A silence. Someone asks Maja her opinion on trains. She tells him to go fuck himself.
My arm still around Carole, the bar still hiving with drunkards and prophets and closet homosexuals terrified to admit they don't wanna give Kelly Brook a single one.
I'm thinkin; the arm's there. S'been there for an hour. If ever a man had licence to kiss, chances are it bore striking resemblance to the sheen o' this moment here. And yet, oh and yet. An arm round a lassie, what does it mean, anyroad, in this day and age, with the broadband web-net and 24 hour news and erect willies on British telly? What if it means nothing, what if I go to kiss her and she says no? And here, no less, here in this ale-house all loaded wi' weeknight revelers drowning the clanging o' alarm bells set to bid them t'wards factory floors in the morning. Bad enough, rejection in the darkened corners o' chapels with no-one but the Blessed Mother to hear. Rejection midst a shower o' drunks, dare say it'd be enough to burn the pores from out the face.
Sometimes she looks at me with the kinda look says "So when, then?"
Other times she looks at me with the kinda look says "That was a fuckin awful joke, just now" and so I retreat a wee bit further back the brains.
By the time the bar's stopped serving I get to thinking 'bout how I fucked it up. There was digging goin' on, fella way back when said so, "She most likely digs you back", he'd insinuated. And Carole, she'd said as much, albeit via the txt, way over there on the other side o' that connection, over there where how I am is however she thinks I was last time we met, and probably not how I am now, here, in this tavern all Gene Vincent swagger and Robert Johnson howl.
Outside, on the street, after the bouncers've asked us to leave since come the fuck on, they have homes to go to and beds to throw up in, outside with the ocean tossing crystal spray to the breeze, outside with the church at the far end of the promenade all alive wi' the neon lights from the night-club 'cross the road, I ask Carole if'n she wants to go a dander someplace. I need to find a bank, I say.
She says "Yeah, sure." What her eyes say is "I know what you're up to. And it's alright, I think."
Article comments
1 - Mat Brewster
Welcome back, Duke.
2 - Mark Saleski
i just KNEW there was a good reason ta get out of bed this morning!
3 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
good to be back, fellas. thank you. my, this is hella much longer than it looked in microsoft word...
4 - Aaron Fleming
Hurrah! What a tale!
And I must recount that simultaneously to the Duke's magical moment I was standing in a chinese take-out with an Icelandic gentleman placed in front of me at an extremely close proximity. "Fucking move!" I yelled in my head, but it was futile. Alas...
5 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
hah, sir fleming, thank you, and i see potential for a Rashomon style version. "what happened was this..." "no, what happened was THIS!"
what was that telly show with Donnie Whalberg that did that, also? the cop number?
6 - Eric Berlin
Anthony Burgess meets James Joyce meets some other literary figure I know not of fuck flung and mind scrambled to 2006 like warped tounge bizarro-genius made real.
Or: I approve !
7 - DJRadiohead
Duke, you are the straw that stirs this place. In other words, we've missed having you around.
Great stuff, as always.
8 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Sirs Berlin and Dj, thank you. it feels hella good to have the scribblin goin on again, i was worried for a week or two, no doubt about that. now i got all sortsa crap fallin out the fingers. funny how these things work out.
9 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
and also, i must thank whoever spotlighted this wee tale. that was highly lovely and all sortsa gorgeous to wake up to.
10 - DJRadiohead
Fits and starts- I have the same thing. Weeks go by and I can't write shite and then I'll pen 4 things and do a podcast in the span of two days.
11 - steven
enjoyed the read. a way of words you have sir, What happens next? will enjoy hearin further mind waxes from you xxooxx
12 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
thank you, Steven. this particular tale ends here. a lovely friendship blossoms. our friends wander off t'wards ever more extravagant colours and shapes. and foo fighters records.
a new mind wax is in the writing, and should surface in the shortly-times, i would hope.
thanks again.
13 - Carole
this Carole chick sounds amazing with the purple whispers and all. What a lovely mind wax dear duke!