Straight White Male by John Niven

Author:John Niven [Niven, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2013-08-14T21:00:00+00:00

THIRTY

THE FALCON’S REST was a little over a mile down the road, pretty much equidistant between the house and campus. The moment he walked in, Kennedy – a veteran of public houses, an authority on bars and inns – knew this would be his local.

Reassuringly busy without being crowded, a strong smell of woodsmoke from the log fire burning in the grate, no music playing, what looked to be a phenomenal selection of local ales on draught, a decent if unspectacular range of malts behind the bar, a restaurant through the back, the day’s menu listed on a chalkboard above the fire (a couple of pies, steak, chops, fish, solid unpretentious stuff), and, importantly, what looked and sounded to be a broad mix of ages and social types at the bar: from ruddy-faced, tweedy retired judges, to plumbers and plasterers, to a couple of well-heeled, well-kept middle-aged women hunched over a bottle of Malbec. Kennedy got the round in (a pint of Kingsland Pale Ale and a large Laphroiag chaser for him, a gin and tonic for Millie and a half lager shandy for Robin. He told the barmaid – a very doable tattooed Australian girl – to keep the change from the twenty) and they found a table in the corner in a window bay.

‘Chee—,’ Kennedy began, raising his frothing pint.

‘Oh, there’s Clarissa!’ Robin said, getting up and disappearing across the bar, to where a blonde girl about her age was at the dartboard with a boy a little older.

‘Fucking, Clarissa, is it?’ Kennedy said sourly. ‘The parents big Richardson fans, are they? Don’t they know how it ended for that slag?’

‘Clarissa Drummond. They go to school together. Her dad’s head of the English Department.’

‘Oh yeah, Dennis Drummond the writer.’

‘Well,’ Millie said

‘Cheers.’ Kennedy knocked the dimpled mug against her G&T. ‘So, what’s happening? What’s new? God,you look well, Millie, did I say that already? How’s your love life?’

‘None of your bloody business.’

‘Fair enough.’

‘Have you rung Patrick yet?’

‘Yes! Fucking hell, I just got in yesterday. I need to –’

‘You need to go and see your mum, Kennedy, that’s what you need to be doing.’

‘I know, I know. I’m on it. I’m going to get Angela to look into flights and hotels and whatnot on Monday.’

‘Angela? I . . . she’s your academic assistant, Kennedy. She’s not some Hollywood dogsbody who’s going to be picking up your dry-cleaning, shopping for your Christmas gifts and booking your bloody travel.’

‘I’m sure we can come to an arrangement. What can she earn anyway?’

‘Jesus.’

‘I’m kidding. I’m perfectly capable of booking a fucking flight, you know.’

Millie snorted. ‘Oh yeah – the man who thought water was free. Who thought the government just sent you a tax disc for the car as part of paying your income tax. Who –’

‘OK, OK. Anyway, come on and fill me in now. Who are the good guys? At the university, I mean.’

‘I think, given the manner of your arrival, you’ll be struggling to find any fans.’

‘It wasn’t my fault!’

‘It never is, Kennedy.

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.