I knew you'd come

I boarded the aircraft. The call had come two days before. He's died, the funeral will be on Wednesday. Such are the perfunctory actions that herald the end of a persons life, a person who had been as large as life its self but who had succumbed to alzheimer's two years before.  A big man in every sense of the word particularly in his environment, a person who carried some weight amongst his family and friends. A smoker and a man who enjoyed a beer in his own home we had come together by chance as I hitch hiked back in 1962. I was 22 and for what ever reason his family and I struck a cord and we became friends for 50 years.
Now his wife made the call to me and I caught a flight to Amsterdam to attend the funeral. Schiphol airport is not far from the crematorium where the service was due to be held and I caught a taxi. Arriving a little before the others one was struck by the conformity of these places, the crematorium through which we pass on our final journey. Neat and tidy they are functional like a station, the train now leaving from platform 7 is Kees Schlagheck hurry along we don't have time to dawdle since there is another function in three-quarters of an hour !
Lilly his wife looked tired, her grey hair accentuating her age as she arrived with their only child, their daughter a strong opinionated young woman who I had always liked and enjoyed her company. They saw me standing there and the emotions welled up as we hugged are hello's. "I knew you'd come", she said "I knew you'd come".
And so the service passed much as in England, the hymn, the eulogy and then it was done our friend now only a memory, was passed to another's care for a a function on which we would rather not dwell.  We climbed into cars to head off for the short journey to the house for food, drink and a conversation that was more about the future than the passing of a friend. The Dutch are a lovely straightforward people, able in a number of languages to make this tongue tide Englishman feel at home and then, after more farewells ensured I was back at the Schiphol in plenty of time for my flight home.