Free Flights of Angels by Victoria Connelly Page A

staff regulation handbook.
    Claudie couldn’t help but smile as she remembered the scene: Bert taking centre stage in front of her computer whilst Jalisa, Mary and Lily did their chorus-girl bit behind. Poor Mr Woo had looked completely confused by it all and had hovered in the background, a scowl scarring his face.
    Claudie felt so lucky to have the angels. They were a brilliant beacon in her dark landscape; they were MGM brought to life and, above all, they were her guardians, in spite Jalisa’s hate of that particular word.
    Yes, she thought as the train pulled into York station, there was a lot she could tell Dr Lynton about. But should she? Should she tell him about the fierce argument Bert and Mr Woo had had on Thursday afternoon? Claudie shook her head as she got off the train. What a thing to witness: two grown men, no bigger than a couple of Biros, arguing on her desk. Mary and Lily had tried to break them apart and Jalisa had finally intervened when Mr Woo had called Bert a stinky bird egg . Jalisa had sent them back, to a kind of angel detention room, she’d said, but didn’t explain any more than that. It was quite common, she’d assured her.
    Claudie grinned at the thought, trying to imagine Bert and Mr Woo sat in a classroom writing lines. I must not argue on my client’s desk . But what would Dr Lynton make of it all?
    Sitting in his room, seeing his serious face and pen at the ready, she decided against telling him about any of it. Although it did make her wonder what stories he must have heard from his other clients. Was anything beyond the bounds of possibility? And what right did he have to question what he was told?
    ‘So, Claudie,’ he began in his usual manner, ‘had a good week?’ He always waited for her to speak, never prompting her on anything.
    Claudie nodded, looking down and noticing that he had bright green socks on. Most unusual. ‘It’s been an extraordinary week,’ she confessed, without really meaning to. The words just spilled out.
    ‘Oh?’ Dr Lynton’s white eyebrows shot into his forehead and, for the first time in a long while, he smiled.
    Claudie looked on in amazement. This was turning out to be a very odd week indeed.
    ‘Do go on, Claudie. Tell me about your week.’
    ‘Okay!’ she said, wondering how she was going to get round this now. If she wasn’t going to tell him about the angels, what else could she possibly tell him about? He wouldn’t be interested in her night out with Kristen and, other than a group of little people taking up residence on her desk, nothing else extraordinary had happened at work. She sifted through her brain as quickly as possible, aware that time was money and she was paying.
    ‘I was pottering around during lunch early this week and thought I’d pop into the bookshop,’ she began somewhat hopelessly, but thinking it would have to do. ‘It’s old and smelly and the owner’s a complete witch, but I just love browsing round. You never know what you might find. Anyway, I happened to come across this wonderful book.’
    ‘About?’
    Claudie paused. If he was hoping she’d name a title on the reading list he’d presented her with recently, he was going to be disappointed.
    ‘Judy Garland.’
    ‘The actress?’
    Claudie nodded. Didn’t everyone know who Judy Garland was?
    ‘I’ve always adored her,’ she went on enthusiastically. ‘Ever since the first time I walked down that yellow brick road with her. So imagine my delight when I found out Luke’s surname was Gale! I couldn’t believe that I was going to be Claudie Gale !’
    Dr Lynton looked nonplussed.
    ‘ Dorothy Gale! ’ she stressed, musing on the fact that the ‘P’ in Dr P Lynton might very well stand for ‘philistine’. She made a mental note that she should lend him some of her videos. It would make a pleasant change from him lending her his books.
    ‘Anyway, I wanted that book but I didn’t have enough money. The old witch always overcharges,’ she said,