Hard work

We got to the Pub. PD was still subdued, clearly still stinging by being told he & his wife were not welcome at Jean's funeral. 

The landlord greets us & instantly asks if we've seen Dick & know the details about the funeral arrangements. He knows we're all friends. 

PD is hard-pushed to say anything in his distress, but wanting to keep up appearances &  understandably wanting to keep some privacy on what has happened. 

As the afternoon goes on, PD's spirits lift a bit, then dip a bit, as yet more people ask or mention Dick & Jean. For once the Fox & I regret the crossword is virtually complete. It usually distracts PD from his inner thoughts & gives him something else to think on. It's hard work trying to reach PD when he is so withdrawn in his personal world. Nonetheless, by the time we get PD back to his home, he seems a bit cheerier, a bit less bitter. His biggest problem is that  although he's had people say unpleasant things to him before, he's always been able to answer back, but, as he says, it's difficult to answer back to a corpse. 

I only hope now the worst is over & he will stop brooding & get back to living, & hopefully that will include still regarding Dick as a friend. I think there's a chance. I hope so.