Wild Fiction

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James’s mouth fell open. ‘I don’t know. It isn’t something I’ve ever considered.’
‘I think they are. Genevieve misinterpreted something that Gay Boy said and he spilt the beans.’
James nodded and folded up the newspaper.
‘I want to know all about Epsom, James. What happens here? Why does the author have us here and not in an exotic location or a posh suburb of London?’ Rebecca asked, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
‘I’ll show you around, then, perhaps, it’ll become self evident,’ James said. His face was unconcerned, almost serene.
7
James had suggested a drink in Ye Olde Kings Head that evening.
‘Guinness,’ Rebecca said approaching the bar.
James turned to the barman. ‘One and a half pints of Guinness please.’
‘Are you only having half a pint of Guinness?’ she looked at him wide eyed.
‘No, but I thought it would be more... um... more ladylike if you had half a pint instead of a full pint. It’s just that blokes drink pints and girls drink half pints and...’
Rebecca narrowed her eyes, drew her lips firmly shut, and crossed her arms in front of her.
‘Of course, that’s... um... only some people that think like that. I don’t give a rat’s arse either way so I’ll just... um... change the order shall I?’
For a brief moment Rebecca felt slightly guilty for the verbal abuse she had just been about to deliver before James had so artfully backtracked. She brought her hand up to her mouth to hide what she thought was going to be a large grin. She managed to contain it before politely coughing into the palm of her hand as James caught the barman’s attention.
They took a table in the corner before James made the mistake of not realising that Rebecca had already forgotten about the half-pint incident and brought it up again in an oblique apology. Then James, while looking up and past Rebecca, choked on his next sip of Guinness. It was not a particularly elegant choke and left Guinness dribbling through the stubble on his chin. It dripped from the scraggly hairs on the tip of his chin and onto his white shirt leaving random coffee bean coloured spots.

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