Maybe he should have gone home. Back to the shop. Back to the flat. But he just couldn't face it. Instead, he finds himself cruising down the Ronda Sant Antoni on the lookout for a prostitute. Not just any prostitute either but a high-busted, round-cheeked chiquita named Carmen, although it wasn't sex that he was after. At least, not today. Sometimes, he just needed someone to slip his shoes off, rub his back even. And sometimes he just needed to talk and know that someone else was listening. He swings his bike over to the traffic lights, doubles back and takes a trip up the street again, just in case he missed her the first time. She's not in her usual spot, in an alcove by the electrical store and he's just about to turn around and head home when he spots her. She's standing in a side street, backed up against a wall while her pimp gesticulates some finer point with a clenched fist rammed in her face. As she crumples forwards, Pepito jumps from his bike. He sprints towards her just as the pimp is winding his fist up for another strike but Pepito is there before the pimp can sink it home. He grabs his wrist. He spins him around. He pokes his nose in the other man's face and growls.
"Don't even think about it." If there's one thing Pepito can't stand - it's violence, any kind of violence, especially against a woman. With a twist on the wrist, just to make his point, Pepito releases his grasp. The pimp takes one step back then two steps forwards. Stops. Rubs his wrist. Lifts his eyes to check out his opponent then turns on his heel and saunters off down the street. Only when he's safely out of Pepito's reach does he open his mouth for a parting comment."I'll be watching you .." His words ring out as he turns the corner and disappears out of sight.
He takes her back to her flat. Sits her down on the edge of the bed and asks her if she has a first aid kit. But when she looks at him with the arch of her brow rising in derision, he shrugs it off and searches through his own pockets without pressing the point any further. He pulls out a handkerchief which is a little soiled and even though the bleeding has stopped, he still dabs at her lip with the cotton. Small, cautious little flutters around her mouth like he's afraid he's going to hurt her. She pushes his hand away, grabbing the handkerchief with an exasperated gasp and throws it on the bed beside her. She stands up. She twists around, her back towards Pepito. Her hands rise to claw through her hair then fall abruptly by her side. She turns around to face him.
"What the fuck?"
"What?"
"What the fuck were you thinking?" She paces across the room.
"I thought .." He starts to speak, starts to explain but she cuts him off with an icy glare and the palm of her hand in the air.
"No, no, you didn't think and that's your fuckin' problem."
Pepito stands up, he reaches out towards her.
"You think that's it, that's the end of it?" She slips out of Pepito's grasp. "It's okay for you .. you can just go on back to your own life but me .." She jabs a finger into her chest. "This is my fuckin' life. And guy's like that ..." She swings her finger out, pointing roughly to the window. "Guy's like him are ten a' fuckin' penny." She snaps her fingers and slumps down on the bed.
"I'm sorry, really .." He moves towards her with his hands stretching out to placate her. "Really, I didn't mean to make it any worse, I didn't think ... your right, I didn't think."
"Yeah well," she touches her lip and dips her head, "next time you come chargin' in with your fists cocked .. you just think how it's gonna be for me."
He nods his head and tries to smile but he's not sure if he can manage it.
"You come for the usual?"
He shakes his head. "I just want to talk, that's all."
"Fair enough but it'll cost you just the same." She pats the bed beside her and he sits down.
"What do you wanna talk about anyway? The weather?"
He shakes his head again and eases himself backwards. His legs feel heavy, his head aches and the thing he wants to do most right now is curl up on her crumpled sheets and fall into a deep and endless sleep. He feels her lift his left leg and slip his shoe off, then the right.
"Tell me something .." His voice is curious, pitched down low in the depths of his throat. "How does a girl get into all this?"
"All this?" She twists her head and lets her eyes move slowly over the room. Picking out her things with a critical air, all those possessions she'd picked up along the way. "Easy money, I guess."
"Easy?" He feels his voice falling further from his body.
"Why not?" She leans in close. "Sure it has it's moments .." Unbuttons the shirt at his throat. "But it's not as bad as you think .. it's a job .. I do my work and I stay out of trouble, nothing kinky see and if I'm lucky it's all over in a couple of minutes ... you tell me where else I can make the same kind of money for a few minutes work?"
"Don't you mind?"
"Mind what?" She moves her hand down to unbuckle his belt.
"Different men .. strangers."
"Not all of them are strangers."
"Like me?"
"Like you ..." She slips the trousers from around his waist.
"It's okay," he says, his eyes closing despite themselves, "I'm too tired that's all."
"I know," she says as she tugs the trousers from his ankles and smooths them down on the side of the bed.
"And I'm sorry ..." He feels his voice growing fainter, trailing into the distance. "I'm sorry for everything."
"So they all say."
But he doesn't hear her. And he doesn't feel the warmth of her swollen lip as she brushes a kiss on the side of his head.
No comments:
Post a Comment