Am I Seeing Double 3 (4 page)

“Well that’s just me. I hate that sort of thing, too.”

“Yeah, and I wish there were more like you, but sadly they are few and far between.”

“Stop it or you’ll give me a swelled head,” I said, smiling at her.

“No, Roland, I mean it, and you would be the best friend that I’ve ever had,” she said and squeezed my hand again, and I placed my other hand on top of hers.

“Yes, we’ve had some great times together.”

“And this was supposed to be your break and you’re out tomcatting all over the country side?”

“Well like I told you, it wasn’t planned to be like that.”

“And you’ll tell the twins about this? Presumably you’re still with them?”

“Yes I’ve already told Jane. I rang her from Barrickton, and she’ll tell Phyllis.”

“There you go…Mr. Honesty in person. You’re incredible.

“Yeah, Jane said she shouldn’t have let me out of my sight, but they know I would never leave them.”

“One of these days a woman is going to grab you, and nail you to the floor.”

“Maybe I already am, to a certain degree.”

I walked with Jenny back to her work after lunch and, on the way, she told me that she was now living in town. I asked why she wasn’t living with her parents because she had told me, the last time I saw her, they lived a few kilometres out of town. She explained that to country people a few kilometres out of town was anything up to a hundred and her parents were actually forty kilometres out. Not wanting to drive that far to work, and pay for a motel if she wanted to have a few drinks, and a dance, on a Friday night, when this flat became available in town. She took it, and she shared it with a girlfriend.

“Where will I meet you later?” I asked her, when we reached her workplace.

“I’ll meet you at the pub at six, and we can have a few drinks and a meal.”

With nothing better to do, and the library was on my way back to the motel, I decided to stop by the library, and see if they had a copy of Brian Curtin’s latest release. He had sent me a text message a few days ago, letting me know. I had met Brian sometime back, when we were at a Reader/Author get-together. He was only a budding writer, but a hell of a nice chap. We stayed in the same motel, and had a few drinks at the bar one night, and we kicked on until we were kicked out.

If it weren’t for Brian, I would have missed the first part of the next day’s meeting if he hadn’t almost banged my door down to wake me up.

“Oh, Mr. Singleton, you came back,” Justine said as she looked up, when I walked past the reception desk.

“Yes, I have a little time to spare so I came to browse,” I answered.

“Certainly. If I can help you at all, please let me know.”

“I will, thank you,” I replied, turning my head as I continued.

“You’re welcome.”

I could have asked her then, if they had the book, but I had decided earlier that it would kill more time if I looked for it myself, and besides, I might see something interesting that I could browse through, and also take up more time. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s waiting around, doing nothing. I like to occupy myself, so that the time seems to go faster.

As I was walking up and down the rows of books, looking for the Cs, I noticed Justine walking around talking to customers. I didn’t give that much credence at that time, but I found out why she was doing it, later.

I had just reached the
C
section, and found a book by a Brian Curtin, but not the Brian Curtin I know. This book was on medical procedures. Suddenly, I heard Justine’s voice behind me.

“Mr Singleton, may I interrupt you?”

“Call me Roland, please,” I answered turning to face her.

“Yes, of course,” she replied, blushing slightly. “You mentioned before, you had a little time to spare.”

“Yes, I do have, and it’s a few hours, actually.”

“Then would it be possible to prevail myself upon you, and introduce you to some people here in the library that I know would love to meet you? When, you are finished browsing of course.”

“You certainly may, and I’m finished now if you like.”

“Oh, right then, follow me.”

I followed Justine around, like a faithful puppy, as she led me from person to person.

When we had done the rounds of the library, which amounted to a whole six people, and I had chatted briefly with those that had asked me a question, I told Justine that if any of the people, I had met, had any further questions, I would gladly answer them. I also told her it didn’t matter how many came over at the same time, and that they could all join me at a table if they wanted to.

I was happy this had happened, as this would surely fill in time. Therefore, I sat at a large table, near a full-length glass wall. I was still holding the book on medical procedures, so to make myself look busy, I opened it and started to browse through it.

