I saw a woman seated at the entrance to the hotel. She had a dark complexion, long black hair and a black dress, and her fingernails were dirty with the remains of clawed at Indian snake. I wanted to be with her.
Siobhan and I had purchased a room at the hotel using an eBay auction but I’d done the booking, and when we’d arrived at the entrance a fat man in his livery told us that there was a problem with the booking, that we’d only bought the room with a stool.
I asked the man if we could upgrade and he said he’d look into it.
I stood waiting at the counter while the man went inside to see about an upgrade, and I grumbled to myself that that was the problem with these auctions, that you never knew what you’d get for the price.
Siobhan went inside to find a toilet.
When the man in the livery returned, he pointed at a young Asian woman over by a white double-decker tourist bus in the forecourt.
The Asian woman waved at me to hurry over so that we could be driven to our room.
I walked over to the Asian woman and explained to her that my wife was in the toilet.
But as the words came out of my mouth, I found myself wondering about the woman with the dirty fingernails and why did I like her.
