interlude

    Eleven minutes.

    Ten minutes.

    I found her standing in my living room looking at my books.

    Nine minutes.  This was going too quickly.  I was fast running out of time.

    “You’re here.” Ray said.  “Finally.”

    “I’ve been here all along.” I said.

    Eight minutes.  Too fast, too fast.

    “Maybe for you.” Ray said “But not for me.”  She looked away from me and studied the books on my shelves.  Mostly modern crime thrillers.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

    Six minutes.

    “That’s not fair.” I said.  “I’ve been…. Busy.”

    “Doing Other Things.” Ray nodded.  “Meanwhile I’ve been stuck in the land of Perpetual Night.”  He pulled one out.  Not a crime thriller, I saw.  Science Fiction.  Very recent.  “Is this one any good?”

    “I don’t know.” I said “I’m looking for time to read it.”

    “What you need,” Ray said wisely “is to prioritise.”

    “Oh is that all?  Oh thank you very much.”

    “No need to be snippy.”

    “No?”  There were a thousand responses that I wanted to give, but excuses just sounded like, excuses.  “Cut me some slack, will you?”

   

    Silence.  The deadline had come and gone.  Time had restarted.

    The clock read 21.35

    “I see that you’ve decided on my gender.”

    “The best characters are women.” I said “Ask Iain Banks and Joss Whedon.”

    “That’s going to upset all the people who thought that I was male.”

    I shrugged “I tried not to make that distinction.  I was trying to keep it ambiguous.  If I have slipped up, well, what can I say?” I smiled, “I’m human.  We make mistakes.”

    Ray studied me impassively.

    “Well, let’s get on with it shall we?”