“Alright, but not for very long. We can’t bear to separated from each other for more than five minutes.”

“Very kind of you, my dear, but you needn’t worry, I only need a minute to understand my son’s thinking.”

The woman goes off with an awkward and graceless gait. Fred and Mick follow her with their eyes and wait until she is out of the room. At that point they look up to meet Julian’s self-satisfied and composed face.

Mick seems sincere. He really wants to fathom what makes human beings tick. “I’m sorry, Julian, but I really want to get this. It may be unimaginative of me perhaps, I may also be old and incapable of understanding, but you really have to explain this to me: Lena’s a very beautiful woman, a dream. This creature here’s the most insignificant woman on earth. Basically, what I mean is, what the bloody hell do you see in her?”

For the first time Julian is uncomfortable. He sighs. He looks to one side. “You really want to know?”

“Yes, I really want to know.”

Julian takes his time. He checks to see that the woman is no longer in the room, then he turns to look at his father and says all in one breath, “Well, to be honest, she’s really good in bed.”

Now Mick and Fred really cannot find anything more to say.

21

Fred and Lena are walking along that beautiful valley.

She is dignified and serious, staring into space.

He is ill at ease and has no idea what to say to her. Then he is distracted by a bird that suddenly breaks into song, until Lena brings him back to reality.

“So who is this shitty woman?”

“Someone called Paloma Faith.”

“And what does she do with herself?”

“The most obscene profession in the world.”

“What? A prostitute?”

“Worse. A pop star.”

“And what did Julian say?”

“I’ve already told you.”

“You haven’t told me a thing, actually. You’ve mumbled a few disconnected words.”

“That’s because he was mumbling. He’s not right in the head.”

“Well, I disagree. I think his head knows exactly what it’s doing. He’s made twenty decisions in a couple of hours. He’s left home. He’s rented an apartment. He’s spoken to the lawyer about a divorce. He doesn’t seem to have lost it to me. You say this woman’s ugly and insignificant, so what does he see in her that he doesn’t in me?”

“How should I know?”

“But you said that Mick had asked him.”

“I did?”

“Yes, you did. And what did he say?”

“You know, I don’t remember.”

“You’re beginning to really piss me off, Pa. You know very well what he said, and you’re hopeless at lying. Tell me what he said.”

“I really don’t remember. He would have mumbled some idiocy or other.”

“If you don’t tell me I’ll start screaming right here and now. What did he say? What in hell’s name has this woman got – for him – that I don’t have? I want to know. What did Julian say? I want to know.”