Irvine Welsh - Skagboys

— Awight, but it’s your fuckin sentence, Begbie snorts but thankfully seems tae agree, n they git back tae loadin up the vans.

Eftir a bit, me, Tam n this Carmelita lassie, wearin jeans, trainers, a jumper n a big black coat, step oot intae the evening. It’s dark under the orange street lamps n it’s goat tons caulder. We’re walkin slowly up tae the main road, whaire Tam flags doon a cab.

— Hurt ma airm … eh, arm, ah explains tae the Carmelita burd.

— Ye awright? Tommy asks her.

Carmelita nods aw sortay ashamed, letting her hair faw ower her face, as Tommy opens the cab door. Me n her gits in. — You two be okay? Tam asks.

— Aye, sound, Tommy.

So it’s me n Carmelita sittin up in the A&E. It’s fill ay the usual bams, maistly catnipped-up felines whae’ve hit the food bowl at the same time, hud a wee spat n clawed each other crazy. — Ye must miss bein hame, in Spain likesay, ah sais tae her. — Be barry in Spain.

— Yes. This winter was so cold, much colder than Seville.

The lassie’s quite sound; aye, it’s sad tae think ay a young burd tryin tae dae that tae herself. It just goes tae show that naebody really kens what’s gaun oan in somebody else’s heid. It’s pure answers oan a postcaird time, ken? — Dae ye no like workin here?

She’s lookin straight ahead, then she turns tae us. — My mother is ill back home, my boyfriend … he is killed in a motorcycle accident. The family here do not treat me in a good way. I got so drunk and I feel so very, very down … thankfully you and your friends were sent by God to find me.

— Eh, aye, right, ah goes. It wis mair like wi wir sent by Begbie oan the chorrie, or, in the case ay Rents n Sick Boy, sent by skag tae find her. Ah suppose the gaffer in the sky works in mysterious weys but, n we could’ve likesay pure been His agents. Him as that Bernard Lee gadge n us as Bond n Carmelita as the exotic foreign spy that pure gits saved. Sent by skag tae save her . The way this airm’s nippin, ah widnae mind a wee shot ay the Salisbury right now, ken?

Whoa, man, a wide-eyed honey ay a nurse wi blonde hair pinned back n a sexy fringe comes ower tae us. There’s a kitten ah widnae mind sharing a basket wi. — Carmelita Montez?

Carmelita looks at us wi big tearful eyes, n goes tae shake hands. Ah awkwardly take her hand in ma good yin. — Thank you, Dahnee … she sobs, as the ultra-fit nurse leads her away tae a treatment room.

Nice lassie, n she isnae gaunny grass us up, ah jist ken that. Ah ken it’s wrong tae hud oot oan the boys wi the coos and bulls, but they’ve plenty other loot tae divvy, ken? Thing is, ah’m jist wantin sorted oot up here cause ah’m feelin bad, bad, bad, man. Ken? Ye sortay wonder if the cats’ll gie ye morphine fir a burst airm. If no, ah’m pure hightailin it doon tae Johnny Swan’s, wi aw these rings, neckies n bracelets in ma poakit.

ALEXANDER IS BARRY in bed. Makes love like he wants you tae enjoy it, no like he’s just there tae dae his business, like some laddies I could mention. It freaks us but, when he starts telling me that I’m beautiful, n that he wants tae see more ay me. He’s my boss, we see each other every day, I tell him. Not what I mean, he goes.

Beautiful. What Dad often said: when I first saw your mother at the Alhambra, not the pub, the dance hall, he’d always add, I’d never seen anything so beautiful .

I ken I’m no bad and I can make masel look dead smart, but when a guy tells you that you’re beautiful, what’s aw that aboot? Freaks ye oot, n that’s pittin it mildly.

I want to explain tae him that it’s a nice diversion, but that’s all it is. Trouble is, he is my boss. I swear tae God, I excel in making things difficult for masel. He steyed round at mine the other weekend. It wisnae a good idea. He’d left this bag in the bathroom, wi his shaving gear in it; a razor, stick and brush. I keep meaning tae bring it in for him, but somehow I cannae. Dunno why. Maybe cause it would be tacky taking it intae the office. It’s no cause ay him, anyway! Aye, he’s just a diversion.

Anyway, after this evening’s session, I head up the Hoochie to meet Hamish. He’s mad intae poetry and he likes ma stuff. I ken it sounds wanky, but we meet up, drink coffee, get a bit stoned and read each other’s shit. Hamish and I never fuck; I don’t know if he’s queer, shy with lassies or just sees me as a mate, cause he’s a strange guy, hard tae read, but I like him. ‘I hate it when friends fight and I hate it when friends fuck,’ he once said, though it was like a sort ay rehearsed speech. I used tae ask him if he was gay, but he maintained he wisnae interested in sex wi other men. He’s no really ma type but I’d probably bonk him; he has a certain charisma, and that goes a long way. A couple ay years back, him and me went tae Reading for the festival, then oantae Paris for a few days. It was weird tae sleep in a bed wi a guy withoot shagging him, even though I once woke up with his hand on my tit.

That makes me think of my mother, sitting at home, titless, both breasts removed by the surgeon’s scalpel. Androgynous and skeletal; I swear tae God she looks like Bowie on the cover ay David Live . I should be spending time wi her but I can hardly look at her. Now I know that I’ll do anything: cock, drugs, poems, films, or just work, tae avoid thinking about her.

Back to Paris back to Paris back to Paris …

… I met a French guy at a disco, whae I got aw horny wi, which seemed tae upset Hamish, but no enough to make him try and ride me. He’s a skinny wee bitch of a laddie (as Simon once described him), with his small girly eyes, which tear up when he reads his poetry, and he goes a sortay pinky orgasmy colour. The sort of guy who’d be sought-after in prison, n that’s pittin it mildly.

I got dead pissed off when Mark Renton and Keith Yule joined Hamish’s band, because they started hanging about the Hoochie and I suppose I’d kind ay looked on that as my scene, and didnae want loads ay Leith keelies mucking about there, lowering the tone. (Cept Simon, that is!) People fae Leith look doon oan every other part ay Edinburgh; they think that if you arenae born a Leither, then you’re nowt. I might have been brought up in Leith, but I was actually born in Marchmont, which makes me total Edinburgh. Another thing is I sortay went oot wi Mark’s brother Billy, for a bit, though I was still at school then. But I swear tae God I never let him shag me though everybody thinks I did, or assumes I did. But that’s Leith and laddies, and, I suppose, lassies tae, for ye.

Any roads, I get up the Hoochie, that wee space above Clouds where ye always hear the best sounds, and meet interesting people, and the first faces I see are Mark (boo!), shuffling around in that crafty way of his, then Simon (yum!), hair swept back, but who’s at the bar talking tae that Esther bitch, an arrogant cow who thinks she shites roses.

Please don’t be fucking her please don’t be fucking her …

I swear tae God I never get that jealous ay who Simon shags, cause we go our ain weys and dinnae make demands on each other, even though I’ve always sortay fancied him fae way back at Leithy. Well, maybe sometimes, cause there’s some hoors ye jist cannae fuckin well stick and that Esther falls intae that category. I see that Hamish’s wi Mark, they’re gaun up tae two lassies I vaguely ken. Ah think one ay them’s this bird that was meant tae have gied Colin Dugan a gam, but ah could be mistaken. Whatever, the poor cows’ve nae chance ay getting a length in that company!

As I move ower tae them, I kin hear Hamish seamlessly fib, — Wendy, Lynsey, meet my very good friend, Mark. A highly talented bassist.