‘Perhaps,’ he said, noncommittally.
‘Well then, Mr Sullivan, it is hardly needing a doctor to be telling you that it was most probably a heart attack you were suffering yesterday.’
‘A …?’ Harry laughed unconvincingly.
‘Oh, so it is ‘a matter for merriment is it?’ cried Kalim. He was getting more and more annoyed and his voice was sliding rapidly higher and higher up the vocal scale.
‘Not at all, not at all. But really, Doctor, a heart attack! Why, I’m as strong as a mule. I hardly think I’d be wandering about today, if I’d really had a heart attack yesterday.’
‘There are being all different kinds of heart seizures,’ shrieked Kalim. ‘There are earth tremors and earthquakes, but all of them are starting in the same place. That is exactly why I am wanting to examine you, you silly old man! Now I am asking you for the last time, Mr Sullivan. Will you submit yourself to me for a thorough physical examination?’
‘I will not,’ replied Harry coolly.
Kalim stood up, crammed his hat down on his head, and snatched up his briefcase.
‘Then I am clearly wasting my time here,’ he announced.
‘I could have told you that before you sat down,’ said Harry.
Kalim gave an involuntary cry of exasperation. ‘You are without doubt the most cantankerous, impossible old fool,’ he concluded, and began to walk away.
‘And you, my dear Doctor Kalim, are without doubt the most insufferable quack!’ retorted Harry.
Kalim stopped in his tracks for a moment. He gazed back at Harry with a look that would have scorched the varnish of a grand piano. Then he strode away, clambered back into his ramshackle car, and reversed carelessly out of the drive, catching the left rear wing on a gatepost and scraping a new area free of grey paint.
Harry winced, then chuckled. The car lurched around in a ragged circle and accelerated away down the road, making a noise like an electric mixer filled with chestnuts. Pawn came to the door, gazed out in surprise.
‘Doctor man not stay very long,’ she observed drily.
‘No,’ chuckled Harry, puffing on his cigar. ‘I don’t think he was feeling very well.’
The tiger’s head above the doorway seemed to have acquired a grin. Harry settled into his familiar seat with a decided feeling of well-being for the world in general, even for Doctor Kalim. Harry was hatching a wicked little plan which involved sending the good doctor a box of Havana cigars. Trimani must have caught on to the Tuan’s feeling of contentment, for he brought the glass of beer with a huge dazzling grin stretched across his dark face. He lit Harry’s cigar for him and received a Havana for himself, along with the more usual fifty-cent tip.
After a little while, Dennis came in, with his lovely young daughter, Melissa, in tow. She hurried over to Harry’s table while her father sorted out some business at the bar.
‘Hello, Uncle Harry!’ She kissed him energetically on the cheek. She always had called him ‘uncle,’ though, of course, they were really not related.
He beamed at her.
‘And how are you?’ he enquired. ‘Found anything to occupy yourself yet?’
‘I’m afraid not. Everything’s so quiet around here!’ Melissa had recently finished school in Singapore and was anxious now to do a little living. Harry sympathized with her. There really wasn’t that much for an eighteen-year-old to get involved in here, the most energetic preoccupation being the acquisition of a suntan. That was a novelty that wore off after a few days.
‘I expect you’re itching to get back to England, aren’t you?’
‘I should say so!’
‘Will you go to university or something?’
She shook her head.
‘No thanks. I’ve had enough schooling to last a lifetime. What I want is a career and a lot of fun, but not necessarily in that order … Oh, but Uncle Harry, I wish you were coming back with us. Writing letters just won’t be the same somehow.’
‘Yes, well, I think I’ve already had this conversation with Dennis …’
‘Somebody mention my name?’ Dennis arrived carrying drinks, one of which he passed to Melissa.
‘Good heavens, what is she drinking now?’ cried Harry, in mock horror.
‘Gin fizz,’ announced Melissa. ‘And don’t forget, it’s legal now. I was eighteen last week, in case you’ve forgotten.’ She winked slyly. ‘Age of consent,’ she murmured.
Harry laughed. He was extremely fond of Melissa and would accept things from her that he would not have tolerated in others. She was a lean, very attractive girl, with thick dark hair and enchanting hazel eyes; very like her mother in looks, but infinitely more outgoing in her personality. Harry’s affection for her was, of course, purely platonic, almost paternal. In many ways it was similar to the relationship that he had with Pawn’s grandson, Ché.
‘You’re a lucky fellow,’ he told Dennis. ‘Lovely wife, lovely daughter. Where is Kate, by the way?’
‘Oh, you know her. More content to sit at home with a good book. Can’t say I blame her really. There’s not much here if you don’t enjoy a drink.’
Harry nodded.
‘I’ve a bone to pick with you,’ he said.
‘Oh?’ Dennis looked wary. ‘Why, what’s up?’
‘You know very well what’s up, so don’t give me the wide-eyed innocent look. There was a certain Muslim doctor round at my place today …’
‘Ah.’
‘You may know him. Drives about in a battered old Ford.’
‘Ah. Yes, well …’
‘What on earth are you both on about?’ demanded Melissa.
Dennis smiled sheepishly.
‘I think your Uncle Harry is referring to ah … Doctor Kalim … who I just happened to bump into this morning … and I may have, inadvertently of course … happened to mention Harry’s little upset at the courts yesterday. I mean, not even thinking that Kalim, as a doctor, might want to ah, investigate the situation …’
‘Oh really, Daddy! Have you been spreading nasty rumours about poor Uncle Harry? Anyone can see he’s fitter than you are.’
‘Well that’s not saying very much,’ observed Dennis drily.
‘You must remember that Uncle Harry is sixty-eight years old.’
‘Sixty-seven,’ corrected Harry.
‘Exactly! And if I’m as healthy and downright good-looking as he is when I’m sixty-eight …’
‘Sixty-seven!’
‘… then I’ll feel very pleased with myself.’
‘Hear, hear,’ enthused Harry. ‘For that, I think you deserve another gin fizz. Dennis, will you have another drink?’
‘Me? Thought I was in the doghouse.’
‘Well, we all make mistakes from time to time. Actually, I rather enjoyed Kalim’s little visit. Haven’t had a good row in ages. So, what’ll it be?’
‘Well, nothing for the moment, old chap. I’ve got to pop over to my office and pick up some papers. But I’ll certainly take you up on it when I get