Tracie's story Page Three

The Funeral

I was in slow motion again, as some faceless Priest banged on about Dad for an eternity. Mum seemed to be hanging on his every word, typical of her, I thought. "I'm now going to invite a dear friend of Louis to speak."

Christ I thought, he was always Lou to his friends, even Mum went along with that. I'd almost switched off from what was happening in the pulpit, my mind wandering back to Alfie's Dad.

"It's Uncle Murray" me and Dan smiled big smiles at each other, as Dad's Rabbi took the pulpit. His body language was open and inviting, his smile genuine and without reservation. "Lou was one of my oldest friends, and one of the most respected members of The, many,communities he belonged to. pause "He wasn't a religious man, he married a Catholic." Half the room laughed, Mum frowned and Uncle Murray carried on.

"To sum Lou up I'll, give you an anecdote. Most people here today are aware of Tonik cloth, some may know that Lou invented the stuff, but he was too modest to sing his own praises. pause. He gestured at Darren and asked him his middle name. 'Tomas'. he did the same to me, another big smile .'Nikola' .

'T o N i k ' " as he spelt the letters out I burst into tears.

"Don't worry love, at least you know what that lot are really like now." I ignored Mum, as me and Alfie hugged. I knew he was thinking of the Tonik Mod suit he wore on our first date. That suit was part of the evolution that made Kilgour the ultimate tailor of the 60's, it was where Alfie trained, and to him he would always be a Kilgour boy. I thought too about the Stanbury Brothers, and all the great Savile Row characters that are sadly no longer with us.