LYING

ESSONS

1. Going to hell. Instructions and advice

isten, because I’m only going to do this once. You’ll have toget there by way of London. Take the overnight train fromWaverly. Sit in the last car. Speak to no one. Don’t fallasleep.When you arrive at Kings Cross, go down into the Underground.Get on the Northern line. Sit in the last car. Speak to no one. Don’tfall asleep.The Northern line stops at Angel, at London Bridge, at Elephantand Castle, Tooting Broadway. The last marked station is Morden:stay in your seat. Other passengers will remain with you in the car.Speak to no one.These are some of the unlisted stations you will pass: HowlingGreen. Duke’s Pit. Sparrowkill. Stay in your seat. Don’t fall asleep.If you look around the car, you may notice that the other passengershave started to glow. The bulbs on the car dim as the passengers giveoff more and more light. If you look down you may nd that you71

yourself are casting light into the dark car.The nal stop is Bonehouse.

2. June in Edinburgh in June

. June stole £7 from Rooms Two and Three. That would be trainfare,with some left over for a birthday present for Lily. Room Three wasAmerican again, and Americans never knew how much currency theyhad in the rst place. They left pound coins lying upon the dresser.It made her ngers itchy.She ticked off the morning jobs on her right hand. The wash-room at the end of the hall was clean. Beds were made up, and allthe ashtrays were cleared out. Rooms One through Four were done,and Room Five at the top of the house was honeymooners fromDallas. They hadn’t been at breakfast for three days, living on love,she supposed. Why travel from Dallas to Edinburgh merely to havesex? She imagined a great host of Texans, rising on white wings andfanning out across the Atlantic, buoyed up by love. Falling into bedat journey’s end, exhausted by such travel. Nonsense.She emptied the wastebasket in Room Three, and went thumpingdown the stairs with the cleaning box in one hand, and the room keysswinging in the other. “Here, ma,” she said, handing the keys and thebox over to Lily.“Right,” Lily said sourly. “Finished up, have you?” Her face wasushed, and her black hair snaked down the back of her neck. Walterwas in the kitchen, his elbows plunged into soapy water, singing alongwith Radio Three as he worked, an opera program.“Where are you off to?” Lily said, raising her voice. June ducked past her. “Dunno exactly,” she said. “I’ll be back intime for tea tomorrow. Goodbye, Walter!” she shouted. “Bake Lily alovely cake.”

ELLY

INK

Arrows of Beauty

. June went to St. Andrews. She thought it would be pleasant to spenda day by the sea. The train was full and she sat next to a fat, freck-led woman eating sandwiches, one after the other. June watched hermouth open and close, measuring out the swish and click of the trainon the tracks like a metronome.When the sandwiches were gone, the woman took out a hardcoverbook. There was a man and a woman on the cover, embracing, hisface turned into her shoulder, her hair falling across her face. As if they were ashamed to be caught like this, half-naked before the eyesof strangers. Lily liked that sort of book.The name of the author was Rose Read. It sounded like a conjuringname, an ingredient in a love spell, a made-up, let’s pretend name.Leaning over the woman’s speckled-egg arm, June looked at the photoon the back. Mile-long curlicued eyelashes, and a plump, secretivesmile. Probably the author’s real name was Agnes Frumple; probablythose eyelashes weren’t real, either. The woman saw June staring. “It’scalled

Arrows of Beauty

. Quite good,” she said. “All about Helen of Troy, and it’s very well researched.”“Really,” June said. She spent the next half an hour looking acrossthe aisle, out of the opposite window. There were several Americanson the train, dressed in tourist plaids, their voices at and brightand bored. June wondered if her honeymooners would come to thissomeday, traveling not out of love but boredom, shifting restlessly intheir narrow seats.

Are we there yet? Where are we?

Shortly before the train pulled into Leuchars station, the womanfell asleep.

Arrows of Beauty

dropped from her slack ngers, and sliddown the incline of her lap. June caught it before it hit the oor. Shegot onto the station platform, the book tucked under her arm.

Flying Lessons