Читать книгу Watching - Jeff Edwards - Страница 14

As Jade had asked Robert out, she insisted that they dine at a restaurant of Jade’s own choosing. Robert laughed, and agreed, so they ate at the Italian family restaurant that Walter had first taken her to. Robert was impressed with the reception afforded Jade by the staff.

‘You certainly know how to get the best of service.’

‘Rani is too busy studying, and I’m a terrible cook, so we either eat out a lot, or starve. This place is close to home, and I like to eat here. They look after their regular customers.’

Over dinner, they made a great deal of small talk, getting to know one another, and realising that they had a great deal in common.

Jade told him all about her job, and how she had discovered the vase that she had purchased.

‘You mean to tell me that you actually work for Haskins and Green? Didn’t Doug Green recognise you?’

‘I’ve never actually met him. He doesn’t come down to the warehouse, and I’d never been to the sale room before.’

‘What do you suppose will happen when he finds out?’

Jade smiled. ‘I shudder to think. He’ll probably throw me out.’

‘It won’t worry you?’

‘I’ve learned a lot there, and I’d love to stay, but you can’t undo what’s already happened.’

‘So you’re not worried that you may soon be without a job?’

‘I was only with them to get experience. Now, I’ll be able to use that experience to get work elsewhere.’

Their meals arrived, and both set about devouring the simple Italian dishes placed before them.

During their talk, Robert had spoken freely about his early life, but remained silent about what his military duties entailed. He did impress her, however, when the waiter came to clear away their dishes, and Robert thanked the staff, in perfect Italian, for their excellent meal.

It impressed the waiter as well. The two men immediately began a long conversation, involving much hand gesturing, and laughing. Finally, with a further cheery wave, the waiter made off with their dishes.

‘I’m surprised,’ said Jade. ‘You talk like you were born a Roman.’

‘I’ve spent a lot of time on the continent. Travelling around. You get to pick up a few words.’

‘That wasn’t a few words. That was talking like you lived there.’

‘Well I may have spent more than a little time there.’

‘Do you speak any other languages?’

‘A few.’

‘How many?’ persisted Jade.

‘Some.’

‘How many?’

‘That’s for me to know and for you to find out.’

‘Does this have anything to do with your work?’

‘No,’ he answered far too quickly.

Jade regarded Robert across the table. There appeared to be some things that he was not prepared to share with her. She decided to let the matter rest, for the present.

She decided to take a different tack. ‘What sort of music do you like?’

‘Almost anything. As long as it’s played well.’

‘Do you like jazz?’

‘I’ve heard some wonderful jazz, on the continent.’

‘Where, on the continent?’

Robert laughed. He was not about to be caught unawares. ‘That’s for me to know–‘

‘And for me to find out,’ Jade completed. ‘Have you ever been to the Golden Stag?’

‘I’ve heard of it.’

‘Would you like to go?’

‘Well, I’m certainly willing to spend a little more time with you.’

‘Wonderful, I’ll pay the bill, while you go and find us a taxi.’

The taxi dropped them in front of the Golden Stag, and the sound of the jazz combo wafted out to them as Robert paid the driver.

He had insisted, and Jade had graciously allowed him to do so. After all, she didn’t want to hurt his pride.

Several of the girls were lounging in their usual places, looking for clients, and trying to look alluring.

‘Good looking fella, Jade. Congratulations,’ called Colleen.

Robert blushed red, and Jade laughed.

‘You certainly know a lot of ‘interesting’ people,’ said Robert.

‘The Golden Stag attracts all sorts of interesting people,’ agreed Jade.

They were about to enter, when one of the girls detached herself from a group nearby. ‘Jade!’ she called. ‘Here’s the money. I haven’t got it all, but here’s half.’

‘Are you sure you don’t want to wait until you have it all?’

‘No. Best you take what I have; otherwise I’ll never be able to pay it all back.’

‘Are you sure it won’t leave you short? I’m not in a hurry to get it back.’

