Four Warned

‘I feel exhausted,’ Dick said. ‘It must be the time change.’ He turned his back on her, hoping she wouldn’t work out that it was just after 8 p.m. in England.

* * *

Dick woke the following morning feeling very thirsty. He looked at the empty bottle of Evian on his side of the bed and remembered just in time. He climbed out of bed, walked across to the fridge and selected a bottle of orange juice.

‘Will you be going to the gym this morning?’ he asked a half-awake Maureen.

‘Do I have time?’

‘Sure, the Hermitage doesn’t open until ten, and one of the reasons I always stay here is because of the hotel’s gym.’

‘So what about you?’

‘I still have to make some phone calls if everything is to be set up for Monday.’

Maureen slipped out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom, which allowed Dick enough time to top up her glass and replace the empty bottle of Evian on her side of the bed.

When Maureen emerged a few minutes later, she checked her watch before slipping on her gym kit. ‘I should be back in about forty minutes,’ she said, after tying up her trainers.

‘Don’t forget to take some water with you,’ said Dick, handing her one of the bottles from the table by the window. ‘They may not have one in the gym.’

‘Thank you,’ she said.

Dick wondered, from the expression on her face, if he was being just a little too considerate.

While Maureen was in the gym, Dick took a shower. When he walk

ed back into the bedroom, he was pleased to see that the sun was shining. He put on a blazer and slacks, but only after he had checked that none of the bottles had been replaced by the hotel staff while he had been in the bathroom.

Dick ordered breakfast for both of them, which arrived moments after Maureen returned from the gym, clutching the half-empty Evian bottle.

‘How did your training go?’ Dick asked.

‘Not great,’ Maureen replied. ‘I felt a bit listless.’

‘Probably just jetlag,’ suggested Dick, as he took his place on the far side of the table. He poured his wife a glass of water, and himself another orange juice. Dick opened a copy of the Herald Tribune, which he began to read while he waited for his wife to dress. Hillary Clinton said she wouldn’t be running for president, which only convinced Dick that she would, especially as she made the announcement standing by her husband’s side.

* * *

Maureen came out of the bathroom wearing a hotel dressing gown. She took the seat opposite her husband and sipped the water.

‘Better take a bottle of Evian with us when we visit the Hermitage,’ said Maureen. Dick looked up from behind his paper. ‘The girl in the gym warned me not to drink the local water under any circumstances.’

‘Oh yes, I should have warned you,’ said Dick, as Maureen took a bottle from the table by the window and put it in her bag. ‘Can’t be too careful.’

* * *

Dick and Maureen strolled through the front gates of the Hermitage a few minutes before ten, to find themselves at the back of a long queue. The crocodile of visitors moved slowly forward along an unshaded path. Maureen took several sips of water between turning the pages of the guidebook. It was ten forty before they reached the ticket booth.

Once inside, Maureen continued to study her guidebook. ‘Whatever we do, we must be sure to see Michelangelo’s Crouching Boy, Raphael’s Virgin, and Leonardo’s Madonna Benois.’

Dick smiled his agreement, but knew he would not be concerning himself with the masters.

As they climbed the wide marble staircase, they passed several magnificent statues. Dick was surprised to discover just how vast the Hermitage was. Despite visiting St Petersburg several times during the past three years, he had only ever seen the building from the outside.

Maureen read from the guidebook. ‘Housed on three floors, the collection displays treasures in over two hundred rooms. So let’s get started.’

By eleven thirty they had only covered the Dutch and Italian schools on the first floor, by which time Maureen had finished the large bottle of Evian.