I know it’s been a long time, but my next Radwinter book really exists, and really will appear at some point this year as I struggle with various technical difficulties. It is finished, and I’m now trying to trim it down and cut out all the waffle and check it all makes sense. Here is an excerpt from it, introducing a new character who will be a permanent fixture in Thomas Radwinter’s life.
I’m pleased to say that as well as my part-time researching friend, Livia, I have an assistant, clerical and other, Simon. It means loads of dull and tedious sorting, filing, answering routine queries sort of stuff is done by someone else. Although I like my own company and my solitary splendour, it is very pleasant now to have a helpful co-worker.
Simon is a marvel! He has a law degree, and he’s happy to take on anything including some of the ordinary and tedious genealogical research for me. Yes I know, it is a great wrench for me to relinquish even that straightforward task, but I trust Simon to tell me any quirky or interesting details, such as strange names, occupations or inconsistencies.
It’s lucky this is an old building with wide doorways, and Simon has a snazzy narrow work wheelchair which he manipulates expertly. I had a stair-lift put in, and he leaves his bigger everyday chair downstairs. He originally applied as a clerical assistant to Kylie, but there was something about his application which made her pass it to me. We met at the museum and within a few minutes I knew he’d be the ideal person. The only slight hitch was that my office is on the first floor above Val’s veg shop. However I decided he’d soon earn us the price of a stair-lift, which indeed he has, and it’s also available to clients who have mobility problems. It’s a win-win as they say, what’s more, we get on really well!
“Good morning Thomas, I’ve been through the post and e-mails, one or two things for you to look at.”
As usual Simon also had a pot of coffee ready, which after the hectic start in our household I much appreciated.
He’s a thin willowy chap with very black hair. He has what you might call a mobile face, very expressive eyebrows which give him a comical look. He can also look quite bland, which is useful with some of my clients who can say the most extraordinary and eccentric things. I want to guffaw sometimes but of course I am completely professional and Simon and I only crack open the guffaws when they have gone. We make sure our visitors are completely out of the front door, as once an old biddy – or should I say ‘a valued client’, bobbed back in as we were mid hysterical meltdown. Simon wheeled swiftly into the kitchen, cups and saucers he was carrying jingling as he swallowed his giggles and I whipped out a hankie and pretended I had the sneezes.
“A lady with a very attractive voice rang to speak to you,” Simon announced, “but wouldn’t say what it was about. I think she rang on Friday afternoon when she was even more brief.”
This anonymous, attractively voiced woman must have made an impact for him to mention it since there was no other information.
We had a coffee and what I suppose might be called a briefing between two people. It‘s often dull and I don’t always pay proper attention; when Simon notices I’m drifting, he speaks in the voice of someone else, usually someone famous but sometimes someone we know. I once leapt up because I thought Paul had come silently into the room, but no, it was Simon! We had a good laugh but it taught me a lesson in concentration. Simon never wants to waste time so I get through more work because I don’t wander off in my own thoughts. I told him he keeps me on my mental toes and we had a good giggle about mental toes.
Lois Elsden 