Insignificance by James Clammer

Author:James Clammer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Coach House Books

10

Silent, still, quivering inside, it was a nice kind of quivering, the kind that fills you up, the woman Alison Forbes waited upon a soft-seated chair in the cool of the travel agency. Open on her lap was a brochure, the pictures digitally enhanced she knew, taken early in the morning before the crowds arrived, that’s how it works, in car adverts you never see other cars, in holiday brochures you never see tourists, the footworn paths of the planet must be given a lonely and adventuresome appearance if the customer is to be parted successfully from their money. Over our narrative Alison’s hovered, a cloud in the sky, a charge in the atmosphere, for a time we wondered if she would arrive at all, now in this old-fashioned office the moment’s here and the first thing we notice about her is the bristling forearm hairs which might be stirring in reaction to the large electric fan that’s sweeping the room with cooler air or might, alternatively, be responding to this inside-quivering. In any case we may be sure the exotic places depicted in her travel brochure have some part of it, they’ve got her full attention. There’s hardly anyone else in the travel agency right now, they’re all too busy being on holiday to book a holiday, if only they’d known about the heatwave maybe they wouldn’t have bothered, yet despite choosing the timing of her visit well Alison still has to wait, office work, admin, is keeping the travel agents busy. But that’s OK, it’s good to be alive, to feel this artificial breeze on your arms, to consider the temples and basilicas, the colourful rock formations and anciently ruined walls and the decision they present her with, a decision which in truth is only a shield for the larger decision she realizes she’s going to have to make, sooner, later, sometime, never.

One particular line in the brochure she pondered. If you select to share a twin room when booking but have no one to share with we will try to pair you up with someone of the same gender in the group. About this she wanted to ask, the single room supplement was £399, ever such a lot, the holiday, the trip, she dared hardly utter the other word, pilgrimage, even to herself, was expensive enough as it was. Well, she was only here to make enquiries, find things out in general, no decision had been made yet, no detailed budgeting done. But she wished Joe would message her. In his direction she sent a stream of good wishes, not vocal prayers because they were something else but a pulsation of blessings, out of the door of the travel agent’s they flew, across town to the house where she knew he was working and then in at whichever aperture they might best be received into his soul, which was everlasting. Today was quite the milestone and she hoped it was going well for him. Of course Joe

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