‘No. Take it,’ said the girl, thrusting the crumpled notes at Jade.

Jade took the money. ‘Alright, but if you need to, come back for it.’

‘Thanks, Jade.’

Jade and Robert made their way inside.

The room was packed even at this early hour. Word was getting around, and the dockside workers, and pimps, now brushed shoulders with more and more of the jazz lovers. A couple of the prostitutes waved to Jade, who made room for them both at their table.

‘We only came in to warm up. We have to get back to work, so you can have our table.’

‘Thanks, Trudy,’ said Jade.

Robert went to the bar, returning with two beers.

‘They don’t seem to have much in the way of drinks here.’

Jade explained, ‘The girls drink gin, and the pimps drink beer and whiskey, but, if you don’t want to lose your eyesight, you’d best stick to the beer. I don’t know where they get their drinks from, but they’re lethal unless you were brought up on them.’

Robert sipped his beer, and nodded. ‘Not too bad.’

Jade decided to try again. ‘As good as in ... Germany?’

Robert smiled. ‘That’s for me to know.’

Jade surrendered. ‘Alright. I give up.’

Trudy leaned over to Jade. ‘Can I see you later?’

‘How much?’ asked Jade.

‘Just a couple of quid.’

‘Here,’ said Jade, as she handed over some of the crumpled notes that the girl outside had given her.

‘Ta. I’ll pay you back straight away.’

Robert was enthralled. ‘Just who am I sitting with?’

‘Whatever do you mean?’ smiled Jade.

‘You seem to have some strange dealings.’

‘At least my dealings aren’t secret,’ Jade responded, with a laugh. ‘Rani and I have been coming here for a long time. The patrons have found out that Rani is a doctor, and now they come to her with all their ailments. They even bring their family down here for Rani to check on. I’m thinking of helping her to set up in a shop near here. She should have a proper surgery. They’ll be queuing out the door to see her.

‘I, on the other hand, seem to have become the girls’ combined confessor, and banker. They come to me with their troubles, because their pimps don’t want to know, whereas, I listen, and I try to help them.’

‘With money.’

‘Not just money. It’s advice a lot of the time, but money is a big problem for them.’

‘How so?’

‘Their pimps take most of it, and the little that is left, just doesn’t go around. They work for three weeks out of four, but it’s the fourth week that does the damage. They still have the same expenses, like rent, but no income, and their pimps certainly don’t help. They will lend them a little to tide them over, but the pimps make sure they get it back with interest. It’s one of the reasons the girls are unable to get out of the business.’

‘Why don’t the girls put money aside to cover themselves for the week they can’t work?’

‘If their pimps find out they have any cash to spare, they accuse the girl of holding out on them. They take the money, usually at the point of a knife.’

‘It doesn’t sound like much of a life. Don’t they want to get out of it?’

‘I’ve found out that life down here is not as simple as that. I’ll introduce you to some of the girls if you like, and they can tell you their life story. For most of them, the alternative will be marriage to a drunken husband, who earns little or nothing, and then give birth to another snotty-nosed child, each year for the next ten years, or, until their husbands can’t stand the sight of them anymore. At which time the husbands come down here to use the girls outside.’

‘So you help by lending them money.’

‘It goes a small way to help break the cycle. To help the girls get ahead.’

‘Do they?’

‘No. Not really. But at least I’m trying. What I’d like to do is have them give me some of their money from their working weeks. I’d put it aside for them, and give it back on their ‘off’ week.’

‘Would they be prepared to trust you with their money?’

‘Possibly not, but it seems like the most logical solution to their problems.’

Robert slowly acclimatised himself to the pub, and began to unwind, allowing the wonderful jazz music to lift his spirits. He could see how Jade found the place so attractive.

The very ugliness of the pub, together with the diversity of its clientele seemed to add an extra layer of meaning to the sublime chords of the music, with its own rawness, just like the drink sold here. Robert decided that this could certainly be a place where he could spend a lot more of his free time.

