Jubilate by Michael Arditti

Author:Michael Arditti [Michael Arditti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781906413989
Publisher: Arcadia Books Limited
Published: 2011-09-02T04:00:00+00:00

GILLIAN

Tuesday June 17

The basilica bells offer a welcome alternative to the brashness of the alarm; the fitful birdsong offers a welcome corrective to the measured bells. Reminding myself that I never sleep well in a strange bed, I stand and move to the window where an overemphatic stretch threatens to crick my back. Lourdes at seven in the morning looks eerily similar to Lourdes at seven at night. A nurse in a navy blue uniform walks down the path with a nun in a dove grey habit. An old man pushes an unseen passenger in a hooded wheelchair. A blonde girl in a dun-coloured blouse carries a furled banner towards the river.

I am distracted, first by a knock at the door and then by an elderly handmaiden who walks straight into the room without waiting for a reply. Should I be touched by the assumption of innocence or angered by the disregard? We sat next to her at the flight gate but, hard as I try, I cannot remember her name. Still, if she can ignore the niceties, so can I.

‘Good morning, my dear,’ she says.

‘Good morning. I’m afraid I’ve forgotten your name.’

‘Ruth,’ she says. ‘Plain and simple. When I was a girl, how I envied all the Angelicas and Antonias, but I’ve grown into a Ruth. Did you sleep well?’

‘Like a log,’ I say, effortlessly reverting to social mode.

‘I’ve come to collect your dirty sheets.’ I see her cast her eyes over the sleeping Richard and wonder whether she intends to drag him out of bed.

‘Oh!’ I say, surprised at the level of service. ‘I’d no idea you changed the sheets every day.’

‘Only the soiled ones.’

‘We don’t soil our sheets,’ I reply coldly.

‘Are you sure?’ She sounds unconvinced.

‘Quite. Richard has perfect control of his bladder, though not all his biological functions. And so have I.’

‘Splendid! You’re the kind of guests we like.’ She turns and walks out briskly. ‘Don’t forget, breakfast in half an hour.’

I watch in stunned silence as she leaves. Has my life been reduced to this? You can put out your best bedlinen for the Pattersons. No need for a mattress protector with the Pattersons. Count on the Pattersons for a stain-free weekend.

A second knock cuts short my ruminations. ‘Come in!’ I call, determined to give myself at least the illusion of choice. Two young brancardiers hover at the door, one of them the boy who behaved so oddly yesterday.

‘Morning,’ the other says, with breezy confidence. ‘I’m Matt; this is Kevin. We’ve come to help.’

‘How amazing!’ I say. ‘You wouldn’t get this level of service at the Ritz.’

‘I’ve never been to the Ritz,’ Kevin says.

‘Neither have I.’

‘Then how do you know?’

‘Leave it out, Kev,’ Matt says.

‘Just a turn of phrase.’

‘We’ve come to help Mr Patterson get ready,’ Matt says.

‘Really? That’s very kind but quite unnecessary. We manage perfectly well by ourselves.’

‘He’s on the list.’

‘Then I suggest you cross him off it. He might react badly. He’s not used to being touched by men.’

‘Can’t have gone to a Catholic boarding school,’ Kevin says, with disturbing flippancy.

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