An Accident Waiting to Happen by Vincent Banville

Author:Vincent Banville
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: GemmaMedia
Published: 2009-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

At the weekend, Temple Bar is really jumping. To earn some extra money I sometimes do bouncer at one of the clubs. It is not an enjoyable experience. Stag and hen parties are the worst, the men looking for fights, the women loud and behaving in a most unladylike fashion.

This Thursday night, probably because of the rain, things were rather quiet. The street musician was still playing his violin outside the Purple Pussy. He was a tall thin guy with long hair and a scraggy beard. I dropped a pound coin into his tray and, when he grinned at me, he showed me purple gums and no teeth.

It was just coming up to twelve o’clock and a small queue had formed at the door. A burly individual with a shaved head stood with his back to the entrance. He let people in or kept them out as the mood took him. When I made to go past him, he placed a large hand on my chest and pushed me back.

‘Where d’you think you’re going?’ he asked, squinting his eyes.

‘I’m one of the male strip team,’ I told him. ‘The ladies inside can’t wait to get their hands on my parts.’

He stood back and looked me up and down.

‘Oh yeah? Well, I haven’t been told nothing about this. Have you some kind of pass?’

‘Pass? No pass. But you could ring Bertie on your mobile and tell him Blaine is here. He’ll vouch for me.’

A change came over him when I mentioned Bertie’s name. He gave me a grin only a little less horrible than the street musician’s, and said, ‘You know the boss? Why didn’t you say so in the first place?’

‘You didn’t give me a chance.’

Again I started to go past him and again he put his hand out to stop me.

‘What is it now?’

‘I’ve often thought I could do that strippin’ business,’ he said. ‘How d’you get into it?’

This time it was my turn to look him up and down.

‘You’ve got to have a beautiful body for starters. Give me a call when you’ve lost a few pounds, had your nose straightened and your ears pinned back. And see if you can do something about those teeth, fill in the gaps maybe …’

Before the penny dropped that I was having him on, I pushed past him and went inside. Dance music was making the walls bulge, and a number of couples were staggering about to its beat. I made for the bar. Denise was serving behind it, wearing spangles and a g-string. I ordered a club soda, then stood with my back to the counter and gazed around the room. Most of the people present were sitting at tables. They looked older than the usual types one saw in such places. I counted three guys in evening suits who could have been the doorman’s brothers. They were standing about, trying to look as if they didn’t work there.

Why hadn’t Bertie sent a couple of them to warn off the Polonskis? I wondered.

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