What You Wish For Read Online Free PDF

behind. Not with her.’
    ‘How old are you now?’ I said.
    ‘Twenty-three.’ She kissed him between his ears.
    ‘Isn’t it unkind to keep a cat locked up in a little place like this? He can’t get any exercise.’
    Marie smiled. ‘He does. Look, I’ll show you.’ She leant over and pushed up the sash window. ‘Go on, Calico, go play.’
    The cat stood up, blinked, stretched and jumped out through the window. A broken fire-escape stretched up to the roof. Calico ascended the twisted black metal, then leapt onto a piece of drainpipe and finally jumped onto the roof, where he had plenty of room to run around and chase seagulls.
    ‘Cool cat,’ I said.
    She nodded proudly. ‘Very cool.’
    ‘I bet your Facebook page is full of pictures of him.’
    ‘Uh-uh. I don’t use Facebook, or Twitter, or any social networking sites.’
    I raised an eyebrow.
    ‘They’re New World Order tools. A perfect way to monitor us.’
    I wasn’t sure what to say to that.
    She opened the mini-fridge and produced a bottle of wine. ‘I only have plastic cups, I’m afraid,’ she said, ‘and the wine is very cheap.’
    ‘What are you studying at college?’ I asked. There was no sofa in the room so we sat on the bed, very close to each other. I wondered if she could hear my heart beating.
    ‘Coding.’
    ‘I thought you seemed like a geek . . .’
    ‘Hey!’ She slapped me playfully.
    ‘Have you got a job too or do you live off your student loan?’
    ‘A job, kind of. Andrew and I offer a consultative service. Sounds grand, doesn’t it? All it actually means is that we offer people help and advice and charge them for it.’
    ‘What kind of help?’
    ‘Well, say somebody’s seen something that’s worried them, or is having strange memories, or thinks they’ve been abducted – anything along those lines, really – we talk to them and either put them in touch with others who have had the same experience, or just try to make them feel better. For example, I had an email yesterday from a man in Scotland who believes his wife has been, um, tampered with by aliens. Apparently she’s gone off sex, her eyes keep glazing over when he’s talking to her and she spends a lot of time staring out of the window at the sky.’
    ‘And he sees this as evidence that she’s been abducted?’
    ‘Well, it’s possible! I gave him a list of other possible things to watch out for and took his credit card number.’ She smiled.
    ‘So you make a lot of money out of this?’
    She exhaled a thin stream of smoke. ‘Not much. Just enough to cover my rent, my broadband and phone.’
    ‘So this is all paid for by suckers.’
    Marie frowned. ‘That was an extreme example. We don’t rip people off. We offer genuine advice to people who are frightened or confused and need reassurance. Like Fraser. I mean, we didn’t charge him but we talked to him and made him feel a lot better about what he’d seen.’ Her voice rose a little in indignation.
    ‘Hey, I’m sorry. I wasn’t judging you.’
    I put my cup down and reached across and lightly took hold of her wrist. She looked into my eyes and something shifted in the air between us. My breathing became deeper. Her pupils expanded.
    She crushed out her cigarette on the window ledge and orange sparks fell into the open air. I shifted closer to her and put my arms around her back. I kissed her cheek then her lips. She kissed me back. She tasted of wine and smoke. I could hear blood pounding in my ears. I was kissing her. This was what I’d wanted to do since that night on the hill. I felt my lips curl into a smile against hers.
    I opened my eyes. Marie was looking at me. We broke off and laughed, holding each other’s hands, foreheads touching. I felt exhilarated and light-headed. She kissed me again and made an ‘Mmm’ sound as her lips left mine. I felt hot. There was very little air in the bedsit. We had used it all up.
    ‘I was going to tell you what I believe in,’ she said.
    I wanted