The Hay relay story so far: Chapter 1 by Beryl Bainbridge Chapter 2 by Rose Tremain
Chapter 3
But because this was such a "special treat" hotel, George felt bound to make uxorious gestures as he and Maria returned to the hotel, taking her by the soft and still firm flesh beneath her elbow as they went up the stairs. How edgy and cowardly he felt. When they were younger a weekend in a hotel was a catalyst for hectic and unreflecting love. Now the possibility that he might be expected to make an erotic overture made him edgy. When did sleep replace sex as the ultimate currency of contentment?
"Watch the stairs," he advised her as they entered the hotel, as if a woman of her age and vigour needed such advice.
They crossed the now familiar lobby. A poster of a couple smiling over a table laden with langouste and wine seemed almost a provocation to the satiated feeling which made his abdomen uncomfortably tight.
"Perhaps the lift," he said, "rather than the stairs." If he continued to imply she was older then she was, he could avoid any expectation she might have. "The stairs wouldn't hurt you," she said. But she consented to the lift by approaching it. He leaned past her to press the button. They heard the whirring of the mechanism. The door opened. The fat man in the suit and the blonde girl looked out at them as if amazed to find the lift was in any way communal. The girl's features were distorted - swollen yet not bruised.
"You aren't a doctor, are you?" asked the fat man in a panic. "My client is having an allergic attack."
Tomorrow: Chapter Four by Dave Eggers
