The Fall Guy by James Lasdun

Author:James Lasdun
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

nine

An hour later he was still there, his limbs stiffened into position as if he’d been turned to stone, his mind a near-blank. Chloe had left, driven off to her cousin, but Grollier was still down there, sprawled naked on the love seat.

Matthew stared down at him. If what he had seen had extinguished any lingering hopes concerning the extent of Chloe’s involvement with this man, what he’d heard had spread a deeper, more insidious ruin. It was so disturbing, in fact, that for some time he couldn’t bring himself to summon any of it back. He was in a state of benumbed shock. Only some minor functionary of consciousness continued about its business, assessing the practicalities of the situation in a businesslike way: catching the far-off strains of someone’s imitation of a Hendrix guitar solo, observing that Grollier would have to leave soon if he was going to make it to the fireworks, noting unexcitedly that this would make his own exit from the house possible.

Grollier stretched and yawned. A smile appeared on his face and he rotated his shaggy head slowly from side to side as if in disbelief at something. Pushing down onto the love seat, he hauled himself up and padded off. Light appeared from the bedroom and Matthew heard drawers being opened and closed. He was getting dressed to go out, surmised the same detached mental functionary. Dully, Matthew projected forward; saw himself finally able to move again, slipping out of the house, driving back up the mountain, continuing with his life. The evening would take its place in the chain of significant episodes that had given his existence its singular character, and there would be no more possibility of forgetting it than there had been any of the others. At the same time it would make no practical difference to anything.

But he was mistaken about Wade getting dressed. The man was still naked when he returned to the living room, and now he began ferrying odds and ends back to the bedroom. It became apparent that he was simply continuing with his packing.

He was flying out to Indonesia tomorrow—Matthew had gleaned this from the post-coital talk—interrupting his stay at the house in order to salvage an agreement with an orangutan wrangler. Or no, not the post-coital talk: this part had actually come mid-coitus. They’d had a lull during which Wade had reiterated what appeared to have been an earlier attempt to persuade Chloe to go to Indonesia with him. She’d told him, with all too evident reluctance, that it was impossible, and the renewed sense of imminent separation had started them up again. “Don’t come,” she’d said as Wade’s groans began to indicate critical levels of excitement.

“Say something unsexy, then,” he’d muttered.

“Okay. Tell me what you thought about Charlie’s cousin.”

So that Matthew had been compelled to hear himself discussed, this time without the refuge of gaps in the conversation by way of intermittent relief. He could feel the exchange in its entirety now, pressing

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.