Espresso Tales (31 page)

85. Encounter, Catharsis, Flight

Dr Fairbairn left the flat in Sciennes and made his way to the nearby bus-stop on Causewayside. His mood was buoyant; now that he had made the decision to go, he was keen to be there as soon as possible. He was sure that he would find Wee Fraser. He had extracted the address from his original records and a quick search of the telephone directory had revealed that there was still a family living there by the name of Maclean–Wee Fraser's surname. If the bus did not take its time in coming, then he thought that he could be knocking on the front door of Wee Fraser's house just before six, which would be a good time to catch them in, as that was when ordinary people (as both he and Irene called them) ate their tea.

A bus arrived and Dr Fairbairn boarded it. Because of the time of day it was fairly full, and Dr Fairbairn had to move down to the back in order to find a seat. And even then it was a small seat, as he was obliged to perch beside a large woman in a floral dress. The woman looked at him with distaste, as if he had no right to sit down on space which she could so easily have flowed into. Dr Fairbairn caught her hostile glance and returned it. Schizoid, he thought.

He looked at the other passengers. He did not travel by bus very often–in fact he never went anywhere by bus–and it was interesting for him to look at the faces of the people and speculate on their psychological problems. On the bench on the other side of the narrow aisle were a young man and young woman, dressed in nondescript clothes. The man wore jeans, the knees of which had become distressed and ripped. Then he had a tee-shirt on which was written the word NO. The young woman had very similar garb, although her tee-shirt had a more complicated message. It said: I'M NOT DRUNK, IT'S JUST THE WAY I'M STANDING.

Dr Fairbairn stared at the tee-shirts and then at the faces of the couple. They were, he imagined, about nineteen or twenty, and reasonably composed in their appearance and manner. Why then did they wear tee-shirts with messages? Was it a question of fashion–others broadcast messages on their clothing and therefore they felt they had to do it too? That was a simple, but powerful explanation. The desire to conform in clothing was almost universal. Jeans were a statement that one was just like everybody else. They were the modern uniform, achieving a flat monotony of look that would have warmed the heart of Mao at his height of enthusiasm for the destruction of sartorial salience.

But messages, he thought, were different. In having something written on one's clothing–written on the outside, be it noted–one was effectively making oneself into a walking billboard. This meant that one's clothing could make both a passive and an active ideological statement. The red shirt with the head of Che Guevera said:
I sympathise with the struggle
. And if this message was not clear enough, one could add the words
la Lucha
underneath. If one was really radical, then an exclamation mark could be added to that. Thus people whose shirt said
la Lucha!
were likely to be seen as far more credible activists than those timid souls whose shirts merely said
la Lucha
. And of course Spanish was mandatory for such messages. It didn't sound quite the same to have on one's shirt the word
küzdelem,
which is Hungarian for “struggle”.

The whole point, though, of having writing on one's shirt was an exhibitionist one. To draw attention to oneself through clothing is exhibitionist, and of course, as Dr Fairbairn knew very well, exhibitionism was a substitute for real giving, real intimacy. The exhibitionist appears to be giving, but is actually not giving at all. He trumpets out the message
Look at me
, but he does that only to avoid having to engage in a real encounter, a real human exchange, with the other. The external is all that is on offer with the exhibitionist; the internal is hoarded, protected, Freudice: retained. The last person you see when you are confronted with an exhibitionist is the real person inside. That person is not on display.

Dr Fairbairn glanced at the young man's shirt with its negative message. NO was perhaps not too bad a message to be proclaiming. At least it was modest. At least it was not like the obscene messages that some people wore on their clothing. Such people were shameless exhibitionists, but they were also polluters of our common space.

He shifted in his seat, which gave him a better view of the seats at the back of the bus. It was an average group of people: a young man in a suit (a bank-teller, perhaps, thought Dr Fairbairn), a person with a full shopping bag and a look of resignation about her (a woman, perhaps, he thought), an elderly man who had fallen asleep. And then, very near the back, sitting alongside his mother, whom Dr Fairbairn recognised after all these years…Wee Fraser himself.

