Artistic Licence (28 page)

Petal told Molly about Thea’s decision to go to London with a sort of shocked awe. Molly looked at Thea for confirmation of this mental aberration. ‘You’re what?’

‘Going to London to find Rory. I can’t just sit here without at least trying to get him to change his mind.’

‘Sitting? Here? Precious little of that! You still haven’t decided what to do about the basement floor and if you only use upstairs there won’t be nearly enough room. We’re tight for space as it is.’

‘But Molly, unless we get Rory’s work it won’t matter what we do about the basement floor, because we won’t need to use it. The graduate show isn’t until August.’

The silence with which Molly greeted this told Thea she hadn’t really taken in the significance of Rory’s defection. ‘Oh, shish-kebabs!’ she murmured.

‘Exactly,’ said Thea, although her own expletive had gone on a lot longer and had been a lot less genteel.

‘I’m going to have to leave you in charge of the gallery, Molly. It’s only for a few days. Will that be all right?’

‘Of course.’ Thea could already see that Molly was beginning to relish being in sole occupation and could only trust that the power wouldn’t go to her head.

‘Now my only problem is what to do about Lara and the pups.’

Molly and Petal seemed to physically retreat. Petal was happy to spend hours cuddling them, but faded away like dew on a sunny morning if their newspapers needed changing. ‘Well, I’m going home,’ she said quickly. ‘Mummy’s been on at me for ages. She doesn’t understand why I haven’t gone before.’

‘Well, could–could…’ Thea struggled to remember the name of Petal’s current swain and failed – ‘your boyfriend stay here and keep an eye on them?’ He was local, which was why Petal hadn’t gone home for the vac.

‘Oh, no. He’s coming home with me.’

Thea spent a few moments tussling with thoughts of murder and dismembering. By dumping Lara and the pups on her, Rory had not only made it possible for him to zoom off to London but impossible for her to follow him.

‘You’re not going for long, are you? I’m sure Mrs Jones, my cleaning lady, wouldn’t mind popping in…’

‘It’s not just a matter of feeding them. They need exercise and company, they can’t be in the house on their own all day and night. It would be dreadfully cruel. Does the RSPCA do respite care, do you think?’

Molly and Petal looked bemused. Thea was always something of a mystery to them, now she was completely incomprehensible.

‘I mean, if you have a handicapped child, or an elderly relative that you look after and you have to go away, you can sometimes get them into a home for a couple of weeks. It’s called respite. That’s what I need for Lara and the puppies.’

Molly and Petal exchanged anxious glances; Thea had obviously really lost it this time.

‘Leave it with me,’ said Molly. ‘I’ll think of something.’

‘Would you, Moll? I’d be so grateful!’

‘Only if you don’t call me “Moll” – it’s a name always preceded by the word “gangster’s".’

Trusting that Molly would be able to bully or blackmail someone into being a resident dog-and-puppy sitter, Thea picked up the phone and rang her friend Magenta, who she hadn’t seen since she left London and spoke to only rarely.

After a lot of ‘why haven’t you been in touch?’ and explanations of busyness, Thea cut to the chase: ‘Can I come and stay for a few days? My star attraction has disappeared and I’m very much afraid that he’s found somewhere better to exhibit than my gallery. I don’t know how that’s possible, but there it is.’

‘Better than a gallery in … in … whatever godforsaken corner of the country you ran away to? Impossible.’

‘Magenta, I did not run away and my gallery is not in a godforsaken – ’

‘OK, OK, no need to be so touchy. Of course you can come and stay. I’ll take you round all the hot galleries and pick up the gossip. We’ll soon track him down.’

‘Thank you. You’re a star! I’ll ring you from the train to give you an idea what time I’m arriving and take a cab to your place.’

Thea was staring into her wardrobe, trying to decide which of her clothes were the least shabby, when Molly phoned to tell her she’d found the perfect puppy solution. ‘Well, almost perfect, anyway. It’s two young men.’

‘What?’

‘Pet sitters,’ she declared. ‘They come into your home and look after your pets, water your plants and things. These two like to come together, apparently.’ There was a tiny pause. ‘I didn’t dare ask if they were gay. It wouldn’t have been politically correct.’

