Sanctum

On the other side of the door, Mr Smith's office was more like an academic's study.

The big desk was old-fashioned looking, and covered in books and paper. The light was beginning to fade now, and to ward off the gloom, Kate lit a reading lamp on the desk, creating a warm pool of light.

She then busied herself with a kettle on a tray in the corner. "Tea OK for you? We've got ordinary tea if you prefer - or I could put on some coffee." Looking in the small fridge the tray was perched on, she pulled out a carton of milk. After a quick sniff, it was apparently good enough to go into a jug.

"Just whatever you're having, thanks," I replied.

"Well, Mr Smith there is having Orange Pekoe, and I'm having builder's tea. Would you like me to do you half-and-half perhaps, or would you just care to tell me which you'd prefer?"

"Er, I'll have what you're having then - no offence, Mr Smith. Your tea sounds a bit scary."

"None taken, Alan," he said. "To each his own. Or, er, her own. To each their own."

Apparently I wasn't the only one who found Kate a bit unsettling.

He sat down at a small table, and invited me to do the same. As I sat, I was aware of how tense I was - I was also aware of a look of confusion on his face, as if he was reaching for a thought that wouldn't come. The absent look made him look more like an eccentric academic than ever.

More to break the silence than anything else, I asked, "Mr Smith? Why does Kate call you professor?"

"Hmm?" He pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose and pushed an unruly lick of white hair away from his eyes. "Oh, that. Miss Wilson finds it a hard habit to put behind her. When she was at the University, she was one of my students, and that was was my title.

"Now, here, with all this" - he gestured vaguely - "the academic life seems so distant to me. But dear Miss Wilson is always there to remind me, aren't you?"

As she handed him his cup of tea, Kate mock-scowled at his patronising tone. But it was a look born of familiarity and grudging affection. "Your tea, Mr Smith," she said curtly.



Story begins here.