‘Brevity is neither here nor there. She is obviously someone who needs exorcising. What did she do to you?’ Laura probed like a dentist at a raw nerve and leaned against Claud beside her on the bed.

He liked the way she smelled of pepper. He put his arm around her. ‘You smell so—’

‘So what?’

‘Different.’

‘From what?’

‘Other people.’

‘We all smell different. Now tell me about this intruding girl. What was her name?’

‘I’d rather not. She was called Amy.’

‘Shall we take our clothes off and get into bed?’

‘Take our clothes off?’ Claud sat up straight.

‘Yes.’

‘Undress?’ His voice rose in panic.

‘Yes.’

‘It’s nearly lunch time.’

‘I shall treat you as an hors d’oeuvre.’

Claud sprang off the bed, undressed, tearing off his clothes, his back modestly turned, his heart thumping in a mix of alarm and excitement. When he turned round Laura was in the bed between the sheets still wearing her sweater.

‘You cheated.’ He scrambled in beside her. His legs felt weak.

‘Only my top half—’

‘Oh.’ She was right; below the waist she had no clothes on. ‘Oh,’ he muttered, ‘Oh my G—’

‘What was she like, this girl Amy?’ asked Laura an hour later, when they had had a refreshing and recuperative nap.

Claud came down from cloud nine. ‘Must you bring her up, the stupid bitch?’

‘What did she do to you?’ (The dentist’s drill.)

Claud shouted: ‘She would not take her Walkman off when we made love.’

Laura did not laugh. ‘I can see that that was serious,’ she said. (I’ve got the tooth out. God, how it must hurt.)

‘You can?’

‘Wounding.’

‘It was.’

‘Did she perform in time to the music?’ (Just a little dab of antiseptic.)

‘How would I know?’

‘So you threw her out?’

‘She threw me. It was her flat.’

‘Worse.’

‘Thanks for not laughing. I took a risk telling you.’

‘You know, I think she fits in the novel. Your mother’s machines, a Walkman, quite a small part of course.’ (Now rinse and spit.)

‘Do you really think so?’

‘Definitely.’

‘Okay, I’ll let her in. I think you are right.’

‘Good.’ (Rinse just once more and spit again. In no time you will think you thought of this yourself.) The afternoon sun made a pool of light on the floor. Seagulls shrieked across the roofs, lorries passed grumbling up the street. ‘Long ago,’ said Laura, ‘when I was young, I got stinking drunk at a party. In the morning when I woke I realised that someone had shared my bed.’

‘He’d raped you?’

‘I don’t think it was rape.’

‘Who was it?’ Claud felt his throat constrict.

‘There was this smell of hair oil on my pillow, nothing else.’

‘Hair oil?’

‘People used hair oil in those days, dumbo.’

‘Of course.’ He remembered his father using some sharp-smelling mix of oil and spirit. ‘So?’