Friday, March 1, 2013

Some of the names haven’t been changed



Some of the names haven’t been changed

Nev from Buchanans told me Harry used to be an alki.  That he'd to carry the first two pints of the day over to Harry's table.  And, when he'd drunk them, Harry would finally stop shaking.  Nev really should've said "Shaking like a shitting dog."  But this was 1983 and Nev was still only sweeping the floor between shifts and no-one talked to him very much. 

So I’m standing with Harry one day, watching, out of the corner of my eye, the dealers and buyers, who always congregated by the phone box, like they were invisible, or thought  none of the locals would ever dream of ringing the cops.  As I’m spying, Harry surveyed the kids’ new playground.  Young Asians swung, hung and yelled from every piece of apparatus; a shifting rainbow of silk and sportswear. 

“Council’s built it for t‘Pakis,” said Harry, nodding helpfully in their direction.  

Martin C

No comments:

Post a Comment