Dr Fairbairn caught his breath. He had prepared himself for a meeting with Wee Fraser, but had not prepared himself for a meeting on the bus. And now, faced with the reality of this 14-year-old boy, with his short hair and his aggressive lower lip, Dr Fairbairn was not at all sure what to do. Should he wait until they got off the bus, at which point he could himself alight, or should he go and speak to them now? Would it be awkward to say what he had to in the bus, or would he need privacy?

He thought about this, indifferent to his surroundings, but when he looked out of the bus window he realised that they were almost at Burdiehouse. In fact, now they were there, and Wee Fraser and his mother were rising to their feet.

Dr Fairbairn waited for them to pass, before he got up. As they made their way past, Wee Fraser looked at Dr Fairbairn, and his eyes narrowed. Somewhere, in the very recesses of his mind, a memory was at work.

Dr Fairbairn stood up, and in so doing he inadvertently jostled Wee Fraser, who spun round, muttered aggressively and then, with extraordinary speed, launched his head forward and head-butted the psychotherapist.

Almost instinctively, but moved, too, by sheer rage, Dr Fairbairn raised his fist and hit Wee Fraser soundly across the side of his chin. There was a crack as the jaw broke.

“Maw! Maw!” wailed Wee Fraser, the words strangely slurred by the loosened jaw.

Dr Fairbairn pushed his way up to the front of the bus and burst out of the door. We repeat our mistakes, he reflected, as he made his way hurriedly down the road. Endlessly. In ways that speak so eloquently of our deepest inner urges.

86. In the Café St Honoré

Janis and Gordon met that night at eight o'clock at the Café St Honoré. Gordon had suggested dinner, and Janis had readily accepted, as she had been hoping for an opportunity to give him the Crosbie which she had bought from Matthew. The painting had appealed to her when she first saw it, and when she took it home, to her house in the Stockbridge colonies, she had become even more taken with it. She had wrapped it carefully in the red gift paper which she used in her florist shop, and had written a short message on an accompanying card.
For Gordon, who has made these last few months so happy for me–Janis
.

Gordon had suggested that he call for her in a taxi, but she had decided to walk up the hill to the dinner engagement, as it was a fine evening. The first signs of autumn could be detected by those on the look-out for them, a slight sharpening of the air, an attenuation of the light. But for now, on that still evening, there was still every reason to be out under the pale sky, every reason to be walking through the streets of Edinburgh with the prospect of conversation and companionship at one's destination. Which is what we are all looking for, thought Janis–in our various ways.

She thought about her day as she walked up Howe Street. They had been busy at the shop, and she and her two assistants had been exhausted when they closed the door at six. There had been a large delivery for two weddings they were doing the following day and there had also been a steady stream of customers. In the mid-afternoon, a man had come in and chosen a large spray of roses. She had prepared the flowers and had handed them to him.

“They are for my wife,” he had said. “They are for her.”

Janis had smiled. “I'm sure she will like them,” she had said.

The man had looked down at the flowers, staring at them for several moments, and then she had realised…and he had raised his head again and she had seen the tears. She reached out and placed a hand on his forearm, to comfort him, and thought:
We buy flowers for the dead. That is the one thing we buy for them.

Such moments as those were part of the florist's day, and were handled as professionally as she could manage. But it was impossible not to be reminded in her work of the transience of human life and of how we can transform it by moments of kindness and consideration.

Gordon was already there when she arrived, seated in a table by the window. He rose to his feet, knocking over a glass as he did so. The glass rolled briefly on the table and then fell to the ground, splintering into fragments.

“I'm so clumsy,” he said to the waiter who appeared to deal with the situation.

“It's nothing, sir,” said the waiter. “People do far worse than this. Whole tables of things end up on the floor.”

She smiled in appreciation at the waiter's kindness and then turned her attention to the menu which had been put in front of her. For a few minutes they discussed what they would have and then, in the brief silence that followed, she reached for the small parcel which she had placed at her feet.

