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Zöe Beck
Flann thought for a
moment. “You’ll have
me your whole life, but
she’ll be gone in a few
weeks either way.” He
told me on no uncertain
terms that he wouldn’t be
leaving. He explained that
he felt very comfortable
with me, flattered me,
threatened me, finally
took a stab at sympathy.
“I didn’t say a word when
we visited the doctors. I
kept my mouth shut when
you tried to convince the
Catholic priest to perform
an exorcism. I took it all
bravely and patiently, and
all these years…”
“Years?”
“Weeks. All these weeks,
I’ve been a true friend.”
“Friend!”
“What else would you call
it?” Flann stared at me
sullenly. “We go to the
pub together. We watch
films together. That’s
what friends do.”
I said: “Flann, I’m very
sorry, but I can’t really
use you here. I don’t
want you. Please go.
You’ll find someone else
immediately.
Someone
you… uh… you know.”
There are those mistakes
you only notice once it’s
too late, and a single
glance at him told me that
I had just done something
terrible. I couldn’t say
exactly what it was that
gave me this feeling,
since he looked the same
as always, though not
exactly. It was as if a very
fine, hardly perceptible
mist had swirled up
around him. I blinked,
and the hallucination
vanished. At least, this one
did. Flann said: “As your