As Jade made her way toward the toilet, she was joined by Colleen, and Trudy.

Trudy took Jade by the arm. ‘I heard you talking to your boyfriend. Did you really mean what you said?’

‘What part?’

‘When you said you would hold onto our money for us.’

Jade looked at the two girls. Their faces were serious, as though they were desperate for Jade’s assistance.

‘Of course. If you want me to.’

‘How would it work?’ asked Trudy.

Jade hadn’t really thought it through. It had been a quiet conversation, between herself and Robert, with her simply making small talk. It was an idea she had had, but she had never considered developing a clear plan. However, the girls expected some sort of an aim, so, Jade recollected her accountancy training.

‘Well, I suppose that what I’d do, would be to make a ledger with the names of the girls who wanted to contribute in it. Whenever they made a contribution, I would record the sum against their name, and, when they needed the money, they could come to me and take out whatever they needed, up to the amount that they had put into their account.’

‘What if they didn’t need to use it all?’ asked Colleen.

‘Then it would be added on to the amount they have available. They could use it the next time.’

Colleen and Trudy nodded. They could see that Jade was making sense. ‘So you would carry all the money around with you,’ said Lucy. ‘Won’t that be dangerous for you?’

‘Well, actually, I wouldn’t need to carry all that much at all. You see, each girl will only need money one week in the month. So the maximum I’d need to carry would be a quarter of the money given to me, and I could probably use the money that is given to me from the other girls for that. I’d say most of the money could be invested, and you’d be able to earn interest on it, and the interest would be placed against your name in the ledger.’

Trudy and Colleen looked at one another, nodding in agreement. ‘We’ll talk it over with the other girls,’ said Trudy.

‘How soon could you start it?’ asked Colleen.

‘As soon as you want to.’

‘Thanks love,’ said Trudy as they made their way out.

Two days later, the massive bedroom suite was delivered to Jade’s home. Rani and Jade were both at work, and it was left to Lucy Rafter to let the men from the auction house in.

Carefully, they stacked the parts wherever they would fit. The longest lengths were placed along the wall of the hallway, with the shorter pieces on the floor of their small drawing room. The hangings and mattress were wrapped tightly, in a tarpaulin, and formed a large mound that had to be forced through the front door. The bundle then had to be dragged past the piles of wood stacked in the hall, to be placed in the only free space available — on top of the kitchen table. There, it hung over both ends, and left barely enough room for a person to get to the sink and stove.

Rani was the first to arrive home, and nearly had a heart attack when she saw the piles of finely carved timber distributed throughout the house. Squeezing her way past the wood in the hallway, she made it to the sanctuary of her bedroom, where she was determined to wait until Jade came home so that she could give her housemate a piece of her mind.

When Jade did finally arrive home, she was just as surprised as Rani.

‘My goodness!’ she exclaimed. ‘It didn’t look anywhere nearly as big as this when I saw it in the warehouse.’

‘Of course it wouldn’t you idiot!’ exclaimed Rani, ‘a warehouse is enormous, while our house is only tiny. How are you going to possibly fit it into your bedroom?’

‘I don’t know. Perhaps I should measure it. Do you have something to measure it with?’

‘Don’t look at me,’ said Rani, ‘The only thing I’ve got to measure with is a twelve inch ruler.’

‘Perhaps Samson has something next-door.’

Jade went next-door, and returned, with a bemused Samson in tow.

‘Lucy told me how much wood was delivered,’ smiled Samson as he surveyed the contents of the hallway.

‘What do you think?’ asked Rani.

‘I’ll soon let you know,’ he said, as he took a roll of string from his pocket.

Placing one end on the edge of one of the boards, he unrolled the string, tying a knot at the point that corresponded with the furthest edge.

Samson whistled. ‘This looks like the base of the bed is about fifteen feet square. I believe my entire family would be able to sleep in it.’

