Nicola Barker - Reversed Forecast

He stood up. ‘If anywhere’s open,’ he shouted after her, ‘You’re completely out of milk.’

There was a painting in the living-room, a portrait, that Connor especially hated. ‘That’s her,’ he said, when he first showed Sam around his flat, ‘Sarah. I share this place with her.’

Sam liked the painting. It was creepy. A female nude. Lips, russet nipples, ribs.

‘Does she really look like that?’

He laughed. ‘She thinks she does. She’s so vain. You’ll meet her.’

‘Where is she?’

‘Los Angeles for a month. Helping to research a book on the paranormal.’

Sam was fascinated. ‘Para-normal. Not normal.’

‘She’s a researcher.’

‘And you don’t like her?’

The flat, she could tell, was the site, the centre, of subtle guerilla warfare. A picture; a wall-hanging; garish, orange hessian curtains. All Sarah’s contributions. Sam grew accustomed to spotting her in objects. Teapots, candles, cosmetics in the bathroom.

Connor claimed to be an aesthete. He said he hated clutter. But his bedroom, his territory, was full of musical flotsam: a drum-kit, African bongos, symbols, a tambourine. His records, his stereo.

Sam couldn’t learn much here, though. In the living-room, she inspected the bookshelves.

‘Henry James?’

‘Hers.’

‘Kurt Vonnegut?’

‘Mine.’

‘ Psychoanalysis: the Impossible Profession ?’

‘Hers.’

‘ Dead Babies ?’

‘Mine.’

‘ Skinhead Escapes ?’

‘Mine.’

She picked this book up. It was a cheap, trashy novella. She didn’t like it. She found it distasteful. ‘I wouldn’t want to own something like this.’

‘It’ll probably be worth a fair bit in a few years’ time.’

‘It’s exploitative.’

He nodded. ‘But sometimes that kind of stuff can be interesting.’

‘Oh.’

She put the book back on the shelf.

Connor. He was interested in everything. She’d learned this very quickly. He was pragmatic. And what was she? Idealistic. Full of ideals.

Connor’s problem, the way she saw it, was that he was interested in too much. He was funny and gentle, but he was fascinated by stupid, sometimes even bad, things.

‘My parents,’ Connor explained, ‘rented this place to Sarah while I was at college. She’s always been here.’

Sam liked her. I’ve been living with this woman, she thought, learning all about her.

It was early morning. Connor was still asleep. She’d risen to get herself a drink of water. On her way back to bed she paused in front of the painting. Bones, white flesh, red hair, red eyes. It was hung on the wall adjacent to Sarah’s room. Connor, she thought, is still sleeping. She touched the door handle, shuddered, pressed it down. Pushed.

Inside, the curtains were drawn. The bedspread was patchwork. She could smell patchouli oil. On the dressing-table, however, she noticed bottles of what appeared to be more sophisticated scent. She walked over and picked up a bottle of Rive Gauche, tentatively sprayed it into the air and sniffed. Next to the bed — she sat down and inspected it — was a book of women’s erotica. She opened it. Marilyn French. Anaïs Nin. She started to read, struggling in the half-light to focus on its ant-black print.

‘Hello.’

Samantha gave a start, almost dropping the book and the perfume. A tall, very thin woman stood in the doorway, grinning sardonically. She had bright, hennaed hair and a gaunt, striking face. In her hand she held a suitcase.

‘What are you reading?’

‘You must be Sarah.’

Sam stood up and quickly put the perfume back down on the dresser. ‘I shouldn’t be in here.’

Sarah walked into the room, threw her suitcase down on the bed, strolled over to the window and drew the curtains.

‘What were you reading?’

‘Angela Carter.’

‘Were you enjoying it?’

Sam nodded.

‘You must be Connor’s new friend.’

Sam didn’t much like this description of herself, but nodded again.

Sarah stared at her. Sam wore only a dressing-gown with nothing underneath. She tightened the belt self-consciously.

‘That picture,’ she said, confused and embarrassed, ‘in the living-room. It does look just like you.’

Sarah laughed at this. ‘Connor’s been telling you about my monumental ego.’

‘No. I didn’t mean that.’

‘The print is by Schiele. He’s very famous. He painted male nudes too.’

She opened her suitcase and peered at its jumbled contents.

‘How was Los Angeles?’

‘OK. I was working. Do you work?’

‘I’m a singer.’

‘Not with Connor’s group?’

‘No. I’m in a band with my mother.’

‘That’s a novelty.’

She started to unpack. ‘I’d rather strangle my mother than sing with her.’

Sam closed the book she was holding and put it down on the dressing-table.

‘You can borrow that if you like.’

‘Thanks.’ She picked it up again.

‘Angela Carter,’ Sarah said, frowning. ‘You like her?’

Sam nodded.

‘The way I see it,’ Sarah said, pulling out some clothes and shoving them into a wicker washing-basket at the foot of her bed, ‘there are two types of women. Those who think we’re the same as men, and those who think we’re different. Equal, obviously, but different.’

Sam was delighted. A proper conversation! Connor’s idea of animated chat was a discussion of the intricacies of Gram Parson’s fretwork.

‘Which type are you?’ she asked.

‘The first. But I don’t know about Angela Carter, and that makes me suspicious.’

‘I like her,’ Sam said, ‘I like that difference. Whatever it is.’

Sarah considered this for a moment and then said, ‘Maybe because you’re culturally different, you have a looser approach to questions of gender.’

‘Culture doesn’t come into it,’ Sam said, vaguely defensive. ‘I might be a different colour, but I still know that sex is more complicated than race.’

Sarah continued to unpack. She took some magazines from her case, some papers and a notepad.

‘Connor,’ she said, smiling, ‘must find you a challenge.’

‘How?’

‘Politically.’

Sam tried to understand this. ‘It’s not politics I’m interested in. It’s something more subtle.’

‘Subtle?’ She laughed. ‘You think Connor’s up to that?’

Sam stared at her. How could she respond?

Connor appeared in the doorway and saved her. ‘Hello,’ he said, nodding at Sarah. ‘So you got back in one piece?’

‘I landed at five.’

He turned to Sam. ‘I wondered where you’d got to.’

He hitched up the sheet he was holding around his hips.

Sam moved towards the door. ‘I suppose I’d better leave you to it.’

Sarah nodded. ‘But keep the book as long as you like.’

Sam thanked her, tucking the book under her arm.

Back in his room, Connor yanked off the sheet and climbed into bed. ‘I heard what she was saying. She’d have eaten you alive.’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘No?’

‘But I felt really stupid.’

‘That’s ridiculous.’

Sam paused for a moment and then said, ‘Why don’t you like her?’

He puffed up his pillow. ‘I wouldn’t mind her if I didn’t have to live with her.’

‘She’s abrasive.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Threatening.’

‘What?’

‘Maybe because she’s clever.’

‘Opinionated.’

‘Because she’s a feminist.’

He rubbed his face with his hands. ‘So are you.’

‘You just don’t like aggressive women.’

‘That’s stupid.’