jonathan james should be hunted for sport
transcription below the cut:
excerpt from "Of the Future," short story by Andy Frankham-Allen featured in Lineage: An Anthology.
['Where were you planning on eating your food?' he asked, and waved a] thumb in a vague direction outside. 'I was thinking about sitting by the river, if you want to join me?' Kate had never chosen and paid for her lunch so quickly before. The autumn sky turned dark early, and Kate and Jonathan sat by the river and talked for hours. She liked listening to his accent -- it was London, although she couldn't quite place which part. She was rubbish with accents, always had been. He was very polite, humouring her boring, obvious questions. Asking him about teaching, why he taught science? And he'd laughed at her, telling her it couldn't have been boring or she'd not have chosen to study it further in college. 'It was that or further maths, and I just don't do figures well,' she told him. At which point he'd told her that she did figures quite well, looking her over in a suggestive way. At other times Kate may have been weirded out by such attention from an older man, but sitting there beside the River Kennet, she didn't feel the age between them. Ten years, more or less. It was nothing. Eventually Jonathan decided to call it a night, much to Kate's disappointment, but she hid it well (at least she thought she did), and said some rubbish about how Cecilia would probably be worrying about her by now. 'Well, you can tell her you've been in good company,' Jonathan told her. 'Quite safe.' Kate nodded. 'Yes. I feel safe with you.' Jonathan smiled. 'I'm glad.' He stood and offered his hand. 'I don't usually do this, you know.' 'What? Help a lady to her feet?' 'No,' he said, laughing that laugh which melted Kate's heart. 'I mean spending my private time alone with one of my female students.' Kate brushed herself down. 'Don't worry, I won't tell. And I am an adult, you know, I don't need permission to date.' 'Date?' Now she'd blown it. She babbled something, although later she couldn't remember what, and once again Jonathan laughed.
