassured me. ‘Don’t worry, Michelle. The grub’s free and the wine’s pretty pukka. Anyway, by the time we get there, hopefully you won’t care much anyway.’

The restaurant was cosy and warm, with low lighting and comfortable chairs. The department would fill the place, so we didn’t have to worry about disturbing other diners. As Clive had predicted, by the time the four of us turned up, we were just about mellow enough not to be too bothered by some of the glances that were thrown in our direction. We sat at one end of one of the tables and immediately dived into the wine. The place soon filled up as Clive had predicted, with each work group sitting together. Ed and his wife, Anne, were late and sat with us.

The service was good and the food delicious. Graham kept hobbling out for a smoke and I joined him on a couple of occasions, but we all spent most of the time listening to Clive. Any form of communication offered by Graham throughout the evening was aimed at Clive and me, completely ignoring Maddie, but she didn’t let this get to her. During the evening, Clive got mellower and mellower, and began to talk about some of the people he’d worked with over the years. Ed, who hadn’t been there as long but knew a lot of them, joined in as and when.

‘Mitch Jones was before your time, wasn’t he?’ he asked Ed. Ed nodded. ‘He used to be one of the consultants here in the old days; that was when things were a lot more relaxed.’

Graham chuckled at this and nodded enthusiastically. ‘He was so relaxed he used to fall down a lot.’

Clive explained,