Smoking Pipes

 

Chapter 8

SMOKING PIPES

 

“Would you like a snack or do you prefer a rest?” Irving asked Camette.

“Both. But first a drink. I want to remove the memory of that couple.”

“OK.”

Camette was on the point of asking Irving something about Amanta and Jorge when she saw Mavis come onto the terrace where they were standing. One of her arms was bandaged up and her face wore a strange expression of ‘I’ve had an unexpected shock’.

“Hello, Mavis. How are you? What’s happened to your arm?” Camette asked.

“Nothing serious. Just a burn from hot water.”

Irving looked at her rather disconcertedly. “Mavis, you should be more careful. I don’t understand you. It’s not necessary to shower in hot water in this climate, the cold water is warm enough as it comes out the tap.”

Mavis gave them a sad glance, and resting her wounded arm on the other one, said, “I’m off to see Sonila. She’s over there beside the swimming pool.”

Irving and Camette looked over in the direction of the swimming pool and there was Sonila, lying down.

“I haven’t seen her away from the hotel, except once when she went to a restaurant with her husband,” Irving said. “Doesn’t Sonila like the island?”

“Come and ask her for yourself. Ever since we went on the excursion on the boat with Filo and his grandson to the temple, Sonila hasn’t felt very well.”

Sonila was very happy on the sun lounger. Gus had gone out with Don to who knows where, and she had managed not to take part in the festivities. Some sleeping tablets together with a long night’s sleep when everyone else was desperately trying to stay awake, meant that Sonila didn’t know what had been going on.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Mavis said.

“How nice! What’s happened to your arm?”

“A burn.”

“What were you doing? Making tea?” Sonila asked, getting up. “Irving, call the waiter. We’re all going to have something.”

“Sonila, why do you hardly ever go out of the hotel?” Camette noticed how gently Irving asked the question.

Sonila answered smiling, “I’m not as young as you and Camette, and walking makes me tire very quickly. I’d rather stay here relaxed.”

Irving looked at Camette, but she was staring at the glass of fruit juice, and then she got up. “I’m going to bed. I’m tired. Are you coming, Irving, or are you staying?”

“I’m going to stay here for a while with these two charming ladies.”

Mavis and Sonila laughed, “Those words deserve another drink. Waiter!” Sonila called.

It wasn’t long before Mavis was lying down on another lounger and in no time at all she fell asleep.

 

Meanwhile, in the fruit bowl the water was moving as if it were a wave on the sea. On the dressing table there were drops of water �" and the fish. It was dead!

Don said to himself, “Mavis won’t believe this. Baah. I couldn’t care less, she can say what she likes.” And to the fish, “At last I’m free of you, you revolting little mass of scales.” He wrapped the dead fish in a tissue and took it to the bathroom where he threw it down the toilet and flushed, enjoying watching the stream of water swallow up the tiny corpse. He cleaned the dressing table and the fruit bowl, and then put the fruit, biscuits and sweets back where they belonged. Before going down to see Mavis in the garden, he glanced down the toilet basin and flushed again to make sure the fish went down the pipes. He then washed his hands, combed his hair and sprayed on an indecent amount of toilet water. This was the happiest day of his holiday. He shut the bedroom door and took the lift down. He was excited because of the disappearance of the fish from both his life and his bedroom.

 

“Have you left a cigarette burning in the bathroom?” asked the woman to her husband who occupied the room under that of Mavis and Don.

“Are you accusing me of something?”

“If you have nothing to do with the smoke coming out of the bathroom then tell me who has.”

The husband opened the bathroom door. It was full of smoke and saw that the source of the smoke was the toilet. There was nothing he could see that could have caused the smoke. He flushed, and then rang room service. “I’ve got a complaint to make. I don’t know if it’s due to something that has been put in the pipes to disinfect, but our bathroom is full of smoke which is coming from the toilet.”

The manager answered, “Don’t worry, sir. We’ll send a plumber straight away.”

“A fireman would be more appropriate.”

The manager received the same complaint from many of the rooms directly in line below Don and Mavis’s room. He rang reception. “Go and look for the hotel plumber and if you can’t find him, look for the one on the maintenance card. If we don’t solve this soon we’ll have public health down on us.”

“It’s possible that someone has stolen a piece of the plumbing system,” reception suggested.

The manager’s eyes shone evilly, “I bet that’s the answer. I bet I know who it is �" our competitor in ‘The Blue Frog’ opposite. He’s jealous of our clientele. You really can’t trust anyone.”

“Every time it’s more complicated. But does it explain the smoke?” asked the receptionist.

“What do I know about the smoke? Revenge is sweet, he must be having a good laugh at us.”

“And what if it were caused by something else?”

“What else could it be? Listen, what are we going to do about paying him back?”

 

Mavis’s face was a bit more animated after a couple of drinks and her arm no longer hurt so much. Sonila had been entertaining her with gossip about other guests. Mavis didn’t know Irving and Camette very well, and as neither was present she asked Sonila, “Are those two going out together? I’m always seeing them together.”

“They met here. It’s not so strange you see them together, there are not many people of their age in this hotel.”

“Hello, girls,” said Don.

“Come and join the youth group,” said Sonila.

“I’ll treat you to a drink, and later my little woman and I are going to change for dinner.”

“Where are we going?” asked Mavis with little interest.

“To a typical restaurant, and you’re coming too, Sonila. No staying in the hotel. Tonight we’re going to have a great time.”

The two women stared at Don. What had happened to him? They knew that to contradict him was useless.

“How’s the fish, Don?” Mavis asked.

“Fish! What fish? Oh, yes. Now I remember. You brought a fish up to the room. Well, I suppose it’s swimming around the interior of the fruit bowl.”

 In Don’s mind arose the image of the hated little fish travelling along the pipes.

Mavis told him, “My arm still hurts me quite a lot. Let’s go upstairs and see whether it’s getting better or not.”

“You shouldn’t touch it, but you should take off the bandage when you go to bed so that the air can dry it out,” said Don.

“Gus wants me to go up now, so we’ll all meet up later,” Sonila said after returning from reception.

Mavis got up very awkwardly from her lounger, Don took her by her good arm and the three crossed the garden and went up to their rooms.

 

“Don,” a loud lament came from Mavis’s mouth, ”Look! My fish isn’t here. Someone has stolen it and filled the fruit bowl with fruit.”

“You stole the fish anyway, so what does it matter! There are millions of fish in the sea around here, it wasn’t the only one.”

“It was for me. Do you know, Don, that little fish loved me. I’m sure!”  Mavis sat down on the sofa crying. “What are we going to do?”

“Forget it.”

“How can you say things like that? Haven’t you got any feelings.”

“Feelings? Of course I have. But if you’re insinuating that I’ve got to feel all emotional about a fish, then the answer is NO!”