ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS:
Songs of the Silent Age
It was the end of summer. The blind white eye of August sunshine had dimmed to the hazy yellow glow of Autumn. The trees began to scatter their leaves, and the evenings crept in with the roar of the wind.
It was the end of the weekend. A weekend eaten up by paperwork and half drunk cups of black coffee. Zoe sat at her desk, a luke warm mug of coffee pushed to the farthest corner, lipstick marks decorating its rim. She rested her head into her hand and leant her elbow on the desktop, tapping the end of her pen absently against her lips.
The door opened and shut sharply, a breeze of cool air passed her by.
"Everything alright?" Connie asked, retrieving her hand bag and setting it down on her own desk.
Zoe murmured a half answer before collecting herself.
"Paperwork..."
She gestured to the odds and ends in front of her.
Connie glanced at the array of papers and pursed her lips into a pitying smile.
"A little delegation may help..."
She offered, packing away her phone and purse away into her bag.
"If only..."
Zoe leant back in her chair and drew in a long breath.
"I could make it all disappear for you."
Connie folded her arms across her chest and smiled again, temptingly.
Zoe shook her head.
"I can handle it."
She stood up and smoothed down her dress.
"But first, I need some fresh air."
She reached into her drawer for her lighter and cigarettes.
Connie watched her.
"I'll walk with you."
She said, drawing her bag up into the crook of her elbow and making her way toward the office door, opening it and holding it open.
"Thanks"
Zoe passed her by and waited while Connie locked the door.
"Have you not considered quitting?"
She asked.
Zoe gave her a sideways glance.
"Never."
She pulled a cigarette from the packet as they passed through the automatic entrance doors and into the front car park of the hospital.
They stopped in front of Connie's car.
"See you tomorrow."
Zoe called, watching as Connie unlocked the car door and dropped her bag into the passenger side.
"Don't work too hard..."
Connie replied, slipping into the Jaguar with ease and buckling herself in.
Zoe watched her reverse and exit the car park. She felt herself relax a little.
She placed the cigarette in her mouth and flicked the lighter, a dim flame caught and went out. She tried again with no luck.
"Fuck."
She hissed, and pushed the lighter back into her bag.
"Need a hand?"
Max held out a lighter, flame dancing above his thumb.
She smiled and put the cigarette back between her lips, he raised the flame to her until it caught.
He watched as she drew in a long breath.
"Long day?"
He asked, pushing the lighter into his back pocket.
He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the wall of the hospital entrance.
"Long weekend."
She corrected, breathing out a stream of pale grey smoke into the night sky.
"You should give yourself a break..."
His voice was quiet and calm in contrast to the sound of the distant traffic and the hum of the hospital.
"What do you think this is?"
She gestured with her cigarette and took another draw on it.
He smiled his quick, easy smile.
"Not that sort of break, a proper one."
He reached out a hand and without asking plucked the cigarette away from her and placed it in his own mouth.
"That would mean time out, that I don't have."
He let the smoke filter through his nose and handed her back the cigarette.
"I thought you were the boss?"
He smiled that smile again.
She raised an eyebrow.
"So did I."
She answered slowly, watching the blue lights of an ambulance in the distance.
"Well if you ever change your mind I've got a back garden and a five star tent you could stay in."
He laughed as he spoke.
"Not really my idea of a holiday..."
She smiled for the first time that evening.
"What makes it five star anyway?"
She asked.
"Ah..."
He paused briefly.
"It doesn't leak..."
He paused again.
"And I'll throw myself in as well, as part of the deal."
"You may use me in any way you wish."
He added, smiling as she rolled her eyes and passed him back the cigarette.
"Now that would raise some eyebrows."
She mused.
"Certainly would."
He exhaled a thin streamer of smoke which the wind caught and blew high up above them.
"I'd better get back inside."
She said, drawing her arms around herself, but failing to move. She looked up at the sky above them.
"We're going over for a drink if you want to join us instead?"
He asked, watching her as her dark eyes traced the blinking lights of an overhead aeroplane.
"I don't think that's a very good idea."
She said quietly.
"Work can wait..."
He urged.
She looked at him.
"That's not really what I meant..."
"Ah... if only I were a doctor and not a porter..."
His joke was strained but he smiled none the less.
"It's not that..."
She began, but he held up a hand.
"It's alright you can stop digging."
He flicked the cigarette onto the pavement and crushed it with the toe of his shoe.
"You go and do your important doctor things and I'll go and drown my sorrows wi-ith..."
He dug out a handful of change from his pocket and tossed it over in his hand.
"£6.22"
He dropped the coins back into his pocket and stepped away from where he leaned against the wall.
"Have fun..."
She breathed, stepping back into the warmth of the hospital.
"Wish you were there!"
He called out behind her. She smiled as she made her way back to her office. Perhaps the harmless flirting with a hospital porter would relax her enough to be able to finish off the paperwork that she still had left to do.
More to come shortly...