It didn’t take Justine long to round up her troops, bringing them over to my table. I stood as I saw them approaching. There was one woman that had just come in, and I hadn’t met, so Justine introduced her. I waved my hand in a gesture for her to sit and said, “Please.”

“Would you like me to look up that book you were looking for, Roland?” Justine asked, giving me a huge smile. “While you’re busy, here?”

“Yes, please.”

“And the name of it and the author.”

“It’s called—
Katey and her Possessed Budgie
— written by Brian Curtin.”

“You wouldn’t have the ISBN by any chance?”

“No, sorry, but here, take my card,” I offered, reaching for my wallet. “On the card is the website to my publisher. We both write for the same company, albeit different sections, but you’ll find the other section on the website, and you’ll find Brian Curtin and his books on that section.

“Right, I’ll check for you.”

“I haven’t heard of him. What does he write?” one of the women asked.

“YA mainly.” Noticing a puzzled look on the woman’s face, I added, “Young Adult.” I then saw the comprehension.

Several more people entered and came over to the table, and when there were no more empty chairs, there, they stood. By the time I concluded the session, two hours later, a small crowd had amassed. I have a sneaking suspicion that Justine may have rung some of these people.

Before I left, I went over to Justine, and she told me that the library didn’t have a copy of the book I was looking for, and also thanked me for stopping by.

Back in the motel room and feeling a little worn-out, I kicked off my shoes and lay on the bed, intending only to rest for a while.

The ringing of my mobile phone woke me. It was Jane.

“Your editor wants you to ring him ASAP,” she told me.

“What does he want now?” I asked.

“I don’t know, he didn’t say, he just said it was urgent.

“Thanks, I’ll call him, and I’m glad you rang.”

“Why? Were you asleep? You sound a little sleepy.”

“I was, as a matter of fact.”

“So, if I hadn’t rang, you might have missed a hot date.”

“Something like that.”

“Damn, I should have left it till later and made you late.”

I could hear her laughing. “That’d be just like you.”

“Well, you behave yourself.”

“No.” I’m sure she heard me chuckling.

“Okay, well just remember what I told you before.”

“I will, for sure. Bye.”

“Byeeee.”

I had a quick shower, dressed, and hurried to the pub. It was five minutes to six when I walked in. I quickly looked around and breathed a sigh of relief that Jenny hadn’t arrived yet. If I’m meeting someone, I always like to be there first, particularly if it’s a female, unless it is my agent, then I sometimes leave him waiting for an hour, purposely.

I rang my agent as soon as I sat down because he said it was urgent. He told me the film company that made the movie on one of my books had picked out another novel that they were interested in, and wanted to talk. I told him, I would be back on Monday, and would that suit him. He said that would be fine and to come into his office a nine in the morning. Therefore, it wasn’t really that urgent after all, and my agent is waking up to me, in not returning his phone calls.

Two minutes later, Jenny walked in, so I made a mental note to thank Jane for waking me up.

While I was sitting at the bar, Jenny came over, kissed me on the cheek, and pulled up a barstool next to me.

“I seem to remember a very similar situation to this, a long time ago,” I said and smiled at Jenny.

It didn’t register with her immediately, and then I saw her face light up. “Yeah, the night we met, you and I sitting in a pub on a barstool. Boy was I in a foul mood that night.”

“I wasn’t in a foul mood, but I wasn’t happy either.”

“Yes I remember. I had walked out, and you had missed out,” she said and we both burst out laughing.

“So, how have you been?” I asked.

“Good,” Jenny answered. “What are your plans for tomorrow?”

“I haven’t really made any. I was just going to hang around until you finished work.”

“Well, I’ve got the day off.”

“That’s great.”

“I told my boss there was a famous author in town with wads of money, and a very close friend of mine, and he was looking to buy a big property here, and I would like to show him around.”

“I thought you said, at lunch that you hated liars.” I pointed out, smiling at her.

