Espresso Tales - Alexander Hanchett Smith [37]
Chapter title
23. An Astonishing Revelation Is Almost Made Bertie sat quietly in the waiting room, paging through a magazine. He hated it when his mother went in for what she described as her “few quick words” with Dr Fairbairn. To begin with, it would be more than a few words, and they were never quick –
she would be ages, he thought – and then he knew that they were discussing him, and he resented that.
Dr Fairbairn had promised him that he would not tell his mother about that list he had made him write down, but Bertie was sure that he would do just that, and would in all probability show it to her too. Dr Fairbairn was simply too unstable to be trusted, Bertie thought, and it astonished him that nobody had yet noticed just how dangerous he was. They would find out one of these days, of course, when Dr Fairbairn finally attacked one of his patients, and then he would be able to say that he had seen it all along. But until then nobody would listen to him.
Bertie turned the pages of his magazine, an old copy of Scottish Field. He liked this magazine, because it had pictures of people fishing and advertisements for waterproof clothing, for fishing tackle, and for multi-bladed penknives. Bertie had seen an article on how to tie a fly, and had been fascinated by what he had read. He could try that, perhaps, if only somebody would teach him – which of course they never would. He imagined that that was the sort of thing one learned at Watson’s, with boys like Jock; and what fun it would be to cut up the little bits of feather and then tie them together to resemble a fly. That would be far more fun than cutting up old copies of the Guardian to make chains of paper men.
Bertie found himself perusing the social section, at the end of the magazine. He studied the pictures carefully. The life depicted there looked such fun. There had been a vintage-car rally, and a party afterwards, and the people were standing about their old cars, drinking glasses of champagne, their motoring glasses pushed over the brow of their heads. They were handsome, exciting-looking people, and the cars were so beautiful; An Astonishing Revelation Is Almost Made
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unlike our car, thought Bertie – and we don’t even know where our car is parked.
He stared at the people in the photograph. A tall man was smiling at the camera – that was Mr Roddy Martine, it said underneath. It would be wonderful to be as tall as that, thought Bertie. Nobody would try to push Mr Roddy Martine over, thought Bertie; they wouldn’t dare. And next to him was a kindlooking man with a moustache – Mr Charlie Maclean, it said. He was holding a fishing rod and smiling. What fun they were all having, thought Bertie. At least there are some people in Scotland who can have some fun. Perhaps Mr Charlie Maclean had a son, he thought, and I could meet him and he could be my friend, as Jock so nearly was. There was no photograph of Dr Fairbairn, Bertie observed, nor one of anybody he knew. Even Mr Dalyell, that nice man he had met in Valvona and Crolla, was not pictured here. Bertie sighed.
Inside the consulting room, Irene sat in the chair so recently vacated by Bertie. She looked at Dr Fairbairn and noticed his tie. She always noticed his clothes – the lightweight blue linen jacket, perfectly pressed in spite of linen being such a difficult material. And the tie, with its enigmatic decoration; of course that was just right: life was a quest, and why should ties not reflect the fact?
“Linen’s so difficult,” she said. “How on earth do you manage to keep your jacket so uncrumpled? Linen defeats me.”
Dr Fairbairn smiled; a modest smile, thought Irene. There was nothing triumphalist about Dr Fairbairn, even if he had the insights.
“This is a mixture, actually,” said the psychotherapist. “It’s mostly linen, but they’ve added an artificial fibre – just a little. It makes all the difference. I hardly have to iron this jacket.”
“I must get the details,” said Irene. “I have a linen top which looks just like Auden’s face.”
“After the geological catastrophe?” asked