The large oak trees shaded the wide, paved walkway that ran alongside the Serpentine. They found themselves stepping to one side to avoid a roller-blader who was hammering down the middle of the concrete, intent on picking up as much speed as possible. On the edge of the water, dappled-brown ducks and elegantly pale swans lay waiting for the legions of London children who came to feed them daily.
Richard pulled Hanna toward him, putting his arm around her shoulders in a friendly gesture. She curled her arm around his waist.
“I’m going to miss you when you move to California. Will you be coming over here for Christmas?” Her voice was soft.
“I don’t know when I’ll be back in London, or even New York, come to that. If Chris and I want to get this business off the ground, then I think we’ll be working too hard to leave San Francisco for any length of time.”
“Tell me again what you’re planning to do?”
“Okay, have you heard of Friends Reunited?” He decided to try and start at the basics, to help her understand the concepts.
“Yeah, my mum has made contact with some of her old school friends through that.”
“Well, Chris and I want to use that sort of concept, but make it wider, and more modern. Not just catching up with old friends, but keeping in touch with your current ones, chatting, letting them know how you are doing. Maybe even playing games against each other, that sort of thing.”
“Why would you do that when you can just pick up the phone and call them?”
“Because this way you can keep in contact with hundreds of friends at once. With a click of a button, you can let everybody in your life know what’s going on with you. Say, for instance, you want to tell them that you’ve graduated. You either have to phone or email them, send them a letter, or rely on word-of-mouth. With our site, you’d be able to write a line to say you’ve graduated, and all of your friends will read it at once. You’ve spent less than a minute updating them, and can spend the rest of your day reading Jane Austen, or whatever the hell it is you want to do.”
“Hmm. I can’t really see why I’d ever want to do that.”
“Did you ever think that you’d want to have a cell phone?”
“A what?”
“Surely you know what a cell phone is?” Richard felt incredulous, pulling his Nokia 8250 out of his pocket and showing it to her.
“Oh! You mean a mobile phone?” Hanna took the phone from him, looking at the chromatic display. “Ooh, this one is nice.”
Richard shook his head. “As I was saying, although you may not have thought about needing a mobile phone,” he drawled the last two words, “now everybody has either got one, or wants one, and it’s changing the way we communicate. It will be the same with websites like ours. We’re fulfilling a need people didn’t even know they had. That’s the way to innovate.”
“Well, I’ll let you know if I ever feel the need to tell hundreds of acquaintances that I’ve just bought a loaf of bread. Until then, I’ll reserve judgment.” Hanna smiled, as if she was enjoying winding him up, and Richard realized he was enjoying it, too.
“I’ll expect a very public, web-based apology. Perhaps some groveling, too.”
“I can do dribbling, if that helps?”
“I noticed.”
They had reached Hyde Park Corner. Hanna jammed her hands in the pockets of her shorts. “You’d better get back. Ruby won’t be happy if you’re not there when she gets home. It was so nice to see you again.”
“And you. I’ll miss you.”
“It doesn’t sound like you’ll have time to miss me.”
“I’ll make time.”
“Then make sure you email me. Or invite me to join your website. I’m still all about the groveling.”
Richard laughed, running his hand through his hair. He looked down at her smiling face. “I can’t wait for the groveling.”
“Seriously, good luck with it all. Don’t be a stranger.” Hanna pulled her hands out of her pockets and threw her arms around him, pulling him closely for a brief hug before she released him and stepped back.
He leaned down and brushed his lips against the soft skin of her cheek, taking a moment to breathe her in. Hanna turned and walked down the steps, into the depths of the underground station. Standing at the top of the steps, Richard watched her retreating body until she had reached the bottom and he could see her no more. Touching his lips briefly with his fingers, he turned and walked along the sidewalk in the direction of Chelsea.
Seven
September 11th 2001