Fourteen
The car park at St Lawrence’s was full of expensive cars by the time Paul arrived. He signed the book and found a spot, next to a group of young men, just inside the entrance to the church. He looked around and took in the sombre atmosphere, of respectful silence, emanating from a congregation dressed in black. The men in their mourning suits. The women in black dresses of every available fashion. When the hearse arrived and the family came in with the casket, the congregation stood as one in silence. Anna and her two boys walked in behind the casket and followed it up the aisle to the front of the church. Behind them walked two elderly couples and what was, Paul assumed, the rest of the families.
There was no slide show or eulogy. The service was a traditional Requiem Mass stra
