The man put down his packages and shook Peter’s hand.
‘Your wife’s a bit of an angel, Pete. Is she always taking pity on waifs and strays?’
‘We . . . we both believe in being friendly,’ said Peter. ‘It costs nothing and it makes life more interesting.’
‘When are we gonna see the sea?’ said Gemma, and yawned.
‘Tomorrow, when you wake up,’ said the mother.
‘Will the nice lady be there?’
‘No, she’s going to America.’
Beatrice motioned the little girl to come and sit against her hip. The toddler had already dropped off to sleep, sprawled against a canvas backpack filled to bursting point. ‘Wires slightly crossed,’ said Beatrice. ‘It’s my husband who’s going, not me.’
‘You stay home with the kids, huh?’
‘We don’t have any,’ said Beatrice. ‘Yet.’
‘Do yourselves a favour,’ sighed the man. ‘Don’t. Just skip it.’
‘Oh, you don’t mean that,’ said Beatrice. And Peter, seeing that the man was about to make an off-hand retort, added: ‘Not really.’
And so the conversation went on. Beatrice and Peter got into rhythm, perfectly united in purpose. They’d done this hundreds of times before. Conversation, genuine unforced conversation, but with the potential to become something much more significant if the moment arose when it was right to mention Jesus. Maybe that moment would come; maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe they would just say ‘God bless you’ in parting and that would be it. Not every encounter could be transformative. Some conversations were just amiable exchanges of breath.
Coaxed into this exchange, the two strangers relaxed despite themselves. Within minutes they were even laughing. They were from Merton, they had diabetes and depression respectively, they both worked in a hardware superstore, they’d saved up for this holiday for a year. They were none too bright and not very fascinating. The woman had an unattractive snort and the man stank terribly of musk aftershave. They were human beings, and precious in the eyes of God.
‘My plane is about to board,’ said Peter at last.
Beatrice was still on the floor, the head of a stranger’s child lolling on her thigh. Her eyes were glassy with tears.
‘If I come with you to Security,’ she said, ‘and hold you when you’re about to go through, I won’t be able to cope, I swear. I’ll lose it, I’ll cause a scene. So kiss me goodbye here.’
Peter felt as if his heart was being cleaved in half. What had seemed like a grand adventure in the prayer room now bereaved him like a sacrifice. He clung to the words of the Apostle: Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
He bent down and Beatrice gave him a quick, rough kiss on the lips, clasping the back of his head with one hand as she did so. He straightened up, dazed. This whole scenario with the strangers – she’d engineered it to happen, he could see that now.
‘I’ll write,’ he promised.
She nodded, and the motion shook the tears out onto her cheeks.
He walked briskly to Departures. Forty minutes later he was up in the sky.