Quintessence of Dust
Page 19
***
On the eve of John and Alison’s wedding day, guilt collided with John’s conscious. It had been so long since the fight with the Minotaur, and John wanted to enter his new life with no bad feelings hanging over him. He rang the Minotaur one Friday afternoon. After a long pause, the Minotaur spoke.
“Hey,” said John.
The Minotaur remained mute, save for his breathing.
“Wanted you to know, I’m getting married tomorrow.”
There was a pause. “That same girl?”
“Her name is Alison.”
“Huh…I’m happy for you both, I guess.”
John could tell the Minotaur had been drinking, or was still drunk from the previous night.
“Been up to much?”
“Met a girl myself.”
“Yeah?”
“Her name’s Destiny. Tits like boulders.”
“Nice.”
“I think her real name is Claire, but I don’t know her well enough yet to ask.”
“You still living at the flat?”
The Minotaur’s mood changed. “What do you want?”
“What do you mean?”
“Want to rub my face in it, huh?”
“No, not at all. I just…”
“Then what?”
“I called to tell you I’m getting married.”
“Mazel tov.”
John didn’t want to upset the Minotaur even more so he let enough time pass before replying.
“I guess I wanted to say…”
John felt the word perched on his tongue, one that had been lay dormant for nearly two years and now rose like bile through his throat, burning and making his eyes water. Fortunately, he didn’t need to say it.
“Star Wars is on TV next week,” said the Minotaur. “It’s the version with all the CGI crap, but I was thinking of getting a few beers in and watching it.”
The Minotaur never went to John and Alison’s wedding. And John never watched Star Wars with the Minotaur because he was on his Honeymoon in Greece. But when he returned he rang his old friend and they would talk for hours about what they were doing. Mostly John spoke about his future and how Alison was nagging at him to start a family, something he wasn’t too sure he wanted to do until they had enough money. And the Minotaur always spoke about the past, and what they used to get up to. Sometimes the Minotaur would ring John late at night, drunk, and tell him that the girl he was seeing had dumped him for some normal bloke, and that he beat up a random guy to feel better. The next week, the Minotaur had another girlfriend and he was happy again.