{"id":8236,"date":"2023-03-19T20:00:01","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T00:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lecturia.org\/?p=8236"},"modified":"2023-03-19T20:00:04","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T00:00:04","slug":"kingsley-amis-masons-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/short-stories\/kingsley-amis-masons-life\/8236\/","title":{"rendered":"Kingsley Amis: Mason’s Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2018May I join you?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The medium-sized man with the undistinguished clothes and the blank, anonymous face looked up at Pettigrew, who, glass of beer in hand, stood facing him across the small corner table. Pettigrew, tall, handsome and of fully moulded features, had about him an intent, almost excited air that, in different circumstances, might have brought an unfavourable response, but the other said amiably,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018By all means. Do sit down.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Can I get you something?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No, I\u2019m fine, thank you,\u2019 said the medium-sized man, gesturing at the almost full glass in front of him. In the background was the ordinary ambience of bar, barman, drinkers in ones and twos, nothing to catch the eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We\u2019ve never met, have we?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Not as far as I recall.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Good, good. My name\u2019s Pettigrew, Daniel R. Pettigrew. What\u2019s yours?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Mason. George Herbert Mason, if you want it in full.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Well, I think that\u2019s best, don\u2019t you? George \u2026 Herbert \u2026 Mason.\u2019 Pettigrew spoke as if committing the three short words to memory. \u2018Now let\u2019s have your telephone number.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again Mason might have reacted against Pettigrew\u2019s demanding manner, but he said no more than, \u2018You can find me in the book easily enough.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No, there might be several \u2026 We mustn\u2019t waste time. Please.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Oh, very well; it\u2019s public information, after all. Two-three-two, five\u2014\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Hold on, you\u2019re going too fast for me. Two \u2026 three \u2026 two \u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Five-four-five-four.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018What a stroke of luck. I ought to be able to remember that.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Why don\u2019t you write it down if it\u2019s so important to you?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this, Pettigrew gave a knowing grin that faded into a look of disappointment. \u2018Don\u2019t you know that\u2019s no use? Anyway: two-three-two, five-four-five-four. I might as well give you my number too. Seven\u2014\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I don\u2019t want your number, Mr Pettigrew,\u2019 said Mason, sounding a little impatient, \u2018and I must say I rather regret giving you mine.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018But you must take my number.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Nonsense; you can\u2019t make me.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A phrase, then \u2013 let\u2019s agree on a phrase to exchange in the morning.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Would you mind telling me what all this is about?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Please, our time\u2019s running out.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You keep saying that. This is getting\u2014\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Any moment everything might change and I might find myself somewhere completely different, and so might you, I suppose, though I can\u2019t help feeling it\u2019s doubtful whether\u2014\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Mr Pettigrew, either you explain yourself at once or I have you removed.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018All right,\u2019 said Pettigrew, whose disappointed look had deepened, \u2018but I\u2019m afraid it won\u2019t do any good. You see, when we started talking I thought you must be a real person, because of the way you\u2014\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Spare me your infantile catch-phrases, for heaven\u2019s sake. So I\u2019m not a real person,\u2019 cooed Mason offensively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I don\u2019t mean it like that, I mean it in the most literal way possible.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Oh, God. Are you mad or drunk or what?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Nothing like that. I\u2019m asleep.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Asleep?\u2019 Mason\u2019s nondescript face showed total incredulity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Yes. As I was saying, at first I took you for another real person in the same situation as myself: sound asleep, dreaming, aware of the fact, and anxious to exchange names and telephone numbers and so forth with the object of getting in touch the next day and confirming the shared experience. That would prove something remarkable about the mind, wouldn\u2019t it? \u2013 people communicating via their dreams. It\u2019s pity one so seldom realizes one\u2019s dreaming: I\u2019ve only been able to try the experiment four or five times in the last twenty years, and I\u2019ve never had any success. Either I forget the details or I find there\u2019s no such person, as in this case. But I\u2019ll go on\u2014\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You\u2019re sick.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Oh no. Of course it\u2019s conceivable there is such a person as you. Unlikely, though, or you\u2019d have recognized the true situation at once, I feel, instead of arguing against it like this. As I say, I may be wrong.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018It\u2019s hopeful that you say that.\u2019 Mason had calmed down, and lit a cigarette with deliberation. \u2018I don\u2019t know much about these things, but you can\u2019t be too far gone if you admit you could be in error. Now let me just assure you that I didn\u2019t come into existence five minutes ago inside your head. My name, as I told you, is George Herbert Mason. I\u2019m forty-six years old, married, three children, job in the furniture business \u2026 Oh hell, giving you no more than an outline of my life so far would take all night, as it would in the case of anybody with an average memory. Let\u2019s finish our drinks and go along to my house, and then we can\u2014\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You\u2019re just a man in my dream saying that,\u2019 said Pettigrew loudly. \u2018Two-three-two, five-four-five-four. I\u2019ll call the number if it exists, but it won\u2019t be you at the other end. Two-three-two\u2014\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Why are you so agitated, Mr Pettigrew?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Because of what\u2019s going to happen to you at any moment.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018What \u2026 Is this a threat?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pettigrew was breathing fast. His finely drawn face began to coarsen, the pattern of his tweed jacket to become blurred. \u2018The telephone!\u2019 he shouted. \u2018It must be later than I thought!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Telephone?\u2019 repeated Mason, blinking and screwing up his eyes as Pettigrew\u2019s form continued to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The one at my bedside! I\u2019m waking up!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mason grabbed the other by the arm, but that arm had lost the greater part of its outline, had become a vague patch of light already fading, and when Mason looked at the hand that had done the grabbing, his own hand, he saw with difficulty that it likewise no longer had fingers, or front or back, or skin, or anything at all.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Bibliographic data<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Author: Kingsley Amis
Title: Mason’s Life
Published in: The Sunday Times<\/em>, 1972<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Full text]<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Kingsley<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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