The Mountain Shadow (20 page)

‘Kavita, Naveen will not reveal his sins!’ Didier pouted. ‘At least tell me some of yours.’

She laughed, and began reciting a list of her sins.

‘Those rocks in your shower,’ Naveen remarked quietly, leaning close to me, ‘did a professional job.’

I glanced at him quickly. I was ready to like him. I already did like him. But he was still a stranger, and I wasn’t sure that I could trust him. How did he know that I’d received a
professional
beating?

Reading my expression, he smiled.

‘All the hits, on both sides of your face, are bunched up in a tight pattern, left and right,’ he said quietly. ‘Your eyes are blacked, but they’re still open, and you can see okay. That’s not easy to do. Your wrists are marked, too. It’s not hard to figure that somebody who knew what he was doing smacked you around pretty good.’

‘I’m guessing there’s a point in there, somewhere.’

‘The point is, I’m hurt.’

‘
You’re
hurt?’

‘You didn’t invite me.’

‘I wasn’t the one sending out cards.’

‘Likely to be any more parties?’ he smiled.

‘I don’t know. You feeling lonely?’

‘Count me in, if you need a date, next time.’

‘I’m good,’ I said. ‘But thanks for the offer.’

‘Please!’ Didier insisted as a glowering waiter slammed the drinks down on the table. ‘Stop whispering, you two. If it’s not an illicit lover or jealous husband to boast about, you’ll have to offer another sin to discuss.’

‘I’ll drink to that,’ Kavita encouraged.

‘Do you know why sin is banned?’ Didier asked her, his blue eyes glittering.

‘Because it’s fun?’ Kavita offered.

‘Because it makes fun of people who ban sin,’ Didier said, raising his glass.

‘I’ll make the toast!’ Kavita announced, raising her glass to Didier’s. ‘To tying people up and giving them a good smack!’

‘Excellent!’ Didier cried.

‘I’m in,’ Naveen said, raising his glass.

‘No,’ I said.

It wasn’t the day to toast people being tied up; not for me.

‘Okay, Lin,’ Kavita snapped. ‘Why don’t
you
make the toast?’

‘To freedom, in all its forms,’ I said.

‘I’m in again,’ Naveen said.

‘Didier is always for freedom,’ Didier agreed, raising his glass.

‘Alright,’ Kavita said, banging her glass against ours. ‘To freedom, in all
her
forms.’

We’d just put our glasses back on the table when Concannon and Stuart Vinson joined us.

‘Hey, man,’ Vinson said, offering a handshake like a good-natured smile. ‘What the hell happened to you?’

‘Someone kicked his fuckin’ arse,’ Concannon laughed, his Northern Irish drawl prowling. ‘And it looks like they threw in his head, n’all. What ya been up to, boyo?’

‘He has shower issues,’ Kavita said.

‘Shower issues, does he, indeed?’ Concannon grinned, leaning close to Kavita. ‘And what issues do you have?’

‘You first,’ Kavita replied.

He grinned again, as if he’d won.

‘Me? I take issue with everything that isn’t already mine. And since I’ve let that cat out of the bag, I repeat, what issues do you have?’

‘I have loveliness issues. But I’m in treatment.’

‘Aversion therapy is said to be very effective,’ Naveen said, staring at Concannon.

Concannon looked from one to the other, laughed hard, seized two chairs from a neighbouring table without asking, dragged them to our table and pushed Vinson down into one of them.

He turned his own chair around backwards, and rested his solid forearms on the back of it.

‘What are we drinkin’?’ he asked.

I realised that Didier hadn’t called for drinks, his habit whenever anyone joined him in Leopold’s. I turned my head and saw him staring at Concannon. The last time I’d seen Didier look at someone that hard, he’d had a gun in his hand. Thirty seconds later he’d used it.

I raised my hand to call the waiter. When the drinks were ordered I moved the subject across Didier’s eye line.

‘You look good, Vinson.’

‘I’m damn happy,’ the young American replied. ‘We just made a killing. Fell right into my lap. Well, into
our
laps, Concannon’s and mine. So, hey, the drinks are on us.’

The drinks arrived. Vinson paid and we raised our glasses.

‘To sweet deals!’ Vinson said.

‘And to the suckers who sweeten them,’ Concannon added quickly.

Our glasses clashed, but Concannon had soured the toast.

‘Ten thousand American dollars each!’ Concannon said, slamming his glass down hard on the table. ‘No better feelin’! Just like comin’ in a rich girl’s mouth!’

‘
Hey
, Concannon!’ I said.

‘There’s no call for talk like that,’ Vinson added.

‘What?’ Concannon asked, his arms wide with wonder. ‘
What?
’

He turned his head and leaned the side of his chair toward Kavita.

‘Come on, darlin’,’ he said, his smile as wide as if he was asking her to dance, ‘you can’t be tellin’ me you’re a stranger to the experience. Not with a face and a figure like yours.’

‘Why don’t you talk to me about it?’ Naveen Adair muttered through clenched teeth.

‘Unless you’re a fuckin’ lesbian!’ Concannon continued, laughing so hard that his chair tilted sideways and almost fell.

Naveen began to stand. Kavita put a hand against his chest, holding him back.

‘For Chrissakes, Concannon!’ Vinson spluttered, surprised and confused. ‘Like, what the hell’s the matter with you? You brought me a solid-gold customer, we made a bundle of cash, and we’re supposed to be, like, happy and celebrating. Stop antagonising everybody already!’

‘It’s alright,’ Kavita said, staring evenly at Concannon. ‘I believe in free speech. If you put a hand on me, I’ll cut it off. But if you just sit there, talking like an idiot, hey, you can do that all night long for all I care.’

‘Oh, so, you
are
a fuckin’ cunt-licker,’ Concannon grinned back at her.

