3 Heads & a Tail (24 page)

Ben took out his mobile and they swapped numbers. That was that. Everyone said goodbye. M
imi and Glen did a little nuzzling
thing with their noses, and they parted. Once or twice, Glen stopped and turned round to take a last lingering look at Mimi as s
he walked off. Ben didn
'
t look back; he was staring
up at the clouds. The blue sky was endless and today
'
s events
had just widened
life
'
s
little possibilities
. He
liked the girl.

“
She was nice,
”
said Josie, breaking the
silence
.

“
Yeah
,
I think Glen really likes
her.
”

“
Not her!
”
laughed Josie.
“
I meant
Ayla
. I think she likes you.
”

“
Oh,
”
mumbled
Ben,
embarrassed.
“
She seems alright. I just want to make sure Glen sees Mimi again so I thought timing the walks w
ould be a good idea – for
Glen.
”

“
Yeah, yeah,
”
teased Josie.
“
I think she
'
s nice. You should go for it.
”

Ben
didn
'
t know what to say. He ha
d really liked Josie, but this girl was like
a
warm
breeze. She seemed light and uncomplicated. Her youth
made her that way, he guessed. Life hadn
'
t disappointed her yet
. T
hen he to
ld himself not to think that way
or she would think he was
an
old
cynic.

Josie
looked away. The memory of the night they played pool popped into her head. S
he
'
d really messed things up. If only she could erase the past and her momentary interest in David, the vacuous one.
What
a mistake!
She could see what was going to happen
now
. Ben
would
start dating this girl a
nd she
would just have to deal with it.
Josie
wanted to kick herself for being so stupid. Ben was
good-looking
, intelligent and
kind.
Oh well. T
hey could be friends – that was good – and in her experience, friendships lasted longer anyway.

Relationships
always started easy and then
grew
complicated. She imagined her past affairs
as
a line of graves in a spooky graveyard, with tumbleweeds blowing
in the midst of
a thunderstorm. T
he rain poured, the wind roared,
lightning axed a tree
or
two
, and the graves toppled like dominoes
.
Well, that
'
s really helpful, she thought. Quit think
ing and stroke the dog.

Kay and Josie lazed in the lounge, sipping mugs of hot chocolate.
The blue
squidgy sofas
seemed to shape themselves
around their bodies, sapping them of any
energy
to
get up. The TV was
turned off
and
birds
tweeted
outside the window. A faint hum of music seeped through the ceiling from upstairs.

“
Where are the guys today?
”
asked Kay.

Josie stirred.
“
Well, you can hear David upstairs, strumming away, and
Ben
'
s
out walking Glen. He
'
s
meeting
Ayla
.
”

“
The girl
you met in
the park?
”

“
Yeah, she seems nice.  She stopped by a couple of time
s in the week.
Ben seems happy. He
'
s smiling a lot!
”

“
He
'
s finally getti
ng his oats!
”
laughed Kay.
“
A
re they meeting every day when he walks the dog?
”

“
I think so. Glen also has a girlfriend!
”

“
No way, i
t
'
s catching
! S
o where are our dates for today?
”

Josie laughed.
“
I dunno,
I think they took the wrong turn
ing and got lost!
”

“
I think mine live
s in a different country,
”
said
Kay
, studying
the bubbles in her hot chocolate
.
“
My theory is tha
t Mr Perfect is living abroad. H
e
'
s foreign – that
'
s why we h
aven
'
t met yet.
”

“
Or h
e lives on Mars!
”

“
Y
eah
,
he
'
s a
damn
Martian! He better be polite and open doors, and cook my breakfast in the morning!
”

“
I think mine died! Or he hasn
'
t been born!
”
said
Josie
, grinning
.

Kay looked serious for a second.
“
You
'
re too choosy
, that
'
s all. You a
lways
have been
. But I think that
'
s a good thing, not necessarily bad. Just means you
'
re waiting a lot.
”

“
I
'
m not waiting.
I get on quite happily on my own. If someone comes along, that
'
s great. If someone doesn
'
t, that
'
s
also
fine
. I don
'
t mind
–
I
'
m not going to sit around waiting!
”

“
What about David?
”

“
What about Mr Vacant?
”
asked Josie, spitting
out
her tongue.
“
I think we
'
ve had this conversation before
! I know you think he
'
s fit, but n
ever
,
ever
,
ever! Big mistake! Huge!
”

“
He
'
s hug
e
?
”
Kay
joked
, pulling a face back.

“
No!
I never saw. Honest!
”
She shivered at the thought.

“
I reckon he
'
ll be huge... like a big boa constrictor...
an anaconda!
”

“
You
'
re evil! It can
'
t be that big – how would he squeeze it into those
extremely
tight jeans?
”

“
Maybe it folds up like a concertina!
”
laughed Kay, almost spilling her chocolate.

Josie laughed her head off. Her imagination was just too graphic.

“
Oh shit, do you think he heard
us
?
”
asked Kay, looking up at the ceiling.

“
No ch
ance. He
'
s playing his guitar. He
'
s teaching.
”

Kay raised an eyebrow.
“
Teaching who? I can
'
t imagine he has the patience.
”

“
Our landlady – every
Sunday
when she
comes
to
c
ollect the rent s
he
also
gets a guitar lesson.
”

“
Bet he gets cut-p
rice rent
.
He wouldn
'
t do it for nothing!
”

“
Listen to us! We have such a bad impression of the guy,
”
said Josie.
“
He
'
s probably not so bad.
”

“
Just a poser!
”

“
You can talk!
”
laughed Josie.

“
Ha bloody ha!
His band was good though!
”
Kay finished
her chocolate
and put the mug down
.
She sat up with a cheeky look.
“
Let
'
s go listen!
I wanna hear him teaching... that
'
s gotta be a laugh.
”

“
No, we shouldn
'
t.
They might hea
r us
.
”

“
Come on
,
chicken,
”
said Ka
y, and dashed out of the room.

Josie
gulped the rest of her drink and followed
.
Peering
upstairs, she could
make out
Kay sitting
halfway up the steps
to the hatch. She was trying not to giggle and
raised her eyebrows suggestivel
y. Josie sighed and tiptoed up
.
Kay
opened her eyes wide
in mock surprise
and Josie had to cover her mouth to stop snig
gering. They both sat still, looking
up
at
the hatch.
S
omeone
was
playing
guitar. It stopped and started, stopped and started.

“
It s
ounds like the same bits
,
over and over again,
”
whispered Kay.

“
See, I told you, he
'
s teaching her how to play
t
hough she looks more like a piano person.
”

“
How so?
”

“
Well, I think she
'
s about
sixty and
smartly dressed, s
o I thought guitar an odd choice
. I thought she
'
d go for something m
ore sophisticated. So, piano
or harp.
”

“
Maybe she
'
s at the age wher
e she wants to try new things. My dad bought a bike when he hit
fifty
! He
'
d never ridden one before!
”

A
small screech
emanated from above
.

Kay jumped
and
would have slipped off the step if
Josie
hadn
'
t
grabbed her.