Black Chalk by Christopher J. Yates

Author:Christopher J. Yates [Yates, Christopher J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250075567
Publisher: Picador

* * *

XLIII(iii) Dearest Dee, I am a man of my word. Of course I will hold on to your book. I will treasure it, I will read every word. And I feel deeply honoured.

Please, no more apologies for what happened in the past between us. What happened was the result of misfortune. Misfortune and Chad. Let us look only to the future.

And I have a request of my own. Surely now we can meet. You will read this at noon. Perhaps we can see each other in the evening.

I know the perfect place. Tompkins Square Park at the end of this block. Toward the middle of the park there is a grassy knoll where the sunbathers tan themselves until the light shrinks away. Near the grassy knoll is a tall evergreen that looks like a Christmas tree. They string frost-coloured lights all around it each year and, lit up, it looks just like the Chrysler Building. If you say yes, we could meet beside the Christmas tree at six. What do you think?

Jolyon

* * *

While I am reading Dee’s letter over and over, I realise there is something very important I have to do.

Occasionally, out from the gloom of a hangover, enlightenment shines. Ideas are shaken, disparate thoughts come together, linear turns lateral. And when I read Dee’s words for a third time – pearls before swine – epiphany strikes.

I hurry downstairs to my building’s lobby where the lazier leafleters drop delivery menus or wedge cards into the cracks of the mailboxes. I find what I need, return to my apartment and dial the number.

And now everything is arranged. Early tomorrow. The car will pick me up at six in the morning.

* * *

XLIV(i) Someone had pushed a note under Chad’s bedroom door, a message from the liaison officer, a summons to an urgent meeting early the next day.

When Chad emerged from his dressing-down, he felt the usual sense of shame. The heat in his cheeks and his forearms itching. The liaison officer had shouted at him for some time, his voice straining like the wail of an old gramophone record. He claimed Chad had let everyone down. Yet the punishment was hardly severe, a housing probation. ‘Another offence and your place in that house will be curtains!’ But nothing would be marked down on Chad’s record. ‘You’re an exceedingly lucky young man – I strongly considered a large fine. Fortunately for you no formal complaints have been brought.’

Lucky for me and lucky for you, thought Chad, as he climbed down the staircase out into front quad.

As the shame subsided, Chad began to detect another sensation, some small sense of warmth. Maybe even inflation. Was this the worst shame could do to him? Today really was another day. And yes, it truly did all seem better in the morning. For the first time in his life those clichéd words made sense to him.

Front quad was glistening with morning dew.

Perhaps it was like exercising a muscle, you had to work that muscle so hard that you damaged its cells.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.