Joey Says

My sister Beth had phoned to say she was in the neighbourhood, and could she call in. In fact she had a few days and could I put her up. It had been ages since I had last seen her but of course she was very welcome.

I am Mat, 28 and recently separated from Kate. Beth is a year younger and as far as I knew was unattached. I was on my own and welcomed the prospect of her company. My split up with Kate had left me feeling a little insecure, and when we were kids Beth and I had been very close, so her making contact cheered me immediately.

'Hi Beth, great to see you! You're looking well.' And she was, her mid brown hair was cut fairly short, and that suited her. She has a broad face with big eyes and fine features, which the haircut emphasised. She was also looking trim and glowing with health.

'And you look better than I expected.'

'Oh yes, what were you expecting?'

'Well, Kate said you were a little down.'

'I didn't know you were in touch with her.'

'I gave her a call when I heard you were separating.'

'Okay, well it's good to see you whatever the reason. Come in, come in. The spare room is yours for as long as you want it.'

'Thanks.'

She brought in her bag and we hugged. I had a two bedroom flat, overlooking a park. There would be ample space for the two of us.

It was a Friday evening. I prepared a meal of a chicken salad, and I had some good South American white wine ready chilled. Then lest the main course was too austere and healthy, we could follow with chocolate fudge cake and ice cream. I put on a CD of some old twenties jazz, and the atmosphere was good.

We brought each other up to date on our various careers. I'd recently taken a teaching job at a local university. Beth was doing media work, as a director of photography. Jobs were a little infrequent, intensive periods of work with gaps between. She was in such a gap just now. It coincided with my having a few days so we could spend some time together. She took her digital SLR camera with her everywhere, and wanted to take some pics here, including some of me- she had not got many as we had lost contact. And Beth loved the chocolate fudge cake and ice-cream. We had indulged in secret midnight feasts when we were about twelve or so, eating by torchlight, dressed in our night clothes.