After Finchby and Yakovlevski leave, Bech still wears that ‘just sucked a lemon’ expression.
“Something to say, Bech?”
He scowls and looks down. “No, sir.”
“Good. Remember who's in charge here. And who's already made you a rich man.”
“Yes, sir.”
I turn to the girl where she cowers at my feet. “Tell her she can write a letter. Make sure her family know it’s her.” Luuk translates.
“Thank you, sir.” She launches herself at me, wrapping her arms around my ankles, weeping incessantly. “Thank you.”
Bech lashes out with a foot. “Get back, you little bitch!”
Disentangling myself from her grasp, I stoop, looking her in the face. “Remember, they have to pay for you. And they have to outbid the others. I’m a businessman, not a charity.”
“They will, sir. They will,” says Luuk.
*****
James
Sleep escapes me. My green-eyed Love lying next to me, my friend beyond her, I toss and turn in the dark, my mind churning.
Georgie…
Family matters…
Michael was right to pull me away that day. He enjoys a drink as much as anyone but doesn’t normally overdo it.
When did I last see him drunk?
?
When he believed he was losing Charlotte…
… to me…
He’s right, partially at least. It helps blot out the worst for a few hours. And he went there with me. Stayed with me.
only sticking-plaster
a chasm inside
on sleep and moving as quietly as I can, pull on some clothes and head for the kitchen. Then, coffee in hand,
this life if, full of care, We have no
calms me. The long slide of
Soul food…
inside, I am unquiet. I
enough that the sun has not risen, the world bathed in the grey light of the predawn, but Venus, hanging low, heralds the dawn and is already fading against the rising
on the mug, I wait and I watch as the rim of the world begins
Pull yourself together man…
casting blood-red across the
seen
never
the clouds, a gash in the
You have everything…
Everything else…
“Master?”
my lips to
slippers and a robe. “Are
So I’m just
“Would you like company?”
I would. Come and join me.
*****
eye. And of course, I
Anyone else around?
a few moments of what passes
“Yes, Kirstie?”
“James, about….”
the back office with a file. “Am I
I was just chatting with
up at me. “Here’s the visitor list for today, Kirstie. There’s a couple more confirmations to come
them in
Gillis nods to me. “Mr Alexanders.” Then she waddles off
the door closes behind her then, “She’s um… she’s got a bit of a thing
God save me…
please. Tell me that’s a
eyes. “Not a joke. She’s
my voice. “I hate to
serious again.
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