There but for The_ A Novel - Ali Smith [97]
the laughing, you sang it really beautifully. It’s just the thought, the thought of a herd of deer standing on a hillside knowing who we’ll marry. He laughed a bit more then he wiped at his eyes. Oh dear, he said. Oh God. You’ve actually been in here for a very long time, Brooke said. It’s very small for such a long time, do you not want to come out of here? Could I? Mr. Garth said. I don’t see why not, Brooke said, I mean, I think so. What I mean is, it’s not as if there’s very much a person can do to keep himself or herself occupied in here. Oh, I don’t know, I’ve been pretty busy, Mr. Garth said and he showed her how many miles he’d done on the exercise bike speedo, which said 3,015.78 miles, so that meant nearly 3,016. Yes but this bike was in the room before you came into it and there must have been some mileage on it already, Brooke said. I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, Mr. Garth said, there were six and a half miles on it when I first sat on its seat, I cannot tell a lie. Then Brooke said, that’s funny, you’ve done all those miles, and Miles is also your first name, Miles by name and miles by nature! It’s true, Mr. Garth said. His cuffs were frayed and there was a tear in his shirt at the hem. I’m a vegetarian too now, Brooke said so he wouldn’t think she was judging him for his clothes being a bit torn, because she was pretty sure he noticed her seeing that they were. Then she asked him if he would like a cup of tea. I would really like that, he said, I haven’t had a cup of tea in months. Do you want to come down to the kitchen while I make you one? Brooke said but he said no, I’ll just stay here if you don’t mind, but thank you. Will I shut the door? she said and he said yes please. But when she came to the top of the stairs with the mug of tea he’d opened the door again by himself and he was actually standing in the open doorway, he was actually almost in the hall. He was looking a bit tired. Behind him she could hear all the noise of the people outside. It sounded funny in the stairwell now that the door was open. They went back into the room and Mr. Garth just kind of stood with his arms at his sides. Brooke said, will I shut the door again? and Mr. Garth nodded. Then he sat on the bike again and held his tea in his hands with his arms on the handlebars and Brooke sat on the floor and told him about the time she and her mother and father had gone to Greece and stayed in a hotel apartment place on an island and about how the old man whose family owned the apartment place would always sit outside right next to the main road all day on a white plastic chair, and that he always said hello when they went past to town and came back from town. But this one day we went out in the morning, Brooke said, there was this dead dog in the road that had been hit by a car, and it was quite a big dog. And the man was sitting there watching the road, only now it was as if he was watching the dead dog just lying in the road right in front of him. So he maybe even saw the dog get hit, but now he was just sitting and watching, I mean, why would he not take the dog off the road and put it at the side, even, so it wouldn’t keep getting hit? Because when we came back from the town and from going to the supermarket the dog was flattened right into the road in some parts of it like its legs and tail. It is weird what people do. Yes, Mr. Garth said. It’s very mysterious. Mr. Garth spoke very slowly. I mean, I know the dog was obviously already dead anyway, duh, Brooke said, but it is kind of horrible to think of it getting run over and over again by all the other cars all day. And what if it was a dog he knew? I don’t mean his own dog, I mean like if it was a dog he had patted or that he knew the name of? Mr. Garth nodded and shrugged. He took a sip out of the mug and he flinched. Oh! I forgot if you wanted sugar, Brooke said and jumped up to go and get some from downstairs. I don’t, but thank you very much indeed, Mr. Garth said, it is really kind of you, but I think I was just surprised at it being