EPISODE NINETY-EIGHT
Pran blinked the
sleep from his eyes as his blurred vision adjusted to the brightness of his
surroundings. He felt a swaying
sensation as a hand gently but firmly shook him by the shoulder. It took him a moment to get his bearings. He was still in the pub, which was now almost
empty.
‘Come on, sir,’ said the manager. ‘Time
to go home.’
Pran felt a buzzing sensation in his head, and he stared woozily at the table
in front of him. ‘I could have sworn I
had a glass of wine.’
The manager sighed and looked pointedly at his watch. ‘You did have, but you finished it.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive. Time you went home.’
Pran shrugged and tried to get up, but his legs seemed to fail him. Using the table for support, he pulled
himself up. The table tilted precariously, and would have toppled but for the
manager holding it down. Losing
patience, the manager grabbed Pran by the arm and escorted him to the door.
‘Goodnight, sir. Thank you so much for
your custom.’
Pran missed the sarcasm of the manager’s tone as the door closed behind
him. He staggered and weaved across the
pavement, and automatic pilot guided him back to his flat. As soon as he was indoors, he flopped back
onto the sofa and fell asleep Alan, who had heard him arriving home, got out of
bed and went into the living room. When
he saw his partner sleeping fully clothed, mouth wide open and snoring loudly,
he looked disgusted.
‘That’s it!’ he said. ‘I’ve had it,
Pran. I can’t take any more.’
*
Jackie shielded her eyes from the bright morning sunshine as she watched Nigel
searching the back of his car. In her
stomach she felt fluttering wings of panic.
‘Find it?’ she called.
Nigel returned to the house, shaking his head.
‘It’s not there.’
‘Are you sure?’
Nigel clenched his teeth. God! She could
be irritating at times. ‘Of course I’m
sure,’ he snapped.
‘It might have fallen behind the back seat.’
‘What d’you think I’ve bloody well been doing all this time?’
Tears appeared in her eyes. ‘Nigel!’ she
admonished softly, as a child might scold her father.
‘Sorry,’ he mumbled, scowling. He
slammed the front door shut and strode into the kitchen. Jackie followed, treading softly, her
shoulders carrying an invisible weight.
‘Now what do we do?’ he said, gesturing helplessly with open palms.
‘I think we ought to go over to my place,’ said Jackie.
Nigel waved his hands about frantically.
‘I left my jacket in the car,’ he explained slowly, as if to a
half-wit. ‘My passport was in my jacket
pocket. And the jacket didn’t leave the
car.’
‘Yes! All right!’ snapped Jackie. ‘But
one of the girls might have picked it up and taken it indoors.’
‘Why on earth would they do that?’
‘I don’t know. If you found a passport
on the floor, you wouldn’t just leave it there, would you?’
‘But you’d tell someone you’d found it, wouldn’t you?’
‘Well...’ Jackie hesitated. ‘You know what they’re like.’
Nigel made a downwards sweep with his mouth, an expression Jackie
detested. ‘Oh yes,’ he said. ‘Only too well.’
‘Well don’t blame them because you’ve lost your passport.’
‘I can’t think where else it could be.
You’d better go and phone them.’
*
Nicky came tearing out of her room when the telephone rang, crying,
‘Vanessa! Wake up! I bet that’s them.’
Yawning, bleary-eyed, Vanessa eased open her door, being irritatingly
slow. ‘Oh God!’ she complained. ‘I need this like a hole in the head.’
‘But you promised,’ Nicky pleaded. ‘Please, Vanessa.’
‘OK, OK, I’m going,’ said Vanessa, regretting that she had reluctantly agreed
to deal with the inevitable phone call.
It must have been because she still felt guilty about the fling with
Jason. Either that or because she had
wanted to silence her sister’s irritating blubbering in the early hours of the
morning. Eventually Vanessa would have
agreed to anything just to shut her up.
As she started down the stairs, Vanessa gave Nicky a wry smile. ‘Wish me luck. This’ll be an Oscar winning performance.’
*
Ted blinked in the bright sunshine as he opened the door. Donald stood framed in the light, the sun
seeming to form a halo around him. ‘Are
congratulations in order?’ he said, cheerfully.
Ted rubbed the sleep out of his eyes then noticed the champagne in Donald’s
hands. ‘How did you know. Did Bamber tell you?’
Donald smiled. ‘He did. And he also said something about you agreeing
to the three of us...’
Embarrassed, Ted interrupted hastily. ‘I
know, but I’ve been thinking about that, and I don’t know if now is the
time...what I mean to say is...can I think about it?
Put it on hold. Put it on the back
burner.’
Donald laughed. ‘Take a rain check. Know any more clichés, Ted? Or have you been reading very little
Shakespeare of late?’
‘I’m serious...’ began Ted.
Donald waved his objection aside. ‘Don’t
worry, dear boy. Bamber’s gone to
Lewes. He’ll be gone some time. His mother’s in a bad way. It looks as if she’s not long for this
world. One leaves as a new one
arrives. So don’t keep me in
suspense. What did you have?’
‘A girl.’
Donald’s smile broadened. ‘Thank
goodness for that. Now I shan’t have to
kick a silly ball about. Is she
beautiful, Ted?’
Ted nodded enthusiastically. ‘Out of
this world.’
‘Well, we’d better wet the baby’s head, hadn’t we?’
Ted stepped aside for Donald to enter, saying, ‘It’s a bit early to be
drinking, isn’t it?’
‘Special occasion, dear boy. Now why
don’t you run yourself a refreshing bath while I open the bubbly, then I’ll
bring you up a glass.’
*
Nigel was leaning against the sink, staring at his feet, when Jackie returned to
the kitchen. ‘They didn’t find it, did
they?’ he muttered.
Jackie sighed and shook her head.
‘Well, I suppose that’s that,’ said Nigel.
‘I hope the insurance will cover loss of passport.’
‘Perhaps you lost it in the restaurant, or outside the registry office. We could try ringing round. Someone may have handed it in to the police.’
Nigel looked at his watch, and made another irritating downward sweep with his
mouth. ‘We’re supposed to be at Gatwick
in an hour and a half. It’s not going to
happen. You can go on your own, if you
like.’
‘On my own?’
‘Why not? I could spend the day at the
passport office, sorting out another emergency application, then join you
tomorrow or the day after or something.’
Jackie sank heavily into a chair by the kitchen table. ‘I don’t want to go without you, Nigel.’
‘Well,’ he murmured, ‘it was just a thought.’
Jackie sat upright suddenly, as if the weight had lifted from her
shoulders. ‘I’ve just had an idea. We could explain to the travel agent what’s
happened. And, as you say, we might be covered
by the insurance. We could go somewhere
else. Cornwall or Devon. Wales. The Lake District. It’ll be fun
just taking off without planning anything.
Who knows where we might end up.’
Nigel beamed at her. ‘What a great
idea. And I’ll be able to finish that
call centre system proposal before we go.
Then I can drive back from wherever we are on Monday, to do an important
demo.’
‘Darling! Said Jackie. ‘It’s our
honeymoon.’
The thought suddenly struck her that Nigel might be lying about his passport,
pretending to have lost it, so that he could carry on with his work.
IN EPISODE NINETY-NINE
Marjorie’s suspicions are aroused when she finds evidence of Ted’s drinking
habits.