I get into town early

have a couple
and when he gets there he’s brought a girl
she’s called Jane
she’s a punk single mum with green eyes
me and Jane talk while Curtis gets them in
Jane has a big smile
Curtis gets back from the bar laughs too much
I think there’s something else.

We walk up to the next one in the rain
Jane walks in the middle with a brolly
we link like a chain
I fancy Guinness and a Jameson
I think Curtis is going to tell me something
inside I look out
the fountain is lit
I run a joke through my head I don’t say.

Jane talks of how she met Curtis ten years ago
that’s nine more than me
Jane buys the next round insists she can afford it
we all have double vodkas the jukebox is loud
Jane and Curtis are dancing
two old men are watching from the snug
fuck em.

This pub is quieter
we sit near a pool table
Jane is funny
Curtis says he’s queer
I laugh and say whatever
mine’s a barley wine
five in the last.

We watch Jane piss in the church doorway
she sidles like a crab
she leaves pissy footprints on god’s flagstones
she sings Space Oddity at the moon
she puts her hand down the back of my jeans
I copy.

Jane lives in a rented room
a big old house on the edge of town
her room is at the top near a dirty kitchen
a scruffy old blonde with too much rouge is smoking a
cigarette by a dirty sink
she hugs Curtis by name.

And this is Jane’s landlady Marjorie
and I am Curtis’s friend from work
Marjorie’s teeth are yellow
Jane says she’ll only be a minute
she comes back in pyjamas
they’re striped.

We drink tea from a dirty kettle
Curtis and Marjorie laugh lung-bleeders
Jane says she’s tired
takes me to see her room.

Jane has lots of records
Crass
The Damned
Discharge
The Fall.

Jane gets into bed
Jane says turn the light off
the streetlamp looks red
she has a wide kiss
she has a soft lumpy tit
she has a kid.

Where’s the kid?

Jane says be quick pulls her pyjamas down yanking my belt pulling down my pants and jeans in one come on her big tongue my fingers inside she’s bending my cock down up inside her she lets go of breath says don’t let them hear what about the? come she says injection she says
what?
it’s okay come just come just be
quick

the light snaps on and the landlady squawks
Curtis is gob-smacked Jane is laughing I’m trying
to pull my trousers up going I’m going
and the landlady’s yelling of men and bastards
over the banister
down the stairs
and the night is cold and the moon is red and Curtis says
what in the name of fuck were you thinking?
death
I tell him
and the taxi costs more than I got
yeh?