‘Hi, Clive.’ I do my best croak. ‘How are you?’
‘Did yousayyou were drunk on wine?’
Note to self: always check caller ID.
‘It’s the delirium.’
‘You’re stillsick? Whatisit?’
‘A cough,’ I say, and cough for good measure. ‘Sneezing. The flu. I think it might be something bad.’
‘You realisewe are behindon paperwork?’
I shudder at his inflections. His attitude is enough to make me want to be sick right here and now. I feign a sneeze, right asthe man in the pool heaves himself out to only jump in all over again.
‘I’m sure it can wait.’
‘Canit?’ Clive asked. ‘I supposeyouwill be in on Monday?’
Considering I still have sixteen days here, it isn’t looking likely.
‘Um, yeah, sure,’ I say. ‘Well, I can try. Um, if I’m not, is there someone who can take over?’
Clive sighs, like I’ve punched his great-grandfather.
‘We arestretchedvery thin. I’d hoped wewouldn’tneed someone to do that.’
Because it’s boring, I wanted to say. Unimportant.
The company will not fall apart without my paperwork that no one reads.
I cough again for dramatic effect.
‘I’ll keep you posted, Clive,’ I croak. ‘Any news on whether or not my job is safe?’
Clive hangs up, leaving me naked on my sunlounger.
I readjust the towel that I used to cover myself, noting that my skin is tanning, which is surprising to me, because normally it burns. How will I explain that to Clive? How could I tell him that I summoned the courage to get nude in public?
I flip through a Jackie Collins book, feeling the breeze of the pages on my stomach. How did I ever think it plausible that I could leave work for such a long time with a bloody cold? No doctor would vouch for me, and I’m pretty sure pretending to get a doctor’s note is against the law. Fraud comes to mind, and, like, that’s bad.
So, what could I possibly do?
Lie?
Work from Athens?
But working from home is off the cards, because apparently everyone can work from home except for Clive and I.
The only option is for the flu to get worse.
Or ignore Clive.
Yes.
Ignoring problems is my specialty.
‘Jesus, Ollie, what the hell are you doing here?’
