A London publisher recounts a lunchtime reunion with a former lover, in poetic monologue.
The taste of his last mouthful lies like rust on his tongue. Harsh, and yet his tongue craves more. At rest in the glass, the wine is rusted purple. So there exists an affinity, a strong mutual pull between wine and tongue. They are complementary. They are in love. The silent tongue calls out, and the wine, though inanimate, will heed the call. Well, it's a theory. Lent support when the glass rises and, this time, not stopping short, delivers one lover to the other. They kiss. There's a little death, an insufficient bliss, but repeatable later.
He leaves a message — a yellow sticky on the dead black of his computer screen "Gone to lunch. I may be some time". His colleagues won't be seeing him for the rest of the afternoon. Rare joy of truancy, of bold escape from the trap of work. That heap of typescript can be left to dwell on its thousand offences against grammar and good sense. His trusty blue pen can snooze with its cap on. Nobody will notice.
