Fast Fiction: Vic Steyne
'Now, now, prime minister,' said the nurse, 'there's no need to swear.' And what does Mr Steyne have to do with the fact that the prime minster comes round to find a nurse leaning over him? There's mystery upon mystery in Richard Mallinson's short story.
Having had (excellent) sex with an actress, he realised what a fool he’d been. He’d be finished if she went to the tabloids with her story.
He began to have dizzy spells. Then he thought that somebody was trying to poison him. He wondered if Vic Steyne was involved.
One evening, among chattering, drinking people at a reception, he suddenly felt the need to escape.
But each time he took a step towards the door someone offered him a drink or a piece of cheese on a stick.
He thought he heard Vic Steyne say, ‘We are here to support you.’
‘Oh, no,’ he gasped, ‘I don’t need your support.’
‘Don’t be too sure,’ he thought he heard Vic Steyne say.
*
He came round in a bed in a small room. A nurse was leaning over him.
She touched his forehead with cool slender fingers.
‘Hello,’ she said, ‘we have woken up at last, have we?’
He blinked and saw that she had gold-flecked brown eyes.
‘Yes, I suppose we have,’ he said, ‘and now will you please tell me what the bloody hell is going on?’
‘Now, now, prime minister,’ she said, ‘there is no need to swear.’
Her mobile rang.
‘Yes,’ she said, turning away from him, ‘I am about to do that.’
She turned to him, picked up a syringe and focused on him.
‘This is for the good of the party,’ she said.
‘Surely you mean for the good of the country.’
‘Oh, never mind that. . . Now, just relax.’
‘But who will do my job, who will do --?’ he cried.
The nurse jabbed.
‘Oh,’ she said airily, ‘Mr. Steyne deals with that sort of thing.’
