Girl, There’s A Better Life For Me And You
Mr Mortimer Harbinger
3rd of November, 1975 — Another Visit to The Anniversary
Mr Harbinger decided to stop off at The Anniversary again on his way to his hotel. He didn’t the day before because that was a long day and he just wanted his bed at the end of it. Today had been long and tiring as well but this time he fancied a pint to end it. Gertie might be there again. She had stayed in his mind for the past couple of days. He was now certain he had seen her before but he couldn’t remember where. Maybe he would ask her.
There were no children in masks to be seen this time but halfway there his eyes were drawn to an art shop he hadn’t noticed the last couple of days. He stopped and stared in at the window.
There were pictures there, weird ones. His head tilted as he stared at them, one at a time. Each one was strange to his eyes as he stopped scanning them and focused on one in particular. He continued to stare at it while becoming excited while an idea slowly formed of its own accord. ‘This must be what they’re all about’, he thought. ‘I never understood the point of abstracts before’. He happily continued to stare and tried to relax into the ideas forming in his head.
Mr Harbinger recoiled as soon as the picture told him what it was about. It was about death. A nasty and painful death. ‘Oh dear’, he thought. ‘Pity that’s what it’s about’. He focused on another one that caught his fancy. Slowly his mind absorbed and collated the swirling colours and shapes before excruciating, painful and bloody death filled his mind again.
‘Must be a theme’, he thought as he backed away from the disturbing images and resumed his walk. ‘I’m definitely stopping off at The Anniversary tonight. ‘I need to forget this’.
There was a different waitress this time and thankfully, she was also a sight for sore eyes.
The greeting was similar. “Hiya luvva, what d’you want?”
“Pint please, I.P.A.”
“Okay.”
It came quickly. The waitress turned around for some reason after she left the pint and saw him take a deep draught.
“Wow. Looks like you needed that. Another?”
He nodded and she brought him another which was placed next to his now mostly empty glass.
“Good to see you again,” she said as she turned to take another order.
Mr Harbinger frowned. He just wanted to have a quiet couple and relax. Those death images were still with him and he didn’t want to deal with anything else right now.
But she recognised him? He didn’t recognise her. Or did he? He thought the same about Gertie the other day and now he thought he did recognise her. Maybe he’d eventually remember this one as well? This was twice now. He didn’t like that. But he had spent a lot of time in this area over the past few months, locating and renting the shop and, right now, recruiting. It was going well and he had no undue worries about it but he had seen and interacted with a lot of the locals recently, so maybe he had seen them before. This was another worry. His business dealt with people all the time and he was good at it. He thought he would have recognised her if he had seen her recently. Maybe he wouldn’t remember her name but he did think he should recognise her face.
This gave him another item to worry about. His face fell as he tried to relax and cast his mind back.
His memory was slow but something came. He now thought he did recognise her but that was all. Where had he seen her before? These thoughts consumed him as he consumed his drink, slowly now. But, no. Memories of where he had seen her before didn’t come.
He finally finished his second pint and prepared to leave with his memory worries as additional baggage when she approached him again.
“Want another?”
He shook his head. “No thanks,” he said and left quickly. He automatically looked back as he opened the door and saw her give him a little hand wave and a smile. He didn’t respond but exited quickly and went straight to his hotel. Mr Harbinger forgot about his evening meal in favour of a deep bath and bed.
He didn’t get much sleep. His dreams were vivid and demanding. Not fitting for a happily married man of his age. But they were insistent.