Danny Boy by Barry Walsh

Author:Barry Walsh [Walsh, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-10-27T17:00:00+00:00

23

At a quarter to four on Sunday, Danny called Linda from the phone box on the estate. ‘Just ringing to say I might be a few minutes late.’

‘It’s OK Danny, they’ve gone,’ said Linda.

Stung at being sussed, he said, ‘I was only trying to be polite.’

‘Oh, no one could say that you’re not polite, Danny Byrne.’

Or, as Cordelia had said, law-abiding.

‘Glad you think so,’ he lied.

In the silence that followed, he hoped she was thinking that trading clever comments wasn’t how girlfriends and boyfriends behaved.

‘Well, come as soon as you can,’ she said.

She opened the front door, wearing blue slacks and a white blouse. She glanced along the balcony and surprised him with a kiss on the cheek before leading him inside.

‘Sit down, tea’s nearly ready,’ she said, and went into the kitchen. He chose the sofa; it looked comfortable and, unlike cinema seats, had no separating armrests.

Linda came in and put the tray down on the glass coffee table. Teapot, cups, saucers, cutlery, plates, and a fat Victoria sponge. A red rose pattern smothered the china teacups, whose handles looked as if just holding would snap them.

‘Blimey, this is genteel.’

‘What?’

‘I mean, nice.’

‘I made the cake,’ she said.

‘What, yourself?’

She closed her eyes. ‘No, the cook and the maid gave me a hand.’

Although stung, he was impressed that someone so sharp, so trendy, could also be so domesticated.

‘No, I meant it looks so good.’

‘Why shouldn’t it?’

He gave up. Why indeed?

He pointed at the cups. ‘They’re nice. We use mugs, this is like being in a restaurant.’

‘I suppose so,’ she said, less in agreement, more to confirm their differences.

She sat close to him and poured the tea. Her proximity had his scrotum tightening and his appetite for cake diminishing. Next would come the balancing of teacups on their laps but he couldn’t wait. He took her shoulders and swivelled her towards him.

She pushed him away. ‘Do you take milk?’

He didn’t know anyone who didn’t.

‘Yes, please.’

She poured the milk in second. Was this posher than putting it in first, as he did at home?

‘Sugar?’

‘Please.’

‘Help yourself.’ He spooned in two heaps from the bowl and stirred in the sweetness. Only then did he notice the unused teaspoon in his saucer. Flustered, he hoped he’d retrieved matters by putting the dry one in the sugar bowl.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Linda kindly but her look of ‘surely you can do better’ made him feel no better. Next, she cut a large wedge of sponge and handed it to him on a plate. He put his tea back on the tray, waited till she’d served herself, picked up the cake and bit into it.

‘This is delicious,’ he said, with his mouth half-full, hoping a compliment might compensate for etiquette failure.

‘Thank you,’ she said, and began eating her slice with one of the small forks that sat on the tray. Danny was grateful that her mother wasn’t there to witness such a lack of refinement. Linda said nothing but he sensed she was too much her mother’s daughter not to be tutting inwardly.

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