‘’Call me Hector. ‘ ‘My quarry picked out another piece of black liquorice. ‘’My public know me differently. ‘’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘‘Saki c’est moi.’’
I nodded, looking I hoped the perfect tableau of handsome humility.
Several couples came into the café from the veranda. I noticed that Mabel Leatherthwaite had gained both weight and a new husband. I waved politely remembering our last bridge defeat. I lowered my eyes to show my natural shyness and youth.
”May I call you …dear boy in return? ” Hector was blushing now. He looked so perfectly chummy , that even I found his awkwardness almost charming. . ‘’Your poor mother always called me Hector you know- I do miss her from time to time. . ‘’He took out his gold watch and smiled.
‘’Maybe this is a moment! ’’ He laughed and risked a wink at me. ‘Dear boy.’
The tiny truthful part of me wanted to say that I was far from being a dear boy and that my poor mother had spent much of her life bitter with regret, but instead I launched a bright smile back. It was in my own interest after all. I was tired of home’s thin stews, my shabby suits and random carnal promises made in parks. I offered my companion an ashtray and then a light.
Hector drew in his smoke, and leant back in his special chair. I liked the amber of his eyes. In an earlier life he would have been handsome and I would have been perhaps just a little afraid. But this was not an earlier life and I was hungry and tired of home.
‘Do you walk about much here Hector? I asked, gesturing through the French windows to the café grounds, imagining as usual, opportunities for brief meetings of the most undisciplined kind. . ”I love this area with all its woodland and wildlife and… …secrets. ‘‘I turned my head and hoped my profile looked fetching in this suddenly bright light.
Hector lifted an eyebrow and watched me through smoke. Did he trust me at all? He picked out some dust from his trouser leg.
‘’I do like to walk. I wandered about a great deal as a child, probably trying to escape my swarm of aunts. Nowadays if I meet a stray Aunt or two, or a wild creature perhaps, then things begin to incubate in my mind…stories clamour to be heard. ‘ He flicked at some more dust and darted a glance at me. ‘’- do you incubate your mind dear boy when you are abroad? ‘’
”I am more of leisurely creature I fear Hector, though I do stop and stare at events when I can.” I lifted my eyes and tried to look dreamily innocent.
”My my, what long lashes you have dear boy” whispered Hector in my head. The real Hector was eating yet another piece of fat liquorice.
Luckily a young waiter approached and Hector suggested some small treat s for a moderately hungry appetite, with wine of course and something I did not recognise at all. I trusted Hector because of my mother and because I had nothing else to do.
