Dolly and the Bird of Paradise - Dorothy Dunnett - Johnson Johnson 01 by Unknown

tannoy was apologising for the late incoming plane and promising passengers flying to Lisbon that boarding would shortly begin.
    I looked about all the way to the special room, but there was no sign of my vanished banana case. I hoped he was solidly in the Departure area, being unzipped by airport security. I wondered what had made him lose his cool all of a sudden, since the tannoy hadn’t then called. Perhaps Nature had. Or perhaps…
    I said to Ferdy, ‘Wait a minute. This banana guy knows you?’
    ‘Everyone knows me,’ said Ferdy. He saw my foot go back and said quickly, ‘But O.K., my artist in non-toxic animal greases. He’s seen me with Natalie. A big scene with me on top of a big scene with you was probably more than he could stomach. Could you stomach it, Rita? A big scene…’
    He talks like that all the time. I paid no attention, because he was certainly right. Roger the Lodger had spotted Ferdy and scarpered.
    We went down some stairs. A kid came by in a sweat shirt with writing all over it that I didn’t need to read, because I’d seen it before. It read:
    JOIN THE ARMY.
    SEE EXCITING FOREIGN LANDS.
    MEET EXCITING FOREIGN PEOPLE
    AND KILL THEM.
    The voice over the tannoy made an announcement in Portuguese and then in English. ‘The TAP flight for Lisbon is now boarding. Will passenger Mr van Diemen please come to the gate?’
    We were outside the VIP lounge. I stopped.
    Ferdy said, ‘What?’
    I said, ‘Listen!’
    The parties who had come off Kim-Jim’s plane were plodding out from the Customs Hall into the daylight, pushing or carting their luggage, and getting into taxis or cars.
    A big Daimler with a guy wearing a peaked cap beside it hogged the entrance. Behind it was Natalie’s estate car with Aurelio in it, waiting for Kim-Jim.
    The tannoy, in Portuguese and English, asked for Mr van Diemen again.
    Ferdy said, ‘O.K. He got scared I’d come to spoil him. He’ll wait till the last moment and make a run for it. He promised Natalie.’
    I fumed, and he looked hurt. He said, ‘If I hadn’t shoved Kim-Jim in here, they’d’ve crashed into each other. Have a heart, woman.’
    Overhead, Mr van Diemen was given a last chance, and lost it.
    Ferdy, whitening a little, opened the door of the VIP lounge quickly and got us both in, shutting the door smartly after us.
    ‘He’ll get the next plane,’ he said. ‘Once he sees us all leave…’
    He broke off. Men are idiots.
    ‘When he sees us all leave,’ I said, ‘he’ll know Kim-Jim is here. You got him sneaked into this lounge. Now you’ve bloody well got to get him sneaked out. Under Mr van Damned’s powdered nostrils.’
    It was then that Kim-Jim’s voice said, ‘Rita?’ behind me, and I turned round.
    I’d forgotten why I was in the VIP lounge in the first place. I was so busy saving Kim-Jim that I’d forgotten Kim-Jim would be here.
    I was terrified for him. I was so glad to see him.
    Kim-Jim Curtis was no Adler; just pleasant-looking. He was tall, the way all my friends seem to be beanstalks, and had what was once roaring red hair, and light eyelashes, and blue, crinkly eyes with granny glasses in front of them.
    He was fifty-two. And I don’t know what he saw in a dwarf with punk hair and hockey legs.
    Or I’m lying: I do. We shared a trade. We understood one another. And though we’d kept in touch, in close touch since the film we made, we’d never met again until now.
    And it was the same, which was great.
    I turned round and this guy was smiling down at me, smelling of cigarette smoke and airport biscuits and looking like an American out on vacation, as he always did, in his sharp doeskin blazer, and the fingernail specs, and this Japanese camera round his neck.
    Kim-Jim always carried a camera. And usually, a miniature tape. Everything Kim-Jim did was recorded and registered, ready for use when next wanted. He was the best secretary Natalie Sheridan had ever had.
    He lifted the brim of my hat, looked at my cheek, kissed