told. She can hear you right up to the end. Is it the end? We don’t know. Is she dying? Cancer charity lady says she is. There is a word for it: Departure.
Ned kneels at her side like a person from a long time ago. I wonder if he can hear other things I cannot hear, silent things, just for him. She breathes in, stops. I breathe the out breath for her. Pick up where she left off. End of. Ned waits but I knew she was gone.
25
Mainly dry and sunny. Some mist and fog patches will form in places, especially in the south-west
GOOD EVETIDES! I slap Rave’s shoulder.
Sirrah! He slaps me back.
Best?
Please, mate.
He orders at the bar. Busy tonight. The paint-spattered decorators are on their stools. Still not quite dark outside but here, with all the lamps glowing, might as well be Christmas. The main crowd are not yet partying. Getting them in early we are, a nose in front. Plus we want to bags our usual table – best vantage point, see them coming all directions.
I check my hair in one of the pub brasses. I look like the minging Cheshire cat. I’m wearing my D&G shirt, my new jeans; feeling sharp. We’re going on of course, after this. Not decided where, as yet. Probably Liaisons.
Lethal!
Raven has streaming pints at the ready.
Cheers, Ravester.
I carry them to our table. A song comes on and I have to break my stride so I don’t look like I’m walking to the beat. One of them girl singers. No one to ask which song it is, just Ned at the table.
Cheers, I sign.
Cheers, Gog. Ta, he signs.
Raven joins.
Cheers. We raise.
Good evetides.
We raise to the grizzly.
All who sail.
The ale sinks, hits the spot. We relax, partake of. Raven’s hairsprayed cones bob as he moves to the music. I check my hair. RokHard has done the job but my fringe has a habit of going curly when my back is turned. Ned doesn’t have this problem, his hair shafts straight down either side of his brain, not a kink to be seen. He glances back at me. He looks normal in that shirt, another D&G, you’d never know he was such a div.
I thumb him. He thumbs-up back. Good boy.
Rave’s got some coins. Quick gamble on the fruits, don’t mind if I do. We leave Ned to guard the table.
Around about the time the big ladies arrive with their mini husbands, we’re ready to roll on out of this joint.
Adios, amigos. Hasta luego. We return our glasses to the bar.
Cheers then, Keith.
Mind how you go.
We walk to the Rowntree Road. Chilly eve but dry. There are stars.
Look! I point them out. Millions looks like.
We stop by the playing fields to see if we can identify a constellation or two. Harder than you think. Constellations look easy on tea towels and mouse mats but they’re complicated in the actual sky.
Shine down on me, cries Rave, spreading his arms. Ned spreads his arms too, walks in a circle. He laughs up at the sky, some kind of private joke between him and the universe.
I jump up, grab hold of the football goal; I try to swing, recapture my youth, perchance. I hang there under a million stars.
Could be the Big Dipper, says Rave, pointing up.
Then again, I say. Rave knows less than zero about constellations. You can’t just make them up. My arms are killing. I drop to the ground. Nothing else here. We move on.
Ned won’t let the stars drop. He trips over every kerbstone, gazing up, pointing, head in the clouds.
Come on! I have to wave to sign him.
Bit of a trek to Duke’s Hill Road, longer in the dark.
Have we gone the wrong way, fellow Saracens? Rave wants to know. He lifts a cone of hair, looks around. We wait while Ned takes a wazz behind a Vauxhall Viva.
Finally. The bright lights. Buonasera. We cross at the Belisha beacon. Busy, even at this time. I bet my hair’s gone curly. We stare at the neon sign. Rave says they’ve spelt Liaisons wrong. Too many i’s? We can’t decide. We careth not.
A rugby scrum at the bar. Rave is tallest because of his hair, but it’s me who gets served in the end. Ned is enjoying himself. He can feel the beat through his bones, makes him grin. The lights are blue. They shine through glass pillars, even the bar is glass, like we’ve arrived at the North Pole.
No tables available. We line up