So few people.
That’s odd. I’ve only been to two Irish funerals, but they had one thing in common: they were huge. At least a hundred people had come to the church. Complete strangers were saying they were sorry for my loss and shaking my hand. I’d taken it forgranted that that was how funerals are here. But in my vision there were so few people. I mean, it was raining pretty hard, but still.
‘What’s that?’ Cormac asks, pointing at the pinhole camera.
Shit.
‘It’s a camera.’
He blinks. ‘It looks old as fuck. You know you can take photos on your phone, right?’
My laugh is a bit too forced. ‘Yeah, but this is… It’s one of my dad’s old ones. They take amazing photos.’
‘Well, I might need some headshots done. Is this a good angle?’ He places his forefinger and thumb on the bottom of his chin in a classic model pose. ‘Am I hot right now?’
I put the camera in the bag. ‘I think I’d need a bigger lens for a headshot.’
Cormac clutches imaginary pearls. ‘Are you saying I’ve a big head?’
‘No, no, you have a very regular head.’ I pull the backpack on.
‘It must be weird that you never met your granda,’ says Cormac gesturing to the grave.
I take a breath. ‘Yeah, I don’t even know much about him, to be honest.’
‘Glad you still have your nanny though.’
Her huddled form in the vision plays through my head.
‘You should ask her about him, you know. Before…’ He trails off. He was as close to Nanny Marie as I am to Nanny Bet. He must miss her so much.
‘Cormac, I—’ The sound of footsteps breaks the moment. We turn to see Meg running towards us up the path.
‘Oh, sorry,’ she says. ‘Did I miss it? Oh, hey, Cormac. Are you…? Hey.’ She stops beside us, cheeks flushed, and pushes a strand of hair behind her ear.
Cormac looks between the two of us and my mouth flaps uselessly as I try to think of a reason for her being here. One that doesn’t make it sound like we’re meeting up to photograph visions of my grandfather’s funeral in the early nineties.
‘Are you two –’ he grins – ‘hooking up in a graveyard?’
I splutter and Meg laughs. ‘No,’ I say. ‘No, we’re just—’
‘I love graveyards,’ says Meg with her chin raised.
‘Michael said the same thing.’ Cormac smirks. ‘You two are perfect for each other.’
‘Cormac!’
He laughs and gives me a hug. ‘Only sleggin’. Have fun. I’m going to get a lift back with my da.’ He raises his hand for a high five from Meg, then runs off towards the car park.
‘I thought you’d told him about…’
I snort. ‘Hardly. He followed me over here when I saw the vision.’
She folds her arms. ‘Tell me everything.’
‘That must’ve been intense. Was there anything unusual about the funeral?’ Meg crouches on the ground as she changes the film in the darkroom bag.
‘Apart from the fact that there weren’t many people there, the only odd thing was there was a flag on the coffin. Is that a thing?’
