Hemingway’s Chair

the
army pulled out but Frank had made enough money to build a processing and
refrigeration depot which the local fishing families reluctantly agreed to use.
For a while he was one of the most successful businessmen in Theston. He was
elected councillor in 1965, the year Elaine was born, and Mayor three years
later.
    Then,
in the late seventies, the depot folded. Frank Rudge claimed that deep sea
factory fishing had so depleted the lucrative herring catches that he had no
option but to close. The speed with which he pulled out and the suffering
caused to local fishermen fed rumours that there was more to the story, but
nothing was ever proved. Rudge moved swiftly to invest what money he had left
in a troubled local haulage business, saving a dozen jobs in the town and
making him once again the local hero. A disastrous move from haulage into
property in partnership with Ernie Padgett was Rudge’s next attempt to prove
his father’s original judgement of him wrong. It cost him half a million pounds
when the market collapsed a year later. After that he settled for a small
greengrocery business, a small terraced house in the middle of town, a small
heart attack and a small but growing role in local politics. In the last five
years he had twice been elected Mayor, and he was currently the industrious and
influential Chairman of the Planning Committee.
    Whatever
the rumours, Frank Rudge claimed never to have had any favours from anyone and
it was in this spirit that Elaine had remained firmly unimpressed by Nick
Marshall’s invitation to a drink after work. However, Frank Rudge was also
insatiably curious, and in that spirit she had accepted.
    They
met, at Marshall’s suggestion, in the bar of the Market Hotel. In January,
after Christmas and before the spring visitors arrived, it was still quiet.
They sat opposite each other at a marble-topped round table beside an open
fire.
    ‘I
know women don’t like pubs,’ Nick had said as he came back from the bar with
two large orange juices and a packet of crisps. ‘I thought you’d prefer it
here.’
    ‘I
like pubs,’ said Elaine, determined not to make things easy for him.
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Oh,
yes. If you want to find out what’s going on in Theston you have to go to the
pub.’
    Nick
could see her trying. Trying very hard. She was tense, tight, sharp, and he
knew that while she remained that way he had the advantage.
    ‘Not
to the Town Council then?’ he asked as innocently as he could.
    Elaine
glanced up at him. ‘They go to the pub as well,’ she said.
    Marshall
smiled. ‘You ever thought of following in Dad’s footsteps?’ he asked her,
casually.
    ‘Yes,’
she lied. ‘Often.’
    They
both drank. Elaine set her glass down first. ‘D’you go to pubs?’ she asked.
    Marshall
shook his head. ‘Not if I can avoid it.’
    ‘What
do you do for a night out?’
    ‘I
don’t feel the need for them,’ he said, reaching for the bag of crisps.
    ‘What
does Geraldine think about that?’
    His
clear blue eyes flicked up to hers. Nick had never really looked at Elaine, not
for long anyway. Her nose was big and her face oddly old-fashioned, like in
those Second World War pictures of wives waving their husbands goodbye. But
when she was on the attack her jawline hardened and her nostrils widened and
her eyes sparkled attractively.
    ‘What’s
Geraldine got to do with it?’
    ‘Well,
you’re the one to answer that. You know her better than I do.’
    Elaine
took a crisp and pushed the bag towards him. He caught the smell of scent on
her neck. A little too much. He smiled, shook his head and pushed the packet
back.
    ‘What’s
wrong, Elaine?’ he asked, leaning forward, back held straight, lips slightly
parted revealing almost faultless teeth.
    Elaine
sat back, paused, then spoke, chin thrust forward.
    ‘Well,
as you ask, quite a lot. I didn’t like the way John Parr and Arthur Gillis were
sacked. I think that part-timers are a cheap, easy option for the post office.
They confuse the customers and they slow down business. And I personally resent
being told nothing and asked nothing about a complete change to the office I’ve
worked in for six years.’
    ‘And
Martin’s not seeing you any more.’
    Elaine
felt herself redden. It was as much with shock as anything. She fought it
angrily. ‘I was talking about post office business.’
    ‘So
was I.’
    She
took a long draught of the orange juice. It tasted sweet and sickly.
    ‘You
asked me about Geraldine.