‘No. And not really relevant, either, as it’s out of the question. It would cost an arm, a leg and the whole damn torso besides.’

‘Don’t be disgusting and I’m paying. It’s the only sensible solution. Who else could you get, for goodness sake?’

Thea sighed. ‘I do realise it’s not easy. I’ve been racking my own brains and come up with a big fat nothing.’

‘Well, then. The firm do stringent police checks and things, so they should be utterly reliable.’

‘As long as they know what they’re taking on.’

‘Oh, yes. Apparently they’re quite used to puppies and large dogs. In fact, they’ve just lost a Great Dane and will adore Lara. It’s perfect.’ Molly sounded more than usually pleased with herself.

‘Not quite.’

‘Well, what’s wrong with it? Your dogs are going to be given first-class care. What’s your problem?’

‘It means I’ve got to tidy my house. If I had a student to do it for me, I could just pack up and go!’

There was a short pause. Molly possibly thought this was good news but was just tactful enough not to say so. ‘Mm. Well, you must admit your house could do with a bit of a going over.’

Thea fumed, silently but passionately. This might be the moment when she fell out permanently with her
friend. But somehow she held back. ‘I have been busy. And what will they expect? With a litter of puppies in it? They’re not called “litters” for nothing, you know.’

‘But the puppies don’t go into the bedrooms, do they?’

Thea wasted several minutes jumping up and down in fury. Trust Molly to put her in a situation of having to clean her house when she wanted just to dash up to London to save the gallery. She decided she’d clean for an hour and anything that wasn’t cleaned in that time could just stay dirty.

She set the kitchen timer and swooped and swiped and banged the hoover about, stuffed things under cushions and flung bedspreads and tablecloths over piles of boxes. The timer eventually pinged just as she’d blocked up the hoover, trying to vacuum up a sock. ‘Oh, well,’ she said, switching off the offending appliance and kicking it into the cupboard under the stairs, ‘if they need to use it, they’ll have to sort it out first.’

Her packing was necessarily speedy, while she longed to be one of those women who just threw the Armani section of their capsule wardrobe into their Louis Vuitton weekend case and leapt on to the train. Although rushed, Thea had plenty of time to regret the clothes she’d given away before she’d left London. Those black jersey trousers, for instance, which gave her freedom of movement and relative smartness.

Deciding Petal could be useful, if absent, Thea went into her room and raided the carrier bag full of discarded clothes. There was a pair of trainers in there which might be the very thing. Comfortable feet were definitely essential if she was going to spend the next
few days tramping round art galleries. And Petal’s trainers, unlike Thea’s, had the advantage of never having been used for anything more sweaty and energetic than retail therapy, which Petal did with great concentration and not much speed. The trainers were the only thing of Petal’s that Thea could fit into.

When she’d dealt with her packing as well as she could, she dithered over whether she should bring the file of material for the graduate show. It would be great to discuss it with Magenta, who had a good eye and a better idea of what was current, or ‘hot’.

But it was of Ben she thought, as she flattened her carefully ironed clothes with the folder. What would he think of that video?

She’d fallen in love with it. It was of a large patch of white willowherb, and the seeds had turned into silken fluff. Every so often a puff of wind would blow the seeds high up into the air, sending them up and around, catching the light as they flew. But it was probably completely off track.

Molly had been very sniffy about her having a video at all. ‘But who will buy them?’ she had asked, sensibly enough, when Thea had got a copy and shown her.

‘No one will buy them. But the artists might be asked to do an MA somewhere, or win a prize. This gallery isn’t only about making money, you know.’

‘As if,’ said Molly, sounding very like Petal.

The two young men were charming. They admired the original features in the house, didn’t look sniffily about at the traces of student, which were everywhere, and fell in love with Lara and the puppies. They exchanged meaningful looks. ‘I know it’s mad, but maybe,
perhaps, one of these might be what we need to fill the gap Lorenzo left. He was a Great Dane.’

The other said, ‘It’s a bit soon to be thinking about getting attached to another animal, but you never know.’

‘Well,’ said Thea. ‘If you and the puppies get on OK, and you think you might like one –’ She left her sentence unfinished. ‘It’s not going to be easy to find homes for mongrels that size. The little one I shall keep myself.’

