Take the A-Train Read Free

was? And I told her that she didn’t and asked her if I did, and she told me that I had the look, and bit by bit I told her the whole sorry story and felt better for it.
    ‘So there you go. I’m all alone now with no one to call my own,’ I said at the end.
    ‘Tough.’ I was glad she didn’t give me any fake sympathy.
    ‘Especially on long cold nights,’ I said.
    ‘So advertise in the lonely hearts column.’
    ‘I did already.’
    ‘No good, huh, Sharman?’
    ‘The worst. They all wanted to make an honest man out of me,’ I said.
    ‘Impossible, I’d say.’
    And we smiled at each other, then laughed out loud. I felt good for the first time in months.
    ‘When are you getting out of here?’ she asked after a bit.
    ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘A month, six weeks maybe.’
    ‘Where do you live?’
    ‘Tulse Hill.’
    ‘How are you getting home?’
    I shrugged. ‘I don’t know,’ I said again. ‘I’ll get a lift somehow, there’s plenty of time.’
    ‘I’ve got a car.’
    ‘Are you volunteering?’
    ‘Maybe.’
    ‘I’ll owe you one if you do.’
    ‘One what?’
    ‘Dinner, maybe.’
    ‘A date?’
    ‘If you like.’
    ‘Jesus, Sharman, but you’re hard work. I’ve been angling for a date since I came in here. I thought I was going to have to do handstands to get your attention.’
    ‘Hardly,’ I said. ‘But I warn you, if you go out with me you have to be careful.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘It’s a walk on the wild side every night with me.’
    ‘Sounds interesting.’
    ‘Stick around and I’ll show you.’
    ‘Like when you get your Zimmer frame delivered.’
    ‘The minute it arrives.’
    We talked for a bit longer, then she told me that her old man was expecting her for something to eat. All of a sudden I felt lonely for the first time since I’d come into hospital, and in a way resented her for making me so.
    ‘Something wrong?’ she asked.
    ‘I’m sorry you’re going.’
    ‘I’ll be back.’
    ‘Soon?’ I asked, and felt pathetic as soon as I said it, but she looked pleased.
    ‘Sure.’
    ‘Great.’
    ‘So get some sleep,’ she said.
    ‘Sure,’ I said again.
    She leant over and kissed me and it went on longer than it should have done. I got a faceful of hair that smelt of Silvikrin and made me think of being out of hospital and all sorts of other things I thought I’d stopped thinking about.
    When she pulled away her face was pink, my favourite colour. She jumped down off the bed and got her things together.
    ‘Hey!’ I said as she was leaving. She paused in the doorway, holding the handle and sort of halfway out of the room.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Thanks for the visit. I appreciated it, really.’
    ‘My pleasure,’ she said, and blew me a kiss with her free hand.
    She went out and the door closed behind her and the room wasn’t as bright as it had been when she was there.

3
    I  smoked the joints, and they did help the pain, fleetingly, but that’s the way life goes, I’ve discovered.
    Fiona came and visited me a lot after that. I really didn’t know what the attraction was, and didn’t care much either. Then in the first week of November my consultant deigned to grant me an interview.
    He stood over me, his acolytes behind him: the female doctor who’d looked after me, a houseman, a couple of vague students and several nurses with different shades of uniform and shapes of hats. ‘We’re going to let you out early,’ said my consultant. ‘We’ve done all we can here. Stay in bed for three weeks at home then come back and we’ll take the plaster off. It’s just healing time you need now.’
    ‘And you could use the bed,’ I pointed out.
    ‘Of course we can always use an empty bed. It’s just a waste of your money staying here. Have you got someone to look after you?’
    I shrugged as much as you can in traction. ‘I guess.’
    ‘Fine.’ He rubbed his perfectly clean and manicured hands together. ‘As soon as we’ve cleared you out, a physio will come up