Classmates

Went to the funeral of HT.

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Met JW at the foyer when I arrived - he was about to leave. (LH, JW's wife, and Y used to work together. I was never aware of that.)

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The hall was flooded with people. I saw KT standing at a corner - he was a classmate of HT, and his wife is a close friend of Vivian. (For my relation with KT, see: ccszeto.blogspot.com/2007/12/confidence.html)

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I sat next to HF, a secondary school and university classmate of mine. We were both silent for a while, then he whispered at my ears, "Do you remember DY ? He passed away last month."

"You mean ... our secondary school classmate DY ?" I was incredulous. DY was one of our head prefects and worked in the Immigration Department after he graduated. His office was, according to HF, the biggest amongst our class.

"Yes. Lung cancer ..." HF was always to the point, typical of a ENT surgeon, "Bone met already when he presented."

"How could that be ? I don't think DY smoked ?"

"Quite true. But it was adeno."

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I took the shuttle with LC when I left. We tried to pull ourselves together and talked about our children. (I met LC just a few months ago; see: ccszeto.blogspot.com/2008/12/interview.html)

We both needed the other to divert our attention.

As TS Eliot said: Mankind cannot face too much reality.