As Above, So Below

by Richard Lawther

  Alex blurted it out: ‘You didn’t take the speed, did you?’ He turned his back on Dai and followed Lee and Karl outside.

  Dai kept up with him, trying to maintain eye-contact. ‘No. And you seem to be particularly upset about this. Why is that?’

  ‘I don’t give a shit one way or the other!’

  ‘Yeah right,’ said Dai. ‘You know, I can always tell when something’s up, when people are not quite as they seem. You and Cube didn’t smell right from the start: too much forced friendliness, and too much attention to minor details. The Guinness, for example, you’re both lager drinkers. So why change? And pretending to be Welsh!? That was a bit rich. It struck me early on that you had a secret agenda–’

  ‘That’s rubbish, Dai,’ interrupted Alex, temper rising, ‘we just wanted to tag along, as we said before–’

  ‘Now that’s rubbish!’ declared Dai. ‘Too many furtive looks, Stanton. Glances at Cube, glances at me... you were up to no good.’

  ‘Crap!’ Alex closed in on Dai but Cube held him back.

  ‘And then this speed turns up. You tried to be subtle, but you were just too keen. Too keen for me to try it. So why was that?’

  ‘You’ve got it all–’

  ‘Save it, I’ve worked it all out now. You two are close buddies of Geoff Christie, and I know what people are saying: that his coma was all my fault. But it wasn’t, you know, I just had a few drinks with the guy. That doesn’t make me a bad person.’

  ‘You didn’t just “have a few drinks” with him. You got him pissed out of his mind. You probably spiked his drinks, didn’t you?’

  Dai paused for a few seconds. ‘You really think I’m a monster, don’t you?’

  ‘You said it!’

  ‘So, on Geoff’s behalf, you decided to settle a score. What were you going to give me, anyway?’ Dai didn’t wait for an answer. ‘You know, I feel as bad about Geoff’s misfortune as you do, but I am not going to pay for some imagined crime! You had your chance, Stanton, and you blew it. Now drop it. No more drugs, alright?’

  Alex was perplexed, he nervously reached for his cigarettes.

  Stay angry...

  ‘Don’t mind if I do!’ said Dai, rudely helping himself to a proffered fag. He was also offered a flame and he took that too, eyeing Alex with a smirk.

  Alex inhaled and promptly blew smoke into Dai’s face. ‘What is your problem, pal, we were just trying to give you some speed. You should have taken it – it’d make you less paranoid.’

  Dai shook his head and puffed on his fag. ‘You’ve got to get up pretty early in the AM to outfox me!’

  This made Alex smile. ‘Oh? That’s funny, that’s really funny, ’cause I did get up pretty early in the AM, as it goes.’

  Dai didn’t reply, he just gazed at Alex and continued to draw deeply on his cigarette. Meanwhile, the band prepared to start the second set prompting Karl and Lee to race back indoors. Dai soon followed.

  Cube remained by the front doors with Alex. What’s up, Al? Have we blown it?’ Even from this location, Cube had to shout over the music. Alex removed a cigarette from his shirt pocket and brandished it in front of Cube. ‘You put the powder in his fag!?’

  Alex nodded. ‘I held half of it back when I saw how suspicious he was becoming.’

  ‘Christ, man, that must have taken some doing.’

  Alex shrugged. ‘Nah, it was easy, the trick was to then not think about it: the guy can smell a rat at fifty paces! hence the angry display before.’

  Cube peered inside: Dai was dancing frenetically. ‘So you think he got enough?’

  ‘He finally stopped talking, didn’t he?’

  Cube nodded, his eyes still fixed on Dai. ‘Yeah.., com’on, Stanton – job’s done, bloody stupid exercise. Let’s watch the band.’

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