Page 14 of Geist Fleisch
“You don’t remember?” Anne asked. “I don’t know what inspired you to go back to Suzi’s after, but it’s a good job you did. She’s such a doll.”
“Suzi?” The face of the decidedly un-doll-like bartender came back to him.
“I suppose I must have told her we were off to the Eldorado. Anyway, she ran all the way there when she found you. Barely caught us! Good job Frank knows his way around bandages and a pair of scissors.”
That explained the pressure around his head. His fingers brushed the rough cloth.
“No concussion, or at least Frank doesn’t think so. I told him we should take you to a hospital, but he was dead against the idea. Something about the economy, hospitals not being as good as they used to be and worse if you’re not German. I suppose he knows what he’s talking about. They do have the most marvellous word for hospital here, though.Krankenhaus.Isn’t that good? It’s so much fun to say.”
“Hospital?” He wondered if she’d even heard. “What the hell?”
“Your head? Suzi found you on the floor. A bit of a bloody mess, I’m afraid, but it’s all right now. Frank’s coming by in a bit to check on you.”
“I’m at your place?”
Anne retreated as whistling came from the tiny kitchenette. “Of course! I obviously can’t let you out of my sight for a minute.”
The smell of warm tea washed over the shabby damp of Anne’s room as Callum laboured to sit up.
“Slowly, slowly,” she said, patiently handing him the tea when he was settled.
“Where did you sleep?”
She tilted her head toward an armchair that had seen better days. “Don’t mind me. I can nod off anywhere.”
He sipped gratefully and smiled. “Tell Suzi ‘thank you.’ I’ll pay for the mirror.”
Anne frowned. “What mirror?”
The one he’d hit his head on? He wasn’t sure now.
“Damn it, I told Frank, a hospital! If this business has sent you loopy, I won’t forgive myself, or him.”
“I’m… I’m fine. Really, I am. Dreaming, I suppose.”
“Fine,” she said, sipping her tea. “Maybe you should tell me what you do remember.”
As the familiar, bittersweet flavour washed over his tongue, Callum began to remember a lot. The alley, the Nazis, the bathroom, the bar, Max… especially Max. Except, none of that had been real. It couldn’t have been real.
“Fleisch.”
“What’s that?”
He’d spoken without realising it. “Just something I remembered.”
“From the dream?Fleischis just meat. Or flesh, I suppose. What’s that mean?” she asked, her voice finally betraying her Midlands roots.
“I… don’t worry. I don’t know why I said it.”
“Well, there’s noFleischhere, but you should probably eat something. Use that same charming effect you had on Frank when he arrives.”
“Charming?”
Her gaze whipped disappointment across him. “Oh, darling.”
The loud buzz erupted from near Anne’s door. Still in her nightgown, she threw a coat over her shoulders and disappeared through. When she returned, Frank was a step behind, dressed in a well-cut grey suit, dark overcoat slung over one arm, clutching a small paper bag. He looked a sight in Anne’s modest digs, particularly when she tossed off her housecoat and lit acigarette. She eased open a window and sat by it, watching as Frank set the bag in the kitchen and approached Callum.
“How are you feeling?” the man asked.
