That Monday morning, when the cleaning lady came in and began her cheerful rounds of the various cubicles that made up the office, she noticed that Barbara’s light was on. A glance through the open door revealed Barbara at her desk, writing a letter.
“Early start, Barbara!” she said.
Barbara looked up. “I’m writing a letter, Maggie. I woke up very early this morning.”
The cleaning lady nodded. She liked Barbara and she was pleased to see her looking bright. That awful man of hers, that MP, she thought, the horrible one, he’s the one who makes her miserable. It’s always a man—always. If there’s an unhappy-looking woman, then there’s an awful man somewhere. Always.
Barbara returned to her letter. She was writing to her friend James Holloway in Edinburgh, telling him about her weekend.
“I know you don’t mind my burdening you with the details of my life, James, and that’s why I’m writing to you this morning about something really, really important that has occurred. No, don’t worry—this is not something difficult or challenging. Far from it. Something really remarkable has happened to me and I wanted you to know about it. I’m not looking for any advice—I am utterly sure of what I’m doing and I think it’s the right thing for me. I just want to tell somebody about it. You know how it is when something good happens—when you read a book that strikes a chord, or see a picture that really speaks to you—you want to share it with a friend. You just have to. That’s how I feel.
“The first thing I have to tell you is this: I’ve left Oedipus. Now I know that you’ll be pleased by this because I always knew your view of him—and you were right. Do you remember how you said to me, ‘Sorry, but he’s not for you, Barbara’? Those were your exact words, as I recall. You had come down to London for some meeting or other, and we went for lunch at the Poule au Pot and Oedipus was with us to begin with and then had to dash off to the House. At first you didn’t want to give a view, and then, when I pressed you, you did. Well, you were right. As the saying goes, Oedipus is now history—or history to an extent. I still have a score to settle with him and will do it. I know, I know, one shouldn’t be vengeful, but that’s the way I feel and he deserves it. He’s used me, and I’m going to make sure he knows it.
“But that’s not what I’m writing to you about, James. It’s something that happened almost immediately after I left Oedipus. I met the most wonderful, kind, handsome, considerate, soft-spoken, gentle, sympathetic, interesting man. How can a man be all that? Well, he can, and I’ve found him.
“And now, James, the bombshells. One: he’s six years younger than me. Twenty-five; but so what? Two: I found him in a car park in Rye. Yes! And I took him back to London in the British Racing Green car—remember I drove you to Oxford in it once?—and, anyway, we drove back together and, apart from an Isadora Duncan moment, it was a blissful trip. And then one thing led to another and … well, he’s moved into the flat. Last night he made me scrambled eggs and we watched To Kill a Mockingbird together. I cried; I just cried. And he didn’t say that I shouldn’t cry; he just held my hand and let me do it.
“And how do I feel? Well, I feel happy. That’s the only way I can describe the way I feel: happy. Do you know that anthem, ‘I Was Glad’—the Parry one? That’s what I feel like singing at the top of my voice, the first line of it, announcing to everybody that I feel today that I am the most fortunate woman in London, by far. That’s how I feel, James, and I know that happiness doesn’t last for ever, but when you’re truly happy, you think it will. That’s what I think. I really do.
“Bless you for listening, James, and love from your friend, Barbara Ragg, who feels today the most blessed of women: ecstatic, fulfilled, and wanting for nothing.”
58. Dee Makes Tea for Jenny
FOR JENNY, Monday was the first day of her new job as assistant to William in his wine shop. The shock of her dismissal by Oedipus Snark had dominated her weekend and had left her with that curious numb feeling that we feel when we encounter a real setback. Of course she knew that she did not deserve to lose her job—and certainly did not deserve to be dismissed as Oedipus had done, by text message—but this knowledge could not protect her from the smarting sense of rejection that the dismissal brought with it. She had worked hard in her job; she had done everything Oedipus had asked of her, including the constant sending of made-up excuses when he broke his word to do one thing or another. I colluded in his lies, she thought, and I am ashamed.
On Sunday, lying in bed in her flat in Corduroy Mansions, she had been too dispirited to get up and had instead lain there rehearsing all the possible reasons for her dismissal. She could think of nothing, other than that Oedipus had simply grown tired of her and wanted a change. And when Dee had knocked at her door to see if she was all right, she had simply burst into tears, unable for a few minutes to say anything cogent. Nice, patient Dee; they had held hands, with Dee sitting at the edge of the bed comforting her as best she could.
“He what?” asked Dee. “He sacked you? Snark did?”
“Yes. He sacked me. I’ve lost my job.”
“But that’s ridiculous! You must be the most efficient assistant or whatever that there is. We all know that. Are you sure?”
Jenny nodded miserably. “Look, here’s the text.”
She reached for her mobile phone and brought up the text message she had received from Oedipus the previous day:
SORRY. JOB OVER. WILL PAY ONE WEEK’S SALARY IN LIEU. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING. OEDIPUS.
Dee read the message, her astonishment giving way to outrage. “Is he serious?” she said. “How can anyone …?”
