Таня Д Дэвис - Полёт фантазии, фантазии в полёте

— «Yes», — Mr. Toffiles’ eyes beamed with pride. — «Our agency can boast the best services at the lowest prices». (When will he stop talking as if he is a living ad?» — thought Julia to herself). «Our clients are always satisfied with the tours we offer, because they themselves can choose the mode of travel, so to speak».

— «Impossible to offer anything decent just for one hundred pounds», — interrupted Julia in an icy tone.

— «You are right, but the fact of the matter is that our agency offers an absolutely new mode of travelling, i, e, human soul travelling» — Mr. Toffiles paused to enjoy the effect his words produced. Julia’s eyes opened wide and she whispered: «What do you mean?»

— «I mean that you travel spiritually, not bodily», — Mr. Toffiles stressed the word «bodily’ by lightly touching Julia’s shoulder. — «The mechanism of soul travelling is very simple: the client clicks his fingers and with a special signal from our control board, his soul parts from the body and joins the body of the so-called soul-bearer. Our agency offers a wide choice of soul-bearers, travelling all over the world. Human soul travelling is the tourism of the future».

— «I’m afraid it’s not exactly what I want», — said Julia and made for the door. It seemed to her that Mr. Toffiles wasn’t very disappointed at the loss of a potential client.

— «Good bye, Mrs. Evans, see you tomorrow», — he said cordially.

Julia turned back to say that she wouldn’t be coming either tomorrow or any other day but there was nobody behind her.

On the way home Julia was thinking over the details of her visit to that strange agency: «How did he learn my name? I had never mentioned it to him. Extremely curious». — «Hello, Julia», — a sweet voice, which she immediately recognised interrupted the flow of her thoughts. Oh, Helen, sweet Helen, that wretched lover-snatcher Helen — Julia could never forgive her that affairs with Jim Carrol. She looked at her old university friend. Helen was as charming as ever: exquisitely dressed, perfectly made up, dazzling beauty with self-reliant smile.

— «Hello, Helen, how are you?» — asked Julia, but it wasn’t really the question she wanted to ask, for she didn’t care about Helen. The one she really cared about was Helen’s husband, James Carrol, or her first love Jim, for whom she had once forecast a great literary career and who, after that 25-year-old bestseller, had failed to produce anything of genuine value. «What has happened to his talent, I wonder», — thought Julia and said, — «and how is Jim?»

— «Fine, thanks. You know he received a prize for his last screen play».

My God, still writing those idiotic screen plays, making money out of fools, sooner or later you will turn into a fool, too.» — Jim used to say. «Is this really true?» — wondered Julia, — «what had become of Jim’s talent, of his soul? If only I could find out! But what if I… Oh, what a brilliant idea!»

The next morning Julia stood in front of the now familiar Dickesian door with golden letters determined to have a business conversation with the owner of the Human Soul Travellers Club. Mr. Toffiles greeted her like an old friend and without waiting for her to enquire offered a colourful leaflet, provided full details about human soul travelling.

«After passing a medical test the customer is provided with a traveller’s card, which enables him to make three tours, joining three soul-bearers. HSTC is responsible for the client’s body while his soul is on tour. HSTC ambulance (number plate HX 0103) is due to fetch the client’s body within five minutes after switching and take it to the waiting room of the HSTC. The traveller can use the right of extra-switching in case he cannot adjust to the mental atmosphere of his soul-bearer. Any interference in other people’s affairs on the part of the traveller or any attempt to influence their behavior will be penalised».

Julia’s common sense and curiosity were fighting so vigorously that her head began to ache.

«Well, Mr. Toffiles», — she said. — «I think I’m going to try, but there’s some points which I’d like to clarify. Do I choose my soul-bearers only from the list offered by your agency or am I free to join any person I want?»

— «You can choose either from the list or make your own choice. It’s up to you. But the advantage of our list is that it gives the name of people, who are going on tours to places our customer would like to visit. For example, if you pay one hundred pounds we shall immediately supply you with a list of people, who are going to visit China in the very near future».

The temptation was so great that Julia yielded. Curiosity won the battle. Julia paid 100 to the porcelain beauty, received the list of potential soul-bearers and the white plastic card with three red spots to check her tours, put her signature to a document, certifying that she had been acquainted with the rules of human soul travelling, and left the agency.

At home Julia didn’t even look at Mr. Toffiles’ list for she was quite certain whom she would join first. Jim! That fool Jim whom she had once loved so much and who had preferred Helen’s charms to her fidelity. In their student years Jim had been no success whatsoever with the girls, but Julia had fallen in love with that thin, ordinary, grey-eyed boy, because he possessed two precious talents — to create wonderful stories out of simple words and to make friends with children.

The next morning Julia occupied a well-chosen position from which she could safely observe Jim and Helen’s front door. She had to wait for almost an hour before Jim appeared on the doorsteps. He couldn’t see Julia, but Julia was able to watch his every move perfectly well: opening the garage, getting into his car, sending kisses to Helen, driving away.

Julia clicked her fingers quickly and… «Oh, what a curious sensation, so light, so weightless as if I’m a balloon flying away from its negligent owner. How nice to be a cloud floating in the sky! But I must hurry up, Jim’s car is gaining speed». Julia, or rather Julia’s soul, for her body remained lying lifeless on the pavement, waited for the Human Soul Travellers Club ambulance, got into the car easily through the open side-window and gently kissed Jim on the forehead.

— «Oh, Christ! This damned blood pressure jumps like crazy grasshopper» — thought Jim as he felt a sudden influx of blood to his temples. — «What a fool I am! I shouldn’t have drink so much whisky yesterday, I shouldn’t have started quarrelling with that silly bitch. (Who does he mean? I wonder — said Julia to herself). She has succeeded in spoiling the better days of my life, she has destroyed my talent, she has murdered my son. Yes, what else can one call that awful abortion at nearly four month’s pregnancy, without saying a word to me, secretly. And the only thing which could have made our marriage at least tolerable was the baby. A son, my son David, how passionately I wanted you to become real. Alas! ( — Helen, he means Helen! — reflected Julia frightened by these revelations.) Stupid fool, she is to blame for all my failures. But I’ll teach her a lesson, I’ll prove to her that I’m still a writer, not just a waste paper basket, filled with idiotic screen plays».

«Where are we going?» — thought Julia, as they passed West Hill park and took the turn to the left. Jim stopped his car in front of a bleak grey house with dirty windows. He opened the door with his won key and went up the shaky stairs.

A big dirty room looked deserted-very little furniture: an old table with a type-writer on it, a Victorian wooden chair with a broken head, an old-fashioned fridge in the corner and a blotchy carpet of uncertain dirty colour on the floor.