We finish lunch and Robbie invites us to take a walk on the beach. Antigone is running ahead, looking for shells, Robbie and I follow her. We’re silent. How do you bridge a 15 years separation?
With an apology, I guess “I’m sorry about before. The lies about your name and you. She has no secrets for her father and I thought it would be better to keep things under control and see what you want to do. Meeting them, I mean”
“I’m the king of white lies. And I think you’re right. Let’s take it slowly. Mark told me you and Howard are no longer together, I’m sorry”
“No need to be, it has been almost a year. We’re fine”
“What happened?”
“Howard happened. You know. You warned me a long time ago. I put up with his shit for too long. One day I broke the denial rule, packed my stuff, took my daughter and moved out. He has been in my life for so long I sometimes feel I’ll never get over him” all of the sudden I feel incredibly sad. Talking about our break up is still painful and he can see that.
“I thought we were not allowed to say the S word, I guess you must be punished”
I look at him, trying to understand what he has in mind.
“Antigone! I need back up here, mummy misbehaved and we need to teach her a lesson”
I’m staring at the two of them getting closer and closer, I guess I should start running but Robbie grabs me and places me over his shoulder.
“So Antigone, should we throw mummy in the water?”
“Robert, don’t you dare! You hear me?”
“Yes Robert, she loves to swim!”
“Antigone! I forbid you to talk to him! You hear me?” and I realize I am wearing a short dress, right above the knees. Which means, because of my position, my underwear might be on display. I try to reach for the back of my dress so to pull the fabric as much as I can but my arms cannot stretch enough. Robbie realizes what I’m trying to do. Looks behind him and can definitely see it.
“There’s quite a view from here”
“You are not funny. Do something!” and he places his hand on my butt to keep the dress from moving.
“What do you think you’re doing? Get off me now!”
“If you say so!” but I see three guys coming our direction and I don’t want them to see me like that.
“Put me down”
“No way”
“Put it back then”
“What?“Robbie put it back”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about”
“Put your hand back”
“Where?”
“Robert!”
“You’ll have to spell it out for me, or should we ask Antigone to do it?”
“Robert please”
“I love it when you beg”
“Put your hand back on my bottom”
“Dirty talk, so hot, you need to take a cold bath lady” and throws me into the ocean.
I’m all wet now, and they are laughing and chasing each other. Antigone screams while Robbie pretends to be a zombie chasing her. He definitely reminds me of someone I used to know.
“Your house is a palace”
“Well, let’s just say I had a couple of hits. Which allows me to live like a king!”
I’m drying myself while Antigone counts all the shells she found.
“Mummy look, I got so many, I’m going to make daddy a beautiful necklace”
“She’s in love with him”
“She has every reason to be. The fact he was a lousy husband doesn’t mean he’s a lousy father. He would do anything for her. I got offered a job in NYC last year but I had to turn down the offer. I cannot separate them, it would kill them”
“So what do you do? Or what we do, since we are colleagues”
“I work for Bloomsbury publishing. Children’s books. I basically choose what books to publish and I take care of our most important writers”
“You know how the saga ends?”
“Can’t say”
“I did pre-order my copy on the internet. You already have my money in the bank, is Harry going to die? The suspense is killing me”
“My lips are sealed. You will have to wait, like anybody else. But enough about me, tell me something about you. How are you?”
“You haven’t changed a bit. Same attitude as 15 years ago – What’s wrong with Robbie? He's not answering his phone, he's not talking to me, I saw him on the telly at Glastonbury.”
“I knew you were quoting me! I knew it!”
“Run out of good lyrics”
“You are evil. I missed you”
“Missed you too, especially dragging you around. Whose idea was it to hide you inside a trunk? Do you remember the time I had to carry you up for 2 floors so Nigel would not suspect a thing and you could spend the night with Doug? I still don’t understand how he had no idea what was going on behind his back. Disturbed and mental, that is a deadly combination. Boy! To give you some privacy I had to spend so many nights in Markie’s bed I started to fancy him”
“Those were good times”
“Most of them”
“How are you, really?”
“You can read. Out of rehab again. Hopefully for good. I take one day at the time. Working on a new CD. Don’t really wanna talk about it”
“Right, some things never change I guess”
“Do you remember when we met for the first time?”
“How could I forget! Never been so miserable in my life. I hated Manchester. Being there as an Erasmus student. I had so many hopes when I left Italy and I found myself in the pit hole of hell, only rainy and cold. Plus the Mancunian accent. I only wanted to study English lit. I’d never thought I was going to stay forever.”
“Our gig at the student union was pathetic”
“Gayest gig ever”
“I remember Howard being so surprised when he started chatting with you and you asked him if he wanted to meet your friend Andrew”
“Never been bright when it comes to men, I must admit that”
“And we spent the night trying to explain Britons’ obsession for queuing and Eastenders’ storyline. I can still remember your face and the way he kept looking at you. We all new between you and Doug was love at first sight”.
