‘Excuse me?’
Violet looked up at the man who smiled and pointed at the seat her granddaughter had only just vacated.
‘Yes?’ She gripped her handbag. Wary of getting her purse nicked and losing the fourteen pounds and eighty-three pence that lurked inside it. Not naturally mistrustful, but the many headlines and whispered gossip at the hair salon encouraged her to get better at it, to doubt the intentions of strangers and to be on guard, just in case.
‘Is this seat taken?’
‘Well, my granddaughter was sitting there, but now she’s—’
‘That’s okay, I won’t be long.’ He sat down, and Violet looked over his shoulder, willing Natalie to come back. She didn’t like sitting so close to the man.
‘It’s Violet, isn’t it?’
‘Do I know you?’
A little forgetful, she was now embarrassed that this man might be known to her, someone who had slipped through the ever-widening net of her memory, until all that remained were the biggest and most impactful moments, memories, and people. She stared at his padded gilet, a clue, no doubt, but no, she couldn’t place his smiling face. A nice face, actually. His eyes bright, expression open, skin smooth, mouth kind.
‘In a manner, yes. I need to speak quickly, as what I have to say is of the utmost importance and we don’t have long.’
‘I’m not buying anything, if that’s what you’re after. And I only give to my favourite charities—’
‘Violet,’ he said her name again, interrupting her. Now she saw the urgency in the intensity of his stare. She stopped talking. ‘My name is Chen.’
‘Hello.’
‘Hello,’ he smiled widely. ‘Sometimes we have the luxury to talk at length, to explain, but not today, and so I must calmly, yet expeditiously, get to the point.’
‘I wish you would!’ she spoke only half in jest.
‘What I’m about to tell you will sound strange, unbelievable but, it’s important you understand that I will not and never have told a lie.’
‘If you say so!’ She wished Natalie would hurry; this man was giving her strong nutcase vibes.
‘What would you say if I told you that you could spend time with someone you have lost, someone who has died. What if I said you got to see them again?’
‘I’d say you were a loon and I’d ask the next person who walks past to undo my brake and I’d wheel myself off to wherever you were not!’ she spoke plainly. ‘I don’t believe in mediums or any of that hokum! And I don’t want to hear it if you have a message from Jesus, thank you very much!’ It angered her. She might beold, frail even, but the fact he thought he could take advantage of her in this way was galling.
‘I get that a lot,’ he remained unflustered. ‘but again I promise you that I have never and will never tell you a lie.’ He leaned forward on the tabletop and spoke with urgency. ‘This Saturday, in the hour before midnight, you have the chance to spend fifteen minutes with someone who has gone before you. All you have to do is stay in your chair, close your eyes and, when you open them, it will be a repeat of the time you have chosen to live again with them when they were alive, just as it was.’
‘Is that right?’ She craned her neck towards the door. Where the hell was Natalie?
‘There are some rules, very important rules, Violet. You can’t leave the room, or you will find yourself back home. You mustn’t tell the person you are with that they have died or give them any information that you think might prevent their death. It would make no difference.’
‘I’d like you to stop talking to me, you loon box!’
Chen carried on as if she hadn’t spoken.
‘You cannot change history, can’t undo the thing that has been done, but that kind of disclosure can have the most distressing and disastrous effect on them at a time when they are ailing, oblivious or at peace. It would be cruel, the cruellest. Also they cannot know that they are only there for fifteen minutes. If you breach any of these conditions, they will disappear immediately, and you will lose all that remains of your time.’
‘Why are you saying this to me? Bugger off! Please go away! I want you to leave me alone!’ She felt the uncomfortable rise of emotion in her throat; his jest was cruel and unnecessary.
‘Who will you pick, Violet? Harry?’
To hear her husband’s name on his lips was jarring and emotional. Sixteen years gone, and how she yearned for him! Missing him as much today as she had on that first day, knowingwithout him her life was subdued, diluted, and her potential for joy so diminished it made waking each morning to face a day on the planet without him harder than she could possibly have imagined.
It was trickery – of that there was no doubt – but the man was extremely convincing. Her heart raced.
‘Or David’ he asked.
