The Circle Read Free Page B

Thomasine said. 'Zach is writing long. It's fantasy. They're big books. A fantasy writer can't get away with under six hundred pages.'
    'There's more if you want,' Zach said, brandishing unread pages like banknotes.
    'Unfortunately,' Maurice said, 'we'll have to deny ourselves until next time.'
    'I'll be into another chapter by then.'
    'Excellent. We can't wait. Thomasine, let's change the mood with something from you, shall we?'
    'I can't compete with what we've just heard.'
    'We're not in competition. Never were.'
    'All right. I've written another erotic poem.'
    There was a noticeable raising of the attention level.
    'Good on you, Tommy, girl,' Tudor the Welshman said.
    She took a small, black notebook from her bag. 'It's called "A Night with Rudolf".' She cleared her throat and began to read.
    'Covent Garden, Nureyev alone upon the stage,
    The music of Le Corsair rising to a great crescendo,
    And I know, I know, I know, this is the one, the solo,
    The thing he does so well, the reason I am here,
    Two months' wages, a small fortune, my holiday in France,
    For a seat in the stalls, front row. Close-up view
    Of those stallion haunches in all their muscularity stretching the tights,
    Gold tights, gold, gleaming, steaming, straining tights.
    I watch him circle the stage with leaps as enormous
    As the music, giving me sensations I should not have in a public place.
    I cannot shift my eyes from his bulging masculinity. Wondering, wishing,
    Dreaming, thrilled by the music and the man, in my memory I will hold
    This experience for ever.'

    'Oh, my word!' Miss Snow said. 'I'm all of a quiver.'
    Anton was frowning. 'Was that erotic?'
    Tudor said, 'If it was, it went over my head.'
    'You men,' Miss Snow said. 'You have no subtlety. If it isn't in four-letter words, you don't respond at all.'
    'I loved it,' Maurice said. 'Straight into our next anthology, if I have anything to do with it. Personally I never understood the appeal of Nureyev, but you've just opened my eyes, Tommy. Very telling, that stallion reference. What was it? "Haunches in all their masculinity"?'
    'Muscularity.'
    'Right. What a striking image. I would almost say rampant.'
    'Whoa, boy,' Tudor said.
    'I mean it. She promised us an erotic poem, and she delivered.'
    'Don't. I'm getting embarrassed,' Thomasine said.
    'This might be the right moment to have our break, then. Did anyone put the kettle on?'
    It was good to stretch the haunches, muscular or flabby. Bob hadn't appreciated how tense he had got climbing up the castle wall and leaping around the Covent Garden stage. No one else seemed to know what to say to Thomasine after her reading, so he went over. 'That was high-tone. If the rest of this mob are up to your standard, I'm leaving right now.'
    'Don't be daft. We're all beginners. You hear what someone else has done and it sounds kind of special because it's different from your own stuff. I bet you've got something really brilliant tucked away in a drawer at home.'
    He was about to turn this into a joke about drawers, but decided against it. He was the newcomer. 'Can we light up in here?'
    'The corridor. Wouldn't say no to one myself after opening up like that. Worse than a striptease.'
    After they'd both taken their first drag he said, 'Will they all read to us?'
    'About half of them. Sometimes the excuses are more inventive than the stuff anyone has written. Maurice is very good at helping the timid ones pluck up the necessary. You're not timid, are you?'
    'Just ask me to read and see the state of me.'
    'You'll get over it.' She gave him a sudden nudge. 'Hello. Looks as if you're not the only new boy.'
    Two hunks in leathers and jeans edged past and into the meeting room. They were given the welcome treatment by Maurice.
    'Young and beefy,' Thomasine said. 'Nice for our Sharon. Nice for all us girls.'
    To Bob's eye, they didn't look like creative writers. He watched from the doorway. Maurice had gone through his welcoming spiel and it hadn't impressed. The