Thomas and Mary
Page 26
In the dark when they made love it was slow and happy. Down in the basement a bass guitar thumped a heavy pattern. ‘If this happens again I’ll kill you,’ a voice yelled. When the bass fell silent, the front door clunked, three times, four. Coming back from the bathroom, Thomas sneezed, and sneezed again, and, climbing into bed, sneezed a third time. ‘Imagine,’ Elsa whispered, ‘that all our neighbours move when we do and they all reappear on each side of us in the new building, with the two Labradors above and the peacock woman across the courtyard and the porter sweeping outside.’ ‘Cruel girl,’ Thomas told her. ‘And a building site across the way,’ she murmured. ‘And the television and the ailments and the recipes.’ ‘The insulation will be better,’ Thomas told her.
They lay in the dark holding hands for quite a while, listening. ‘From tomorrow no more circumambulation,’ he eventually said. She propped herself up on an elbow. ‘Why not, Tom? Right when we’re nearly there. We can’t stop now.’
‘No more circumambulation.’
‘Tom!’
Thomas took Elsa in his arms. ‘I just feel like I’ve already arrived,’ he said. ‘The flat is a detail.’
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Copyright © Tim Parks 2016
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First published by Harvill Secker in 2016
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ISBN 9781910701157