The Dedalus Book of Spanish Fantasy by Margaret Jull Costa (ed) & Annella McDermott (ed)

Author:Margaret Jull Costa (ed) & Annella McDermott (ed) [Costa, Margaret Jull & McDermott, Annella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: literary criticism, SF, anthology, fantasy, history
Amazon: B0040702LQ
Publisher: Dedalus Limited
Published: 1999-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

In the second week of May, Berta had to go on a trip to negotiate a tender. She was growing more and more fed up with the company and the jockeying for position in the office. Also, she believed that she was liable to be the loser in the constant wars, because the other potential directors were all men and the one thing they seemed to agree on, concerning the changes in the wake of the reorganisation, was that she was not in line for any promotion.

The trip was awkward in some ways, because she was going to North Africa, a journey involving stopovers and waiting for connections, and Berta was eager to get it over as quickly as possible; she planned to leave on Thursday morning and be back by Friday evening.

She went off very early, and that night he missed her sorely. After one failed marriage and a few unsatisfactory affairs, this relationship, in spite of the problems that had been making Berta so edgy in the last few months, had given him a balance he had never found before, and introduced him to a more regular lifestyle. He drank a lot less, the only thing he smoked were cigarettes, he was up to date with his reading, he was meeting all his deadlines and he had even lost the rage he used to feel, the bitterness that would rise in him as he saw the days and months pass without him being able to write a story. The sight of her undisturbed bed upset him so much that he ended up sleeping on the sofa in the living room, like a guest invited to stay the night.

Berta called him the next day, just after lunch, as he was on his way out. Apparently there were high winds in Melilla and it was likely that all flights that afternoon would be cancelled. Her voice sounded tired. She couldn't come home yet.

`What are you going to do?' he asked, disguising the sudden unease that the news had aroused in him.

`I don't know. There's a boat leaving at eleven o'clock at night.'

`A boat??

`It goes to Malaga, and I'd have to get a plane from there. But it's an all-night crossing, and they say the sea is rough as well.'

Silence separated them as though the line had been cut.

`Berta, Berta,' he said urgently.

'I'm here.'

`What about tomorrow?'

`There are several flights, but the high winds may continue and the planes will still be unable to take off. Don't worry about me,' she finally added, `I'm fine. I'll read a couple of detective novels.'

`Call me the minute you have some news,' he replied, and she rang off with a promise that she would.

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.