Carmen's Boyfriend

Time passed imperceptible by. We left the apartment, Carmen, her sister, myself, such a lovely evening, by now ,had grown accustomed to this life of being a real person, not someone's dog's body, all in very high spirits, perhaps fortunately, not arm in arm, Carmen having grown careless... our covert relationship not quite the secret it had been. Her sister and one or two others fully aware .


We walked out into the street. Suddenly Carmen froze on the spot, stopping dead in her tracks. A Mercedes parked outside the door, short geyser with a dark, expensive light overcoat, suit, flashy shoes, a little Al Capone. She had gone pale, the sister and I looked at each other, the signal being that this was the Ex boyfriend. Suddenly all three were gabbling away. We all sat in the car, two girls in the back, myself, Al in the front. Before could ease my backside comfortably in the leather seat we were doing almost the ton ... up into a spaghetti junction. Never really took a great deal of notice, all Italian drivers are crazy, something I found out. Al was shouting back at the girls. He was very, very excited, swerving about, cutting in and out, up down and over ... from the shouted translation, the geyser had the needle and intended killing us all with one twist of the wheel. Typical Latin stuff, a Modern Opera. The set firmly based on four wheels. Nothing else had changed over time. The hero, the heroin, the jilted lover, the weeping Capulet ... Only Music was lacking. It did not look good. I was unable to do my talking bit, unable to grab the bridle, did not look good at all. No traffic lights, only endless concrete curving away in every direction. It was not happening, the four of us, lapsed now into silence, speedometer needle, still firmly steady at 100 km... a long straight stretch into infinity. Turned round to Carmen. "Tell this lunatic that I am hungry" she seemed rather taken back at this, as if how could I be thinking of such a thing? Prodded her with my finger "Tell Him". She told him. Thought as much, it had all been bravado, ...taken back at my disregard of him and his antics. He bottled out, looking around for an excuse to get off the hook, not to appear the complete fool, which he was... Came to stop at a rather smart restaurant. Put my arm round Carmen, disregarding him ... she, shaking quite a lot. Saw little point in making anything more out of the sad fiasco, just let it subside over the meal which was excellent, especially as he paid.