“I've brought you a present. It's not a very big present, but I hope you like it.”

His eyes widened. “But it's not my birthday.”

“That doesn't matter.”

She passed the red parcel over to him and he took it from her gingerly.

“Open it.”

He slid a finger under a flap of the paper and peeled it back. The card was exposed and he took this out and read it.

“That's very kind of you to say that.”

“I mean it.”

“Well, thank you. I'm the one who should be giving you a present. These months have been happy ones for me, too.”

He took off the rest of the paper and held the painting out at arm's length. He said nothing at first, and then he smiled at her. “I like harbours,” he said. “And I particularly like this one.”

“Matthew thought you would,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow at the mention of his son's name. “My Matthew? He said that?”

“It was his idea,” Janis said. “I wanted to get you something. He thought you would like this.”

I'm not telling a complete lie, she told herself. Matthew had implied that he would like it and had not actively discouraged her from buying the painting. That, by a short leap, could be interpreted as being behind the idea. Gordon looked at the painting again. “That was thoughtful of him,” he said. He paused. “How was he? I mean, how did you find him? The other night at the club…”

Janis shook her head. “I understand,” she said. “It can't be easy for him. People are jealous of their parents. They don't like to see them with other people. It doesn't matter if you're eight or twenty-eight. These feelings can be very strong.”

He looked down at the tablecloth. “I don't know what to do. If we ask him to join us for anything, we'll just have a repeat of last time. Surly, immature behaviour.”

“That's because he loves you. If he didn't, then he wouldn't care at all.”

“But it makes it very hard for you, doesn't it?” he said. “And it'll be even harder when we tell him that we're getting married…”

He stopped himself. He coloured deeply. He reached for his table napkin and the sudden action sent another glass to the floor.

“I'm so sorry,” he stuttered. “That was a slip of the tongue. I wasn't…”

“But I accept,” said Janis. “Don't worry. I accept.”

The waiter reappeared, brush and pan in hand.

“I've done it again,” said Gordon. “I'll pay for all these glasses. Please add them to the bill.”

The waiter shook his head. “Doesn't matter,” he said.

“Do you have any champagne glasses?” asked Gordon. “Not that I intend to break those. But I think we're going to need a bottle of champagne.”

The waiter went off to fetch the champagne and the glasses. By the time that he returned, Gordon had discreetly opened his wallet and extracted a crisp Bank of Scotland fifty-pound note, which he slipped into the waiter's hand.

“You're very kind,” said the waiter.

Janis thought: But there's 10,999,950 more where that came from.

87. Domenica Takes Food to Angus

Angus Lordie did not often receive a visit from Domenica, but every now and then she would call in on him, usually unannounced, and usually bringing him a small present of food, normally cheese scones, which she baked herself.

“I'm convinced that you don't feed yourself properly, Angus,” said Domenica, placing a small bag of provisions on his kitchen table. “I've made you an apple pie and there's a pound of sausages from that marvellous butcher down at the end of Broughton Street–the one who makes the real sausages. You do remember that wonderful line from Barbara Pym, do you not, where one of the characters says that men need meat? Not men in the sense of people in general, but men in the sense of
males
. Priceless!”

“And yet you've brought me a pound of sausages,” said Angus. “For which, thank you very much indeed. But doesn't that suggest that you, too, feel that men need meat?”

“Not at all,” said Domenica. “Men can get their protein from anywhere in the protein chain, if there's such a thing. You'd be better off not eating meat at all, you know. Look at the statistics for the survival of vegetarians. They do much better. Perhaps I should take those sausages back.”

“As long as they drink,” said Angus. “Vegetarians who drink a couple of glasses of wine a day do terribly well.”

“A thirty-five per cent improvement in mortality,” said Domenica.

Angus Lordie peered at the sausages. “And yet the government can't exactly encourage us to drink, can it?”

“Certainly not,” said Domenica. “We know that the government itself drinks, but on this issue it has to be hypocritical.”

