The Only Story(49)

‘But they didn’t tell you what that was?’

She ignores you and continues.

‘But the thing I really wanted to tell you was that they had these feathers everywhere.’

‘Gosh.’

‘Feathers sticking out of their bottoms. Feathers in their hair. Feathers everywhere.’

‘What sort of guns did they have?’

‘Oh, who knows about guns?’ she says dismissively. ‘But then the police came, and I answered the door to them, and they sorted everything out.’

‘Was there a gunfight?’

‘A gunfight? Don’t be ridiculous. The British police are far too professional for that.’

‘But they arrested them?’

‘Naturally. Why else do you think I called them?’

‘So how did you cut your head?’

‘Well, of course I can’t remember that. It’s the least interesting part of the story in my view.’

‘I’m glad it all worked out in the end.’

‘You know, Paul,’ she says, ‘sometimes I’m really disappointed in you. It was so enjoyable and so fascinating, but you keep coming up with these banal comments and banal questions. Of course it all worked out in the end. Everything always does, doesn’t it?’

You don’t answer. After all, you have your pride. And in your opinion, the notion that everything works out in the end, and the counter-notion that nothing ever does, are both equally banal.

‘Now don’t sulk. It’s been one of the most interesting twenty-four hours of my life. And everyone – everyone – was very nice to me indeed.’

The gunmen. The police. The ambulance men. The hospital. The Russkis. The Vatican. And all’s right with the world, then.

That evening, over takeaway pizzas, I recounted the whole lurid episode to Anna. I told it fondly, concernedly, almost amusedly, if not quite. The fantasy gunmen, the real policemen, the gold bullion, the feathers, the ambulance men, the hospital. I omitted some of Susan’s strictures on my character. I was also aware, however, that Anna was not reacting as I had expected.

Eventually, she said, ‘That all sounds a great waste of public money.’

‘That’s an odd way to look at it.’

‘Is it? Police, firearms squad – Special Branch – ambulance, hospital. All of them dashing around making a fuss of her, just because she’s gone on a bender. And that includes you too.’

‘Me? What do you expect me to do when the lodger calls and says there are armed police in the house?’

‘I didn’t expect you to do anything different.’

‘Well then—’

‘Just as I wouldn’t expect you to do anything different if we were going out for a meal, or a film, or leaving for a holiday and already running late for our flight.’

I thought about this. ‘No, I don’t expect I would. Behave differently.’

We were reaching a stand-off, I realized. One of the reasons I’d gone for Anna in the first place was that she always spoke her mind. This had a downside to it as well as an upside. I suppose all character traits do.

‘Look,’ I said. ‘We talked about … all this when we first got together.’ Somehow, I couldn’t say Susan’s name at that moment.

‘You talked. I listened. I didn’t necessarily agree.’

‘Then you misled me.’

‘No, Paul, you didn’t explain the full extent of it to me. Maybe in future when I get out my diary to write in a dinner date or a play or a weekend away, I should always add a note saying: subject to the extent of Susan Macleod’s alcoholic intake.’

‘That’s very unfair.’

‘It may be unfair but it also happens to be true.’

We paused. It was a question of whether either of us wanted to take it further. Anna did.

‘And while we’re about it, Paul, I may as well say that Susan Macleod … is not really my kind of woman.’

‘I see.’

‘I mean, I shall always try to be kind to her for your sake.’

‘Yes, well, that’s very generous of you. And while we’re about it, I may as well say that I once promised her there would always be room in my life for her, even if it was just an attic.’

‘Paul, I don’t want an attic in my life.’ And then she said it. ‘Especially not with a madwoman in it.’

I let that last remark fill the silence that was growing between us. Eventually, no doubt sounding prim, I said, ‘I’m sorry you think she’s mad.’

She didn’t withdraw her assertion. I realized that I was the only person in the world who understood Susan. And even if I’d moved out, how could I abandon her?

Anna and I continued for a few more weeks, each of us half-concealing our thoughts from the other. But I wasn’t surprised when she bailed on the relationship. Nor, by then, did I blame her.

And so, by the end, you have tried soft love and tough love, feelings and reason, truth and lies, promises and threats, hope and stoicism. But you are not a machine, switching easily from one approach to another. Each strategy involves as much emotional strain on you as on her; perhaps more. Sometimes, when, lightly drunk, she is in one of her airy, exasperating moods, denying both reality and your concern for her, you find yourself thinking: she may be destroying herself in the long term, but in the short term, she’s doing more damage to you. Helpless, frustrated anger overwhelms you; and, worst of all, righteous anger. You hate your own righteousness.