Chapter 19

JJ

 

While Jess called everyone she knew to find out where this guy Chas was at, I was leaning on the wall, looking through the wire at the city, and trying to figure out what I'd listen to at that exact moment, if I owned an iPod or a Discman. The first thing that came to mind was Jonathan Richman's 'Abominable¹ Snowman in the Market', maybe because it was sweet and silly, and reminded me of a time in life when I could afford to be that way. And then I started humming the Cure's 'In Between Days', which made a little more sense. It wasn't today and it wasn't tomorrow, and it wasn't last year and it wasn't next year, and anyway the whole roof thing was an in-between kind of a limbo³, seeing as we hadn't yet made up our minds where our immortal⁴ souls were headed.

Jess spent ten minutes talking to sources close to Chas and came back with a best guess that he was at a party in Shoreditch. We walked down fifteen flights of stairs, through the thud of dub⁵ and the stink⁶ of piss, and then emerged back on to the street, where we stood shivering in the cold while waiting for a black cab to show. Nobody said much, besides Jess, who talked enough for all of us. She told us whose party it was, and who would probably be there.

'It will be all Tessa and that lot.'

'Ah,' said Martin. 'That lot.'

'And Alfie and Tabitha and the posse who go down Ocean on Saturdays. And Acid-Head Pete and the rest of the whole graphic⁷ design crew.'

Martin groaned⁸; Maureen looked seasick⁹.

A young African guy driving a shitty old Ford² pulled up alongside us. He wound down the passenger window and leaned over.

'Where you wanna go?'

'Shoreditch.'

'Thirty pounds.'

'Fuck off,' said Jess.

'Shut up,' said Martin, and got in the front seat. 'My treat,' he said.

The rest of us got in the back.

'Happy New Year,' said the driver.

None of us said anything.

'Party?' said the driver.

'Do you know Acid-Head Pete at all?' Martin asked him. 'Well, we're hoping to run into him. Should be jolly.'

'"Jolly", 'Jess snorted. 'Why are you such a tosser?' If you were going to joke around with Jess, and use words ironically, then you'd have to give her plenty of advance warning.

It was maybe four-thirty in the morning by now, but there were tons of people around, in cars and cabs and on foot. Everyone seemed to be in a group. Sometimes people waved to us; Jess always waved back.

'How about you?' Jess said to the driver. 'You working all night? Or are you gonna go and have a few somewhere?'

'Work toute la nuit,' said the driver. 'All the night.'

'Bad luck,' said Jess.

The driver laughed mirthlessly.

'Yes. Bad luck.'

'Does your missus mind?'

'Sorry?'

'Your missus. La femme. Does she care? About you working all night?'

'No, she don't care. Not now. Not in the place where is she.'

Anyone with an emotional antenna¹⁰ could have felt the mood in the cab turn real dark. Anyone with any life experience could have figured out that this was a man with a story, and that this story, whatever it was, was unlikely to get us into the party mood. Anyone with any sense would have stopped right there.

'Oh,' said Jess. 'Bad woman, eh?'

I winced¹¹, and I'm sure the others did, too. Bigmouth strikes again.

'Not bad. Dead.' He said this flat, like he was just correcting her on a point of fact - as if in his line of work, 'bad' and 'dead' were two addresses that people got confused.

'Oh.'

'Yes. Bad men kill her. Kill her, kill her mother, kill her father.'

'Oh.'

'Yes. In my country.'

'Right.'

And right there was the place Jess chose to stop: exactly at the point where her silence would show her up. So we drove on, thinking our thoughts. And I would bet a million bucks¹² that our thoughts all contained, somewhere in their tangle¹³ and swirl¹⁴, a version of the same questions: Why hadn't we seen him up there? Or had he been up and come down, like us? Would he sneer¹⁵, if we told him our troubles? How come he turned out to be so fucking… dogged?

When we got to where we were going, Martin gave him a very large tip, and he was pleased and grateful, and called us his friends. We would have liked to be his friends, but he probably wouldn't have cared for us much if he got to know us.