“It’s the sort of thing he does,” said Jenny, taking the phone from her friend. “He’s horrible. He doesn’t care about anybody. He doesn’t care about me. He doesn’t care about the leader of his party, about the constituents, about the people who work for him in his constituency office. Nobody. We’re just disposable.”
“But why would he sack you? What’s he got to gain?”
Jenny shrugged. “He’s bored with me, I imagine. He thinks … well, I don’t like to say this, but he thinks that I show him up. He thinks that he knows everything and then he discovers that I’ve read books he’s never even heard of. Some men can’t take that.”
Dee nodded. “I knew somebody like that. He couldn’t bear the thought that a woman could have her own ideas and that these ideas could be better than his. There are a lot of men like that. We make them feel insecure if we show signs of knowing more than they do.” She paused. “Did he ever … did he ever make any moves? You know …”
Jenny frowned. “Moves?”
Dee explained further. “Did he ever make a pass at you?”
Jenny looked up at the ceiling. She could not recall Oedipus ever doing anything like that; he had shown no interest in her, she thought, as a woman. She had assumed that this was because he had that girlfriend of his, Barbara Ragg, but it could equally well have been because he was so narcissistic that he could only think of making a pass at himself. What had somebody said of him in a newspaper column somewhere? “If Snark were to be found covered in love bites they would surely be self-inflicted.”
She told Dee about this and they both laughed. Then she explained about her temporary job with William, starting the next day.
“Mr. French upstairs?” asked Dee. “But he’s lovely, Jenny. He’s the nicest man there is. You’ll be far happier with him.”
Dee went off to make them both a cup of tea and when she came back she discovered that Jenny was sitting up in bed and although her face was still puffy around the eyes from her tears, she was looking more cheerful.
“So, let’s not talk about him any more,” said Jenny. “I’ll get my own back some day.”
“Great,” said Dee. “And I’ll help you. Any ideas?”
“I’ll think.”
They drifted into pleasant, companionable conversation. Jenny was going to buy a new blouse that she had seen in a shop off Oxford Street. Dee approv
ed. Jenny was going to book a holiday to Tunisia online, for about three months’ time. Dee approved of that too.
“And you?” asked Jenny. “What about you, Dee?”
Dee looked at her watch. It was already half past eleven and there was no sign of Martin. They had agreed on eleven o’clock and everything was ready for the colonic irrigation session but he had simply not arrived.
“I was going to do colonic irrigation for somebody,” she said. “But he hasn’t turned up. He promised. It’s my assistant at the vitamin shop, Martin. You met him when you came in that day. Remember? That rather nice-looking boy.”
Jenny sipped at her tea and looked at her flatmate. “You were going to give Martin colonic irrigation?”
Dee nodded. “Yes. You see, when I looked at his eyes I saw flecks, which indicated toxins. You can always tell. He needs it.”
Jenny grimaced. “But … but do you think it’s a good idea to give colonic irrigation to somebody you work with? Especially if he’s a young man and you’re … well, you’re you. Don’t you think that …?”
“I don’t see what the problem is,” Dee retorted. “You know, people treat colonic irrigation with such suspicion—as if it were open heart surgery or something. It really isn’t. It’s simple, you know, you just—”
Jenny raised a hand. “I really don’t want to hear about it, Dee. Frankly, I don’t think it’s the sort of thing you should talk about. Vitamins, OK. Echinacea, OK. But colonic irrigation, that’s another thing altogether.”
“I don’t think so.”
“No, you obviously don’t. But think of it from the point of view of that poor young man. Here’s his boss—his boss, remember, even if it’s you—saying to him that she wants to take down his trousers and—”
“It’s not like that at all,” Dee said. “Colonic irrigation is not like that at all.”
“Well, he’s not here, is he?” snapped Jenny. “You’ve scared the poor boy, haven’t you? And who can blame him?”
“He’ll be grateful,” said Dee. “You’ll see. He just needs a bit of time, that’s all.”
59. Something to Do with Justice
WILLIAM WAS DELIGHTED with his new assistant.
“Our customers are quite sophisticated,” he explained to her as he showed her round the shop. “Buying wine is not like buying groceries. The enjoyment of wine is an aesthetic experience, you know. Wine is about place and the culture of place.”
Jenny looked at him anxiously. “I don’t really know much about wine, you know.”
“You don’t have to,” he said. “If somebody asks for a recommendation and you feel out of your depth, then simply say so. Refer them to me. And if I’m not here, suggest to them that they try something new, something that looks interesting to them. Say something like, ‘Well, you’re going to be the one who’s drinking it. What do you think?’ Something like that. Of course there are a few tried and tested expressions you can use. You can always talk about nose. Most wines can be said to have an interesting nose.” He smiled encouragingly. “Shall we have a little practice before the first customer comes in? I’ll be the customer and you be you. But you’ll be me, if you see what I mean.”
He adjusted his tie. “All right. Here we go. You say to me: ‘Can I help you with anything?’ Go on—you say that.”
Jenny took a deep breath. “Can I help you with anything?”
“Well, good morning. Yes, you can actually. I’m looking for something for a dinner party I’m going to be having. Can you recommend anything?”
