Richard and Elisabeth were sitting in a small coffee bar that overlooked the River Thames

The day was dying and the street lights were beginning to illuminate the busy roads

Tell me about the suicide you witnessed last week I know some facts but not all

Was it horrible?

No

Would you have been able to stop it if you had been able to?

Yes

Then why did you not intervene the poor man was obviously troubled

The man asked me to just let him jump into the river

But the man was not of sound mind

I respected his request

I would have stopped him

He had stared into the abyss and became the abyss

I could not help him

Even if I had tried to stop him he would have returned and thrown himself off of the bridge when I had gone away

What drove him to it?

I do not know

Money

Love

Or it might have been that he saw things too clearly

Some people see things far too clearly and sometimes it destroys them

A girl dressed in a black check apron placed a slice of cake on the table between the friends

She smiled falsely and left

It was a toss-up between this lemon drizzle cake and the coffee cake

Your decision was trivial Elisabeth

Elizabeth playfully prodded Richard with her fork

And you are rude

I was not being rude

You said that my choice of cake was trivial

It was

Explain 

Richard looked at a set of Charles Dickens books on the shelf above Elisabeth

They obviously had not been read for quite a while as light and almost invisible spider webs could be seen

No answer

Yes I have an answer

Go ahead

Would you say that you were comfortable?

I suppose so

What was the last challenging thing you did?

A charity trek in Africa a couple of years ago

Why did you do it?

To help people

You were guilty that you had a comfortable western lifestyle

I suppose so but where are coming from Richard?

We are the last men you know

Since God was murdered and the void was created instead of challenging ourselves we settle for a banal existence

Are you saying that my life is banal?

And mine I am just as guilty as you of not challenging myself

Here were are in this coffee shop chatting

It is a comfortable place

The view of the river is agreeable

We have been friends since childhood

You feel comfortable with me

Our existence is as banal as the choice of your cake

We live lives of timid mediocrity

Speak for yourself I am quite happy with my life

Are you not happy with your life?

In its mediocrity yes but I despise it also

We have no moral values and lack vision

Elisabeth smiled and offered Richard a piece of cake on her fork which he declined

Too trivial for you I suppose

Do you realise Richard I hate you and love you at the same time

I love you as you have always been there for me

Since the day I fell out of the apple tree and fractured my wrist

You were there for me and our relationship has not been complicated by sex or sexual attraction

You think I am attractive but you are not attracted to me

But I hate you so much at times

When I heard the story about the suicide I was disgusted with you

I hated you with every fibre of my body and cried myself to sleep that night

How could you have been so cold?

I explained to you earlier why I let him jump

If you had stopped him there might have been hope

You lacked compassion for the poor man

That is where you are wrong Elisabeth

I am a compassionate man

In a Post-Christian world that lacks compassion mine was a compassionate act

I knew of his pain

He had stared into the abyss

And the abyss had stared back at him

All your complicated words will not change my mind

Your actions were awful Richard and I will never forgive you

That was not the act of my Richard

Elisabeth felt herself getting angry with her friend and immediately changed the subject

In the corner of her eye she felt a tear and knew that Richard had noted her distress

She thought back to their childhood days when they used to bury small creatures that had died

The gentle days where were they now?

Deep down although she was attracted to Richard she was glad that they were not in a relationship

She was scared of him and wanted to keep him at arms length

What would you do if I choked on this cake?

I would rescue you

I would do what was necessary

So why did you not help that poor man

Why would you help me but not him?

As I told you Elisabeth I am a compassionate man

Both of these acts would have been compassionate

Elisabeth felt a tear run down her cheek which she dabbed with her napkin

See you have upset me

That was not my intention

I know and am happy with my world and you come along and destroy it

I think it better we do not meet for a while

That is up to you Elisabeth but I would miss you

Like it or not we are attached at the hip

Fuck you Richard

Would you like another coffee?

Fuck you Richard and yes I would like another coffee

Richard signalled to the bored waitress and ordered two coffees

Are you ok now?

Yes

I am sorry I upset you

There is a side of you that I do not understand

You stared into the void that is all

Fuck the void Richard

That is what most people say

They ignore the void

The waitress brought the coffees to the table but did not smile

May I tell you something Richard?

Anything

You will not be angry

Have I ever been angry with you?

It is not about me

Then what?

Last Sunday I was walking across the bridge when I was mugged

Were you hurt?

No just shaken up

Did they get much?

About seventy pounds from my purse but they had no interest in my cards

What happened?

I was walking back across the bridge when my path was blocked by two men

Were they foreign?

If that is important yes

Carry on

Well one of them had a pathetic little knife and pointed it towards me asking for money

I was going to run but I thought they would out sprint me and I would get hurt

So I gave them my purse

They took the money out and threw the purse into the river

Was that it?

They told me that I was lucky as they only wanted money and that I was a fucking white bitch and should not cross the bridge after dark

They said I was a slag and asking for it

Did you report it to the police?

Yes

What did they do?

Nothing they just took all the details and said that I should not really have placed myself in danger and should keep to well -lit areas a

And

They took all my details and that was that

Why did you not ring me?

Because I know the way you would have reacted

That being?

