few had taken their turn they were getting it, learning from the errors and inaccuracies of those who went before, making their instructions ever more precise. At the end, each would hold up his or her diagram to compare to Holly’s interpretation while Cleo lobbed in light feedback. ‘Bernadette, succinct and successful … Philip, nearly there but I think you could save time if you spoke more clearly with fewer hesitations.’
Justin was last. He smiled at Holly. Holly stopped arguing with a truculent Phil and smiled back. ‘Holly, in the centre of the page, draw a circle with a three-inch diameter.’ The marker pen squeaked as Holly drew. Justin continued, ‘Let that circle be a bucket seen from above. Equally spaced, and likewise seen from above – draw four Mexicans peeing in it.’ A gale of laughter. Holly giggled, considered, then drew four more circles with dots in the middle to represent sombreros, joined to the original circle by short, straight lines.
Justin turned his page round to display exactly the same design.
Cleo had to raise her voice over the applause. ‘Justin – unorthodox but effective!’
She found herself smiling into the laughter in his eyes. Oh no, that wouldn’t do! She snapped her gaze away and moved quickly to the next segment, a presentation on her laptop.
Just before they broke for lunch she began her favourite routine, speaking rapidly, slapping written papers face down before each person, exam-style.
‘Right. Must hurry! By now you should have assimilated sufficient strategies to race through this paper in the two minutes allowed. I don’t expect any failures! Read the whole paper before you begin. Two minutes to do precisely what it says. Two minutes, don’t let me down! Don’t speak to each other. Begin.’ Conspicuously, she checked her watch.
Pens were snatched up, first answers scribbled. And the second. They progressed to the section that required actions, jumping to their feet, counting backwards, ‘Ten, nine, eight …’, sitting down, shouting out their middle names, ‘Margaret, Edmund, John …’
‘One minute gone!’ Cleo called.
With anxious glances at the clock, they folded over the top quarter of their pages, then wrote a large letter T on the backs of their hands. ‘Forty seconds left.’ Cleo let her voice rise on a warning note.
Two people did absolutely nothing other than read the paper. One of them was Justin.
And as the two-minute mark was reached, others began to clutch their heads and groan, ‘Oh no!’ Or laugh.
‘Two minutes up.’ Cleo beamed round. ‘Nobody but Justin and Phil listened to my instructions. I said read the whole paper first – what does the final point, number twenty, say?’
She was answered by a sheepish chorus. ‘ Disregard points one to nineteen .’ More groans.
‘So,’ she grinned, ‘that’s reminded you to follow instructions even when you’re under pressure!’
Lunchtime.
Cleo turned back to her laptop to cue up the next presentation; the staff filed out, still complaining at being caught out. Any chance Justin would suggest they lunch together? She hoped he wouldn’t. No, she hoped he would. She glanced up.
He’d gone.
Cleo left only to buy a BLT on wholemeal from a little kiosk across the car park, then returned to help herself to a spoonful of the office coffee and ring Gav from her mobile. ‘How’s your dad?’
Gav exhaled loudly. ‘Not bad. The doctors are saying he might be discharged on Monday.’
‘What about your mum?’
‘Coping.’ She could picture Gav pacing to and fro as he talked into his phone. ‘She’ll be OK if I come home at the weekend. When’s good for you?’
Because he hadn’t tried to impose his own schedule Cleo felt generous. ‘If I drive up Friday evening, we can come back Saturday or Sunday.’
‘You’re going to work to the end of the week, now?’
‘I have to, really.’
He paused. Then, ‘You’ve left your pyjamas here.’
They’d still be
Justin was last. He smiled at Holly. Holly stopped arguing with a truculent Phil and smiled back. ‘Holly, in the centre of the page, draw a circle with a three-inch diameter.’ The marker pen squeaked as Holly drew. Justin continued, ‘Let that circle be a bucket seen from above. Equally spaced, and likewise seen from above – draw four Mexicans peeing in it.’ A gale of laughter. Holly giggled, considered, then drew four more circles with dots in the middle to represent sombreros, joined to the original circle by short, straight lines.
Justin turned his page round to display exactly the same design.
Cleo had to raise her voice over the applause. ‘Justin – unorthodox but effective!’
She found herself smiling into the laughter in his eyes. Oh no, that wouldn’t do! She snapped her gaze away and moved quickly to the next segment, a presentation on her laptop.
Just before they broke for lunch she began her favourite routine, speaking rapidly, slapping written papers face down before each person, exam-style.
‘Right. Must hurry! By now you should have assimilated sufficient strategies to race through this paper in the two minutes allowed. I don’t expect any failures! Read the whole paper before you begin. Two minutes to do precisely what it says. Two minutes, don’t let me down! Don’t speak to each other. Begin.’ Conspicuously, she checked her watch.
Pens were snatched up, first answers scribbled. And the second. They progressed to the section that required actions, jumping to their feet, counting backwards, ‘Ten, nine, eight …’, sitting down, shouting out their middle names, ‘Margaret, Edmund, John …’
‘One minute gone!’ Cleo called.
With anxious glances at the clock, they folded over the top quarter of their pages, then wrote a large letter T on the backs of their hands. ‘Forty seconds left.’ Cleo let her voice rise on a warning note.
Two people did absolutely nothing other than read the paper. One of them was Justin.
And as the two-minute mark was reached, others began to clutch their heads and groan, ‘Oh no!’ Or laugh.
‘Two minutes up.’ Cleo beamed round. ‘Nobody but Justin and Phil listened to my instructions. I said read the whole paper first – what does the final point, number twenty, say?’
She was answered by a sheepish chorus. ‘ Disregard points one to nineteen .’ More groans.
‘So,’ she grinned, ‘that’s reminded you to follow instructions even when you’re under pressure!’
Lunchtime.
Cleo turned back to her laptop to cue up the next presentation; the staff filed out, still complaining at being caught out. Any chance Justin would suggest they lunch together? She hoped he wouldn’t. No, she hoped he would. She glanced up.
He’d gone.
Cleo left only to buy a BLT on wholemeal from a little kiosk across the car park, then returned to help herself to a spoonful of the office coffee and ring Gav from her mobile. ‘How’s your dad?’
Gav exhaled loudly. ‘Not bad. The doctors are saying he might be discharged on Monday.’
‘What about your mum?’
‘Coping.’ She could picture Gav pacing to and fro as he talked into his phone. ‘She’ll be OK if I come home at the weekend. When’s good for you?’
Because he hadn’t tried to impose his own schedule Cleo felt generous. ‘If I drive up Friday evening, we can come back Saturday or Sunday.’
‘You’re going to work to the end of the week, now?’
‘I have to, really.’
He paused. Then, ‘You’ve left your pyjamas here.’
They’d still be
Similar Books
