Month: April 2009 (Page 2 of 4)

“Mr. Todd is not going to make it through the night, I’m afraid Gina.”

Gina looked up as Freddie wandered into the nurses station and delivered this inevitable yet depressing news as he picked up a drywipe pen to update a different patient’s status on the whiteboard. She was a seasoned Ward Sister, she lost patients every week, people too broken to live, but they had all found a friend in Mr. Todd . Every now and again a patient came along who was just playful enough, just enough fun to really grow attached to without their becoming a nuisance, and he had been the latest in a short list over the last couple of years.

“What makes you say that, Fred?”

Gina asked with a noticeable note of concern and worry in her voice.

Freddie shook his head, clearly he did not want to give voice to reason; and yet he steeled himself and answered her;

“He’s been anuric for fourteen hours now and his oxygen sats are dropping as well, we keep having to up his mix. It’s just the end, the end we’ve all seen before. I’m sorry, Gina, I didn’t mean to sound flip about it.”

She nodded and smiled; she understood the need to be “all business” about the ones that they all became attached to.

The only thing that I can see is the single red light on my monitor. I can’t even see the microphone; it’s so dark in here. I tap the button on the desk beside me, I know where it is by touch now, and the instrumental track comes up in my cans.

My foot starts to tap silently on the thick carpet as I start to slip into the music, counting with my body not my mind, and then I begin.

The song slides out of me like smoke at first, trickling softly, quietly towards the microphone, skating across the melody like a bug on the surface of a pond. The verse builds and my voice picks up weight and power; now the vocal is starting to grab hold of the lead part, pulling its way towards the crescendo of the chorus, exploding into the refrain and then I am silent once again.

I take a deep drag on my cigarette as the music winds its way from the bottom of the chorus to the start of the next verse and so I am stepping back into the stream.

I lose all sense of time; letting the song scratch and claw its way out. Done. It’s over.

Hitchiking was always discussed as “the one thing you don’t ever do” when Hugh was growing up, and yet here he was in the passenger seat of a sweet Mercedes convertible, having scored a lift all the way back to London. The guy who had picked him up was apparently called Roger, an older guy but a good looking one, and thankfully he didn’t seem to be cruising. Of course his apparent disinterest made him seem all the more attractive, but Hugh had already decided to leave that well alone. Coming on to this guy was only a potential risk vis à vis the lift, and he needed to get back to Shepherds Bush even more than he needed a blowjob, even if it was a close call.

He fumbled around in his pockets for cigarettes, eventually finding them in the very last one that he checked, naturally. He looked over at Roger, trying to catch his eye, and then motioned with the pack;

“You mind if I smoke, man?”

Roger laughed;

“Sure, go right ahead. In fact, can I get one of those?”

Hugh lit two smokes and passed one across to his driver.

The cold water from the walls was seeping through Geris’s cloak, his torch was sputtering in the draft. When Derral had suggested that they go adventuring, Geris had not really expected cold, wet, dark passageways; never being dry. No that had not been his expectation at all. He had been looking forward to ancient temples, treasure beyond imagining, heroic deeds and perhaps the odd hapless maiden, but nothing had prepared him for reality. He shifted his weight, trying to rest his aching legs; not that it really helped. There was no part of his body that was not soaked and he was fairly sure that he would have given anything to be in a hot bath instead.

The sound of footsteps approaching up the tunnel snapped Geris out of his damp-based melancholia. He closed his hand around the hilt of his sword and raised his shield, waiting, ready for whoever was approaching.

As the approaching torchlight started to get closer, Geris tensed up, trying to steel his nerve. He had been in fights before, but that was no comfort.

Her lips did not really taste of anything, but kissing them made him feel so transported, so excited that it really didn’t matter one way or the other. She let out a soft moan as she opened her mouth and started to tentatively offer him her tongue, her fingers snaking through his hair. He reciprocated and as their tongues danced across each other and darted urgently into each other’s mouths he let himself slide away.

It could only really have been moments, but they kissed for what seemed like an age, hands traveling everywhere that did not have an overt next-level about it, their shared passion rising as if from nowhere to fill the whole room. Then, on instinct, he let his hand gently cup her breast, his thumb seeking out her nipple through the thin layer of fabric, and she let her head fall back as she pressed her hips against him, pulling his mouth onto her neck.

As he rained kisses down on her neck and the top of her chest he felt a hand slipping over his waistband and then her hand closing around his cock.

The lights came up and he felt the familiar heat bathing his face, and let the applause wash over him. He let the audience bathe him in their welcome, using the time to remember his opening, and then once he was ready he took a big breath and made an overblown ‘cut’ motion.

“So… Thanks for coming down here tonight. Yeah, thanks so much. I can’t tell you how many people you are proving wrong just by being here. Anyway, it’s good to be back in London…”

As he paused for the cheers that would always predictably come from the name-drop on the town he caught a glimpse of movement in the wings, stage right. There should not have been anyone over there and knowing that there was somone darting about on the edge of the stage really threw his rhythm. He nearly didn’t pick up the line after the cheers petered out, but just caught it;

“So a local crowd, then? Excellent!”

He paused for a moment and then unleashed it;

“So who here saw Watchmen? Yeah? A few of you, good. Let me ask you, did the blue cock bother any of you too?”

“Wipe those fuckin’ tears away yer shallow bastard! You didn’t give a fuck about her, so what are you cryin’ for, eh?”

David was wide eyed and terrifying as he screamed at Tony. The whole room fell silent and turned to watch the confrontation. David sensed he had an audience and addressed the room;

“Yeah, yer may all look, you bunch o’simperin’ arseholes! Not man one o’yer gave a shit about her and yet here you all are, sipping tea and sayin’ how she’ll be missed. Fuckin’ tea! For the love o’ all that’s Holy, where’s the damn whisky? I mean is this a wake or what?”

People shuffled their feet, nervously looking about whilst trying as hard as they might to not make any eye contact with anyone. The room was silent in response; no one dared to disagree with David, in fact they did not so it was easier to stay silent.

David relaxed a little, took a deep breath and then in a more calm and measured voice;

“G’wan, leave. Go. Yer none of you helpin’ an’ frankly yer make me sick.”

Five minutes later he and Tony were alone.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing at all. Really.”

She cocked her head on one side, frowned and then;

“That’s bullshit, and I don’t deserve that. Now come on, what’s wrong?”

Daniel sighed. He had really hoped that he had covered effectively enough, that she would not see through him and see the conflict between his happiness and his disappointment.

“You enjoyed the concert, yeah?”

She nodded, her frown turning into mild concern; suddenly she had no idea where this was going.

“Well I did too, so much in fact, but now we have to go back to reality.”

Still confused she motioned for him to continue.

“Here we are, together, seeing a band that means so much to both of us, at a time in that band’s story that is going to be very important, and I am so happy about that. I’m happy about getting to share this with you, and now it’s over and in another hour we’ll be getting off the train and heading back to our respective homes and neither of us will be able to explain to the people waiting for us why this night was so special.”