He died on the 23rd of December. He met his brother and mother and asked them. They said it was peaceful and that his daughter was with him. I am sorry for it. We didn’t know him well but he was a presence in both our lives. We ask the brother what will happen to their mother, who is now 104. She is very frail, he says. (She seems just the same to me, he tells me later.) She will have to acquiesce to what they decide for her, for she clearly can’t stay in that flat on her own, and they her other sons (and daughter though we’ve never seen her) have their own lives to live. It is sad. (I hate change, he says.) I think of him and hope that he was content for his life to end. I wish him rest and peace.
Cheers for now, he used to say. Cheers.
