‘Ugh, Orla, I don’t have time for this! You’re just going to have to tell me.’
‘Well, I?—’
‘Because this piece needs a complete re-write by tonight and I want better photos! I mean, what the fuck is this ugly wooden wheelbarrow all about?’
Now Orla was overcome with a feeling of defensiveness. Yes, she might have thought thebrouettewas weird when she’d first arrived here, but it meant so much to the people who lived here. It was part of the history and, yes, it may not be a beautiful golden statue, but it was just as important and its humble roots actually made it more so.
‘Dear Frances,’ Orla began. ‘Please take this email as my resignation from my position withTravel in Mindmagazine. Although I have enjoyed my time with the company it’s time for me to have a fresh beginning.’
There was silence at the other end of the phone line until:
‘Are you joking? Has Alan put you up to this? Because yesterday he tried to prank me that the plant Moira has on her desk and waters every day is fake.’
‘I’m serious,’ Orla said. ‘In fact, I’ve never been more serious.’ She ran her fingers down the fabric over where the window should be.
‘Is this about money?’ Frances asked. ‘What am I saying? Of course it’s about money! It’s always about money! Well, obviously I can’t sign off on the intricacies of it but I am positive we can work around a… 10 per cent increase?’
‘It’s not about the money.’
‘Twenty per cent!’
‘Frances, you’re not listening to me.’
‘Is thisTimemagazine? Did they manage to poach you in the end? I thought I’d put paid to that the last time they came sniffing around but?—’
‘What?’ Orla exclaimed. Had she heard right? Had her publication of dreams tried to headhunt her somehow? And Frances had intervened?!
‘I didn’t think they were serious at first but, well, I guess they were… and now this! So, when are you heading to New York?’
As quickly as the shock of this news hit, it dissipated just as fast.
‘I don’t have another job,’ Orla answered.
‘What? Are you insane?’
‘No,’ Orla said. ‘I’m actually thinking more clearly than ever before.’
And with that said, she looked a little harder at the black sheet in front of her, blowing a bit with the breeze.I wonder…She pulled it back and there was the reveal. A perfectly intact window, a small fan moving left and right and creating the impression of outside air.
‘Delphine!’ Orla said. ‘You were never having your window replaced!’
‘Orla? Have you actually gone mad? Who is Delphine?’ Frances called down the phone.
54
‘Not gonna lie but Burim is putting me to shame in the gun show,’ Tommy remarked as he and Jacques helped to coordinate the festival outside. It was remarkably mild today, actually a few degrees above freezing and some of the snow on the ground was beginning to thaw. This apparently called for Burim to be dressed in nothing but a vest on his top half as he and Gerard stacked the gifts made to thebrouettearound the central stage.
‘Hey,’ Jacques said. ‘The dojo is open for you whenever you want to use it.’
‘Thanks, bro. Now I know I need it.’
‘And you know that is not what I meant.’
‘Yeah, I know. Just feeling very single right now. Erin and Burim. You and Orla. Madame Voisin and Gerard.’
‘What?’ Jacques exclaimed in shock.
Tommy laughed. ‘OK, I made the last one up, but can you imagine?’
