They was sorta weird, you know. All that talk of peace and goodwill, and theys eyes lit up like they was drunk or on drugs or in love. Weird in a nice way, I mean. Not meaning no one no harm, and not touchin what was not there for touchin, and not punchin with theys words. Weird in a nice way.
Men round here mostly aint like that. Men in these parts think if they buys a girl a drink they then has property rights over her. Like Ronnie Coop and once he bought me a lager and blackcurrant and he stood so close to me after that I could smell the heat of him, and he put his arm across my shoulder like we was somethin more than friends one hand brushin against my diddy. ‘Drink up,’ Ronnie said and there was another pint waitin on the bar and I just knowed there was a price to be paid for so much attention and it aint ever pretty fuckin a drunk.
No, these guys was different. They was nice, like I said, and gentle and respectful. And Shannon said in a whisper that she didn’t mind which was mine and which was hers; they was both lookers and they smelled clean and no dirt under theys fingernails. I chose Calcutta. I don’t rightly know if that was his real name, somethin his hippy folks put on him along with all that peace and love hoohaa. Calcutta is a place in India and I thought it added somethin exotic to what he was. Shannon took Steve.
They had stories to tell, stories of things they’d seen with theys own eyes or heard with theys ears. A man can walk barefoot over hot coals and not ever feel the flame or the burnin; a woman all swelled up with a child can float six inches off the ground, hangin in the air with just the lightness of her thoughts; and dogs can be made hungry just by the ringin of a silver bell. I didn’t exactly believe what they said, but they was nice stories and the way they told ‘em it was somethin to remember.
I let Calcutta walk me home afterwards and he was a gentleman. Not grabbing at me like Ronnie Coop and kissin in me in the dark of shop doorways and his tongue down my neck and his hand up my skirts. We just walked, you know, and he had his own stories to tell. And then we was just liein on the path lookin up at the stars in the sky and he was sayin that stars was like us mams and us dads, and stars was where we all come from in the beginnin, and stars was in all of us.
I could see the stars like sparks in his eyes and I wanted him to kiss me then. But like I said, he was maybe drunk or on drugs and I was just a reason for talkin – if it was love that was in his eyes it was only the love of his own voice.
It got cold real quick, so I left him liein there and I went home to my own bed and that was no bad thing, ‘cept I sorta missed him of a sudden and I put my hand between my legs and pretended like it was the hand of Calcutta and he was gentle and nice all the way into sleep.
They was sorta weird, you know. All that talk of peace and goodwill, and theys eyes lit up like they was drunk or on drugs or in love. Weird in a nice way, I mean. Not meaning no one no harm, and not touchin what was not there for touchin, and not punchin with theys words. Weird in a nice way.
Men round here mostly aint like that. Men in these parts think if they buys a girl a drink they then has property rights over her. Like Ronnie Coop and once he bought me a lager and blackcurrant and he stood so close to me after that I could smell the heat of him, and he put his arm across my shoulder like we was somethin more than friends one hand brushin against my diddy. ‘Drink up,’ Ronnie said and there was another pint waitin on the bar and I just knowed there was a price to be paid for so much attention and it aint ever pretty fuckin a drunk.
No, these guys was different. They was nice, like I said, and gentle and respectful. And Shannon said in a whisper that she didn’t mind which was mine and which was hers; they was both lookers and they smelled clean and no dirt under theys fingernails. I chose Calcutta. I don’t rightly know if that was his real name, somethin his hippy folks put on him along with all that peace and love hoohaa. Calcutta is a place in India and I thought it added somethin exotic to what he was. Shannon took Steve.
They had stories to tell, stories of things they’d seen with theys own eyes or heard with theys ears. A man can walk barefoot over hot coals and not ever feel the flame or the burnin; a woman all swelled up with a child can float six inches off the ground, hangin in the air with just the lightness of her thoughts; and dogs can be made hungry just by the ringin of a silver bell. I didn’t exactly believe what they said, but they was nice stories and the way they told ‘em it was somethin to remember.
I let Calcutta walk me home afterwards and he was a gentleman. Not grabbing at me like Ronnie Coop and kissin in me in the dark of shop doorways and his tongue down my neck and his hand up my skirts. We just walked, you know, and he had his own stories to tell. And then we was just liein on the path lookin up at the stars in the sky and he was sayin that stars was like us mams and us dads, and stars was where we all come from in the beginnin, and stars was in all of us.
I could see the stars like sparks in his eyes and I wanted him to kiss me then. But like I said, he was maybe drunk or on drugs and I was just a reason for talkin – if it was love that was in his eyes it was only the love of his own voice.
It got cold real quick, so I left him liein there and I went home to my own bed and that was no bad thing, ‘cept I sorta missed him of a sudden and I put my hand between my legs and pretended like it was the hand of Calcutta and he was gentle and nice all the way into sleep.