‘We’ve never had a mongrel before. We used to breed Great Danes and show them, but they die so young they break your heart.’

Thea glanced at the kitchen clock. ‘Is there anything else you need to know about anything? The washing machine works fine as long as it doesn’t get coins in it. There should be loads of hot water and the telly works OK, only it doesn’t get Channel 5.’

‘Don’t worry about Channel 5, dear. We prefer Calvin Klein anyway.’

After a moment Thea laughed. ‘And you’ve got Molly’s number if anything domestic goes wrong.’

‘Molly? Oh, yes,
charming
lady. She came to our house and interviewed us. Though I don’t think she really appreciated dogs like we do.
So
stylish, though.’

Thea left them lying on the kitchen floor bonding with the puppies, happy that her charges were in such good hands, and delighted at the thought of Molly as a gay icon.

Once on the train, after cursing herself for forgetting her mobile phone, Thea found herself feeling quite excited about her trip to London. She’d been back very seldom since she left and, although she was
furious with Rory for defecting, she would never have taken time off at such a critical time at the gallery without a really good excuse. The thought of a little time away from the combined pressures of the gallery, the puppies and her confused emotions put her in a ‘let out of school’ mood, which she hadn’t felt for a long time. It was also a good opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Magenta was waiting for her at the end of the platform.

‘Darling! You didn’t need to meet me! I could have just got a cab. Or even the tube –’

‘Honey, you haven’t been in London for a long time, have you? You’ve forgotten about the Northern Line. And why didn’t you phone?’

Ignoring Thea’s protests, and apologies, Magenta ushered her into a taxi. The two women settled back into the comfort of the leather seats.

‘Now,’ said Magenta. ‘Tell me, do you just want to concentrate on finding this Rory guy, or do you want to see some art as well? I mean, you didn’t have much time to research this gallery idea. Perhaps you ought to see what other people are doing.’

Thea was tempted. She desperately needed to find Rory, but it would be silly to waste all her time in London’s hottest art galleries looking for that ingrate. It would be nice to take the time to look at a few pictures as well.

‘I tell you what,’ said Magenta, checking her purse for change. ‘I won’t take you anywhere that will be of no use at all, but I will drag you to some of the more up and coming places that are really important, even if it’s unlikely to be there.’

It seemed easier just to let Magenta take charge. What was it about her personality, she wondered, that made people want to organise her? Molly, Magenta, Petal, they were all at it. ‘Fine.’

‘I’m glad you decided to go with what I’ve planned. I’ve got a fabulous schedule, which will blow you away. Have you got comfortable shoes on?’

Thea only needed a very short time to change into Petal’s discarded trainers, brush her hair and demolish half a litre of fizzy water, so they were back in another cab less than half an hour later. When she protested about the expense, that she was living on money she didn’t have at the moment, Magenta would have none of it.

‘I’m working. I’ll set the cab fares off against tax.’

‘But what are you working
at
, Magenta?’

‘Giving you a crash course in contemporary art. What else?’ She obviously knew the London art scene very well, She was up to date on all the new shows and new galleries, and she seemed to be personally connected to all the important people.

‘I had no idea you knew so much about all this. I’d have been picking your brains the moment I thought of having a gallery of my own.’

‘You didn’t tell me you’d decided to open an art gallery until you rang me. I thought you were still mothering students.’

‘Well, of course, I still am.’

‘And too busy to keep your old friends up to speed. But in a way it’s a good thing. It might have damaged your confidence, knowing too much about it, and possibly stopped you having your own original ideas. I probably would have come down and taken over the show.’

‘Even though you hate the provinces?’

‘Oh. Yes. I’d forgotten that.’

Serious again, Thea asked. ‘But supposing my ideas aren’t original at all? When I started out all I had was fabulous space and Rory. Now I haven’t got him any more, I’ve only got a lot of white walls and some sanded floors.’

‘Garbage! Did you bring your portfolio?’

‘If you mean that folder with a lot of postcards, Rory’s slides I showed you and some brochures, and a dubious video, then yes. Although I left it in your flat.’

‘Good. I’ve got a friend you can show it to tomorrow. If he approves, you know it’s OK.’