Clear by Nicola Barker Read Free Book Online

‘silence’.
    Solomon inhales on his spliff, then exhales, with a little cough.
    I pull the facecloth off.
    ‘I remembered,’ I said, ‘while you were talking just now, where it was that I saw Aphra before…’
    ‘Aphra,’ Solomon muses, ‘ Aphrah . “Declare ye it not at Gath, Weep ye not at all; In the House of Aphrah, roll thyself in the dust.” ’
    I sit up (the water sloshes), ‘ What ?!’
    Solomon remains impassive, ‘Micah, 1:10.’
    ‘The House of Aphrah?’
    He nods, ‘In Hebrew, the House of Dust, no less.’ (Does this dude have a well-manicured afro-cockney finger in every pie?)
    He sips his tea. ‘So where?’ he asks.
    I lie back down, musing, spreading the flannel across my chest. ‘Remember Day Five or Six,’ I say, ‘when I met that angry girl with the miniskirt and the terrible hair?’
    ‘No,’ Solomon says.
    ‘The girl,’ I continue, ‘with the corkscrew perm, who slipped on a stray tomato and nearly twisted her ankle?’
    ‘ Ah ,’ Solomon exhales.
    ‘Monday night. About twelve o’clock. There’s this nasty half-riot under way and we’re right in the middle of it. The police have just turned up…’
    ‘I remember.’ Solomon sounds very bored.
    ‘And I grab this girl and take her up the back exit…’
    Solomon snorts.
    ‘Of the bridge , you twat . The stairs out the back. And we got to that cosy little corner, halfway up…’
    ‘Spare me the gory details,’ Solomon groans.
    ‘But that’s the point ,’ I expostulate crossly. ‘There were none. Things were just starting to get nice and steamy, up against that wall- she had her tongue down my throat, I had my hands up her skirt…when suddenly the girl freezes on me.’
    Solomon doesn’t look nearly as astonished by this revelation as I think he perhaps should. ‘Halitosis?’ he ponders ruminatively.
    I scowl.
    ‘Faulty technique? ’
    ‘Thanks,’ I deadpan.
    ‘Someone’s coming? ’ he finally offers (rather more helpfully), then ruins the effect by gently adding, ‘Prematurely?’
    ‘Yes,’ I nod (pointedly ignoring the ejaculatory slur). ‘Another woman. And instead of just walking by, like most people would, this other woman pauses and then whispers…’
    I pause myself, as I recollect ( then I digress), ‘I mean obviously I have my back to her, and the girl has hers against the wall, so she can see her better. But we’re in a clinch…’
    Solomon slowly rotates his hand to move me on.
    ‘But when she hears a voice ,’ I continue (ignoring him), ‘she pulls away slightly, opens her eyes, and she sees this other girl. This woman. And this woman in standing there, smiling, like something from Fatal Attraction …’
    ‘And she says?’ (Solomon obviously finds the film reference a step too far.)
    ‘And she taps me on the shoulder and she says, “ You . In Bow. The VD Clinic. Six o’clock. Last Tuesday evening.”’
    Solomon snorts so hard that he spills ash on his trousers.
    ‘Fuck,’ he curses, and quickly taps it off.
    ‘But that was her ,’ I say, ‘that was Aphra . I turned round and I saw her, from the back, retreating. But it was definitely her. I remember her hair, and her shoes. These strange green shoes . The noise they made…’
    Even Solomon is perplexed by this story. ‘But why’d she want to do that?’ he asks. ‘Out of sheer mischief, you think?’
    I scratch at my neck for a moment, saying nothing.
    ‘I mean you said she had an axe to grind…,’ Solomon continues musing. ‘When she approached you today she called you a whore -’
    ‘No,’ I interrupt, ‘she called me a pimp . Then she claimed that I was using Blaine to pimp for me…,’ I pause. ‘It was all a little confused, actually.’
    ‘ Argh , pure semantics ,’ he waves me away.
    ‘Although I suppose,’ I start off nervously, ‘I mean, I suppose she might’ve said it because…’
    I clear my throat, ‘Because it was true.’
    It takes Solomon a moment to catch up, but when he does, he