Angus Lordie, who had stopped painting when Domenica arrived, moved to the window. Picking up a rag, he wiped a small spot of oil paint off his hands. “I've never understood the objection to hypocrisy,” he said. “There must be some circumstances in which it's permissible to be hypocritical.”

“Such as?”

“Let me think,” said Angus. “Yes. On the receipt of a present that one doesn't like. Do you really think that one should say how much one likes it?”

Domenica thought about this. “I suppose so. But is that being hypocritical, or is it something different?”

“Hypocrisy is saying one thing and doing another,” said Angus. “If you say that you like the gift and say how much you're looking forward to using it or looking at it, or whatever, then surely you're being a hypocrite.” He paused for a moment. “So, should a politician tell other people not to drink or not to eat sausages, and all the while he drinks and eats sausages himself, then he's being hypocritical. But it may be the right thing for him to do.”

“But would you yourself choose to be hypocritical?”

Angus replaced the oily rag on a table. He smiled. “I'm as weak as anybody else,” he said. “I suppose I've told my share of lies. I've been hypocritical on occasions.”

Domenica laughed. “Tell me, then. You don't like sausages.”

“No, I don't,” said Angus.

Domenica saw that he meant it. “You should have told me,” she said.

“But I didn't want to offend you. And I can't stand apple pie either.”

Domenica frowned. “But why not tell me? You would just have wasted them. I would have gone away thinking that you would be enjoying my little offerings and all the time you'd be putting them out in the bin.”

Angus shook his head. “I would not,” he said defensively. “I would have given the sausages to Cyril, and I would have put the apple pie out in the gardens for the squirrels.”

“I will not have you giving my Crombie sausages to that dog of yours,” said Domenica. “You presume on my friendship, Angus!”

“I didn't ask you to bring me sausages,” said Angus peevishly.

“And I certainly shall not bring you any sausages in the future,” said Domenica stoutly.

“Good,” said Angus. “So, no sausages then.”

They looked at one another reproachfully. Then Angus shrugged. “What are we to do about these sausages?” he said, gesturing to the package on the table. “I suppose you'd better take them back and eat them in Scotland Street.”

“But I don't like sausages myself,” said Domenica. “I can't stand them, in fact.”

For a few moments they stared mutely at the package of sausages.

“Do you know anybody who would like them?” asked Domenica. “Any of your neighbours?”

“My neighbours would find it very strange if I started offering them sausages,” said Angus. “We don't have that sort of relationship.”

“I wasn't aware that there was a category of relationship which permitted the giving and taking of sausages,” said Domenica.

“Well, there is,” said Angus. “You have to know people quite well before you start giving them sausages.”

Domenica said nothing. She knew that Angus occasionally became argumentative, and there was no point in engaging with him when he was in such a mood. “Well, let's…”

Angus cut her short. “Before we abandon the subject of sausages,” he said, “I must tell you about an occasion on which I was obliged to eat sausages–and with every visible sign of enjoyment. It was at a terribly grand house in Sutherland. I went there for lunch one day and there were ten people round the table. We were looking forward to a good meal, but we certainly didn't get that. We had sausages with boiled potatoes. And that was it. But what I remember about that meal was that the subject of flying boats came up. I don't know how it did, but somebody must have raised it.

“And I said to our hostess: ‘You know, Your Grace, you should get yourself a flying boat. You've got that great stretch of loch out there–it's ideal for a flying boat.' And you know what she said? She said: ‘But we do have a flying boat somewhere or other.' Then she turned to the factor, who was sitting down at the end of the table, and she said: ‘Mr Grant, have you seen the flying boat? Do you know where it is?'”

That was all there was to the story. Angus Lordie looked at Domenica. Then he burst into laughter, into wild peals of laughter. And Domenica laughed too. It was extremely funny for some reason. It may have been hard to put one's finger on the reason, but neither of them was in any doubt but that it was terribly funny.

But it was also rather sad. And again, to work out why it should be sad, required a measure of reflection.