The Butterfly Box (32 page)

Chapter 22

‘Look at the camera, sweetheart. There, you’re gorgeous. Gorgeous. That’s right, a bit more chest, too much, too much. That’s better, now eyes to camera. Simmer, sweetheart, simmer. Good.’ Julian clicked the camera in a series of staccato snaps at the laminated young woman who reclined on the divan like a glossy jungle cat. Her eyes were green and swept upwards with heavy lids that fanned her face with long, black lashes. She was beautiful, confident and alluring. So much, so young. She was only eighteen.

Julian had met Lucia Sarafina in a London club and listened to her dreams of becoming a famous singer. ‘I have the looks and the body, it’s just a question of training the voice,’ she had said coolly in a thick Italian accent. Julian, who appreciated the aesthetics of a good-looking woman, had invited her to the cottage he shared with Toby to take her publicity shots. She had agreed immediately, seizing the chance to make use of yet another bedazzled man, seduced by her beauty. She watched him with the steadiness of a preying panther, wearing only a pair of faded denims and sandals, his body firm and tanned. She was sure he was ripe to be converted to the world of the heterosexual.

It was a humid day. A froth of purple clouds advanced slowly in over the horizon promising an afternoon of thunder and rain. But while the light remained in such a tenuous limbo, suspended between sunshine and thunder, Julian hurried to photograph her before it was lost in the impending storm.

Lucia wore a simple white dress that dropped low over the cleavage of her breasts and rose high on the leg to expose her brazen thighs. With every pose she arranged herself to her best advantage and gazed into the camera with the self-confidence of a professional model.

‘You can relax now, I’m going to change the film, then perhaps we can take you under the blossom tree or something,’ he said, turning around to get a new film out of his bag. ‘Do you want a drink?’ he asked, ripping open the silver paper that wrapped the film.

‘I don’t think I can go anywhere dressed like this,’ she said and laughed smoothly.

‘Why not?’ he asked, turning to face her. She smiled at him and raised her eyebrows suggestively, tossing her dress onto the grass with a sly grin.

‘What if your boyfriend comes back, I might give him a fright?’ she said, running a hand down her naked body. Julian was surprised but not shocked. He

had been in the business for long enough to have experienced almost every kind of come-on. In fact, he was tired of fighting them off. Beautiful women found it hard to believe that he didn’t desire them in spite of his open homosexuality. They were all sure they could convert him and deeply offended when they discovered that they couldn’t. Julian clicked the film into the camera and wound it on as if he hadn’t noticed her.

‘Right then, sweetheart,’ he said in a brisk tone. ‘Let’s have you somewhere else, that divan’s getting tedious.’ He cast his eye about the garden. ‘A chair under that blossom tree. You’ll look like a forest nymph, very alluring,’ he said, disappearing into the house. Lucia sighed heavily but not in surrender. She was very sure of her charms.

Julian placed the chair under the pink and white blossom and moved his tripod and camera into position. Lucia glided over naked and turned the chair around so that the back was facing the camera, then she silkily placed herself astride it, resting her head on her folded arms, staring unblinking at Julian.

‘Now, sweetheart, I really don’t think this is a good idea. You’re a singer not a porn star,’ he said, focusing.

‘This one’s for you,’ she said and smiled graciously, expecting him to be

grateful.

He wasn’t. ‘I’m afraid it’ll go into a file and be forgotten. What did you say your boyfriend was called? Let’s do it for him,’ said Julian, changing to Polaroid.

‘He’s called Torquil.’

‘Well, this one’s for Torquil,’ he said, replacing the Polaroid with film.

‘He’ll be very amused,’ she said, sitting up straight and smirking at him. ‘We can give him the Polaroid as a present when he comes to pick me up later.’

‘If that’s what you want,’ he replied, tearing open the Polaroid and taking a look at the image. ‘Very nice, Lucia.
Playboy
would kill for it. Perhaps you should think of changing your career path - it’s less effort and you seem to be a natural.’

‘Oh, I couldn’t pose like this for just anyone,’ she said thickly, looking up at him with doe eyes.

‘You could have fooled me,’ he replied, clicking again. ‘Now sultry, I don't want you smiling. Smoulder, look alluring, cross even. That’s better. There, head up a bit, yes, higher, now a little to one side, less, there, eyes to camera, flash them at me. Good.’ And he clicked a whole roll.

‘Now, how about you put your clothes back on and we do some more publicity shots,’ he said, changing the roll.

