At first I thought the dinner must have been some kind of birthday party. As darkness gathered, four or five people carried in a piano, of all things. Others set up barbecues and made firepits, brought in dozens of old-style plastic chairs. One old man played the piano and then a couple of girls brought out violins and accompanied him on them.

Over the next few hours nearly a hundred people turned up. There was dancing and laughter and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

At one point, Nonna came and sat beside me.

‘Having fun?’ she asked.

‘Oh, yes,’ I said. ‘Just like everyone else. Is it someone’s birthday?’

She laughed.

‘Not quite,’ she said. ‘It’s a wake.’

I didn’t really know what to say. What was awake? I didn’t want to ask. These people probably already thought I was a total moron. But Nonna must have read the incomprehension in my face.

‘A wake is a celebration when someone has died,’ she said. ‘It’s a celebration of the life they’ve lived and the mark they’ve made on the world.’

I tried to get my head around this. From my limited experience, death was normally accompanied by the sadness of those who survive. Yet when I thought about it a little more, I could see the point of celebration. If I was dead I’d rather someone was happy I’d lived, than just sad I’d died. Of course, a bit of sadness would be in order …

‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘Was it someone close to you?’

‘He was close to all of us,’ Nonna replied. ‘There’s a good reason why we call our community a family.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘You get used to it, unfortunately,’ she said. ‘If we had more access to medicines and basic medical care, then deaths wouldn’t be so common. But now sicknesses that even two hundred years ago were survivable can, and do, take us off.’ She shook her head. ‘Enough of this talk. I didn’t come here to make you gloomy. I came to give you these.’ She reached into her pocket and brought out a watch and a ring, thrust them into my hand. ‘Lauren told me these belonged to your parents. I’d be grateful if you took them back.’

‘But Nonna,’ I said. ‘These are very valuable. You should keep them. It won’t make any difference to my parents but it could buy you all sorts of amazing things.’

Nonna laughed.

‘And what could we buy with money, Ashleigh?’

‘Those drugs you were talking about. Medicines. Medical care.’

She shook her head.