Page 104 of The Bookshop of Memories

She stared at him, wide-eyed. ‘It’s here!’ She thumped her chest.

Callum looked up at the other lady. She, too, was staring at him. Callum said, ‘Why aren’t you calling for a paramedic? Haven’t you got a phone? Wait … I’ve got my mobile. Hold on.’

‘She doesn’t need an ambulance.’

‘What? Didn’t you just hear her? She’s got chest pain. And listen – she can’t catch her breath.’ Callum turned to the lady on the stool. He said calmly, ‘Breathe. In and out. That’s right. Deep breaths.’ Callum had no clue what he was doing. He wasn’t trained in first aid.

‘It’s you,’ she said, in between deep breaths.

Callum watched her looking at the other lady, who was standing over them. She said to her, ‘It’s him!’

Oh god, thought Callum. Not in his wildest dreams, or rather nightmares, had Callum ever thought that someone recognising him would lead to them having a heart attack.

He started dialling 911, then forgot where he was. ‘Shit.’ He was about to dial 999 when the other lady closed her hand around his phone.

‘She’s not having a heart attack.’

‘But she’s in pain. She said so herself.’

The lady grimaced. ‘It’s not that sort of pain.’

Callum frowned, turning to the lady on the stool, who was clutching her chest. ‘What do you mean?’

‘She’s clutching herheart.’

‘But that’s what I’m saying—’

‘Mabel, darling, it’s not him. You know that. It can’t be him, obviously.’

Callum sighed. He turned his attention to the old lady sitting on the stool, and took her hands in his. Unlike the young lady in the café, he decided to come clean. ‘I am … him.’

Mabel said, ‘But you’re still young. How can that be?’

‘Well, I guess I’ve kept myself in shape over the years – had to, with my line of work.’

Mabel looked up. ‘Marjorie? Am I imagining all this?’ She looked back at Callum, reached out and gingerly touched his face.

Callum smiled at her. ‘I’m as real as you or the other lady here.’

Marjorie frowned. ‘Look, young man, I don’t know what your game is—’

Callum looked up at the large old lady called Marjorie, surprised by her tone when he was only trying to help and was for once telling the truthabout who he was. He even gave them his stagename; the surname Joe Public knew him by.

‘I am sorry, young man,’ said Marjorie, ‘but your name does not ring a bell in the slightest.’

‘It doesn’t?’ Callum looked at her in surprise. ‘I starred on the hit show,The Scottish Laird.’ He looked at Mabel, sitting there staring at him. ‘You recognise me from that American show – right? I thought that’s what all this is about – the shock of seeing me here, in the flesh so to speak?’

Mabel looked up at Marjorie. ‘I don’t understand …?’

Marjorie said, ‘I think I do.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Why don’t we all have a nice cup of tea, and I’ll explain. What do you say, Mabel?’

‘Well, all right. Do you know what’s going on?’

‘I do indeed. It’s a misunderstanding.’

‘He’s not—?’

‘No, Mabel. As I said before, how is that possible? He’d be oh, how old now?’

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