‘I’m bored of posing and anyhow, I like to be naked. Don’t you?’

‘Sometimes, but not when I’m working.’

‘I’m not working now, I’m playing.’

‘Well, let’s have some tea then.’ He began to pack up his equipment. He looked up at the sky and noticed the storm was almost upon them. ‘We definitely got the best of the day,’ he said, folding up his tripod.

‘Oh no, the best of the day is still to come,’ she said, getting up from the chair and walking towards him.

Julian sighed wearily. ‘Actually, Lucia, it really isn’t.’

‘Yes, it is,’ she said firmly, stopping in front of him and running a long nail down between his pectoral muscles. ‘You look after yourself, don’t you?’

Julian grabbed her hand with his and removed it from his body. ‘Lucia, I’m gay. I like boys and you’re a girl. It’s very simple,’ he said seriously.

‘Come on. Don’t tell me you don’t think about it occasionally?’ she said and pouted.

Julian was repelled. ‘Not at all,’ he replied.

She then placed a hand on the front of his trousers. ‘I can feel you desire me.’

Then you have less experience than I thought, because I’m far from aroused,’ he said brutally.

At least she had the decency to blush. ‘You’re afraid Torquil might turn up. I can assure you he won’t. It’s too early. I said I’d be here all afternoon.’

‘Let’s go in and have some tea,’ he suggested again, moving past her.

Suddenly the clouds were upon them and a clap of thunder sent a shuddering vibration across the earth, drenching them both in the rainfall that ensued. Giggling, Lucia ran for cover into the house, followed closely by Julian. Once inside the dark interior she fell upon him, kissing him and undoing his trousers.

‘Excuse me, I hope I’m not interrupting anything,’ said Toby, standing stiffly in the doorway. He had watched them run in out of the rain and although his stomach lurched, he knew Julian fended off over-enthusiastic girls all the time, it was part of the job.

Lucia pulled herself away and wiped her wet face with the back of her hand. ‘You must be Toby,’ she said. ‘Are you convertible too? We could have a

threesome.’

‘Sorry, no takers,’ said Toby coolly, ‘but I’ll put the kettle on so you don’t catch a chill.’

‘I don’t have anything to wear. My dress will be soaked,’ she said, leaning back against the wall and grinning at Julian. ‘Saved by the rain, cameraman.’ She giggled.

‘I’ll lend you a shirt,’ he said with a sigh. ‘Toby, I’ll have a coffee, a strong one please. Come on, Lucia.’

While Julian was upstairs with Lucia, Toby stood by the kettle and tried to suppress the jealousy that sunk into his belly, dragging with it the good mood with which he had arrived. He stared at his reflection in the silver surface of the kettle but as much as he despised the expression on his face there was very little he could do to remove it.

Just then the front door opened and in ran Federica, short of breath from cycling and carrying in her arms a fluffy white puppy. ‘My God!’ he exclaimed. ‘Whose is that?'

‘It’s mine, Uncle Toby,’ she cried, placing him carefully on the kitchen tiles.

‘He’s adorable.’

‘Isn’t he?’

‘What’s he called?’

‘Rasta,’ she said. ‘Because I knew a Rasta in Chile. Look, it even says his name on his collar.’

Toby bent down and stroked his soft fur. ‘Cuddly little thing,’ he mused. ‘I suppose you’re going to let it sleep in your bed with you.’

‘If Mama lets me.’

‘That’s a difficult one,’ he said, knowing how strict Helena could be.

‘No it isn’t. She wants me to like her boring boyfriend and he gave me the dog. So I suspect she’ll let me do anything I want.’

‘Ah.’ Toby nodded, standing up. ‘Arthur.’

‘Do you like him?’

‘Of course I do,’ he replied diplomatically.

‘Do you think they should marry?’ she asked.

‘Do you know something I don’t?’

‘No. Just, what if?’

‘Well, I don’t think Helena is ready to marry again,’ he replied, taking a few mugs down from the cupboard and pouring the boiled water into the teapot.

‘I think she is. They’re always together holding hands and kissing. I think he's ugly. Papa is so handsome.’

‘Beauty isn’t everything, Fede. He’s a kind, gentle person and he wants to look after your mother. I think that’s much more important than beauty.’

‘I don’t like him,’ she said, sitting on floor and pulling the puppy into her lap.

‘That’s only natural. If he wasn’t in love with your mother you’d probably like him very much.’

‘I don’t want to leave Polperro,’ she said seriously.

