Chapter 36

My mother's father, Grandpa Shaw, died during the night of the third of March; the next day was a Monday, and Dad left a message with the Departmental Secretary, asking me to phone home.

As soon as she spoke to me, I had a feeling that I knew what the news was going to be.

I left the laboratory and went out to find a payphone.

Dad told me that Grandpa had passed away peacefully in his sleep, and that he wanted to let us know, but that there was absolutely no need for us to come home.

"Is Mum okay?"

"She's upset, naturally; like Grandma, she had hoped he would go on a bit longer, but they are both grateful that he died peacefully at home, rather than in hospital amongst strangers. They will be fine, they are just a bit weepy today."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come home tonight?"

"No, there's no point in that, but please phone your Grandma tonight - your Mum will be sleeping there for a few days to help out. You've got the number, haven't you?"

"Yes, I think so, if not I'll phone you again. Have you told Jen yet?"

"No, we've left a message with her hall porter, and if she doesn't phone us first, I'll try and get her at about six in her room."

"Please let us know about the funeral; we'll both come back for that."

"I will do that, Son, but please phone us every couple of days. I think that it will probably be next week rather than this coming week. The British Legion will want to attend, I'm sure."

I felt a bit bad that I had been making love to Julie while Grandpa took his last breath, but then I realised that I hadn't known anything about it, and he would have been pleased that I had found a partner for life, as he had with Grandma.

Grandpa's was the first family death; although it had been expected, it was still not a nice feeling realising that I'd never see him again.

I shed a couple of tears in the privacy of the Gents, and washed my face before returning to the laboratory. I told Malcolm what had happened, and he commiserated with me.

I phoned Jen later that afternoon; she wasn't in her room, but she was in Hamish's, so I told her that she needed to talk to Dad about Grandpa.

She too was a little upset now that it had actually happened, and I was pleased that she had Hamish there to console her. She said that they would go straight over to her Hall so that Dad would be able to get straight through to her, and thanked me for warning her, and helping her avoid any awkward questions about where she was.

I phoned Mum at Grandma's; they were both upset but realistic, and I felt better having spoken to them both.

Julie, Vee, Sian and Malcolm were all very good to me; I could console myself with the fact that Grandpa had enjoyed a good life, and that he had died in his bed at a ripe old age, unlike so many of the boys he had gone to war with nearly half a century before.

It was sad to have lost Grandpa, but the world didn't stop revolving. Funnily enough, I was more worried about losing my dignity by weeping at the funeral than anything else. I didn't want to disgrace Grandpa's memory.

That week, the political shenanigans at Westminster finally sorted themselves out. Ted Heath had tried to form a coalition with the Liberals in order to retain power; Jeremy Thorpe demanded too much in the way of electoral reform, so Harold Wilson and Labour formed a minority government. Without control of the House of Commons, and with the newly reinforced Ulster Unionists and Scottish Nationalists both on the war path, it didn't look as if the new Government was going to last very long.

The pace of work in the Chemistry Department didn't let up one little bit, and Malcolm and I were kept far too busy to worry about trivialities like the government of our country.

Grandad's funeral was on Wednesday 13th; Jen and I went home on the Tuesday afternoon and stayed the night with Mum and Dad.

Julie and Hamish had both offered to come with us; we appreciated their offer, but felt that we would struggle to keep them entertained when they knew no-one, and besides, we did have each other.

Dad and Jen were waiting in the car outside the station when my train got in; she hadn't been there too long. We went straight home; Dad said that Mum would have some hot supper ready for us.

It was a silent meal as we remembered why we were together again, but because we knew that Grandpa had enjoyed his life and hadn't suffered at the end, in a funny way we were happy for him, because after years of stoicsm, he was no longer plagued by his aches and pains.

Jen and I managed a quiet hug upstairs, holding each other for mutual comfort at a sad time, rather than with any great lust. We managed to talk privately for a few minutes; Jen assured me that all was going well with Hamish, and that she was very happy to have found him.

"He wanted to take my mind off Grandpa, so he took me up to London last Wednesday, to see what we could find at the theatre. We ended up at the Piccadilly watching Martin Shaw in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' - we thought it was really good."

"Lucky you! There hasn't been much on in Cardiff, but I'm looking. Julie likes a night at the theatre as well. But we've been quite tied up for the last month with Vee's problem."

I briefly told her about Vee's troubles. She wasn't at all impressed with Jeff's behaviour.

"The bastard! I hope she's seen the last of him!"

Mum came upstairs to check we had tried on our clothes as requested; she had bought me a new white shirt and a black polyester tie.

It was a strange feeling to again have a shirt that actually buttoned up at the collar without throttling me, and covered my wrists; my own shirts hadn't been keeping up with the growth of my chest and shoulders, as my usual apparel didn't need a tie!

The funeral was going to be at 11 o'clock; it was a bright and breezy day, with showers forecast for the afternoon. We had a good breakfast and then got dressed up in our dark clothes, and went round to Grandma's in good time, so that we would be able to join the cortege. Dad's parents were already there, and they gave both of us a hug.

The Royal British Legion was doing Grandpa proud; there was a Legion standard-bearer and a bugler, and a contingent of about twenty members wearing their medals. Jen and I were initially surprised to see that Dad was also wearing his own General Service Medal from his National Service days; but we then realised that it made sense. It normally only came out on Remembrance Sunday, but of course this funeral was also all about a group of old soldiers remembering, and celebrating, one of their fallen comrades. Grandad Baker was also wearing a couple of medals; I remembered that he had served in the Home Guard and as an air raid warden during the last war, being too old for active service, but still being eligible for the War Medal and the Defence Medal.

Grandma Shaw had produced a small flat purple cushion, on which she had pinned Grandpa's three First World War medals, and his two Second World War medals for service as an auxiliary policeman. They took pride of place on his coffin, which was covered with a Union Jack flag in recognition of his service to his country.