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the space for as long as it’s needed. We encourage it, in fact. How many times have you walked through a cemetery and seen overgrown or broken graves? Often it’s no fault of the family of the deceased. It’s just the descendants have either moved away or died themselves. We prefer to make such plots available for re-use. It’s good for us, it’s good for the people visiting their loved ones and it’s good for the environment.” She leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner. “Did you know they’re building an underground necropolis in Mexico? There’s just isn’t enough land to bury the dead in a civilized manner. Do we want that happening in England?”
    “Of course not.” The woman smiled at her. “You sound like a very sensible and shrewd woman, Miss Maguire.”
    Eden pressed her hand. “It’s Mrs., but thank you.”
    “How long does one generally rent a plot for?” The young man returned to the plan. “Presumably one would build in a redundancy for the length of time it takes a body to rot away plus a number of years. What if there are still descendants visiting when the lease runs out?”
    “Then we offer an option to renew.” Eden found the page with the relevant information to show him. “The decomposition of a body can take anything from three months to twenty years, after which all that remains are the bones. We generally offer a lease of ten years, twenty being a maximum. Extensions are in ten-year increments.”
    “After which time the body is disinterred and what?”
    “This is only our first year of business but our projections are the dead will undergo a reduction to powdered remains.”
    “Cremation?”
    “Not exactly. We use a cold process that’s better for the environment.” She turned to the page showing a diagram of the procedure. It was no accident the diagram resembled the one illustrating the circle of life in all basic biology texts. “We envisage a return to the earth afterward.”
    “And the grave site will then be available for re-use?”
    “Theoretically, yes.”
    “So if we bought one plot we could both use it?” He squeezed the older woman’s hand. “My wife and I would like to be together for as long as it matters.”
    Eden swallowed her surprise at their relationship and hoped it hadn't shown on her face. “It’s impossible to say when a plot will be available for repeated use but you could always stipulate a re-burial later, if the earlier occupant hasn’t yet…”
    “Decomposed?”
    Eden smiled. “I was going to say ‘embraced the cycle of life’ but ‘decomposed’ is accurate. Of course, it’s been standard practice for years to bury partners in the same grave, so we could build the provision in from the start, if you wish. It’s an economical way of doing it.” She pointed to a section of the plan. “This area hasn’t yet been patronized.”
    “Patronized?” The young man glanced at his wife and smiled. “You mean nobody has been buried there yet?”
    “That’s right.”
    “What’s this bit here?” He pointed to a circle shaded in gray.
    “That’s a piece of sculpture. The Triumph of Azrael .” Eden pulled out a folder and opened it to a page with a photograph of an angel in welded steel. “It’s by a local artist.”
    “Well, it’s…”
    “Perfect.” The old lady squeezed his arm. “We’ll take one plot with the clause you mentioned earlier.”
    “An excellent choice.” Eden marked down the plot numbers and turned to the computer. “Will you be wanting the standard burial plan? Twin burial or the cryomation procedure?”
    “The er…the what?”
    “Cryomation? It’s a fairly new process that will soon replace cremation. The body is frozen with liquid nitrogen and vibrated into dust. Metals are removed and either returned or disposed of, and then the remains are freeze dried and compacted into a block which will decompose entirely in six to twelve months. It’s very good for the environment. Informally we call it