‘Why on earth would you ever leave Polperro?’

‘Because if Mama marries him I’ll have to go and live in town with them.’

‘Oh. Well, that’s another “what if”.’

‘But I won’t go,’ she insisted.

‘You can live with us instead. I’m never going to leave Polperro,’ he said casually, without hearing the turning cogs of her mind or noticing the seed that he had sown there.

‘Do you mean that?’ she asked in amazement.

‘Do I mean what?’ he said, spooning out the tea bags from the pot.

That I can live with you if Mama marries Arthur?’

‘Oh that. Yes, darling, you can live with me and Julian. Most certainly.’

When Lucia returned to the kitchen dressed only in a large shirt of Julian’s she barely noticed the pale child with luminous skin and long white hair sitting on the floor playing with a puppy. Julian introduced them but Lucia wasn’t interested in children and didn’t like dogs because they were too hairy and smelt. So she forced a brief smile as she stepped over them on her way to the mug of steaming tea Toby had made for her. She leant against the railing of the Aga to keep warm and sipped her tea.

‘Where’s that Polaroid, Jules, I want to show Toby,’ she giggled, crossing her naked legs to keep warm.

‘I don’t know where I put it,’ said Julian weakly.

‘Yes you do. Go on, don’t be a spoilsport. I look my best.’

‘Beauty’s in the eye of the beholder, Lucia, and I’ve seen you look better,’ he replied, digging about in his bag. Finally he pulled out the photograph and handed it to her. She looked at it and smiled proudly.

‘Torquil’s going to love this. Can you blow one up for me, really big? Then

I’ll give it to him for his birthday,’ she said, showing it to Toby.

Toby smiled to hide his disgust. ‘I’m afraid the only pussy I’m interested in is the four-legged variety,’ he said cuttingly.

Lucia swallowed her tea to hide her indignation then offered to show the shy little girl who sat quietly on the floor in order ‘to teach her a few things’.

Federica blinked up at her uncle in confusion but neither Julian nor Toby thought Lucia’s joke very funny and wished her boyfriend would hurry up and come and collect her.

When Torquil finally arrived, the engine of his Porsche sending the nesting pigeons and swallows into the air in panic, he strode confidently into the house without knocking. ‘Ah, there you are, Lucia,’ he said when he found them in the kitchen. He ignored Julian and Toby, passing them over with a superior grimace and looked his girlfriend up and down suspiciously. ‘Where are your clothes?’ he asked. She handed him the photograph and watched as his cheeks drained into his neck, turning it red with fury.

‘What the hell is this all about? I thought you were doing publicity shots, not porn,’ he snapped, pushing his dark hair off his beautiful face.

‘This one was a special one for you,’ she said, kissing him.

‘If the photographer wasn’t gay I’d kill you,’ he said without smiling.

‘Oh, he’s gay. Quite gay,’ she said. ‘Aren’t you, Julian?’

Julian recoiled. He wanted them both out of his house at once. ‘I’ll send you the shots once I’ve developed them. It’ll take a few days,’ he said, ignoring her. Ignoring both of them. They were two of the most self-satisfied people he had ever met.

‘Right then, let’s not hang around. We’ve got to be in London by seven for the premiere of Crazy
Hearts
, and you, sweetness, take hours to get ready.’

‘That very much depends on what she wears, I should imagine,’ Toby said, grinning at Julian.

‘Come on,’ Torquil repeated, deliberately overlooking Toby and ushering Lucia out of the kitchen.

Federica watched them go. He had been quite handsome, she thought, and wondered why men like him fell in love with nasty girls like Lucia. She hadn’t even bothered to pat Rasta.

‘I’ll give you back your shirt sometime, I won’t forget,’ Lucia called from the hall.

‘Don’t bother,’ Julian shouted, relieved that they were leaving. ‘You can keep

Once again the motor sent every bird and animal hurrying for cover. When it had gone the silence was almost audible. Julian and Toby sighed heavily. Thank God they’re gone.' said Julian, putting his arms around Toby and hugging him. ‘That’s not what it looked like,’ he added apologetically.

‘I know,’ said Toby. ‘And I know you.’

‘Good.’ He breathed heavily and rested his head on Toby’s shoulder. ‘Where’s that strong coffee?’

‘Wouldn’t you prefer whisky?’

‘You’re right. Much better. I need a week off after that. What hideous human beings. I hope they don’t breed.’

‘They shouldn’t be allowed to.’