You would have gone looking for them

I know the way your brain works or at least I think I do

You would have crossed that bridge each night maybe flashing the cash  

You would have made yourself a target

And then I would have dealt with the fuckers

At least one of them was carrying a knife they might have hurt you

That would be a chance that I would take

On the journey to happiness one has to suffer a great deal of pain

Just leave it alone Richard

Do not do anything silly

I will not do anything silly

Promise

Promise

If I find that you have gone after them then I will not see you for a long while

Please act rationally this is not a movie

I promise that I will not look for them

Somehow I do not believe you

Believe me

Those fuckers will make mistakes as they are sub-human and then a man will come down from the mountains and destroy them

You are talking in riddles again Richard

No I am crystal clear

But do not worry I will keep my promise to you

About five minutes later Richard and Elisabeth left the coffee bar and were strolling along the embankment

They were holding hands and Elisabeth thought that people might mistake them for lovers

She smiled at the irony

They had decided to walk to Tower Bridge and sit on a bench and just contemplate the passing evening

You know that of all things a void is the thing that we should be most scared of

You have only have to look around the world to see that

Countries which have had dictators who have been overthrown go one of two ways

If a sense of democracy is restored quickly then the void is filled

If this does not happen then evil can take its place

Your muggers were evil

No I think they were misguided

You would not have said that if you had been stabbed or if they had raped you on the bridge

They were just scared children in a strange country

The vacancy that faced them frightened them

Rubbish they were feral little fucks emerging from the gutters of this city

I think this is a lovely city and scum like that spoil it for others

Any city in the world is going to have problems like London

I agree

There are always going to be the haves and the have-nots

They are still vermin

What would you say if I told you that I have forgiven them?

I would say that you are a hopeless case

But I have

I was scared I thought they were going to hurt me or assault me but all they took was my money and I can replace that

You would have not said that if you had been left bloodied and naked on the bridge

I agree

But I was not raped or attacked

So I forgave them

We no longer live a Christian world Elisabeth

God is dead

He was murdered

That is absolute rubbish Richard

We live in a Christian country

Look I can see a church from here

You can see a building Elisabeth thats all 

We live an age of narcisissm and of abject mediocrity

Everybody in this city pretends to be happy

I am happy Richard

Are you Elisabeth?

You have not been successful in relationships and I sense you are lonely

You float around this city pretending to be happy

You have bought into the religion of comfortability

When you get home you will listen to your messages and arrange dates with your friends you will exchange trivial gossip when you meet them

You will celebrate the mundane

If I did not love you I would slap you

Be my guest

Elisabeth slapped Richard sharply on the cheek

Better now

May I continue?

Elisabeth slapped Richard again but with less force

A passing couple averted their gaze

They think we are having a tiff

Let them think that

I am sorry did I hurt you?

No

Why did you ask me to slap you?

You have been waiting to do it all evening

You are still angry with me

What you did was a pure act

And I admire you for it

Elisabeth smiled and kissed Richard on the cheek

Sorry

Do not apologise I admire your actions

I know that if you had had a pistol in your bag you would have used it on those fucks

I would not have been brave enough

Then why do you carry the MACE spray I gave you in your bag

Because you gave it to me

It is illegal to carry the spray

I was not aware of that

And whilst we are on the subject why did you not use it that night

I left it at home when I changed bags

Perfect I try to look after you and you leave your bag at home

Elisabeth yawned

Are you tired?

A little

Then I will walk with you to the tube station and see you off

No need I am going to meet Cynthia at the 24/7 store at about ten

That is if I am finished with you

A choice of cultural preferences

Sorry

I was thinking of this city

The empty values of the herd

Nobody aspires to greatness

We have turned our back on challenging ideals

Each of us including me does everything in our power to limit excess

We stare blindly into the abyss as the man who committed suicide once did

The only difference is that the abyss stared back at the poor soul

That is why he killed himself

He was a hollow man

That is why I did not stop him

He should have strived for greatness

Instead he strived for mediocrity and it killed him

He saw the void

Richard turned around and found out that he had been addressing himself as Elisabeth was chatting excitedly with a couple of friends

He walked towards them

Cynthia this is Richard my dearest friend

Pretty this is Richard

What a coincidence this is I was due to meet the girls in a couple of hours but they decided to visit Shapiro’s Bar and saw us passing

Shall I take my leave of you

You don’t have to

I am sure you have a lot of catching up to do

I believe you have just returned from China Pretty

Japan I was in Japan

A fine country

Yes I liked it

Have you ever visited Japan?

No but I am planning to

Richard hugged Elisabeth

I will disappear now and let you girls chat together

I still have a great deal of work to do

Are you sure

Yes

Same time same coffee bar in a fortnight

I look forward to it

Liar

Elisabeth and her friends walked away

Dishy guy

No it is not like that

If you don’t want him

Later as Richard made his way across the bridge he was stopped by the waitress who had earlier served him coffee

She asked for a light

As he lit her cigarette Richard lit one for himself

He hadn’t told Elisabeth that he had started smoking again

He accompanied the waitress to her bus stop and waited with her until her bus arrived

After making sure she was safely on board he crossed the bridge again

He looked at the dark river and knew he was staring into the abyss

Richard was a great distance from the mountains

But this did not worry him and he took comfort from the fact that he had now started his journey