In Search of Oldton



When I visited him in the mortuary he was wearing his favourite suit and a bow tie.

I wanted to see him one more time before the cremation, if only to convince myself he was dead. In fact, he looked like he was just off to play bridge at his club. Not dead at all. His hair had kept growing after he'd died, so for the first time in years he didn't have a severe short back and sides.

Mum played with his hair, but I just cried. There was a huge bruise on his forehead that someone had tried to cover up with make-up.

Afterwards my sister told me it was probably caused by dad's head hitting the steering wheel during the final convulsions.

Writers for the Future