Corduroy Mansions

34. William Plans a Soufflé

While Barbara Ragg regaled Oedipus Snark with her account of Errol Greatorex’s manuscript, William French, wine merchant and now part-owner of the dog known as Freddie de la Hay, was in his flat in Corduroy Mansions, waiting for the return of his son, Eddie. Eddie spent Friday evenings in the pub with his friends, but would usually come home first; however, he had not done so that day. William wondered if he had gone straight to the pub, in which case he might not see his son until well after midnight - if he had the stamina to wait up for him.

He felt distinctly disappointed. Now that he had taken the plunge and acquired Freddie de la Hay, he was eager to get the inevitable confrontation with Eddie out of the way. It would not be easy - he knew that - because Eddie had a temper and was given to emotional outbursts. He would not take the presence of Freddie de la Hay lying down.

Which, as it happened, was what Freddie de la Hay himself was doing at that moment. He had found a spot on the rug in front of the drawing-room fireplace and had curled up there, his eyes just sufficiently open to watch William as he moved about the room.

When William had first taken him upstairs, the dog had rushed around the flat, sniffing at the furniture. Once he had completed his inspection, he had gazed up at William, as if awaiting instructions.

‘Well,’ said William, looking down at his new companion, ‘that’s about it, Freddie, old chap. I suppose it’s not all that exciting from the canine point of view, but you should be comfortable enough.’

Freddie cocked his head to the side, as if to elicit a further remark from William. The dog was aware that something had changed in his life but he was not quite sure what. His inspection of the flat had yielded nothing significant - there were none of the smells he had been trained to detect at the airport, and so there was no need to bark. But he was puzzled: he had picked up the smell of two people in the flat, yet as far as he could see, there was only one. That was about as far as Freddie’s limited reasoning powers could go. Two smells, one person. All he knew, then, was that there was somebody missing.

William went into the kitchen to prepare himself something to eat. Since the death of his wife some years earlier he had become an accomplished cook, at least in respect of the twenty or so recipes that he had written out in a small Moleskine notebook that Eddie had given him for Christmas. These recipes he had numbered from one to twenty, and he worked through them one by one, in numerical order. Tonight was number seventeen, which was an easily prepared cheese soufflé served with broccoli and Puy lentils.

He started to grate the small block of Gruyère that he had bought the day before. That done, he helped himself to a glass of Chablis from an open bottle in the fridge. The Chablis, he thought, would go well with the Gruyère, the flinty taste of the wine providing a sharpness that would sit well against the cheese. Then he began working on the roux for the soufflé while the lentils boiled on the stove. How comfortable, he thought; how nice to be in the flat by myself without music drifting down the corridor from Eddie’s room. He has such appalling taste in music, thought William. All that insistent, throbbing bass rhythm - what can he possibly find to like in it?

William had once asked Eddie what his music actually meant. His son had looked at him blankly.

‘What do you mean what does it mean?’ Eddie asked. ‘It’s music. That’s all.’

‘But music means something,’ William pointed out. ‘It has structure. It tells you something. It creates a mood, doesn’t it?’

‘No, it just sounds good,’ said Eddie. ‘You like old music because you’re old. I like something more lively because I’m not past it like you.’

William was used to such comments. ‘I wasn’t talking about our individual preferences,’ he said mildly. ‘I was just wondering what your music - that thudding stuff you play - what it actually says about . . .’ - he searched for the right words - ‘about anything at all. Does it say anything?’

‘It’s random,’ said Eddie.

William sighed. And now, appreciating the silence, he thought about how much of Eddie’s random music he had been obliged to endure. He, who liked Mozart and Gregorian chant, had put up with the filling of his personal space with the very antithesis of all that. Well, now was the time to do something about it, and he would; it was his music that would be heard in the flat from now on.

He was thinking about this, relishing the thought, when he heard the key turn in the lock. He put down the bowl in which he had been whisking the eggs for the soufflé. Eddie was his son; he had no reason to be afraid of him. And yet his breath came quickly and his mouth felt curiously dry as he made his way from the kitchen into the hall. He would have to tell Eddie about Freddie de la Hay before his son saw the dog. He needed to get the upper hand right away so that he would have the advantage in the confrontation that would inevitably ensue.

Eddie opened the door and came into the hall.

‘I’ve got some interesting news,’ William blurted out.

‘Oh yeah?’ said Eddie.

‘Yeah,’ said William. ‘I’ve acquired a pet.’

Eddie frowned. ‘You?’ he asked. ‘You’ve acquired a what?’

‘A pet,’ William repeated.

Eddie burst out laughing. ‘A hamster?’ he said. ‘That’s pretty tragic, Dad. “Elderly Wine Merchant Acquires Hamster for Company”.’ Eddie liked to talk in newspaper headlines - another habit that irritated William.

William shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘“Middle-aged Wine Merchant Gets Dog”.’

Eddie, who had been walking across the hall towards his room, stopped where he was. ‘Dog?’ he whispered.

‘Yes. A very agreeable dog,’ confirmed William. ‘He’s called Freddie de la Hay. He’s through there in the drawing room. Go and take a look, if you like.’

The deed was done, and William felt a surge of relief. He had presented Eddie with the clearest ultimatum, and it had been much easier than he had expected.

Eddie glared at his father. ‘Have you gone out of your mind?’ he hissed. ‘You . . . you know I can’t be near a dog. You know that.’

William spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. ‘But you said you were going to move out. I’ve always assumed that you were going to do that. So the fact that you don’t like dogs shouldn’t be a problem, should it?’