Take the A-Train by Mark Timlin Page B

asked the voice, and the phone went down with a bang. No songs from the shows that time. I waited for two or three minutes. ‘You’re in luck,’ said the voice eventually. ‘Mister Lupino will see you tonight at the Royal Hotel in Bickley. Go through the town on the London Road and it’s on the right, set back from the road, all lit up. You can’t miss it. The Guv’nor will be in the Vegas Bar. It’s a private party for the firm, so mind your manners. Be there at nine-thirty. The dinner will be over and the dancing will have begun. Ask for Mister Lupino’s party, and come alone. Understood?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said and the speaker hung up.
    I put the phone down. ‘Tonight, Bickley, alone.’
    ‘Bollocks,’ said Fiona. ‘I’m going with you. I’m in this as much as you. Do you expect me just to go home and wash out a few pairs of knickers while you have all the fun?’
    Fun! I thought. Jesus!
    ‘Besides, I’m your driver.’
    ‘I can drive,’ I said. ‘It’s about time I gave the motor a spin.’
    ‘I’ll drive you,’ interrupted Teddy. ‘Uncle said I was to help.’
    I sat and chewed the inside of my mouth as the speed surged through me. ‘What the hell?’ I said. ‘We’ll all go to the ball.’

12
    A bout then I thought it was time for a livener. We took both cars up to the wine bar where Teddy and I had eaten lunch the previous day. It seemed like a thousand years ago.
    This morning there was a camp boy behind the bar doing the frug to some old Martha and the Vandellas number blasting out of the stereo. The bar was empty and he stopped dancing and turned down the volume as we came in. Teddy and Fiona went to a table and I went to get the drinks in.
    ‘Hello,’ said the boy. ‘What can I get you?’
    ‘Three Rocks, please.’
    He went to the fridge.
    ‘I haven’t seen you for a bit,’ I said to make conversation and stop myself gnawing at my tongue.
    ‘I’ve been on holiday.’
    ‘Do anything good?’
    ‘I had my nipples pierced.’
    There is absolutely no answer to that. ‘Really?’ I managed to say.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Was it painful?’
    ‘Excruciating,’ he said as he opened the bottles and put them and three glasses on the bar top. ‘But it was worth it.’ He leant closer and lowered his voice as I rescued a fiver from my back pocket. ‘I’ve got nipple rings in them, and my lover attaches a gold chain and leads me around the house at night.’
    ‘Makes my sex life look positively dull,’ I said.
    He looked over at Teddy and Fiona and raised an eyebrow. ‘I’d say it had definite possibilities myself.’
    I looked too. ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Catch you later.’ And I took the beers over.
    I told Teddy and Fiona about the party in Bickley, and that I’d told Endesleigh about Bim. I didn’t tell them what his reaction had been. I asked Teddy about Jack Dark but he’d never heard of him. We had a couple of beers and I gave Teddy my address and arranged for him to pick us up from there at eight. Fiona wanted to go home and get her best party frock. I volunteered to go with her but she declined the offer. She told me to go to my own home and get some sleep. Fat chance. I explained I was worried about her going off alone after the previous night’s excitement, and she told me firmly that she wasn’t going to change her life because of some cheap crooks. In the end I gave in. Around two we left the bar and Fiona dropped me at home and sped off.
    The envelope was waiting on the mat when I opened the street door. It was thick and unstamped with just my name scrawled on the front in felt tip pen. I leant against the wall and tore the flap open. Inside was a wodge of the dirtiest banknotes I’d ever seen. I riffled the pile. It was a lot. I took the money and myself up to my flat, popped open a bottle of Rock, lit a cigarette and counted the cash. When I finished I discovered I was five thousand pounds richer and my hands were five thousand pounds grubbier. The money was in