There were free benches on either side of mine, but to my surprise he ignored those and sat down right beside me. At any other time I might have resented the intrusion, but by now my mood was relaxed, expansive and hopefuclass="underline" it had begun to feel that anything that happened to me, from now on, could only be for the best. And besides, I thought that I could detect a certain kindness and benevolence in the deep blue eyes of this affable stranger. So, if he wanted to engage me in conversation, I was ready for it.
‘Evening,’ I said.
‘Evening,’ he repeated back at me, and added: ‘How’s it going?’
It was one of those meaningless questions that normally don’t require a proper response. Today, however, I decided to defy social convention and take it seriously.
‘Well, since you ask, it’s going pretty well,’ I told him. ‘It’s been a draining couple of days, in some respects, but at the end of it all … I have to say that I’m feeling good. Very good.’
‘Excellent. Just what I wanted to hear.’
‘You’re from England too, right?’
‘Ha! – the accent’s a giveaway, isn’t it? Yes, we’re over here for three weeks. My wife’s from Australia originally. Catching up with some of her relatives.’
‘That’s your wife down there?’ I asked, indicating the pretty blonde woman standing on the rocks with the two pale little girls.
‘It is, yes.’
I looked at the man more closely.
‘This may sound a weird thing to ask,’ I said, ‘but would I be right in thinking we’ve met somewhere before?’
‘Do you know, I was just thinking the same thing. I believe we have. In fact, I’m sure of it – I can even remember where.’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘there you have the advantage over me. Please don’t take it personally, but the thing is, I’ve met so many different people over the last few weeks …’
‘That’s all right. I understand,’ the man answered. ‘In any case, it’s a bit misleading to say that we actually met. Our paths crossed – that would be a better way of putting it. We didn’t speak to each other.’
‘Where was it, then?’
‘You really don’t remember?’
‘I’m afraid not.’
‘It was at Heathrow airport, nearly two months ago. You were sitting in one of the cafés trying to drink a cappuccino, only it was so hot that you could barely touch it. I was sitting at the next table, getting ready to go to Moscow.’
‘That’s right! Your wife and daughters were there as well.’
‘They’d come to see me off.’
Yes, I remembered it clearly now. This was one encounter that I’d failed to mention to Lian, when I was telling her the story of my last few weeks. I could recall eavesdropping on the family’s conversation and being slightly baffled by it.
‘Why did you have to go to Moscow?’ I asked. ‘I did happen to overhear some of what you were saying at the time, and I think you mentioned something about … interviews?’
‘That’s right. It was a publicity trip. I’m a writer, you see.’
‘Ah – a writer. That would explain it.’ It occurred to me that Caroline, had she been there, would have been excited to meet a genuine writer. I can’t say I was very thrilled. ‘Should I have heard of you?’ I asked.
He laughed. ‘No, of course not.’
‘What sort of books do you write?’
‘Novels, mostly. Fiction.’
‘Ah. I don’t read much fiction. Are you working on something at the moment?’
‘Just finishing one, since you ask. Getting very close to the end now.’
I nodded in what I hoped was an encouraging way. Then we fell silent.
‘One thing I’ve always wondered about writers,’ I said. ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’
He looked at me in some surprise. I suppose it was quite possible that he’d never been asked this question before.
‘Hmm – that’s a tricky one,’ he said. ‘You know, it’s really very difficult to generalize …’
‘Well, what about this book that you’re just finishing at the moment?’
‘Where did I get the idea for that, you mean?’
‘Yes, if you like.’
‘Well now, let me see.’ He leaned back on the bench and looked at the sky. ‘It becomes quite hard to remember, in any detail, but … Yes, that was it! Yes, I can tell you exactly where I got the idea.’
‘Please do.’
‘Well, two years ago – Easter 2007, that is – I came to Australia with my family for another visit, and we were eating out one night at this restaurant overlooking Sydney harbour, and I happened to see this Chinese woman and her little daughter having a card game together at their table.’
I stared at him.
‘And I don’t know why,’ he continued, ‘but there was something so touching about them – there seemed to be such an intimacy, and such a connection between them that I wondered what it would feel like to be a lonely man eating at that restaurant all by yourself, and to be offered this little glimpse into their world and to want to be a part of it.’
I tried to stop him, but he was in full flow by now.
‘And then, on that same trip, I’d arranged to meet Ian – my old friend Ian from Warwick University, who teaches at the ANU in Canberra now – I’d arranged to meet him in the tea rooms at the Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, but I hadn’t realized that there were two tea rooms at the Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, so we almost missed each other. And I think it was the combination of those two ideas that got me started writing the book. That’s usually how it works. A couple of ideas like that, sort of … rubbing up against each other.’ He turned to look at me. I no longer felt like interrupting him, having all but lost (not for the first time that day) my power of speech. ‘Does any of this sound familiar, at all?’
My throat was dry.
‘I think I’m beginning to get the picture,’ I said, finally.
‘So how does it feel,’ he asked, ‘to be part of someone else’s story?’
‘I’m … not sure,’ I answered, choosing my words with care. ‘It’s going to take some getting used to, I think.’ Then, with a sinking feeling, already knowing what the answer would be, I asked, ‘Does this book of yours involve toothbrushes, by any chance? And Donald Crowhurst?’
‘Funnily enough,’ said the writer, ‘it involves both of those things. I wanted the story to revolve around a household object – one that people use every day, without really thinking about the political or environmental implications. Well, I had trouble coming up with anything suitable, in the end, and actually it was my wife who suggested toothbrushes. And shortly after that, I was having coffee in London with my friend Laura, who’s an art critic, and she started telling me about these works by Tacita Dean that were inspired by the Donald Crowhurst story, and she also put me on to this brilliant book about him by Nicolas Tomalin and Ron Hall. So you see, what generally happens – to answer your original question – is that I get all sorts of different ideas, from all sorts of different places, and when I start putting them together, other things start to emerge. People, to be precise. Characters. Or in this particular instance’ – he looked directly at me – ‘you.’
Suddenly I felt like the hero of a low-rent spy movie, just when he realizes that he’s walked straight into the trap set for him by the villain.
‘I see. So that’s … me, is it?’ I said, playing for time as much as anything else. ‘I’m just a by-product of your ideas, is that right? Well I have to say, that doesn’t do wonders for my self-esteem.’