Page 20 of Rhymes with Metaphor
“The chair wants ten poems out of me in the next ten days.”
“How’s that going?”
“Don’t ask.”
“I’ve got a proposition,” said Martin.“Come with me to the cottage for a week.”
“And?”
“What do you mean ‘And?’? We each have a thesis to finish, and my cottage is the perfect place for writing, unlike this pokey little hole.Just think: Fresh air and peace and quiet.Tourist season doesn’t start for another three weeks.We’ll have the whole place to ourselves.”
“Just us two?”said Reg.
Martin looked cagey.“I may have asked Juliet to come along.”
“For god’s sake.”
“She’s worked bloody hard all winter, Reg, and now she’s got a break until next semester starts.It would be nice if she could have a well-deserved rest.And, you know, she’s doing her PhD in clinical psychology.She may be able to help you with your writer’s block.”
“So, when I’m not being a third wheel, I’ll be a potential patient, will I?”
“Not atall.”
Reg looked at him sceptically.
“You won’t be a third wheel, because it won’t be just us three.New Bug’s coming too.Turns out he wasn’t just exhausted.He’s got mono.Juliet blames herself for not noticing he was sick, and she doesn’t want to leave him here alone.So, I suggested we bring him to the cottage with us—she wouldn’t agree to come otherwise.But that meanshe’llbe the third wheel, not you.”
“Hmm,” said Reg, feeling unsympathetic.
“Which is why I want you to come with us...seeing as you and New Bug seem to have bonded.”
“I see,” said Reg.“You want me to come along as New Bug’s babysitter.”
“It won’t be hard, Reg.He spends most of the time asleep these days.You’ll hardly know he’s there.And you can have the master bedroom.And the boathouse has been kitted out as a writer’s room.You can work there.Juliet and I will be out most of the day, so you won’t be distracted.”
Reg clasped his hands behind his head.“There’s no internet, is there?”
“No,” said Martin.
“Then I’ll go.”
“Excellent!”said Martin.“I owe you one.”
Reg sent an email to the chair telling her he’d be on an internet-free writing retreat for the next week, which should stop her nipping at his heels for the time being.
“When do we leave?”said Reg.
“Tomorrow.”
