Fast Fiction: Cheeky Monkey
…'Ah, you must be the one we've been expecting,' she said.
'If you mean the union mediator,' he said, 'then you're probably right.'…
But there’s more than mediation in the offing in this short story by Richard Mallinson.
For lots more of Richard’s entertaining tales – each one confined in length to 300 or so words – please click on Fast Fiction in the menu on this page.
'Ah, you must be the one we've been expecting,' she said.
'If you mean the union mediator,' he said, 'then you're probably right.'
'Well, the sooner you begin, the better,' she said. 'I'll take you.'
They walked along a corridor.
'Are you blanking me out?' he asked.
'No, of course not... but there's no need to make a fuss, is there?'
Just as they were about to go into a room with others in it he said, 'Can we meet tonight? I'm staying at the Marmion Hotel.'
'No, it wouldn't be right... Anyway, I can't make it.'
'No, you never bloody could,' he growled.
*
She came to his room at the Marmion that night.
'I can't stay long,' she said, taking her coat off. She accepted a vodka.
'My husband's breaking down under all this,' she said, meaning the dispute. 'Please help him .. .'
'Why the hell should I help him after what he did to me?'
'Did to you? What do you mean?'
'You know bloody well what I mean .. . taking you away from me.'
'Don't,' she said, 'please don't... you're going to make me cry.'
'Well, that would be a sight worth seeing.'
'Oh,' she said, 'you've changed. You used to be gentle.'
'Yes,' he said, reaching for her, 'and look where it got me.'
*
After settling the dispute he went back to London. A few days later he received a letter from her at his office. It was marked 'private'.
'Thank you for all your exertions, both on duty and off,' she wrote. 'Perhaps you would like to come here again!'
She had used Marmion Hotel notepaper. The cheeky monkey.
