Page 138 of Where Do We Go From Here?
J: You’re free to go whenever you wish, of course.
W: Yeah. Come on. This is bollocks.
Harry and Wendy
‘And I’ll have a hot chocolate,’ Wendy tells the waitress.
Harry nods out of the café window at a woman in a red coat, ringing the bell opposite. ‘His next victim,’ he says.
‘Poor woman. We should warn her. He has to be the worst marriage counsellor ever, right?’
‘Yeah, he was really shit, wasn’t he?’ Harry agrees.
‘And the Covid stuff!’
‘Awful. Should be barred. Unless…’
‘Unless?’
‘I just… I don’t know…’ Harry says. ‘I mean, he wassobad…’
‘And?’
‘I can’t help but wonder if he did it on purpose?’
‘On purpose?’
‘Yeah, you know… I mean, there’s nothing like providing a common enemy to convince you to stick together, right?’
‘Oh,’ Wendy says. ‘Yes, I see.’ Then, ‘D’you really think so?’
‘Nah,’ Harry says. ‘No, I think he’s probably just a bit useless.’
‘Yes,’ Wendy agrees. ‘Me, too.’
The waitress arrives with their drinks. Once they have thanked her Wendy stirs her hot chocolate slowly, then asks, ‘Who advised you he was good, anyway?’
Harry sips his Coke, then says, ‘It was Steve Mason. You know, the PE teacher?’
‘Oh, right. But didn’t he…? I thought he got divorced.’
‘Yeah, actually, he did,’ Harry says. He bites his bottom lip and pulls a silly face.
‘You idiot,’ Wendy says.
‘Yeah, probably not my best idea,’ Harry says. ‘Still, I liked what you said, about, you know, decoding the mystery, together.’
‘Thanks,’ Wendy says. ‘Though he had no idea what I was talking about.’
‘None,’ Harry agrees solemnly.
‘Actually, I’m not sure I know what I was talking about.’
‘No,’ Harry says. ‘Me neither. It sounded cool, though. Quite poetic.’
‘We are better off together, though, aren’t we? You do think that, don’t you?’
‘Yeah,’ Harry says, reaching across the table for her wrist. ‘Yeah, I think we are. Definitely. Even if we don’t seem to fit together anymore.’
