The Rise and Fall of the Queen of Suburbia: A Black-Hearted Soap Opera. Sarah May

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      And sure enough there was Laura laughing and saying, ‘It sounds like you lose your husband a lot.’

      ‘Not too often.’ Vague.

      Laura nodded with her lips partly open. ‘I was in Mick’s cabin crew on the Barbados flight a month ago. One of my last flights on Laker Air.’

      Dominique didn’t know what to say to this. Why were they talking about Mick? Laura gave the sleeves of her sheepskin coat a couple of tugs. ‘Where were you?’

      ‘Where was I when?’

      ‘Barbados – you should have been in Barbados.’

      ‘Well, I wasn’t.’

      Laura paused. ‘Have you ever been?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘You’ve never been?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Well, the next time he flies to Barbados, you get him to book you a seat on the plane,’ Laura said sympathetically. ‘I know it’s difficult with the kids and everything … how many have you got?’

      ‘Two.’

      ‘… But you should go. You really should. Barbados is …’

      ‘Laura!’

      They were standing in the shadow of a second air hostess, who Laura didn’t introduce.

      ‘This is Mick’s wife. Mick Saunders.’

      The other girl nodded.

      ‘I used to fly too,’ Dominique put in, ‘a long time ago.’

      The girl nodded again.

      ‘When did you give up?’ Laura asked.

      ‘Well – I didn’t really give up – I got married,’ Dominique said, looking for the first time at Laura’s left hand, which was ring-less. She held on to this, and the fact that up close there was a food stain on the lapel of Laura’s jacket.

      ‘So,’ Laura said heavily, ‘there you go.’

      ‘There you go.’

      ‘Well. I’ll probably see you again. Give my best to Mick.’

      ‘I will,’ Dominique said, hands in pockets. ‘Bye.’

      ‘Bye,’ Laura replied, steering her friend away.

      Dominique was thinking of going to the Laker Air desk and getting them to phone through and find out where Mick was when Laura parked her case and came running back.

      ‘I meant to say – I saw Mick go up to the observation deck.’

      ‘The observation deck?’

      ‘About ten minutes ago.’ Laura shrugged. ‘And I heard about him being laid off – I’m sorry.’

      ‘Well –’ The way Laura said it made Dominique want to defend, not Mick, but herself. ‘I think he’s pretty pleased about it. The package was good.’ She paused. ‘So good, in fact, that we’re thinking of emigrating to New Zealand and –’

      ‘New Zealand? When?’

      ‘I don’t know, I –’

      Laura turned abruptly away, tripped over a suitcase somebody had parked in her path, then broke into a run.

      Dominique watched her go, feeling unsettled. Something about the way Laura was running made her think she was crying at the same time. She rejoined her friend and the two women in uniform disappeared through the sliding doors that led to the car parks, the friend taking one last look at Dominique before the doors shut again. Dominique stood there wondering what either of them had to show for all those air miles they’d clocked up between them – after how many years of service? And even if there was anything to show – who was there to show it to? She started to make her way to the observation deck, thinking about the food stain on Laura’s lapel. Was Laura happy? Were women like Laura happy? ‘Women like’ – had she really thought that? There were no other women like Laura. There was only one Laura: Laura was unique. Just as she, Dominique, was unique.

      She got into the lift, and a few seconds later the doors opened onto a lobby whose floor was covered in rubber matting. Through the lobby doors she saw Mick standing outside in the persistent dark in his overcoat and a pair of gloves. The gloves were thick woollen ones that made his hands look disproportionate to the rest of him, and his pilot’s cap was on the wall beside him.

      When the automatic doors opened the wind nearly blew if off. A plane flew over and Mick turned his head to follow its undercarriage.

      ‘Your hat’ll blow off the wall,’ she said, stepping outside.

      He turned round and smiled at her. ‘Hey, you.’

      They stood looking at each other.

      ‘How’d you find me?’ he said at last.

      ‘Just did. Aren’t you cold?’

      ‘Maybe.’

      They stayed where they were, not moving any closer.

      ‘Sad?’

      ‘Maybe.’

      She wished she hadn’t said that. It sounded as though she was attacking him in some way. Her clearest, most instinctive thoughts always came across as aggressive when she articulated them.

      ‘I was waiting for you downstairs in Arrivals.’ She thought about mentioning Laura. ‘I didn’t know where you were.’

      ‘I was watching the planes.’ He broke off.

      For some reason this seemed like a stupid thing for a pilot to say.

      ‘Was the flight okay?’

      ‘The flight was fine. How are the girls?’

      ‘The girls are fine. I left them both asleep. They missed you, but they’re fine.’

      ‘So everything’s fine.’ He reassured her with a smile, but it wasn’t enough to make her want to cross to him. ‘You know what I was thinking up there? I was thinking – I can’t remember the last time a child asked to come into the cockpit. We never get children up front any more and I was trying to work out why that was; why the fact that aeroplanes stay up in the sky at all doesn’t interest them any more. So I came up here.’

      ‘To watch the planes?’ she said.

      He smiled at her. ‘To watch the planes.’

      ‘You look tired.’

      ‘Maybe СКАЧАТЬ