“Well this was only a white lie, and even if it is a big one, it won’t hurt anyone.”

“True.”

“Well, if you have nothing better to do, how would you like to meet my parents?”

“I’d love to, but do you think that’s a good idea?” I asked trying to look as concerned as I could.

“What do you mean?” Jenny inquired, now looking concerned.

“You know,
boy meets girl
,
girl takes boy home to meet parents, parents like boy, parents start planning a wedding
.”

Jenny burst in to a fit of laughter. “You bloody idiot,” she spluttered. “You had me going there for a minute. They’ll love you, of course, but they know well and truly to stay out of my private life.”

“No, that’d be great. I’d love to meet them.”

We had a few more drinks and then went into the bistro, and ate. After that, we went into the lounge bar and sat at a table. We chatted on for quite a while, and I think we both lost track of time, catching up with what had happened since we had seen each other. Until Jenny put her hand to her mouth, and yawned. “I think it must be almost revision time,” she said, and smiled at me.

I knew exactly what she meant, because the book she had referred to earlier that I had purchased was a book on sex, massage and exercise that two people could do together. I had bought this to improve my relationships with women. When Jenny had moved in with me, we had practised some of the exercises. On the other hand, maybe I should say
most
of the exercises.

“Yes,” I agreed, “well and truly, and I made sure I brought the book with me this time.”

“Good, we can study it when we get back to your motel room.”

“I don’t think we’ll have time,” I said.

“Oh, okay, as long as you know what to do. I might have forgotten.”

“Yeah, right.”

I was right when we made love—I definitely did not need the book.

I was awoken next morning by a knock on the door, so I threw on a bathrobe, and answered it. It was breakfast.

I went to Jenny, leant over her, and kissed her on the forehead to wake her. It worked. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me back into bed.

Sometime later, we had a very cold breakfast. I had told Jenny not to eat it, and we’d have something in town on our way to her parents.

Jenny had insisted that it was okay, and it was her fault.

I agreed with her, that it was her fault, but I wasn’t all that upset about it. I had enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the breakfast.

Jenny suggested she take her car, as the road got a little rough, in a section before her parents’ property, but I said it was okay, and we took mine.

The first half of the journey was bitumen, with a few potholes. The rest, Jenny was right, it was rough as my car scraped a couple of times on ruts, and Jenny reminded me that she had told me so, and that I was too pigheaded to listen.

Her parents were waiting at the back of the house as we drove up. They had obviously heard the car coming.

After an introduction, they ushered me inside, and we all had a cup of tea and freshly made scones, with homemade blackberry jam and cream straight from the cow.

Jenny and I sat and chatted with her parents for a while and then Jenny said she would like to show me around the property.

After I had inspected the sheds and patted a couple of dogs, and two pet lambs, Jenny took me to the stables. There were only two horses in there. Jenny explained that they had more, but they were out in the one of the paddocks.

“Do you ride?” Jenny asked.

“I have, but it’s been awhile now,” I replied, “and I’ve probably forgotten how.”

“Nah, you never forget once you know how, it’s like riding a bicycle.”

“Why. Do they have pedals?” I asked trying to look serious.

Jenny burst out laughing, “Of course not, you idiot.”

I started to laugh—I couldn’t help it—her laughter was so infectious.

“Would you like to go for a ride?” Jenny asked.

“Why not? That could be fun,” I answered.

“Right. I’ll saddle up these two.”

“I’ll help you. I should remember how.”

“Fine, then come with me to the tack room, and we’ll grab a couple of saddles.”

I took hold of a saddle that I thought would be the most comfortable, as I hadn’t ridden for a long time, and Jenny picked out two bridles that she said the horses we were going to ride were better suited with, and two halters.

She gave me a bridle and a halter, and I grabbed a brush near the door.

“I can see that you have saddled a horse before,” Jenny stated.

“How can you tell?” I asked.

“You picked up a brush,” she replied.

“Force of habit.”