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Part 4 Heaven's Light Our Guide
| Author: MattWingett | Published: 25th May 2012 09:21 |
Part 4. The Strange Audit Continues...
"Er, yes... Yes, I do."
"I see," she said, and wrote a note in pencil on a sheet in front of her. "Any other pets?"
"No, but I hardly see what - "
"And what about parents?"
The question was so surprising that she quite lost her train of thought.
"They... well... when I was little, they... well, they were killed in a plane crash, I -"
"Aha!" Miss Peters looked at the page before her with some satisfaction and held up her hand to silence Miss Tolstoy. She ticked a box and repeated, with some pleasure, "A plane crash..."
She took a breath and continued:
"Do you have a lover, boyfriend, girlfriend, or perhaps someone with whom you have occasional sexual encounters?"
"Well, I hardly see -"
"Please Miss Tolstoy, just answer the question -"
"No!"
"No, you do not?"
"No, I mean, it's private. I won't answer the question!"
"So I'll take that as a yes, then. What is his or her name?"
"Name? How can they have a name when they don't exist?" she answered before realising she had just answered the question.
"Thank you," said Miss Peters, obviously pleased with herself, and ticking another box. "Now, do you believe in God, spirits, an afterlife, creationism, reiki, homoeopathy, hypnosis, the power of prayer or dreamcatchers? A belief in any one of these will be sufficient to answer yes," she added when she caught site of the look of overwhelm on the other side of the desk.
Miss Tolstoy blinked at Miss Peters with even more confusion and then pulled herself together. She needed to make a good impression, after all. So, she said:
"Well, to be honest, I haven't really thought about some of those things. But, I did think about God, once. You know, I was a little girl when my parents died, and for a while I thought that maybe, you know... it would be nice to think that..."
Miss Peters was leaning forwards, looking at her quite intensely.
"Yes?"
"... Well, that a belief that my parents were in heaven would be a comfort. But, to be honest, I am more of a down-to-earth sort of a person."
"Down-to-earth. Hmm. Yes. So, are you saying that you don't believe in God?"
"Yes."
"Yes you do or yes you don't?"
"I mean no. I mean, no I don't believe in God."
"I see." She paused, continuing to look at Miss Tolstoy, expectantly.
"As for the other things on your list, no, not really."
"Not really. Or not at all?"
"Not at all, then," Miss Tolstoy answered slightly caustically.
"Aha." She ticked a box. "What about astrology, tarot cards, rune reading or any other form of prediction of the future?"
"No... I can't say that I have any interest in any of these things."
"Do you, or have you ever dreamed of flying?"
"- Look, what is this about?" she asked uncomfortably.
"Just answer the question, please, Miss Tolstoy," Miss Peters said in a cold voice. "All will become clear shortly."
"Yes, of course I have..." said Miss Tolstoy, at which Miss Peters's face suddenly looked rather disappointed.
"Oh, oh dear," she said, but Miss Tolstoy carried on, oblivious to her.
"...Except that I have the most awful fear of heights. So getting on a plane is not at all my idea of fun.
At this information, Miss Peters perked up again, and wrote a note in the folder.
"A fear of heights..." she echoed as she wrote. "Excellent."
She looked up from the sheet abruptly.
"Thank you Miss Tolstoy," she said, and standing up, made her way to the door. "We will be in touch."
"In touch, when?"
"When we are ready."
She opened the door and nodded her to leave. In a state of confusion, Miss Tolstoy left the room and stepped back out into the corridor. She turned to look at Miss Peters, but found that the door had been closed behind her, and that it fitted absolutely seamlessly into the wall. If you didn't know it was there, you would never spot it. And even if you did, you would still have trouble locating it.
"Ready? What are you getting ready for?" she asked the empty air, with a slightly lost voice.
At that moment, the clerk from room 344 stepped out of his door, closing it and locking it behind him.
"Are you still here?" he said, with some surprise, and then headed down the corridor on his way home.
Miss Tolstoy watched him leave and then looked down at her wristwatch. The time was 7pm. The interview had taken a whole two hours!
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Find out what happens to Linda Tolstoy in the next installment... next week!
You can buy Matt Wingett's "Heaven's Light Our Guide" on Amazon, here: http://amzn.to/heavenslight
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