The Dog Who Came In From The Cold

Chapter 15: The Sudoko Remedy

James arrived at Corduroy Mansions earlier than he had anticipated. He had allowed himself more time than he needed to travel from his flat in Clerkenwell and had fifteen minutes in hand by the time he found himself outside Corduroy Mansions. Dee answered when he pressed the doorbell and buzzed him into the entrance. He noticed that something was going on in the ground-floor flat – a party, by the sound of it – but he did not linger and bounded up the stairs to Caroline’s flat. He was pleased that Dee was in; James liked her and had not seen her for a few weeks. Dee gave him news of the latest health food products, and occasional free samples too. Last time he saw her, she had given him a one-month course of a brain–power-enhancing supplement, ginkgo biloba, and he had taken it conscientiously until the bottle was empty, without any noticeable result. “Of course, you don’t really need this,” she had said to him. “There are lots of people I know who could do with a course of ginkgo. You’re really not one. Here’s some garlic as well.”

Dee opened the door to him when he reached the landing. As he came in, she bent forwards to give him a kiss. James winced.

“I’m not going to bite,” said Dee.

James was embarrassed. “I know that.”

“Then why not let me give you a little kiss? Caroline won’t be jealous.”

James blushed. “I don’t normally kiss,” he said. “It’s not just you. I don’t like all this kissing that goes on. Why not just shake hands?”

Dee laughed. “I won’t kiss you if you don’t want me to,” she said. “Anyway, come in.”

She took him into the kitchen, where she had been sitting at the table tackling a newspaper sudoko. James noticed that the puzzle was marked extremely easy.

“If you took ginkgo-what’s-its-name you’d be able to do difficult sudokos,” he said. “In fact, why don’t you sell ginkgo in little bottles marked Sudoko Remedy?”

Dee stared at him. “That’s a rather good idea,” she said.

“I wasn’t serious,” said James. “Just a joke.”

“No,” said Dee quickly. “It’s not a joke, James – it’s a really good idea. That’s exactly what they’ve done with echinacea, isn’t it?”

James was not sure what they had done with echinacea.

“They sell it as protection from infection while you’re travelling,” Dee explained. “Then they sell it as a protection against flu. And so on. It’s the same basic stuff, of course – it simply boosts your immune system. But you can package it in a hundred different ways.”

“Well,” said James. “I didn’t know about that. But will people who do sudokos want help? If they did, then surely they could just put the figures into their computers and the computers would come up with the solution.”

Dee shook her head. “That’s not the way they think,” she said. “People who do puzzles want to solve them themselves.”

James was not so sure. “So what about those gadgets that help with crosswords? You put in a couple of letters and it comes up with the solution for you.”

“No self-respecting crossword person uses one of those,” said Dee. “But every self-respecting crossword person would be quite happy to take something to help get their mind in gear. A cup of coffee, for instance. That would not be cheating. Neither would some ginkgo.” She paused. “And we could market a Crossword Remedy too.”

James smiled. “You’d get very rich,” he said. He looked at his watch. “Where’s Caroline?”

“She’s gone to a party,” Dee replied. “Or I think that’s what she said. Something about a drinks party. I wasn’t paying much attention.”

“But she’s meant to be having dinner with me,” said James. “We made a date over the phone.”

Dee shrugged. “Well, maybe she’s forgotten. I did that once, you know. Maybe she needs to take some ginkgo.”

“It’s not funny. I’m cooking dinner for her. Here. And she’s gone to a party.”

Dee’s instinct was to protect her flatmate. “Maybe I got it wrong,” she said. “I wasn’t really listening.”

“Well, she’s not here, is she?” said James. “She’s stood me up.”

“Oh come on, James. Anybody can get dates mixed up. I remember once—”

James interrupted her. “Something that’s arranged a week or two ahead, yes, you can forget about that sort of thing if you don’t put it in your diary. But not the same day.”

“Oh. Well,” said Dee.

James looked at his watch again. “It’s really inconsiderate. I was going to cook something and then we were going to watch a DVD together.” He paused. “Are you doing anything, Dee?”

Dee thought quickly. She would love to have dinner with James. She had nothing in the fridge except a small piece of cheddar and a tub of yoghurt. Anything would be better than that.

“Not really. Why?”

“I’ll take you out to dinner,” said James. “We could go to the Poule au Pot.”

“The Poule au Pot!” She had walked past the restaurant many times but of course she had never been able to go inside. Dee was permanently hard-up, and a meal out, even in a much more modest restaurant, was a rare treat for her.

“Yes,” said James. “Let’s go and see if they can take us. If they can’t, I know somewhere else. There’s a really nice Greek restaurant ten minutes away. Would that suit you?”

Anything would suit Dee, who felt only a slight pang of doubt as she went into her room to change. It’s her fault, she thought. She takes James for granted – anybody can tell that. If he belonged to me, I wouldn’t do that. I’d spoil him. I’d do everything for him. I’d make him really happy.

They left the flat and walked the short distance to the restaurant. It was not a busy night, as it happened, and a table was quickly found. They sat down, and James ordered a bottle of wine. Then, while waiting for their starters to appear, James said, “I’m really cross with Caroline, you know.”

Dee looked around her at the room. She was basking in the pleasure of being out for dinner, in an expensive restaurant, with somebody as good-looking and as generally nice as James. She turned her gaze to him.

“I don’t blame you,” she said quietly. “Poor you.”