‘Not by that definition, no.’
‘Is there another?’ she asked, and Walter took another large breath, not feeling like there was enough space in his chest for both his lungs at once.
‘I would say a boy becomes a man when he’s seen enough of the world to know what he thinksof it, can earn an honest and decent living and knows his own mind and heart if ever someone asks one of them a question.’
‘What if someone asks both of them a question? Your mindandyour heart?’ She brushed her curtain of autumnal hair back from her eyes.
‘It’s rare that they have the same answer. You’re better off asking just one of them.’ Walter took a seat in his row.
‘How ever do you decide?’
‘Depends which one’s better suited for the task! If it’s work or money, you gotta ask my brain. If it’s matters of romance, however, you’ll need to conspire with the ol’ ticker.’
‘What if you need to decide something simple, like… what to have for dinner.’
‘Ah, see. My eyes are bigger than my belly so sadly, that’s always a lost cause.’ It was thenthat Walter heard Fawn laugh for the first time and he thought it was a good job he was sitting down because his knees would have collapsed underneath him. It was melodic, almost like she was singing a song, and although Walter hadn’t listened to a great deal of music in his lifetime, he already knew it was the most beautiful song he’d ever heard.
‘So what exactly is your job here, Walter?’Fawn swivelled in her seat to face Walter a little more, bringing her white shoes up onto the red velvet upholstery in front of her and leaning her arms flat across the back of her chair, her cheek resting against the back of her fingers.
‘You remembered my name?’
‘Well, you know mine, don’t you?’
‘Fair enough. Well, Susan…’ he smirked, ‘I’m the stage door manager’s assistant.’
‘Are you really an assistant in the sense of the definition or are you one of those assistants that actually does everything your boss should do and receives none of the credit?’
‘Bingo,’ he said, firing his fingers at her like hand guns. ‘Well, no, to be fair Lenny does a hell of a job at guarding that key box. I’m not allowed within ten feet of that thing.’
‘Oh, and I wasso hoping to have at least a moment with you each day.’ The tone of her voice suggested she may have been joking but Walter caught a fondness in her eyes that gave him a glimmer of hope.
‘And you still can, as long as your fans keep writing you letters.’ Walter opened his jacket pocket and produced the letter he’d hidden from Lenny earlier, suddenly pleased with himself for having thatspontaneous moment of weakness.
‘Oooh, how exciting! Pass it here.’ Walter stood and leant as far as he could over the seats but still couldn’t quite reach Fawn’s outstretched hand. He pinched the very edge of the letter between his index and middle finger and tried again but this time it slipped out from his grasp and fluttered to the floor in row H.
‘Argh, damn,’ Walter said, asthey both lost sight of the letter. He looked up to see Fawn had already sauntered a few seats along to the end of the row, but stopped moving as soon as she noticed he was watching. Walter moved along a few seats too with a nonchalant whistle, but he found it hard to make any noise at all when all his lips wanted to do was stretch into a smile. Fawn hopped one seat along with a leap. Walter didthe same. She raised an eyebrow at him and before he knew it she was scrambling along to the end of the row and darting into row H. Walter seized his chance and heaved himself over the rows of chairs between them like he was a hurdles champion, but Fawn got there a split-second sooner. She peeled the letter off the floor and whipped it into the air, catching Walter fully in the nose as her arm cameupwards.
‘Oh my!’ she wailed as Walter yelped and stumbled backwards a couple of steps, catching his foot on the leg of a seat and landing with a thump on his rear. Holding his nose with both hands, he let himself fall onto his back. Without hesitation, Fawn hoisted up her skirt and went over to him, getting to her knees until she was straddling one of his legs, her hands either side ofhis chest. Walter’s palms covered his throbbing nose as his fingers tried to staunch the flow of tears streaming from his eyes.
‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Are you all right?’ she whispered.
‘Fine!’ he lied, but Walter hadn’t realised just how close Fawn had dared to get and as he brought his arms away from his face, he used the momentum to catapult his body into a sittingposition… and head-butted Fawn.
‘OUCH!’ Fawn sat back on her knees and clutched her head.
‘OH, NO!’ Walter instantaneously forgot about his own pain and swivelled his legs underneath him so he could get a closer look at her.
‘I’m all right!’ she said, blinking back tears but laughing all the same.
‘You’re not, I can already see a lump!’ Walter said, taking her wristsand pulling her hands away from her head.
‘Please tell me that’s a joke. Make-up can hide bruises but I don’t think it’ll disguise a golf ball sticking out between my eyes!’
‘Don’t worry, I think everyone will be too preoccupied with your smile to notice,’ Walter said and the silence that followed made him wish he could suck the words back into his mouth, chew them up and swallowthem before she heard. Fawn looked at him with curiosity.
‘Well, that was sweet.’ She smiled, gently shaking her wrists out of Walter’s grasp. He noticed a group of three or four dark circular marks on the inside of her left wrist.
‘Where did these come from?’ he asked, carefully taking hold of her wrist and trying to examine the bruises.
