SPOOK STORE The room they’d given Tinkler was a private one in a pleasant location, high up in a corner of the hospital. There was a nice view from the window, over rooftops, and even a glimpse of a distant patch of green. I imagine Maggie had somehow exerted influence, or maybe they were just treating her brother really well out of professional courtesy. Or maybe it was an index of the seriousness of his condition. There were grapes in a bowl beside his bed, which I thought was a particularly cruel touch. His face was naked and beaten and vulnerable. Somewhere under that unhappy slackness was my friend. I felt bad staring at him. If I’d been in his place I wouldn’t want to be seen like that. I’d be ashamed of anyone seeing me in that state of helpless absence. I felt a sweet burst of flavour in my mouth and realised with some degree of embarrassment that while I was staring glumly at my savagely wounded friend, I was also absentmindedly stealing, and eating, his grapes. Nevada was staring at me.
