Miles had been a few years above Gavin at school, and there was forever a trace of the sixth-form prefect in the way he spoke about his business partner.
'Dark girl? Very short hair?'
'That's her,' said Miles. 'Social worker. Flat shoes.'
'Then we've had her in the deli, haven't we, How?' said Maureen excitedly. 'I wouldn't have had her down as much of a cook, though, not by the look of her.'
Roast loin of pork followed the soup. With the connivance of Howard, Samantha was sliding gently towards contented drunkenness, but something in her was making forlorn protests, like a man swept out to sea. She attempted to drown it in more wine.
A pause rolled out across the table like a fresh tablecloth, pristine and expectant, and this time everybody seemed to know that it was for Howard to set out the new topic. He ate for a while, big mouthfuls washed down with wine, apparently oblivious to their eyes upon him. Finally, having cleared half his plate, he dabbed at his mouth with his napkin and spoke.
'Yes, it will be interesting to see what happens on council now.' He was forced to pause to suppress a powerful burp; for a moment he looked as if he might be sick. He thumped his chest. 'Pardon me. Yes. It'll be very interesting indeed. With Fairbrother gone' - business-like, Howard reverted to the form of the name he habitually used - 'I can't see his article for the paper coming off. Unless Bends-Your-Ear takes it on, obviously,' he added.
Howard had dubbed Parminder Jawanda 'Bends-Your-Ear Bhutto' after her first attendance as a parish councillor. It was a popular joke among the anti-Fielders.
'The look on her face,' said Maureen, addressing Shirley. 'The look on her face, when we told her. Well ... I always thought ... you know ...'
Samantha pricked up her ears, but Maureen's insinuation was surely laughable. Parminder was married to the most gorgeous man in Pagford: Vikram, tall and well made, with an aquiline nose, eyes fringed with thick black lashes, and a lazy, knowing smile. For years, Samantha had tossed back her hair and laughed more often than necessary whenever she paused in the street to pass the time of day with Vikram, who had the same kind of body Miles had had before he had given up rugby and become soft and paunchy.
Samantha had heard somewhere, not long after they had become her neighbours, that Vikram and Parminder had had an arranged marriage. She had found this idea unspeakably erotic. Imagine being ordered to marry Vikram, having to do it; she had wrought a little fantasy in which she was veiled and shown into a room, a virgin condemned to her fate ... Imagine looking up, and knowing you were getting that ... Not to mention the additional frisson of his job: that much responsibility would have given a much uglier man sex appeal ...
(Vikram had performed Howard's quadruple bypass, seven years previously. In consequence, Vikram could not enter Mollison and Lowe without being subjected to a barrage of jocular banter.
'To the head of the queue, please, Mr Jawanda! Move aside, please, ladies - no, Mr Jawanda, I insist - this man saved my life, patched up the old ticker - what will it be, Mr Jawanda, sir?'
Howard always insisted that Vikram take free samples and a little extra of everything he bought. In consequence, Samantha suspected, of these antics, Vikram almost never entered the delicatessen any more.)
She had lost the thread of the conversation, but it did not matter. The others were still droning on about something that Barry Fairbrother had written to the local paper.
'... was going to have to talk to him about it,' boomed Howard. 'It was a very underhand way of doing things. Well, well, that's water under the bridge now.
'What we should be thinking about is who's going to replace Fairbrother. We shouldn't underestimate Bends-Your-Ear, however upset she might be. That would be a great mistake. She's probably trying to rustle up somebody already, so we ought to be thinking about a decent replacement ourselves. Sooner rather than later. Simple matter of good governance.'
'What will that mean, exactly?' Miles asked. 'An election?'
'Possibly,' said Howard, with a judicious air, 'but I doubt it. It's only a casual vacancy. If there isn't enough interest in an election - though, as I say, we must not underestimate Bends-Your-Ear - but if she can't raise