Inside the shed I noticed lots of timber stacked up around the walls. Alex was lifting boxes aside and finally uncovered the old desk. He wiped dust from its surface with the side of his hand, almost lovingly I thought. Perhaps he liked the feel of the wood. This should do the trick, he said. It is the idioms which really throw you when you’re learning a foreign language. I was getting better at using the context to guess the meaning. Yes, I said. This will be very fine. Using an idiom myself was a more difficult thing. I resolved there and then to try to use the expressions I heard. Between us we lugged the desk into my room and set it down. Alex hesitated at the door as if he was about to say something else to me, but then just left without speaking. I arranged a few books and some papers on the desk, and put a few possessions into the drawers. At the back of the desk’s surface I noticed initials carved into the wood: J M. I ran my fingers over the letters, wondering who had scratched them there.
