Never Somewhere Else by Alex Gray

Author:Alex Gray [Gray, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781841976082
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Howes
Published: 2001-12-31T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

Martin slid a handful of coins into the Big Issue seller’s mittened hand then strode through the archway to Royal Exchange Square. Canopies over the smart shops and restaurants fluttered in the wind as he made his way round to the front entrance of GOMA. At one time the building had housed the Stirling Library, a reference library which had become a refuge for vagabond students and city derelicts alike. Right outside, the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington was the butt of playful citizens who regularly crowned His Grace with an orange and white traffic cone. Now the area was pedestrianised and the neo-classical building was Glasgow’s home for the Gallery of Modern Art, its acronym part of the city’s vernacular. The exhibits had attracted much attention, and had polarised opinion at first, but now it was accepted as just one more facet of the city’s complex personality.

Jayne Morganti was waiting for Martin in the top-floor restaurant. She had chosen a table by the window and sat gazing over the city rooftops, one arm flung out across the back of her chair. Martin paused for a moment and grinned at the picture she made. She was striking a similar pose to Adrian Wisniewski’s mural figures whose elongated limbs created graceful arcs above the diners. Deliberate or subliminal? he wondered to himself, taking the stairs two at a time to the upper floor.

‘Darling!’ Jayne mouthed two large kisses in the direction of Martin’s cheeks as he bent his large frame over her. ‘Thank God it’s not busy! I can’t stand it when there’s a crowd of school children squishing these revolting little sachets of sauce over their chips!’

‘Ha! So much for taking art into the classroom, then.’

‘Oh, they’re welcome to come in and look around, darling, I just wish this place could be a bit more civilised at times.’

Martin glanced around at the brightly coloured walls and ceiling and thought there was something rather abandoned about the sprawl of figures whose youthful faces were turned aside as if hearing something in another distant landscape.

‘Maybe they should put up a sign: GROWN UPS ONLY.’

‘If only.’

As Jayne raised her eyes to heaven, a tall mini-skirted waitress appeared and took their orders for drinks. Martin settled his long legs under the table.

‘Well now,’ began Jayne briskly, ‘to what do I owe this lovely lunch invitation? I take it you want to pick my brains about something, mm?’ As she tilted her head to one side, her long silver earrings caught a sudden shaft of sunlight.

‘They’re nice.’ Martin’s finger circled his ear meaningfully.

‘Oh, them.’ A red fingernail caressed the silver. ‘My assegais.’

‘Your what?’

‘Assegais. You know. Tribal spears. That’s what they’re based on anyhow. Actually,’ she broke off to look Martin straight in the eye, ‘I wore them especially for you.’

‘Oh! Not trying to make a conquest of me, by any chance?’

‘Behave yourself. I’m not into toyboys any more, and anyway, you’re far too tall to suit me. No. I wore them because they were one of Lucy’s designs.

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