Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012

Author:Gray, Alasdair [Gray, Alasdair]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857865625
Publisher: Canongate Books
Published: 2012-11-14T23:00:00+00:00

She replaces the spectacles, takes her glass to his table and sits quietly opposite. He stares at her in a confused way, then says without enthusiasm, “Oh hullo. You made it,” and adds reproachfully, “You should not have bought that drink. The treat must be on me. Waiter!” With a sweep of the arm he summons one of the bar staff and orders two whisky liqueurs.

“But –” says Ella, who dislikes whisky in any form.

“No buts tonight! This calls for a celebration. You must be wondering why I asked you here.”

“No.”

“Surely almost total strangers don’t ask you out every night of the week?”

“On the phone you sounded as if you needed to talk to someone. I thought you were lonely.”

“Ella! How can you think so little of yourself? Ella, we hardly exchanged two words at that party but you havequalities men – some men – find unforgettable.”

“What qualities?” asks Ella, interested but not overwhelmed. She knows most men see her as a nice young aunt.

“Oh your hair, your voice, your ... the bits matter less than the way they fit together.”

The waiter brings two glasses of liqueur. Leo pays him, lifts one then frowns into it as though it is far too deep. After a moment he puts it down and drinks the beer instead. It occurs to Ella that he too dislikes whisky liqueur. She says, “Is something wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“One moment you’re excited, the next you’re flat and dull.”

“I keep remembering a dream I had last night.”

Ella, highly excited, cries, “I had a dream last night! Can I tell you about it?”

“Go ahead.”

As Ella talks her mild face grows vivacious. He watches it closely, without pleasure.

“I was walking along a road in the country, it was a dull ordinary day and I was worrying about my exams when I suddenly felt this warm golden light shining down on me from behind. I didn’t dare turn and look but I knew, I knew that a huge golden aeroplane was sweeping after me in the sky and the warm happy feeling came from that. I knew the aeroplane was the Concorde.”

Leo drinks the last of his beer and says, “Well?”

“That’s all but it left me feeling happy all day. What did you dream?”

“There was a stone head on my sitting-room floor, about six feet high, a piece of a statue of an Egyptian king. It should have been hollow but it was stuffed full of dirty rags and I was trying to pull them out through the mouth with my hands and then I realized there was ... the corpse of some animal in the middle. I couldn’t go on. I tried to cram the rest of the dirt back in but it wouldn’t go in.”

He pauses then says with vast indignation, “The whole room was an utter mess!”

She shudders and says, “No wonder you’re depressed.”

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