EPISODE FORTY-FIVE
Nicky and Savita decided to take
full advantage of the situation with Malcolm, so instead of hurrying back to the
office they window-shopped in the Victoria Centre for a while, then had a
buffet lunch at a new Chinese restaurant.
When they returned to the office in the afternoon, other staff members
stared at them, and it was obvious they had been the subject of office gossip.
Savita
didn’t care, without bothering to knock, she marched boldly into Malcolm’s
office, followed by Nicky. Malcolm was
on the telephone.
‘Er...listen,
Roger, something important has just cropped up.
As in crisis. Can I call you back
in half-an-hour? Okay. Speak to you
later, mate.’
He
hung up, then stared hard at Savita, his eyes glassy and remote, trying to
conceal the hatred he felt for her. She
let the silence stretch excruciatingly before she spoke.
‘You’re
off the hook,’ she said. ‘Nicky felt
sorry for you. Though I can’t think why,
you fat slug.’
Ignoring
her insult, he looked towards Nicky, and mumbled, ‘Thanks, Nicky.
So what happens now?
Where do we go from here?’
Nicky
pursed her lips and thought about it.
‘Well, we had a two hour lunch break.’
She giggled. ‘I expect we’ll be having a lot of those.’
Malcolm
shook his head, as if he couldn’t quite believe what was happening.
He cleared his throat noisily.
‘I...er...I will of course be giving you both
excellent appraisals, with recommendations for a pay rise, but we have to be a
bit subtle about your timekeeping. If
the MD suspects something’s going on, then its curtains for all of us.
And about the photograph, I don’t suppose
there’s any way you could...’
But
Savita was already shaking her head.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she said. ‘That was a digital photograph.
And there’s no way Damian’s going to delete
it. That’s out passport to good
behaviour, slug. You don’t mind if I
occasionally call you slug from now on? Just
between the three of us, of course.’
There
was a sharp rap on the door; it opened, and in walked Jeremy Clarison, the
company MD. He raised his eyebrows
quizzically and gave the two employees a half-smile and a nod.
‘Malcolm,’
he announced. ‘I hope I’m not disturbing
anything important.’
Malcolm
swallowed noisily. His lips felt dry and
his throat was parched. ‘No, not all,
Jeremy. Just going through some
preliminary details of Savita and Nicky’s quarterly appraisals which we are
reviewing next week.’
The
MD eased himself into a chair and crossed his legs.
‘In that case, don’t mind me.
Pretend I’m not here.
I’ll be a fly on the wall, like the camera in
a reality TV show. Please carry on.’
Malcolm’s
tongue felt furred-up, large and cumbersome when he tried to speak.
‘Mm-well tha-thank you for...mm...the hard
work, girls. Carry on as you are doing
the...the...mm...rest of the week...I mean keep m-motivating the team as you
have been doing, and your appraisals will be...’
Malcolm’s brain seized up.
He made two forward slices with his hands
instead. Then recovering slightly, he
said, ‘Excellent work so far.
Excellent.
Thank you for coming in to discuss it.’
Savita
and Nicky exchanged an amused expression before exiting.
As soon as they had gone, Malcolm offered the
MD a feeble smile, as if this would suffice as an explanation for his odd
behaviour. After an uncomfortable pause,
the MD frowned and studied his fingernails carefully before speaking.
‘What
was all that about, Malcolm? I mean, if you are doing quarterly appraisals next
week, why a sort of preview? Bit of a
waste of time, if you ask me.’
Beads
of sweat had broken out on Malcolm’s forehead, and his face was mottled.
‘I...um...just wanted a quick word with
them. Good workers.
Good workers.’
The
MD stared at Malcolm in deep concentration.
‘Are you feeling all right, Malcolm?
You really look most peculiar.’
Just
for an instant, it occurred to Malcolm to confide in Jeremy.
Bloke to bloke, he might understand.
I mean,
he thought,
what bloke hasn’t been tempted like that? A threesome. Bit of lesbian
coupling. Male fantasy, and all that.
But Jeremy Clarison was old school. A
bit old fashioned. About to have an
enormous twenty-fifth wedding celebration.
No, bit too risky. He might find
himself clearing his desk in double-quick time.
‘As
a ma-matter of fact,’ Malcolm stammered, ‘I don’t feel well.
Might be a virus that’s doing the rounds. I
feel hot and cold all the time.’
‘I
think you’d better take the rest of the day off,’ Clarison said.
‘What a nuisance. I interrupted my annual
leave to come and ask you...’He sighed
deeply and shook his head.
‘What?’
asked Malcolm.
‘I
fancied a round of golf at the Neville, and I’d got no one to partner me.’
*
Mary snuggled close to Dave, her
hand gently stroking the hairs on his chest.
‘How
was it for you?’ she giggled softly.
‘Fair
dos. It were awright that!’
She
giggled again, then became serious.
‘That’s something I noticed about you – your accent.
It became really broad when you were talking
about your childhood.’
‘It’s
impossible to escape from the past.’
‘Is
that what you’re trying to do?’
‘Not
escape, exactly – no. I’ve just not been
able to confront the past...up until today. But I’m glad I was able to tell
you. To share it with you.’
She
pecked his cheek. ‘So am I.’
From
downstairs there came the sound of the letter box swinging open, followed by
the plop of something heavy dropping onto the mat.
Dave looked at the bedside clock.
‘Bit
late for a second post.’
Mary
got out of bed and threw on her dressing gown.
‘I’ll go, and I’ll make us a cup of tea.’
While
she went downstairs, Dave leapt naked
out of bed and peered through the net curtains at the window.
He was just in time to see his argumentative
neighbour’s son crossing the street back to his parent’s house.
Mary
screamed: ‘Ugh!This is disgusting!
Someone’s posted something...’
Dave
grabbed his dressing gown and dashed downstairs.
‘It’s
all right,’ said Mary, shaking. ‘I
thought at first it was dog’s muck. But
it’s a pile of tea leaves and tea bags.’
She
was surprised to notice that Dave looked pleased.
‘I
saw him,’ he said. ‘It was my
neighbour’s son. That’s him what’s been
making all those phone calls, I’ll bet.
And now we’ve got him. Bang to rights!’
IN EPISODE FORTY-SIX
Claire finds Andrew is spending his
inheritance on another obsession.