Last Orders

Canterbury

I can't see them anywhere. It's like they might have gone and left me in Canterbury Cathedral. So I wander back down the aisle to where I was when Vince took himself off, in case they come looking for me, and I sit down again on the wooden seat, elbows on knees, thinking, I'm the odd one out now.

Thinking, It's like he's looking at me now, knowing. Better make your mind up, Raysy, better make it up quick. It's like it wasn't just the dosh, it was me an' all, the two together. There's the money, Ame, and there's Raysy. You'll be all right now, you'll be all right with Lucky. Nudge, wink. I reckon you'll see each other right.

It's like I should've been him.

I sit there, keeping an eye out, but I don't see them anywhere, so I get up and find the way out, and then I spot them, standing on the paved area, looking out for me. I think, Friends. The sky's dark and threatening and the wind's cold but they don't look like they're getting peeved. They look like they're glad to be here together, like all's forgiven.

I think, Maybe.

Vince says, 'We was beginning to wonder, Raysy, we was beginning to think you might've got lost.'

Vince is holding a guidebook. Vic's got the bag. I'm not holding anything but it's like everyone can see that Raysy's got a lot of something that aint his.

I can feel the cathedral behind me, looking at me.

Vince says, 'We was in the cloisters. Did you clock the cloisters?' Like I ought to have done.

I say, 'Yes, I saw the cloisters/ thinking, Small lies are easy.

Then we head back the way we came, out through the gateway and along the narrow streets, except we take a different narrow street from the one we came up. It's called Butchery Lane, which is why we take it. Vince says we ought to. Then as we turn into it the rain comes pelting down. But there's a little pub half-way along, the City Arms, and it's open, and Lenny says a quick one wouldn't hurt, would it?