Therapy by David Lodge

Author:David Lodge
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781446496671
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2017-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

STELLA? … IT’S LOUISE … Hi! … Oh fine. How about you? … Oh. I thought you sounded depressed on the answerphone … Yeah, look I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you before, but I’ve been so busy you wouldn’t believe … Meetings meetings meetings … Yeah, it’s the same movie, only now it’s called Switchback. You know what they say about Hollywood, everything takes either five minutes or five years, and this baby looks like it’s gonna be a five-year pain in the ass. Anyway, why are you in the pits? … Uh huh … Uh huh … I kinda guessed … Listen, sweetheart, you won’t thank me for saying this right now, but honestly you’re better off without him … Sure I never liked him, but was I right or was I right? Didn’t I say, never trust a man who wears a gold cross round his neck? … He exploited you, honey … As soon as you’d like paid for his root-canal work, and the acting lessons, he dumped you … Well, of course you feel that way now, but you’ll get over it, trust me, I’ve been there. Wait a minute, I got another call. Don’t go away …

Hi. That was Nick, calling from New York, just to say hallo … Yeah, just for a few days. He’s got this client who’s opening a play off-Broadway. Say, Stella, you want me to take your mind off your troubles with this really weird thing that happened to me yesterday? … OK, kick off your shoes and put your feet up and lend me your ears …

It was about six o’clock yesterday evening. I’d just come in from a meeting at Global Artists, and showered and changed and was wondering whether to fix myself something to eat or call Sushi Express, when the phone rings and I hear this British voice saying, “Hallo, Louise, this is Laurence Passmore.” Laurence Passmore? Like the name means nothing to me, and I don’t recognize the voice. So I say, “Oh yes?” in a neutral kinda way, and the guy gives a nervous little giggle and says, “I suppose this is what disc-jockeys call a blast from the past.” “Do I know you?” I say, and there’s like a pained silence for about a minute and then he says, “The people next door? Four years ago?” and the penny drops. This is the guy who created the original British version of Who’s Next Door? Yeah. It’s called The People Next Door over there. When I was working for Mediamax they bought the rights, and he came over from England as like a consultant on the pilot, and I was assigned to look after him. But like the name “Laurence” hadn’t rung a bell. “Didn’t you have a different name, then?” I asked him. “Tubby,” he said. “Tubby Passmore, of course,” I said. He came into sharper focus at once: fiftyish, balding, stocky build. He was a nice guy. Kinda shy, but nice.

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