Maureen didn't want to come in with us, but we led her through the door and up the stairs into a room that was the closest thing I've seen to a New York loft¹⁶ since I've been here. It would have cost a fortune in NYC, which means it would have cost a fortune plus another thirty per cent in London. It was still packed, even at four in the morning, and it was full of my least favorite people: fucking art students. I mean, Jess had already warned us, but it still came as a shock. All those woolly hats, and moustaches with parts of them missing, all those new tattoos¹⁷ and plastic shoes… I mean, I'm a liberal guy, and I didn't want Bush to bomb Iraq, and I like a toke as much as the next guy, but these people still fill my heart with fear and loathing¹⁸, mostly because I know they wouldn't have liked my band. When we played a college town, and we walked out in front of a crowd like this, I knew we were going to have a hard time. They don't like real music, these people. They don't like the Ramones or the Temptations or the 'Mats; they like D J Bleepy and his stupid fucking bleeps. Or else they all pretend that they're fucking gangstas, and listen to hip-hop about hos and guns.

So I was in a bad mood from the get-go. I was worried that I was going to get into a fight, and I'd even decided¹⁹ what that fight would be about: I'd be defending either Martin or Maureen from the sneers²⁰ of some motherfucker with a goatee, or some woman with a moustache. But it never happened. The weird²¹ thing was that Martin in his suit and his fake tan, and Maureen in her raincoat and sensible shoes, they somehow blended right in. They looked so straight that they looked, you know, out there. Martin and his TV hair could have been in Kraftwerk, and Maureen could have been like a real weird version of Mo Tucker from the Velvet²² Underground. Me, I was wearing a pair of faded black pants, a leather jacket and an old Gitanes T-shirt, and I felt like a fucking freak.

There was only one incident that made me think I might have to break someone's nose. Martin was standing²³ there drinking wine straight out of a bottle, and these two guys started staring at him.

'Martin Sharp! You know, off of breakfast telly!'

I winced. I have never really hung out with a celebrity²⁴, and it hadn't occurred to me that walking into a party with Martin's face is like walking into a party naked: even arts students tend to take notice. But this was more complicated than straightforward²⁵ recognition.

'Oh, yeah! Good call!' his buddy²⁶ said.

'Oi, Sharpy!'

Martin smiled at them pleasantly.

'People must say that to you all the time,' one of them said.

'What?'

'You know. Oi, Sharpy and all that.'

'Well, yes,' said Martin. 'They do.'

'Bad luck, though. Of all the people on TV, you end up looking like that cunt.'

Martin gave them a cheerful, what-can-you-do shrug²⁷ and turned back to me.

'You OK?'

'That's life,' he said, and looked at me. He'd somehow managed to give an old cliche²⁸ new depth.

Maureen, meanwhile, was plainly petrified²⁹. She jumped every time anyone laughed, or swore, or broke something; she stared at the party-goers as if she were looking at Diane Arbus photos projected fifty feet wide on an Imax screen.

'You want a drink?'

'Where's Jess?'

'Looking for Chas.'

'And then can we go?'

'Sure.'

'Good. I'm not enjoying myself here.'

'Me neither.'

'Where do you think we'll go next?'

'I don't know.'

'But we'll all go together, do you think?'

'I guess. That's the deal, right? Until we find this guy.'

'I hope we don't find him,' said Maureen. 'Not for a while. I'd like a sherry, please, if you can find one.'

'You know what? I'm not sure there's going to be too much sherry around. These guys don't look like sherry-drinkers to me.'

'White wine? Would they have that?'

I found a couple paper cups, and a bottle with something left in it.

'Cheers.'

'Cheers.'

'Every New Year's the same, huh?'

'How do you mean?'

'You know. Warm white wine, a bad party full of jerks. And this year I'd promised myself things would be different.'

'Where were you this time last year?'

'I was at a party at home. With Lizzie, my ex.'

'Nice?'

'It was OK, yeah. You?'