“Yes it was, I sometimes ask myself what my life would have been like if I had stayed at home that night.”
“Boring!”
With an apology, I guess “I’m sorry about before. The lies about your name and you. She has no secrets for her father and I thought it would be better to keep things under control and see what you want to do. Meeting them, I mean”
“I’m the king of white lies. And I think you’re right. Let’s take it slowly. Mark told me you and Howard are no longer together, I’m sorry”
“No need to be, it has been almost a year. We’re fine”
“What happened?”
“Howard happened. You know. You warned me a long time ago. I put up with his shit for too long. One day I broke the denial rule, packed my stuff, took my daughter and moved out. He has been in my life for so long I sometimes feel I’ll never get over him” all of the sudden I feel incredibly sad. Talking about our break up is still painful and he can see that.
“I thought we were not allowed to say the S word, I guess you must be punished”
I look at him, trying to understand what he has in mind.
“Antigone! I need back up here, mummy misbehaved and we need to teach her a lesson”
I’m staring at the two of them getting closer and closer, I guess I should start running but Robbie grabs me and places me over his shoulder.
“So Antigone, should we throw mummy in the water?”
“Robert, don’t you dare! You hear me?”
“Yes Robert, she loves to swim!”
“Antigone! I forbid you to talk to him! You hear me?” and I realize I am wearing a short dress, right above the knees. Which means, because of my position, my underwear might be on display. I try to reach for the back of my dress so to pull the fabric as much as I can but my arms cannot stretch enough. Robbie realizes what I’m trying to do. Looks behind him and can definitely see it.
“There’s quite a view from here”
“You are not funny. Do something!” and he places his hand on my butt to keep the dress from moving.
“What do you think you’re doing? Get off me now!”
“If you say so!” but I see three guys coming our direction and I don’t want them to see me like that.
“Put me down”
“No way”
“Put it back then”
“What?“Robbie put it back”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about”
“Put your hand back”
“Where?”
“Robert!”
“You’ll have to spell it out for me, or should we ask Antigone to do it?”
“Robert please”
“I love it when you beg”
“Put your hand back on my bottom”
“Dirty talk, so hot, you need to take a cold bath lady” and throws me into the ocean.
I’m all wet now, and they are laughing and chasing each other. Antigone screams while Robbie pretends to be a zombie chasing her. He definitely reminds me of someone I used to know.
“Your house is a palace”
“Well, let’s just say I had a couple of hits. Which allows me to live like a king!”
I’m drying myself while Antigone counts all the shells she found.
“Mummy look, I got so many, I’m going to make daddy a beautiful necklace”
“She’s in love with him”
“She has every reason to be. The fact he was a lousy husband doesn’t mean he’s a lousy father. He would do anything for her. I got offered a job in NYC last year but I had to turn down the offer. I cannot separate them, it would kill them”
“So what do you do? Or what we do, since we are colleagues”
“I work for Bloomsbury publishing. Children’s books. I basically choose what books to publish and I take care of our most important writers”
“You know how the saga ends?”
“Can’t say”
“I did pre-order my copy on the internet. You already have my money in the bank, is Harry going to die? The suspense is killing me”
“My lips are sealed. You will have to wait, like anybody else. But enough about me, tell me something about you. How are you?”
“You haven’t changed a bit. Same attitude as 15 years ago – What’s wrong with Robbie? He's not answering his phone, he's not talking to me, I saw him on the telly at Glastonbury.”
“I knew you were quoting me! I knew it!”
“Run out of good lyrics”
“You are evil. I missed you”
“Missed you too, especially dragging you around. Whose idea was it to hide you inside a trunk? Do you remember the time I had to carry you up for 2 floors so Nigel would not suspect a thing and you could spend the night with Doug? I still don’t understand how he had no idea what was going on behind his back. Disturbed and mental, that is a deadly combination. Boy! To give you some privacy I had to spend so many nights in Markie’s bed I started to fancy him”
“Those were good times”
“Most of them”
“How are you, really?”
“You can read. Out of rehab again. Hopefully for good. I take one day at the time. Working on a new CD. Don’t really wanna talk about it”
“Right, some things never change I guess”
“Do you remember when we met for the first time?”
“How could I forget! Never been so miserable in my life. I hated Manchester. Being there as an Erasmus student. I had so many hopes when I left Italy and I found myself in the pit hole of hell, only rainy and cold. Plus the Mancunian accent. I only wanted to study English lit. I’d never thought I was going to stay forever.”
“Our gig at the student union was pathetic”
“Gayest gig ever”
“I remember Howard being so surprised when he started chatting with you and you asked him if he wanted to meet your friend Andrew”
“Never been bright when it comes to men, I must admit that”
“And we spent the night trying to explain Britons’ obsession for queuing and Eastenders’ storyline. I can still remember your face and the way he kept looking at you. We all new between you and Doug was love at first sight”.
“Yes it was, I sometimes ask myself what my life would have been like if I had stayed at home that night.”
“Boring!”
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