‘As a matter of fact –’ she began.

‘As a matter of fact,’ Didier interrupted her, ‘it’s none of your business.’

Concannon’s grin hardened at the edges. His eyes glittered, sunlight on the back of a cobra’s hood. He turned to face Didier. The menace in his expression was clear. The rudeness to Kavita had been a ruse to provoke Didier.

It worked. Didier’s eyes were indigo flames.

‘You should powder your nose and put on your dress, sweetheart,’ Concannon growled. ‘All you fuckin’ homos should wear dresses. As a warning, like, for the rest of us. If you get fucked like a woman, you should dress like one.’

‘You should have the courage, if not the honour,’ Didier replied evenly, ‘to discuss this privately. Outside.’

‘You’re a fuckin’ unnatural thing,’ Concannon hissed, through barely parted lips.

We were all on our feet. Naveen reached out to grab Concannon’s shirt. Vinson and I separated the two men, as waiters rushed at us from all corners of the bar.

The waiters at Leopold’s had a unique internship in those years: if they put on boxing gloves and lasted two minutes in the back lane with the very big, very tough Sikh head waiter, they got the job. Six of those waiters, directed by the very big, very tough Sikh head waiter, surrounded our table.

Concannon looked around quickly, his hard smile widening to show an uneven set of yellowing teeth. For a few seconds he listened to the voice within, urging him to fight and die. In some men, that’s the sweetest voice that ever speaks to them. Then the viciousness softened into cunning, and he began to back away through the circle of waiters.

‘You know what?’ he said, stepping backwards. ‘
Fuck
yez! Fuck yez
all
!’

‘What the hell was
that
all about?’ Vinson gasped as Concannon stomped out into the street, pushing shoppers aside.

‘It is obvious, Stuart,’ Didier said as we slowly sat down again.

He was the only one of us who hadn’t stood, and the only one who seemed calm.

‘Not to me, man.’

‘I have seen this phenomenon many times, Stuart, in many countries. The man is almost uncontrollably attracted to me.’

Vinson spluttered beer foam across the table. Kavita howled with laughter.

‘Are you saying he’s
gay
?’ Naveen asked.

‘Does a man have to be gay,’ Didier asked, giving him a look to tan leather, ‘to be attracted to Didier?’

‘Okay, okay,’ Naveen grinned.

‘I don’t think he’s gay,’ Vinson said. ‘He goes to prostitutes. I think he’s just crazy.’

‘You got that right,’ Kavita said, waving her glass in front of his bewildered frown.

Sweetie, who’d been standing well away from the confrontation, slapped a filthy rag on our table as a sign that he was ready to take our order. He picked his crooked nose with his middle finger, wiped it on his jacket, and let out a sigh.

‘
Aur kuch?
’ he menaced.
Anything else?

Didier was about to make an order, but I stopped him.

‘Not for me,’ I said, standing and collecting my keys.

‘But, no!’ Didier protested. ‘One more, surely?’

‘I didn’t finish the last one. I’m riding.’

‘I’m with you, cowboy,’ Kavita said, joining me. ‘I told Lisa I’d call around tonight. I’ll come home with you, if you don’t mind?’

‘Happy to have you along.’

‘But . . . can a gay man go to prostitutes, like, a lot?’ Vinson asked, leaning toward Didier.

Didier lit a cigarette, examined the glow for a moment, and then addressed Vinson, his eyes narrowing.

‘Have you not heard them say, Stuart, that a gay man can do everything that a man wants?’

‘
What?
’ Vinson asked, adrift as an iceberg.

‘They also say that ignorance is bliss,’ I said, exchanging a smile with Didier. ‘And I’m gonna follow my bliss home.’

We left the bar and made our way through the crush of shoppers to the parking area, where I’d left my bike.

As I put the key into the ignition, a very strong hand reached out and seized my forearm. It was Concannon.

‘Fuck
him
, eh?’ he said, smiling widely.

‘What?’

‘Fuck him. The French mincer.’

‘You’re crazier than you know, Concannon.’

‘I can’t argue with that. And I don’t want to argue. I’ve got that money. Ten grand. Let’s go and get drunk.’

‘I’m going home,’ I said, pulling my arm free to put the key in the ignition.

‘Come on, it’ll be fun! Let’s go out, you and me. Let’s go pick a fight. Let’s find some really tough bastards, and hurt them. Let’s have fun, man!’

‘Attractive and all as that –’

‘I’ve got this new Irish music,’ he said quickly. ‘It’s fuckin’ grand. The thing about Irish music, you know, is that it’s so good to fight to.’

‘No.’

‘Ah, come on! At least listen to it, and get drunk with me.’

‘No.’

‘That Frenchman’s a fuckin’
faggot
!’

‘Concannon –’

‘You and me,’ he said, softening his voice and forcing a smile almost exactly like a scowl of pain. ‘We’re the same, you and me. I
know
you. I fuckin’
know
you.’

‘You don’t know me.’

He snarled, whirling his head around, and spitting on the ground.

‘I mean, that faggot, think about it. If the whole world was like him, the human race would die out.’

‘And if the whole world was like you, Concannon, we’d deserve to.’

It was hard; too hard. Who was I to throw stones? But I loved Didier, and I’d had all of Concannon I could take for one long day.

His eyes flashed with sudden murderous fury, and I stared back at him, thinking that I’d been tied up and beat up that day, and he could stare all he wanted.

I started the bike, kicked away the side-stand, and helped Kavita to climb up behind me. We rode away without looking back.

‘That guy,’ she shouted, leaning over my shoulder, her lips touching my ear, ‘is out of his bloody mind, yaar.’

‘I only met the guy once before,’ I shouted back. ‘He seemed kind of okay.’

‘Well, somebody emptied his
okay
basket,’ Kavita said.