'I was at home. With Matty.'

'Right. And did you think, a year ago...'

'Yes,' she said quickly. 'Oh, yes.'

'Right.' And I didn't really know how to follow up, so we sipped³⁰ our drinks and watched the jerks.

1 abominable   

adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的

参考例句：

• Their cruel treatment of prisoners was abominable.他们虐待犯人的做法令人厌恶。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

2 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

3 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

4 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！

5 dub   

vt.（以某种称号）授予，给...起绰号，复制

参考例句：

• I intend to use simultaneous recording to dub this film.我打算采用同期录音的方法为这部影片配音。
• It was dubbed into Spanish for Mexican audiences.它被译制成西班牙语以方便墨西哥观众观看。

6 stink   

vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭

参考例句：

• The stink of the rotten fish turned my stomach.腐烂的鱼臭味使我恶心。
• The room has awful stink.那个房间散发着难闻的臭气。

7 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

8 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 seasick   

adj.晕船的

参考例句：

• When I get seasick,I throw up my food.我一晕船就呕吐。
• He got seasick during the voyage.在航行中他晕船。

10 antenna   

n.触角，触须；天线

参考例句：

• The workman fixed the antenna to the roof of the house.工人把天线固定在房顶上。
• In our village, there is an antenna on every roof for receiving TV signals.在我们村里，每家房顶上都有天线接收电视信号。

11 winced   

赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He winced as the dog nipped his ankle. 狗咬了他的脚腕子，疼得他龇牙咧嘴。
• He winced as a sharp pain shot through his left leg. 他左腿一阵剧痛疼得他直龇牙咧嘴。

12 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 tangle   

n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱

参考例句：

• I shouldn't tangle with Peter.He is bigger than me.我不应该与彼特吵架。他的块头比我大。
• If I were you, I wouldn't tangle with them.我要是你，我就不跟他们争吵。

14 swirl   

v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形

参考例句：

• The car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.汽车在一股粉红色尘土的漩涡中颠簸着快速前进。
• You could lie up there,watching the flakes swirl past.你可以躺在那儿，看着雪花飘飘。

15 sneer   

v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语

参考例句：

• He said with a sneer.他的话中带有嘲笑之意。
• You may sneer,but a lot of people like this kind of music.你可以嗤之以鼻，但很多人喜欢这种音乐。

16 loft   

n.阁楼，顶楼

参考例句：

• We could see up into the loft from bottom of the stairs.我们能从楼梯脚边望到阁楼的内部。
• By converting the loft,they were able to have two extra bedrooms.把阁楼改造一下，他们就可以多出两间卧室。

17 tattoos   

n.文身( tattoo的名词复数 )；归营鼓；军队夜间表演操；连续有节奏的敲击声v.刺青，文身( tattoo的第三人称单数 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的胳膊上刺满了花纹。
• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的双臂刺满了纹身。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 loathing   

n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢

参考例句：

• She looked at her attacker with fear and loathing . 她盯着襲擊她的歹徒，既害怕又憎恨。
• They looked upon the creature with a loathing undisguised. 他们流露出明显的厌恶看那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

19 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

20 sneers   

讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You should ignore their sneers at your efforts. 他们对你的努力所作的讥笑你不要去理会。
• I felt that every woman here sneers at me. 我感到这里的每一个女人都在嘲笑我。

21 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

22 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

23 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

24 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

25 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

26 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

27 shrug   

v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)

参考例句：

• With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩，走出了房间。
• I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。

28 cliche   

n./a.陈词滥调(的)；老生常谈(的)；陈腐的

参考例句：

• You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
• The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。

29 petrified   

adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• I'm petrified of snakes. 我特别怕蛇。
• The poor child was petrified with fear. 这可怜的孩子被吓呆了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

30 sipped   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sipped his coffee pleasurably. 他怡然地品味着咖啡。
• I sipped the hot chocolate she had made. 我小口喝着她调制的巧克力热饮。 来自辞典例句