J. Coetzee - Slow Man

The telephone rings. 'Mr Rayment? This is Marijana. How are you? Sorry I missed my days. I was crook. I come tomorrow, OK?'

So that is to be the fiction between them: she was crook. 'Yes, of course it is OK, Marijana. I hope you are feeling better. I will see you as usual tomorrow.'

'Marijana will be back on the job tomorrow,' he informs his guest as matter-of-factly as he can. Time for you to bugger off: he hopes she gets the message.

'That's all right. I'll keep out of her way.' And when he glares at her angrily: 'Are you worried she will think I am one of your lady friends from the old days?' She gives him a smile that is nothing less than merry. 'Don't take everything so seriously, Paul.'

Why Marijana has decided to come back emerges as soon as she steps through the front door. Before even taking off her coat – it is raining, a warm steamy rain that carries a tang of eucalyptus – she slaps down on the table a glossy brochure. On the cover, mock-Gothic buildings against acres of greensward; in a panel, a well-scrubbed boy in shirtsleeves and tie at a computer keyboard, with an equally well-scrubbed chum peering over his shoulder. Wellington College : Five Decades of Excellence. He has never heard of Wellington College.

'Drago say he will go here,' says Marijana. 'Look like good school, don't you think?'

He pages through the brochure. 'Sister institution to Wellington College in Pembrokeshire,' he reads aloud. 'Preparing young men for the challenges of a new century… Careers in business, science and technology, the armed forces. Where is this place? How did you find out about it?'

'In Canberra. In Canberra he find new friends. His friends in Adelaide no good, just pull him down.' She pronounces Adelaide in the Italian way, rhyming with spider. From Dubrovnik, just a stone's throw from Venice.

'And where did you hear about Wellington College?'

'Drago know all about it. Is food school for Defence Force Academy.'

'Feeder school.'

'Feeder school. They get, you know, preference.'

He returns to the brochure. Application form. Schedule of fees. He knew that boarding school fees were high; nevertheless, in black and white the figures give him a jolt.

'How many years would he be there?'

'If he start January, two years. In two years he can get year twelve, then he can get bursary. Is just fee for two years he need.'

'And Drago is enthusiastic about the school? He has agreed to go?'

'Very enthusiastic. He want to go.'

'It's normal, you know, for the parents to take a look at a school first before committing themselves. Make a tour of the premises, speak to the headmaster, get a feel of the place. Are you sure you and your husband and Drago don't want to pay a visit to Wellington College first?'

Marijana takes off the raincoat – it is made of some clear plastic material, purely functional – and drapes it over a chair. Her skin is warm, ruddy. No trace of the tension of their last encounter. ' Wellington College,' she says. 'You think Wellington College wants that Mr and Mrs Jokic from Munno Para come visit, see if maybe Wellington College is OK for their boy?'

Her tone is good-natured enough. If anyone is embarrassed, it is he.

'In Croatia, you know, Mr Rayment, my husband was famous man, sort of. You don't believe me? In all newspapers photographs of him. Miroslav Jokic and mechanical duck. On television' – with two fingers she makes walking motions in the air – 'pictures of mechanical duck. Only man who can make mechanical duck walk, make noise like how you say kwaak, eat' – she pats her bosom – 'other things too. Old, old duck. Come from Sweden. Come to Dubrovnik 1680, from Sweden. Nobody know how to fix it. Then Miroslav Jokic fix it perfect. One week, two week he is famous man in Croatia. But here' – she casts her eyes up to the heavens – 'who cares? In Australia nobody hear of mechanical duck. Don't know what is it. Miroslav Jokic, nobody hear of him. Just auto worker. Is nothing, auto worker.'

'I am not sure I agree,' he says. 'An auto worker is not nothing. Nobody is nothing. Anyhow, whether you visit them or not, whether you are from Munno Para or Timbuctoo, my guess is that Wellington College will be only too glad to take your money. Go ahead and apply. I'll pay. I'll give you a cheque right now for the application fee.'

So there it is. As easy as that. He is committed. He has become a godfather. A godfather: one who leads a child to God. Does he have it in him to lead Drago to God?

'Is good,' says Marijana. 'I tell Drago. You make him very happy.' A pause. 'And you? Leg is OK? No pain? You do your exercises?'

'The leg is OK, no pain,' he says. What he does not say is: But why did you walk off the job, Marijana? Why did you abandon me? Hardly professional conduct, was it? I bet you would not want Mrs Putz to hear of it.

He is still full of aggrievement, he wants some sign of contrition from Marijana. At the same time he is drunk with the pleasure of having her back, excited too by the money he is about to give away. Giving always bucks him up, he knows that about himself. Spurs him to give more. Like gambling. The thrill all in the losing. Loss upon loss. The reckless, heedless falling.

In her usual busy fashion Marijana has already set to work. Beginning in the bedroom, she is stripping the bed and fitting clean sheets. But she can feel his eyes on her, he is sure of that, can feel the warmth coming from him, caressing her thighs, her breasts. Eros always ran strong for him in the mornings. If by some miracle he could embrace Marijana right now, in this mood, taking the tide while it is high, he would overcome all that rectitude of hers, he is prepared to bet. But impossible, of course. Imprudent. Worse than imprudent, crazy. He should not even think of it.

Then the bathroom door opens and the Costello woman, wearing his dressing gown and slippers, makes her entry on the scene. She is drying her hair with a towel, showing patches of pink scalp. Cursorily he introduces her. 'Marijana, this is Mrs Costello. She is staying here briefly. Mrs Jokic.'

Marijana offers her hand and with solemn mummery the Costello woman takes it. 'I promise not to get in your way,' she says.

'No worries.'

Minutes later he hears the front doorlock click. From a window he watches the Costello woman recede down the street towards the river. She is wearing a straw hat he recognises as his own, one he has not worn for years. Where did she find it? Has she been rooting in his cupboards?

'Nice lady,' says Marijana. 'She is friend?'

'A friend? No, not at all, just an associate. She has business in town, she is staying here for the duration.'

'That's good.'

Marijana is in a hurry, so it seems. Normally, first thing in the morning, she attends to the leg and conducts him through his exercises. But today there is no mention of exercises. 'I must go, is special day, must pick up Ljubica from play group,' she says. From her bag she brings out a frozen quiche. 'I come back this afternoon, maybe. Here is something little I buy for your lunch. I leave slip, you pay me later.'

'A little something,' he corrects her.

'Little something,' she says.

She is barely gone when the key scrapes in the lock and Elizabeth Costello is back. 'I bought some fruit,' she announces. She sets down a plastic bag on the table. 'There will be an interview, I would guess. Do you think Marijana will be up to it?'

'Interview?'

'For this college. They will want to interview the boy and his parents, but mainly the parents, to make sure they are the right sort.'

'It is Drago who is applying for admission, not his parents. If the Wellington College people have any sense, they will jump to take Drago.'