ID. She knows it all off by heart now but you never know when theyâll spring a weird question on you.
There are no signs that something is about to happen. No omens. No solitary magpies or one-legged black cats. No one walks under a ladder or breaks a mirror or spills salt. The idea might have come into Jackâs mind to toss the coin to see whether they should even go into this club. And maybe the coin would have said they shouldnât. But the idea is far from his mind. Maybe this is the moment when an observer could have said,
Stop! Make a different choice now! Toss the coin, Jack, and hope it tells you to go somewhere else. Home, preferably.
So, perhaps it is all Jackâs fault. For forgetting to make his sacrifice to luck. And now the ancient gods are annoyed with him for that lapse. But Jack is in love â he is in no position to concentrate.
Perhaps if they hadnât been so wrapped up in each other theyâd have seen Kelly peering round a corner, and watching them go in. Theyâd have seen her talking to someone. They might have seen her face, twisted by anger and vodka. But even if they had, it would have told them nothing and changed nothing.
We will watch Jess and Jack for a little longer and then we will reach a moment when either one thing or another will happen. It is not possible to predict which it will be, because many small and uncertain things will lead up to it. It will hinge on something so tiny and unnoticeable, so uncontrollable, that it might as well be decided by the toss of a coin. Some people would call it chance. Jack would call it luck.
So, here they are, in the club, the noise so ear-splitting that they must touch each other a lot, pull each other very close just to be heard. They are not complaining. Jess is feeling slightly dizzy and has had enough to drink but sheâs at that point where saying yes is easier than saying no and there isnât enough reason to say no.
âDrink?â Jack shouts in her ear.
âWhatever youâre having,â she yells back, and can hardly hear her own words.
Jack and Ella go to the bar, Chris goes to the toilet and Jess tries to claim some space for them all. She finds a pillar to lean against. For a while she stands there, her head buzzing. It is tiring having to shout and for a moment she wishes she and Jack could go somewhere else. And that sheâd asked for something non-alcoholic. She looks around at the room, packed with people, a few dancing, but most standing, drinking, laughing and shouting.
Once they are all back together again, itâs not long before Chris and Ella seem to see some people they know and disappear. Jack and Jess both guess that this is not entirely a coincidence. Jess catches his eye. Heâs smiling. She looks at the ground and her heart races. Thereâs an urge in her, deep and hot, which she thinks she may not want to resist.
The forces of night are ready. They are watching Jess and Jack and waiting for the moment.
Jess and Jack talk â or shout â for the next twenty minutes or so. They are unaware of everything else, wrapped around as they are by the noise and heat. Everyone in the bar could have disappeared and been replaced by robots, or turned green; armed police could be wandering through the room; a man could be leading a tiger on a string. None of these things is happening, but Jess and Jack would not have known if they all were.
Then, without warning â because there almost never is a warning â the forces of night make their move.
This is the moment when events will go in one direction or another. There will be a tiny happening, unnoticed by all concerned, which, like the dirt on one side of a coin, or an uneven surface to land on, will make all the difference in the world to Jack and Jess and some of the people who love them.
Here, now, are the two alternatives. Only one will actually happen. We will look at them both and then play Jackâs
There are no signs that something is about to happen. No omens. No solitary magpies or one-legged black cats. No one walks under a ladder or breaks a mirror or spills salt. The idea might have come into Jackâs mind to toss the coin to see whether they should even go into this club. And maybe the coin would have said they shouldnât. But the idea is far from his mind. Maybe this is the moment when an observer could have said,
Stop! Make a different choice now! Toss the coin, Jack, and hope it tells you to go somewhere else. Home, preferably.
So, perhaps it is all Jackâs fault. For forgetting to make his sacrifice to luck. And now the ancient gods are annoyed with him for that lapse. But Jack is in love â he is in no position to concentrate.
Perhaps if they hadnât been so wrapped up in each other theyâd have seen Kelly peering round a corner, and watching them go in. Theyâd have seen her talking to someone. They might have seen her face, twisted by anger and vodka. But even if they had, it would have told them nothing and changed nothing.
We will watch Jess and Jack for a little longer and then we will reach a moment when either one thing or another will happen. It is not possible to predict which it will be, because many small and uncertain things will lead up to it. It will hinge on something so tiny and unnoticeable, so uncontrollable, that it might as well be decided by the toss of a coin. Some people would call it chance. Jack would call it luck.
So, here they are, in the club, the noise so ear-splitting that they must touch each other a lot, pull each other very close just to be heard. They are not complaining. Jess is feeling slightly dizzy and has had enough to drink but sheâs at that point where saying yes is easier than saying no and there isnât enough reason to say no.
âDrink?â Jack shouts in her ear.
âWhatever youâre having,â she yells back, and can hardly hear her own words.
Jack and Ella go to the bar, Chris goes to the toilet and Jess tries to claim some space for them all. She finds a pillar to lean against. For a while she stands there, her head buzzing. It is tiring having to shout and for a moment she wishes she and Jack could go somewhere else. And that sheâd asked for something non-alcoholic. She looks around at the room, packed with people, a few dancing, but most standing, drinking, laughing and shouting.
Once they are all back together again, itâs not long before Chris and Ella seem to see some people they know and disappear. Jack and Jess both guess that this is not entirely a coincidence. Jess catches his eye. Heâs smiling. She looks at the ground and her heart races. Thereâs an urge in her, deep and hot, which she thinks she may not want to resist.
The forces of night are ready. They are watching Jess and Jack and waiting for the moment.
Jess and Jack talk â or shout â for the next twenty minutes or so. They are unaware of everything else, wrapped around as they are by the noise and heat. Everyone in the bar could have disappeared and been replaced by robots, or turned green; armed police could be wandering through the room; a man could be leading a tiger on a string. None of these things is happening, but Jess and Jack would not have known if they all were.
Then, without warning â because there almost never is a warning â the forces of night make their move.
This is the moment when events will go in one direction or another. There will be a tiny happening, unnoticed by all concerned, which, like the dirt on one side of a coin, or an uneven surface to land on, will make all the difference in the world to Jack and Jess and some of the people who love them.
Here, now, are the two alternatives. Only one will actually happen. We will look at them both and then play Jackâs
Similar Books
