‘I waited long enough for you,’ she said.
‘I can explain all that,’ I said. ‘On my solemn oath if I were to die this minute.’ I was going to say tonight instead of this minute, and whether it is I’m getting religious or not I don’t know, but I felt I didn’t want a threat like that hanging over my head for more than the next sixty seconds. ‘Come on, drink up. We’d better be off before this buying geezer arrives.’
When I looked closer at her face it did seem that bit worn, but her chest was as beautiful as ever. I believe they can actually improve with age if given proper attention. The cleavage if anything was better. From the little I saw of it. Same as I say, I was leaning over her.
‘I’m not sure,’ she said. ‘I’m not at all sure.’ She had a look towards the door.
‘You look in need of a good laugh, gal,’ I said. ‘Laughter keeps a woman young, don’t forget.’
‘Have you got your napkin?’ she said.
‘I’m like the Boy Scouts,’ I said – ‘always prepared.’ And I found myself whipping out my one spotless hanky which I’d resisted blowing my nose on and I tucked it over my lapel. ‘What time did your old man say he’d be waiting for you at the station?’
‘He’s gone to Perth on his job,’ she said, half rising from her seat. ‘He won’t be back until Tuesday morning.’
‘Then I won’t need my napkin,’ I said. ‘I never wear ’em in bed. Come on, I’ve got the car waiting round the corner.’ So she got up, didn’t she, and I’ve put my arm in hers and led her outside.
It felt so soft, so warm and cosy under her armpit up against her breast. There’s no doubt that few things in this life are more comforting to have your mitt tucked away in than a woman’s plump arm inside a fur coat, even though it might only be dyed Musquash. It reminded me of a bird I once knew who used to like to – but why tell it? People don’t respect you more for opening your heart to them and telling all the things you’ve done. I think you’re only making a stick for your own back. Anyway, you only remind them of what they’ve done but not told. It gives them a guilty feeling. Nobody is going to thank you for that.
Well, I’d had a good cleansing out, and now I felt badly in need of a good filling up again. As we walked along the pavement towards Westminster Bridge I couldn’t believe how all this weight had suddenly lifted off my heart. It’s funny, I thought, but all that pain and sorrow don’t last all that long. I don’t suppose anything does. Forgive yourself, Alfie, I said, for anything you’ve done wrong. After all, you’ve got to forgive yourself before you can forgive anybody else, if you see what I mean.
‘Remember that time you got your knee stuck on the horn?’ I said.
Come to think of it, that was when it all started. That was the selfsame night when little Gilda was overdue. Quite a bit had happened in between.
Siddie let out one of her hearty laughs. Same as I say, she’s got these powerful lungs. I find I’m going in more for healthy women.
‘You never change – do you, Alfie?’ she said.
I dodged that one: ‘It’s all a giggle, Siddie,’ I said. And as I opened the car door for her I gave her behind such a nice little pat. Then I goes round and gets into the driver’s seat, and drives off, all smiles. And I think to myself: Alfie, you’re a real little Punchinello.
Well, you’ve got to be in this life, if you see what I mean.
If you enjoyed Alfie, read on to find out about another book in Allison & Busby’s Classics collection …
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About the Author
BILL NAUGHTON (1910–1992) was born in Ireland and raised in Bolton, eventually settling on the Isle of Man with his Austrian wife, Erna. Having left school at fourteen, he worked as a weaver, a coalbagger and a lorry driver. He first made a name for his writing with his contributions to Lilliput. During the late 1950s he wrote a series of documentary dramas for the BBC. Films and plays followed, including Spring and Port Wine, The Family Way, and the movie of his most famous book, Alfie.
Copyright
Allison & Busby Limited
13 Charlotte Mews
London W1T 4EJ
www.allisonandbusby.com
Copyright © 1966 by THE BILL NAUGHTON ESTATE
First published by Allison & Busby in 1993.
Reprinted in 2001, 2004. New edition first published in 2012.
This ebook edition first published in 2012.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–1137–6
ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
BY COLIN MACINNES
A TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSIC
London, 1958. Soho, Notting Hill. A world of smoky jazz clubs, coffee bars, and hip hangouts in the centre of London’s emerging youth culture. The young and restless – the absolute beginners – were creating a world as different as they dared from the traditional image of England’s green and pleasant land. Follow our young photographer as he records the moments of a young teenager’s life in the capital – sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll, the era of the first race riots and the lead up to the swinging sixties.
A twentieth century classic, Absolute Beginners remains the style bible for anyone interested in the Mod culture and paints a vivid picture of a changing society with insight and sensitivity.
Alfie Page 21