‘Well, there’ll be just me.’

‘Alright then, let’s look where it has to go.’

Jade showed Samson her bedroom, and he ran the string over the walls.

‘Well, there is enough room for the bed, but I’m worried about the height of the canopy. I hope the ceiling is high enough to take it. I’d hate to cut such a beautiful bed down, to make it fit in.’

‘I wouldn’t want to do that either,’ said Jade, ‘I’d rather knock the ceiling out.’

‘It may come down to that,’ nodded Samson. ‘When did you intend to put it together?’

‘Robert said he’d come by on Saturday to help me do it.’

‘I think you’d better leave it all to him, and I’ll come and give him a hand. I’m dying to see what this looks like when it’s all put together.’

Samson returned early on Saturday morning, just as Jade was finishing breakfast, which she had to eat while standing at the kitchen sink, as there was no room at the table.

Together they cleaned out Jade’s bedroom, removing the furniture, placing it on the footpath outside.

‘What are you going to do with these pieces?’ asked Samson.

‘I’ll just leave them. They’ll disappear soon enough.’

‘They certainly will,’ agreed Samson, as he knocked on his own front door.

Lucy looked out, and Samson indicated the furniture, ‘Get the kids to help you take it inside.’

‘Come on, kids. We have work to do,’ called Lucy.

Five minutes later, when Robert arrived, the footpath was clear again.

When Jade led Robert inside, he was astounded at the amount of work he had volunteered for. ‘I think I can hear the army calling to me. I have to report back to camp.’

‘You’re not getting out of it that easily,’ said Jade, grabbing him by the arm. ‘Let’s get to work.’

On closer inspection, it was found that the carpenter, who created the bed, had rightly envisioned the problems of moving the furniture from place to place. Each part was created with joints that connected with each other piece, and it took no time at all to fit the bed together.

Jade was staggered at its size. It took up most of the floor space in the bedroom, and soared to within a bare inch of the ceiling, and, with its mattress and hangings in place, was an absolute wonder.

Robert and Samson then set together to erect the dressing table, which they just managed to fit on the wall opposite the bed. However, that was as far as they could go. There was barely room to move between the two pieces of furniture and definitely no room for the wardrobe.

‘Well what do we do now?’ asked Jade. ‘I’ve still got the wardrobe to go somewhere.’

They stood in the doorway of the bedroom, looking around, ‘Well it’s certainly not going to fit in here. There isn’t enough room to even nail it to the ceiling.’

‘Well I have to put my clothes somewhere, and my old wardrobe has gone.’

Robert looked around, ‘Well I suppose it will have to go in the hall. It’s the only place left.’

‘Will it fit?’ asked Jade.

‘There’s only one way to find out,’ said Samson. ‘Let’s build it.’

When the wardrobe was finished, it took up half the width of the hallway. If the doors were opened, the hallway was impassable, but that was a problem that Jade was prepared to live with, as was the inconvenience of having to stand in the hall while selecting what clothes to wear. ‘It’ll do until I can buy a palace.’

Perhaps not the best situation, but Jade was extremely pleased with her two-pound purchase.

That evening, Robert, Jade and Rani returned for another evening of jazz at the Golden Stag. As they were sipping their beers, and enjoying the music, the barman approached them.

‘Some of the girls have been looking for you, Jade. They were afraid that they might miss you, so they left these with me, to pass on to you,’ he said, as he handed her several envelopes.

Each envelope had a girl’s name on the front, and contained a small sum of money.

‘Is this sort of thing going to become a regular thing?’ asked the barman.

Jade looked at the envelopes. ‘Yes. I think it might.’

‘Then I better make sure I make room for them, in my safe. I don’t want those pimps sneaking behind the bar and walking off with all the girls’ hard-earned money.’

‘I’ll make it worth your while.’

‘No need. It’ll be good for business. They come in here, and they’ll spend their money in here.’

‘Thanks. I know the girls will appreciate it.’