CHAPTER
4
CHAPTER
4
Pulling her coat tightly across her chest to keep out the piercing wind, Claudia watched the plane until it became a tiny dust speck and then finally disappeared into the high-altitude cloud layer. She sighed deeply, turned slowly and walked towards the passenger lounge. Her suede boots, feet and heart all felt like they were made from steel.
Time does not exist when the mind is fully occupied, or when tragedy strikes. It is not the mind that calculates the length of a thought, or the depth of a heartache. These calculations are performed by the soul.
The soul is the universal recorder. It etches every raw response into itself. It encodes every human reaction and it is forever vigilant. It misses nothing. Not one sigh, or tear, or heavy footstep. The soul carefully encodes every thought, emotion, and response then stores them in its high security vault.
Thomas sorted out the dodgy hook-up. ‘Now where were we?’ he asked when Christoph repeated his usual greeting.
‘Actually Thomas we weren’t anywhere. We hadn’t really started a discussion.’
‘Yes of course. Well I just want you to know the secure documents are safely on their way. They’re on Qantas flight number Q 102.’
‘Good.’ Christoph said in a mechanical tone, ‘I’ll collect them myself, then I’ll deliver them to Green Star’s headquarters personally. I’ll phone you as soon as it’s done.’
‘Good man’ Thomas sounded relieved. ‘Oh, and there’s just one more thing. All our senior people are taking a four-day furlough, so you’ll need to phone my mobile. I won’t be in the office until next Friday.’ He smiled. It sounded good to say next Friday. Compared to the way they’d all been working, four days was the break of a lifetime.
Christoph felt his chest tighten. Keep it simple. Keep it light, he told himself; surprised to find he could still speak. ‘That’s fine. I’ll call your cell as soon as I have the documents.’ He relaxed, ‘Please thank everyone for all their hard work, and tell them to enjoy their break.’