My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley

Author:Gwendoline Riley [Gwendoline Riley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783783281
Publisher: Granta Books
Published: 2021-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

More little plates were set down. Some more wine was poured. My mother fixed on the waiter as he filled her glass. Her hands were in loose little fists on the table.

‘So how’s Manchester’s buzzing arts scene?’ I said.

‘Oh. Well …’ she said.

‘Any new talent to report?’ I said, brightly.

‘Well, yes,’ she said, ‘funny you should ask. There has been a little bit of drama, although, well, I don’t know.’

‘Go on.’

‘Well, bit of back story … For years, when I’ve been out at various events I’ve seen this very nice man who seems to know everybody but who did seem to be single and not gay. Now I knew his name was Malc because I had overheard people say Oh, hi Malc. He always wears a blue spotted neck scarf and he looks a bit like, well, a gypsy, I suppose you’d say.’

‘So – cut to – just before Christmas. I was going to this Festive Fun drinks do at the Castlefield Gallery. Only at the last minute Michelle said she’d come with me, because we were on the phone and she said what are you up to. So. Off we go. Only we’d no sooner got our drinks and started, you know, mingling, than Malc, who, as I say, had never noticed I existed before, was suddenly sort of hailing us. Waving at us as if we were his long-lost relatives! Well, as it turned out, it was Michelle he was hailing, because that pub she worked in when she was a student was his local, down in Salford. So he remembered her from there.’

‘That was good luck,’ I said. ‘You had an in.’

‘I had an in, yes! And, yes, we just spent the whole night chatting, then. Just, you know, like a house on fire.’

‘Am I sensing there’s a but on the horizon?’

‘Well you are, yes, there was. So – a few weeks later, picture the scene,’ she said, ‘I was at this talk at the Whitworth, and I had thought he might be there, because I’ve seen him there before, and I walk in and there he was, so I sort of went over and stood near where he was standing, and then, you know, acted casual, but – no reaction, so finally I just said “Oh, hello,” and – nothing. Just a total blank face. So I said, “I’m Michelle’s mum.” “Oh!” he said. “That’s right! Michelle’s Mum” and he asked if Michelle was with me, and I said No, and then there was just total silence. No, you know, How have you been? Or, What have you been up to? Nothing.’

‘Oh dear,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘and then I sort of stayed standing in his area after the talk, you know, by the coffee urn, and a couple of other people came over then, friends of his I suppose, and because I was standing there, they looked at me like “who’s this?” and so he said, “And this is Michelle’s Mum.”’

‘That’s a bit rude.’

‘Yes. And I said, “It’s Hen,” but no one listened.

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.