94 and Not Dead Yet: I Endeavor To Give Satisfaction, Sir

by Reg Green (August 2023)

Jeeves, Paul Cox, 2013

This week, after learning of the deaths of two people I was close to, I was struck again by the disparity of our departures. One went without warning, the other after a very long and painful illness.

There are as many kinds of death as there are lives and here’s one from Anthony Powell, the prolific British novelist: “As the eighth decade gradually consumes itself, shadows lengthen, a masked and muffled figure loiters persistently at the back of every room as if waiting for a word at the most tactful moment: a presence more easily discernible than heretofore that exhales undoubted menace yet also extends persuasive charm of an enigmatic kind.”

Seen this way, death could be like Jeeves serving a nightcap after a busy day. That wouldn’t be bad, would it? Not bad at all.

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