page 7

Record

"He looks an odd one, doesn't he Rose? Look at his clothes, they're ilthy."

"Drunk too, for sure."

"Rose, is he drunk, is he really drunk?"

"Course he's drunk. When you've worked here as long as I have you can pick them a mile off."

"Will you serve him Hose, if he wants any tiling?"

"Too right I will. His money's as good as anyone's."

"I feel sorry for him."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know. He's just so, sort of—you know, helpless."

"Crikey, your sort of sympathy will get you into trouble."

"Trouble?"

"Yes, trouble. You heard what I said."

"Stop getting catty at me Rose. 1 haven't done nothing to you."

"Give off will you kid. If he wants coffee, coffee's off. If he wants tea, tea's off. If he still hangs round, you're off. I'll handle him. I'm used to it."

"I thought you were going to serve him."

"Changed my mind. He's not good looking enough."

"Well I think he's sweet. Look, he's going to work the juke."

"He's seeing double. Probably play both sides at once."

"I wonder if he's sick."

"Sick!"

"Are you sneering at me, Rose? Why are you sneering at me?"

"I didn't know there were kids as dumb as you are, that's all."

"I'm not dumb."

"Okay, you're not dumb. Better give him a hand to put his six-pence in."

"I—I wish I'd been around like you had, Rose. You know such a lot more than I do about things. You know, life and people and all that."

"For Chrissake, shutup will you. You're getting me down."

"I wish I could help him."

"He's a bum. The sooner he . clears out of here the better!"

"I still wish I could help him, Rose"

"There's one born every minute."

"He's chosen a tune. Let's listen to it."

"You can, I don't want anything to do with him."

"Rose, you know something?"

"What."

"You're not a very nice person."

"That's right. I'm not a very nice person"

when Lucas lurched into the glaring doorway of the milkbar, he was several hundred miles away but he knew he would find the tune inside. He was entering a room where the people were not strangers but friends he had known for years. There were acquaintances, he was not alone. There would be no need to greet anybody because they would all recognise him.

And they would understand his tune.

This pleasant phantasy stayed with him several minutes while he swayed dreamily in front of the ice-cream posters and neon lights. That was the trouble with being a heavy drinker. You had to keep having that extra drink to maintain euphoria. The same as an insomnolent needing to add an extra pill each week to his quota. A vicious pyramid.

He hesitated before entering. There's no need to make a fool of myself, he thought. Better make sure I've got the right coin. It always pays to look as though you know what you're doing. Otherwise you're bounced before you get a chance to show you're just as harmless as the next chap. If these people could only realise how a drunk really feels, they wouldn't snigger behind their evening papers half as much. They can't see that a drinking bout magnifies the love a chap has for the world. And for a tune. The love that every man stores in his heart for his neighbour.

Lucas puzzled over this for a moment. Perhaps I'm wrong. I might be the only one who feels like this, he wondered. But it's true. When I'm sober, the world holds my hand. When I'm drunk, the world is in bed with me.

He laughed at the absurd path his mind had followed. Poetic in sight, that's what it is. Imagery, the very word. I make love to mankind. Florialis became the father of twins but he had to be four times cuckold first, according to—according to who? It'll come to me later. They say you can remember things better by diverting your mind to a subject entirely different.

He searched through his trouser pockets but was unable to find a sixpence. His hands trembled as he explored again, first the left leg, then the right. There must be one somewhere. Fool! Hip pocket of course. They were always cached there to feed to parking meters. A lapse of memory, but he could forgive himself that. Every man is his own confessor and forgiver. Forgive me Father, they know not what I am. Forgive me Lucas, I know not who you are. I don't think we've had the pleasure of being introduced. Come around to my place sometime, we'll celebrate. Yes, you'd better wear a tie. And have a shave too. A man is as respectable as his razor allows him to be.

Lucas found the required coin and inserted it carefully, waiting to hear the metallic click as it fell into position. His eyes were fixed on the mechanical arm as it swung across in a grandiose arc to select his record. As it fell firmly into place he twitched nervously. He watched the disc begin to circle and the pickup whirr into the three minute spiral.