taking it seriously. There was also, Colin reminded himself, the Santa episode. Putting all issues of filial respect on one side for a moment, he had clear evidence that Dad wasn’t above telling porkies when it suited his purposes. Following up that line of argument led him into even richer areas of speculation. If he had to sum up his father’s character in two epithets, the second one would have to be devious. Just because he didn’t understand what Dad was up to, it didn’t follow that there wasn’t some cunning plan underlying it all. It’d be about fiddling the VAT or wriggling through the meshes of some obscure EU directive, and his own role in it would be fairly trivial - deputy assistant sucker, something like that. And as far as the deja-vu stuff went
He stopped outside the door of the little cafe next to Currys. (Except that it wasn’t next to Currys any more; the cafe was still there, all dark blue, stripped pine and tubular chrome steel, like something out of Kafka, but Currys had turned into a very small Monsoon. Definitely hard times all round in the retail sector.) Coffee, he told himself; and, since he’d been through a rather unsettling experience which was bound to have played hell with his blood sugar, a custard Danish.
The deja-vu stuff. Well, it couldn’t be all that rare, or there wouldn’t be a word for it. Probably happened every day, and there was nothing to worry about. Really, he was ashamed of himself for ever having given the weird stuff the time of day.
Kitted out with food and drink, Colin looked round for somewhere to sit. The place was unusually full, but there was a seat at one of the tables in the window. He’d have to share, but what the hell. He didn’t mind. He’d long suspected that there was a latent streak of bohemianism in his character, and here it was, bursting out like a lava flow.
‘Anybody sitting here?’ he asked, putting down his cup and plate.
‘No that’s’
They recognised each other simultaneously, and by then it was too late. He sat down. She twitched - you couldn’t really call it a shudder. ‘Hello,’ she said.
Typical of his luck that thieves should have chosen that moment to break into his head and steal all the words. ‘Hi,’ he replied.
‘I was going to drive back to the office,’ she said, ‘but then I thought, I’ll take an early lunch.’
‘Why not?’ he said. ‘Excellent idea.’
She wasn’t a big eater, then, if lunch consisted of a cup of tea. ‘Fancy bumping into you again,’ she said.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Where are you parked?’
‘The multi-storey round the corner.’
‘Ah.’
This was clearly hopeless. Sooner or later he was going to have to
‘Can I ask you something?’ he heard himself say.
‘Sure.’
‘Well’ Colin rallied his intellectual resources, what there were of them. However he phrased it, it was going to sound as daft as a container load of brushes, so why not just open wide and have at it? ‘Excuse me,’ he said, ‘but do you do magic?’
She nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said.
Oh, he thought.
‘Actually, that’s a pretty vague term,’ she went on. ‘Since I’ve been with JWW, I’ve been mostly working in the ancillary and administrative sector, rather than the actual practical and effective side of things. I did a year of spatio-temporal engineering in my last job, I guess that’s the last actual hands-on magic I did. I wouldn’t mind getting back into the field, so to speak, at some point further down the line, but at the moment I think Mergers and Acquisitions offers quite a lot of scope for some pretty exciting challenges’ She paused. Colin guessed that she’d probably heard the last bit of what she’d been saying, and had realised that she was babbling. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I do magic. Why?’
‘Oh, no reason,’ Colin replied, in a quiet, strangled sort of voice. ‘So, is it interesting work, most of the time?’
She shrugged. ‘It’s all right,’ she
He stopped outside the door of the little cafe next to Currys. (Except that it wasn’t next to Currys any more; the cafe was still there, all dark blue, stripped pine and tubular chrome steel, like something out of Kafka, but Currys had turned into a very small Monsoon. Definitely hard times all round in the retail sector.) Coffee, he told himself; and, since he’d been through a rather unsettling experience which was bound to have played hell with his blood sugar, a custard Danish.
The deja-vu stuff. Well, it couldn’t be all that rare, or there wouldn’t be a word for it. Probably happened every day, and there was nothing to worry about. Really, he was ashamed of himself for ever having given the weird stuff the time of day.
Kitted out with food and drink, Colin looked round for somewhere to sit. The place was unusually full, but there was a seat at one of the tables in the window. He’d have to share, but what the hell. He didn’t mind. He’d long suspected that there was a latent streak of bohemianism in his character, and here it was, bursting out like a lava flow.
‘Anybody sitting here?’ he asked, putting down his cup and plate.
‘No that’s’
They recognised each other simultaneously, and by then it was too late. He sat down. She twitched - you couldn’t really call it a shudder. ‘Hello,’ she said.
Typical of his luck that thieves should have chosen that moment to break into his head and steal all the words. ‘Hi,’ he replied.
‘I was going to drive back to the office,’ she said, ‘but then I thought, I’ll take an early lunch.’
‘Why not?’ he said. ‘Excellent idea.’
She wasn’t a big eater, then, if lunch consisted of a cup of tea. ‘Fancy bumping into you again,’ she said.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Where are you parked?’
‘The multi-storey round the corner.’
‘Ah.’
This was clearly hopeless. Sooner or later he was going to have to
‘Can I ask you something?’ he heard himself say.
‘Sure.’
‘Well’ Colin rallied his intellectual resources, what there were of them. However he phrased it, it was going to sound as daft as a container load of brushes, so why not just open wide and have at it? ‘Excuse me,’ he said, ‘but do you do magic?’
She nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said.
Oh, he thought.
‘Actually, that’s a pretty vague term,’ she went on. ‘Since I’ve been with JWW, I’ve been mostly working in the ancillary and administrative sector, rather than the actual practical and effective side of things. I did a year of spatio-temporal engineering in my last job, I guess that’s the last actual hands-on magic I did. I wouldn’t mind getting back into the field, so to speak, at some point further down the line, but at the moment I think Mergers and Acquisitions offers quite a lot of scope for some pretty exciting challenges’ She paused. Colin guessed that she’d probably heard the last bit of what she’d been saying, and had realised that she was babbling. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I do magic. Why?’
‘Oh, no reason,’ Colin replied, in a quiet, strangled sort of voice. ‘So, is it interesting work, most of the time?’
She shrugged. ‘It’s all right,’ she
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