The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut

Author:Damon Galgut [Galgut, Damon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780851891723
Publisher: Atlantic Books Ltd
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

10

When I got back to the hospital that night I could see him inside the office – on duty, sitting at the desk. But although he must have heard my car pull in, he didn’t come to the window to look. And I didn’t go in to see him.

I didn’t feel guilt; not then. The guilt came later, slowly, like a dark seed starting to sprout. What I felt that night was a kind of perverse closeness to him, as if an agreement had been fulfilled: as if the contract was between him and me, and she was the instrument.

I saw him the next morning when he came in. He looked tired and drawn, but he wasn’t going to bed. He shaved and showered and dressed in clean clothes. Then he asked – but casually, in an offhand way – how last night had been.

‘Oh, okay. We sat at Mama’s and had dinner. Nothing too exciting.’

‘Thanks for helping me, Frank. You’re a real friend.’

I don’t know why I said nothing about the Brigadier. That part of the evening didn’t reflect on me. But when I saw her with Laurence a bit later, before she set out to drive back to Lesotho, I knew that she hadn’t told him about it either. It was odd, but the angry intimacy of the end of the evening seemed to have begun in the forbidden garden on the hill.

‘Thank you for keeping me company,’ she said, holding out a hand. ‘It was good to meet you.’

So formal, so nice. Her face was closed and neutral. I shook her hand, but our eyes didn’t meet, and when the time came for her to leave I kept myself busy in the office.

Laurence went out with her. He was back five minutes later, looking thoughtful and preoccupied, but I could still feel him glancing at me from time to time. It was as though he could see the infidelity in my face. But my expression was calm and clean; I had learned with Claudia how to conceal betrayal.

By the time night came I knew what I wanted to do. I got into my car and drove through town to a telephone booth on the far side. There were other telephones I could’ve used, one right at the hospital, but somehow this lonely spot, at the very edge of things, was the most suitable place to hear her voice.

‘I don’t know why I’m calling,’ I said.

‘Who is this?’

‘Cast your mind back. We’re still married to each other, technically speaking.’

‘Frank? Oh! Frank!’

She sounded so joyful that for a moment everything seemed possible again.

‘Karen,’ I said. ‘You’ve been on my mind.’

‘I’ve been thinking about you too, Frank. This is such a coincidence! I’ve been going to call you. To tell you that the agreement’s ready now. You can come and sign it.’

My mind was so far from this subject that it took me a few seconds to understand that she was talking about our divorce agreement, the dissolution of our marriage.

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