She looked flustered. “Well …”
“Ask what I’m having,” whispered William.
Jenny complied. “What are you having?”
“I was thinking of a venison stew,” said William. “And maybe smoked salmon to begin with.”
Jenny thought quickly. “You’ll want white for the fish and … er, red for the venison.”
“Good, good,” whispered William. “But you need to be a bit more specific. Ask what sort of white I like.”
“What sort of white do you like?”
“Something clean.”
She stared at him.
“New Zealand,” he whispered. “You can’t go wrong with New Zealand.”
“I don’t think you can go wrong with New Zealand,” said Jenny.
William nodded. “Good, good. So you show me the New Zealand section over here. See? And then you wave a hand at the whites and you say: ‘Would you care to look over some of these?’ And I do, like that. And I choose this one, let’s say, and you say, ‘That’s very nice.’ Because it is. All the wines I stock are nice—so you won’t be telling a lie. And then you say, ‘As for the red, you’ll need something big for venison, don’t you think?’ And I’ll say, ‘Big? Yes, that would be nice.’ So you take me to the Bordeaux section over there and you wave your hand at that shelf—those are all big wines—and I choose one and, again, you say, ‘That’s very nice.’ You see how it is. Simple, isn’t it?”
He showed her the till and the way the credit card machine was operated. “Always turn your face away when customers put in their PIN,” said William. “Thus. You see? You must never watch them putting in their PIN.”
That was the end of her training, and she was launched. When the first customer came in, William deliberately held back and gave her a nod of encouragement. It was not difficult and by the time that William made her a mid-morning cup of coffee, she had competently attended to over ten customers, all of whom seemed pleased enough with her service.
Then, while she was drinking her coffee with William in the back office, her mobile phone rang. She glanced at the number on the screen just in case it was Oedipus—in which case she would not answer. But she did not recognise the number, so she answered.
“Jenny?”
She knew the voice immediately. Barbara Ragg—his girlfriend, poor woman. She saw her from time to time and sometimes took calls and messages for Oedipus from her. She quite liked Barbara, who could surely do far better, she thought, than Oedipus.
“Before you go any further, Barbara,” she said, “I don’t know if Oedipus has told you—I’m not working for him any longer.”
There was silence at the other end of the line. Eventually Barbara spoke. “Oh.”
Jenny debated with herself whether to say anything about the circumstances of her dismissal. Why not? It was nothing to do with Barbara, she knew, but perhaps it would be a good idea for her to know how her lover behaved.
“Yes. Oedipus sacked me over the weekend. On Saturday. He sent me a text. He sacked me by text message.”
There was a further silence at the other end of the line. Then: “By text? My God, Jenny! That’s … that’s hateful.” There was a pause. “And to think … Saturday. That’s the day I walked out on him. You didn’t know that, did you? I was phoning to tell you because I thought that you might get a very different version from you-know-who. I thought I’d set the record straight.”
Jenny’s heart gave a leap. “You dumped him? You dumped Oedipus?”
“Yes. You know we went down to Rye?”
“Yes, I put it in the diary.”
“Well, we were down there and the scales fell from my eyes. Over breakfast, to be precise. I was sitting there at the table and the scales fell from my eyes.”
“Well done.”
“And I feel much better. I can’t tell you how much better I feel. I’ve already met somebody else, by the way, but that’s another story. Now, look …”
William, listening to one side of the conversation but pretending not to, stared at the inside of his coffee cup. He had problems of his own—with Eddie, and, to an extent, with Marcia. And here were these two women talking about their own problems with that nasty Snark character. Was anybody’s life straightforward, he wondered, or did one have to go into a monastery for that? To be a monk and keep bees and make wine for the abbot and lead a life of quiet order and contemplation. Was it still possible, he wondered, or had the world become
too complicated, too frantic, to allow such peace of mind?
Jenny and Barbara finished their conversation. They would meet for lunch the following week. Barbara had a proposition that she wanted to put to Jenny. Something to do with Oedipus. Something to do with justice, she said.
60. Going Home
THE HOSPITAL AUTHORITIES in Cheltenham were doubtful at first, but there was pressure on beds and Terence Moongrove seemed to have made a remarkable recovery from his near-death experience.
“Ideally, we’d like to keep you under observation, Mr. Moongrove,” said the doctor who had attended him, “but you seem to be pretty bright and breezy. How would you feel about going home?”
“It’d suit me very well,” said Terence, sitting up in bed. “I feel fully restored, both in karma and in body.”
The doctor smiled. “I gather that your sister is staying with you at present. She told me that she’d see that everything is all right.”
“She’s very helpful,” said Terence. He could not think of any way in which Berthea was particularly helpful, but she had saved his life, he had to concede, and that was helpful, he supposed.
“Well then,” said the doctor. “I think we can probably discharge you. But you will be careful, won’t you? Electricity is very dangerous.”
“Oh, I know that,” said Terence. “What happened was … Well, it was an accident really. I think that there was something wrong with my car battery. I’ll get my garage man to get me a new one.”
Corduroy Mansions Page 21