Another sun-drenched day, but now the late afternoon sun's turning fiery red as it sinks in the sky. Sticky, humid, my skin feels hot, grimy under my fingertips. Looking down at my bare arms in the last orange light of the setting sun, I'm amazed by how brown I've turned since the beginning of the week. The blended aroma of hot-dogs, candyfloss and the acrid electrical tang of the rides bathe me in weary contentment. Fifties' rock'n'roll blares. "Dook ... dook ... dook of Earl. Da-da da da-da..."I need a shower, I'm starving, but first I've got to find her. Stupid Minah! how ken you get lost at this time of the evening? I stroll slowly along the main path of the funfair staring into each knot of people, expecting at any moment to see her gawking round some ride or other, her wings of raven hair dangling. While I'm busy scanning the far corners of the park for her, a small boy smacks into me covering my sarung with candyfloss. Distracted, scrubbing at the sticky smear, the tissue falls apart, shreds sticking to the material. Disgusted, I swear and look up...
He's tall, about six feet, lean and wiry, with well-defined muscles rather than muscle-bound. Good features, but a little rugged and short dirty-blonde hair with a slight curl at the back of his neck. He's wearing cutoffs and a Levi shirt. "Nice legs." I think to myself. He's staring, a small smile on his lips. Despite myself I smile back, turning away with a fleeting notion that he's still watching me. I twist my hips slightly with each step, letting the sarung flow and undulate...
My cell-phone purrs and I head for the entrance to Peter Pan's Playground; flicking the phone open as the noise of the amusements recedes behind me. I know it's her. "Uy ... mula." She tells me happily, and without a twinge of conscience, that she's in a nightclub called Tots with some people we met earlier. "Come on, don say me wan...?"
"No Fuck off gagu!" I tell her, knowing that she's probably going to get drunk and throw up in the car again.
Piqued and with a couple of hours to kill, I wander out of the park, along the Golden Mile towards Satteri's Fishbar. Soon, clutching my fake newspaper full of hot crispy scampi and feeling a little lost, I'm threading my way through the crowds of meandering day-trippers. Coloured lights blink and fluorescent tubes flicker in time to a babble of electronic and human dissonance. An engine rumbles and spits close behind me. I turn to watch a peppermint green Escort cruise slowly by. Loud, low slung, with huge arches and gleaming wheels; it oozes menace ... A blast of Wilko Johnston from the stereo turns the heads that didn't turn at the first crackle of its engine. I kinda like Dr. Feelgood ... It's East London Macho: the soundtrack to Flash 'Arry's dreams of sun, speed and sex.
Another old Ford, a gleaming yellow Mexico, swings out of a side street and streaks past with a shattering six-cylindered roar. I can't help grinning 'coz I learned to drive in one just like that. - Yeah! Been there, done that... Suddenly, I'm giggling out loud. Remembering my guy and his mates. "...Girls come'n go; a sharp car goes on fer eva..." If the Escort wasn't a quarter of a mile down the road now, I'd be yelling, "Uy... 'Arry big button!" when what I really mean is, "Gerek-lah lu."...Okey, I'm a car-slag.
Passing Peter Pan's, still bubbling with barely suppressed delight, I see the guy again, sitting on a bench outside drinking Coke. Lean, boyish, though he must be thirty-something... I think I like yalah. He catches me looking and pauses, can halfway to his lips. From twenty feet away our eyes meet and my insides squirm in an agonizing blend of fear and anticipation. My heart beats a fraction faster, a little dart of excitement courses through my veins. Before I can stop myself, I'm walking into the fairground right past him and I'm swinging my hips ... "What are you doing?" The small sensible part of my brain inquires, but my body quivers in anticipation of a little adventure.