There were two funeral cars. Jane said she wanted to go with Antonello and Paolina. Raes’ parents went in the other car with Rae and Alex. Nicki and her son Thomas, Rae’s sisters and their families, made their own way to the chapel at the Altona cemetery. No one said anything about which route they might take, but someone must have alerted the funeral directors, and so they avoided Whitehall and Hyde Streets, the freeway and the Westgate Bridge.
Paolina wore a black dress, black stockings and shoes. If Ashleigh was alive she would’ve teased her grandmother about being dressed in black.
‘You’re a Goth,’ she would’ve said, ‘just missing a tattoo and a few piercings.’ And if it wasn’t Ashleigh that was dead but some elderly relative, Alex, Rae …show more content…
Later at home he said to Paolina, ‘Why do they ask me?’
‘Because they think you’re strong. You look strong Antonello. You look strong.’
The day before the funeral when Antonello sat down to write his eulogy, he’d thought about Jo, about how the two girls had spent so much time together, about what they’d shared. He was angry at Jo, but he felt sorry for her, his feelings about the girl oscillated, from rage to pity and back again. He understood what it was like to be the one left behind. Leaving Jo out of the funeral was a betrayal, certainly a lie.
Late the night before he’d sat at the kitchen table, after Paolina had already gone to bed, to write the eulogy. But hours later, the sheet of paper in front of him was covered in small sketches of Ashleigh’s face; the sight of them shocked him, he had not drawn for …show more content…
He had not written a eulogy. He had a sheet of paper in front of him, with the sketches of Ashleigh, her face, the deep dimples that formed, like Paolina’s, when she smiled, her long hair, her wide eyes. At the bottom of the page there were a couple of dot points – the things Paolina had suggested – Ashleigh’s love of writing, her sense of humour, her determination to be a lawyer like Geoffrey Robertson, whom she’d hero worshipped since she’d seen him on a Hypothetical on television when she was at high school. How they were so proud of her, and that she was an attentive granddaughter... He couldn’t bear to look up. He knew the chapel was full of friends and family, of the living - old and sick, good and bad - while his granddaughter was
Paolina wore a black dress, black stockings and shoes. If Ashleigh was alive she would’ve teased her grandmother about being dressed in black.
‘You’re a Goth,’ she would’ve said, ‘just missing a tattoo and a few piercings.’ And if it wasn’t Ashleigh that was dead but some elderly relative, Alex, Rae …show more content…
Later at home he said to Paolina, ‘Why do they ask me?’
‘Because they think you’re strong. You look strong Antonello. You look strong.’
The day before the funeral when Antonello sat down to write his eulogy, he’d thought about Jo, about how the two girls had spent so much time together, about what they’d shared. He was angry at Jo, but he felt sorry for her, his feelings about the girl oscillated, from rage to pity and back again. He understood what it was like to be the one left behind. Leaving Jo out of the funeral was a betrayal, certainly a lie.
Late the night before he’d sat at the kitchen table, after Paolina had already gone to bed, to write the eulogy. But hours later, the sheet of paper in front of him was covered in small sketches of Ashleigh’s face; the sight of them shocked him, he had not drawn for …show more content…
He had not written a eulogy. He had a sheet of paper in front of him, with the sketches of Ashleigh, her face, the deep dimples that formed, like Paolina’s, when she smiled, her long hair, her wide eyes. At the bottom of the page there were a couple of dot points – the things Paolina had suggested – Ashleigh’s love of writing, her sense of humour, her determination to be a lawyer like Geoffrey Robertson, whom she’d hero worshipped since she’d seen him on a Hypothetical on television when she was at high school. How they were so proud of her, and that she was an attentive granddaughter... He couldn’t bear to look up. He knew the chapel was full of friends and family, of the living - old and sick, good and bad - while his granddaughter was