Earring

V and D 

He guided the van left up a small lane to where the restaurant was indicated on the map. From the state of the road it did not promise much, but it’s where they were going.

It was her voice that broke the silence. We mustn´t ever lie to each other. Ok?

His hand grip on the steering wheel, his throat tightens with remorse and he remains quiet.

No matter how trivial it is, we can never do it.

He sees the restaurant up ahead, infront of its entrance on the street there are a small group of women looking in their direction moving sporadically. He drives the van past them slowly, a dog barking while their eyes following, and he parks.

It wasn´t intentional, he looked at her, I didn´t want to upset you, it meant nothing.

Do you agree? She asked, the universe of her eyes, unblinking.. the eyes waiting.

Yes.

She reaches over and kisses him on his mouth, possessing him, this woman he loves, he senses relief now that the petty argument was receding into the immediate past. Her hand moved up between his legs, she pulls back, good wolf, opening his trousers and bending down.

His head leans backwards against the seat, his eyes, half shut in pleasure, stray towards the mirror and he catches sight of the group of women behind the car. There were three of them. They are dancing a wild dance, singing, brightly dressed and drinking out of coffee cups. There is a baby in a push chair laughing and a huge dog straining at a rope. They make him think of faeries, or better, trash faeries, wasted, disheveled, full of a darkness and malevolent mirth.

A and Dog

I hear the van before I see it and i tell Carmen and Isobel to get out of the way and pull the pushchair closer. Dog starts barking loudly as it drives past, nobody ever came around here, no idea what the fuck this was doing, anyway, who knew anything. My back still hurt from Shane, the whiskey helps. I start dancing again with the girls, and singing our dirty poems we knew from the bar as kids.

I half watch as they pull over to the side of the road and park.

Nobody gets out so I ignore. I turn around to the girls and start dancing again, enjoying the feeling of the whiskey and coffee we’d been drinking all morning. Another sip, laughing as the girls drank theirs, pulling faces with the bitter alcohol and they start their singing again.

Now the doors of the car are opening up and a couple gets out, she in high black boots and tights, skimpy skirt and a tight jacket. He dressed in combats and a sheepskin jacket. Maybe they had money or wanted sex.. I see their greens and I see their reds, i pull dog closer.

The girl comes over, she has long black hair and starts joining into our rhythming. Looks like she hadn´t been drinking any whiskey because she can recite without pauses and mistakes, I take another sip and start talking to the man, foreign with his blue eyes, pale skin, his strange accent. We laugh together and I offer him a drink, he takes it, must be strong, he coughs. The others end the singing and stop dancing, and the couple turn and go into the bar.

When I can’t see them, I take another sip of a whiskey and walk slowly over to the van. I could see a bag in there and inside the bag could see something silver and some books, pens, the bag interested me. I go back to the girls, time folds, more whiskey, I can hear a laugh of him inside the bar, but dog started barking like crazy at something so I kicked the fucker til he shut up.

The day was moving like a slow pendulum, almost stopping. I walk back to the van and look in the window again. There was nobody around. It was definitely a laptop in there. I try to open all the doors, all locked, looking down on the ground I see a nice big rock, just big enough and just about the right weight. I pick it up and try tossing it a little bit in the air, almost too heavy to catch. Just then dog starts barking again and nearly pulls me over. Isobel shouts something and then offers the joint to me. I look at the bar and can see movement. I missed my opportunity.

So, I go back over to Isobel, take the joint and a sip of whiskey coffee and we start to dance again while the couple walk back to their van.

S and R.

Shane sits under the shade of the umbrella on the terrace, Friday morning. It had been a long and shit week that he hadn’t enjoyed and he intends to drink away the memory of it and its remaining hours

before going home.

He wasnt looking forward to the weekend either, his screaming kids and annoying wife / his screaming wife and annoying kids.

He takes another big pull of his beer, number 3 before 12 o’clock, good rhythm, he looks up and sees movement, a dog had been barking, the crazy bitch Angela outside.

He watches a couple walking in, ignoring the male, focuses on the female, fucking hot. I could take her. They walk into the bar and he looses sight of her for a moment. She leaves a chemtrail. Ray has seen her too, You she that? Fuck yeah. They both fall into an uneasy silence. Shane twists his bottle. Rays sunken eyes, blink slowly, while he rolls a cigarette.

Several minutes later Shane watches them walk out again. Now she is in a t-shirt, all curves on display. They choose a seat in the direct sunlight down by the fence near where the cars were parked. Maria comes out shortly after carrying beers and talks to them. They order food and he watches the girl stand up with her tight ass and walk around the table and then sit on his lap and begin kissing him. He doesn’t like to see that. Why should this cunt be getting so much attention, sitting there with that bitch on his lap, he probably has no idea how lucky he is. He drinks his beer, feeling the dragon awaken. Except for Angela not had any for ages why the fuck is this guy getting everything?

Time elapses, the couple sit at the table and start laughing loudly. Shane´s mood is worsening. He orders another beer, and another. Fourth, fifth then sixth. The couple stand up and change places at the table. They seem to be swapping food or something stupid like that even though they had ordered exactly the same thing, she smiles at the man, clearly deep into each other, the dragons teeth bite down hard, would never let go..

If she goes to the toilet I’m going to, you want to go too? You in? Yeah yeah I’m in. You block the door, when I am finished you can have her, if he tries to come and do anything we knock him over.

D and V

He asks for the bill, and the waitress comes back quickly with it, the quickest thing she´d done all morning, funny, like she’s trying to get them out of there. She seems exhausted, which is tough because this was Friday and she had the whole weekend in front of her. Hard to know how she’ll carry on this pace. No one else, just them and the two builders. The big one looks angry, his goatish eyes drilling holes into them, no, not into them, just into V.

It’s time to leave, he drops some cash and takes her hand. The dog outside bark would wake the dead.

He can feel the eyes of the men following her, following her short skirt, the metronome of her heels on the concrete, those boots that she wears today which blow his mind. He tightens his grip of her hand.

Outside, now on the street, the trash faeries are hanging around near the van, one of them, the oldest, dressed the youngest, Ángela, laughing and looking, teeth like a broken fence, and red eyes burning.

He opens the door and they climb in, He reaches up to pull V´s head towards his when he notices..

I think you lost an earring..

did I? shit it must’ve come off when I took off my jersey in the bathroom, I need to go back and get it.

So he opens the door for her, she stepping out,

Wait, he says, in light of my new honest self, maybe you’re not gonna like this, but I didn’t like those earrings, leave it.

Her face clouds over, eyes herald the storm….she is silent, turns her back to him, paused.

Shane finishes his bottle, Angela passes the joint. Dog waits, now quiet.

---

For V.

---

Copyright Notice

Publisher Notice Published by La Fuente de Jade (Spain). © All rights reserved. This work is protected under applicable copyright and intellectual property laws.