The Mountain Shadow

‘Well, at first, I used to talk,’ he said, washing a glass. ‘I used to ask questions. Are you here on a business trip? Do you have any kids? Why do you think your wife doesn’t understand you? But, after a while, I started breaking my part of the conversation down into little pieces of the truth. Barmen never get more than a line or two. It’s a narrative rule, I’m afraid. Am I boring you folks?’

‘No,’ we said together.

‘So, I don’t converse any more. I’m making this exception, tonight, because my shift has ended, and because I like you. I liked both of you, from the moment you walked in. And when I like something, I’m never wrong about it.’

‘Nice talent to have up your sleeve,’ Karla smiled. ‘Go on, about the one-liners.’

‘Most of the time, I prune the conversation tree. It’s all bonsai. It’s all punchlines now. And it’s better that way, in little pieces of the truth. It’s like a code, the truth. When people hear it, the doors unlock.’

‘Randall,’ Karla said, her eyes gleaming coloured glass, ‘if you stop conversing, I’ll never darken this joint again. A refill, if you please.’

He poured two fresh glasses of champagne, and another long soda.

‘My replacement hasn’t arrived, but my shift was officially over half an hour ago, so I’d like to join you folks in a toast,’ he said, offering Karla the champagne and the soda to me. ‘May words never fail you.’

‘Can’t drink to that, because words never fail,’ she said quickly. ‘This is the first toast that Shantaram and I have shared in two years, Randall, and I think this is a fated meeting. Let’s make this toast to the three of us.’

I moved to clink glasses with them, but she swerved away from me.

‘No! It’s bad luck to toast with water,’ she said.

‘Oh, come on.’

‘I’m serious.’

‘You’re kidding, right?’

‘Just because you don’t believe it, that’s no reason to mess with it, Lin. Do you need any more bad luck?’

‘You’ve got me there.’

‘I always get you there.’

A newcomer to the bar bumped Karla into me, and our glasses clashed together anyway.

‘Looks like we’ve done that toast after all,’ I said.

She stared at me from a hard frown for a moment, but then she smiled again.

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Make another toast, without drinking water yourself. That should keep us safe.’

‘To green eyes – may they always be protected.’

‘I’ll certainly drink to that,’ Randall said, sipping champagne.

‘To green queens,’ she said, smiling light at me.

She raised her glass, took a small sip, and stared back at me. It was the moment to break through, and we both knew it. It was perfect.

‘Lin!’ Vinson said, bouncing against me and slapping his long, strong fingers onto my back, Rannveig at his side. ‘Good to see you, man!’

I was still looking at Karla. She was looking at me.

‘Vinson,’ I said, the voice in my ears sounding like something hard, breaking. ‘I don’t think you’ve met. This is Karla. Karla, this is Stuart Vinson. And this is Rannveig, like the thing at the airport.’

‘Say, Karla!’ Vinson shouted. ‘I’m damn glad to finally meet you.’

‘It won’t do any good,’ Karla replied, playing it straight.

‘It . . . it won’t?’ Vinson smiled, already confused.

‘No. Anything you heard is out of date.’

‘Out of . . . what?’

‘I reinvented myself.’

Vinson laughed.

‘Oh. Wow. Like, when did this happen?’

‘It’s happening now,’ Karla said, holding his gaze. ‘Try to keep up.’

My heart stumbled like a drunk dancing. God, I loved her. There was no-one like her.

Then she turned to the girl, Rannveig, and asked her if she was okay. I looked at the girl. She wasn’t okay.

‘She’s fine!’ Vinson said, clapping an arm around her.

Rannveig’s face was drawn and pale.

‘I told her,’ Vinson continued, ‘I said, hey, you’ve been through a lot. Time to get out and see people, have a few laughs, you know? The best medicine, they say.’

He hugged her to him, shaking her. Her arms flapped at her sides.

‘How you doing, kid?’ I asked.

She looked up quickly, ice-chips glittering in her blue eyes.

‘I’m not a kid!’ she snapped.

‘O . . . kay.’

‘Don’t take it personally,’ Karla said. ‘He’s a writer. He thinks he’s older than his grandfather.’

‘That’s pretty funny,’ Vinson laughed.

‘And as for you,’ Karla said. ‘Let that girl out of your armpit, right now.’

Surprised, Vinson allowed Karla to peel Rannveig away from him.

‘Randall,’ Karla said, ‘I know you’re off duty, but this in an emergency. I want your cleanest glasses and your dirtiest jokes, and make it snappy.’

‘Your command is my wish, ma’am,’ Randall said, glasses like eels swimming in his hands.

‘How ’bout that?’ Vinson mumbled. ‘She stole my girl.’

‘She’s your girl now?’

‘Oh, man,’ he said, turning a big, open-mouthed smile on me. ‘I told you, didn’t I, back there at the station house? I told you she was the one. I’m crazy about her. She’s really something, isn’t she? My heart beats faster every time I look at her.’

‘She’s been in a plane crash,’ I said.

‘A plane? But . . . what?’