I’ve been practicing for my Oscar Peterson gig for a few hours but I keep coming back to “Only trust your heart”. I can’t get the tune out of my head. Brian’s cocktails don’t help. I don’t know what he put in them but after three, I am anyones. Brian interrupts me.
‘Zeno on the holovid, Sir, are you in.’
Zeno, I had forgotten about Zeno, what with one thing and another she had dropped out of my life.
‘Yes put her through.’
Zeno materializes on the sofa. She is wearing an all black skintight leotard with a white stripe running from her crutch to her neck. Her makeup is based on an old world Egyptian wall painting. Black khol eyes and green lip gloss. I can feel the familiar twitch in my nether regions. She is not actually in the room of course this is only a holovid of her, but it reminds me of what I have been missing because of my fixation on Veronica.
‘Want to play ball Joe?’
‘Yeh come on over I’ll polish my bat.’
‘A game of racket ball.’
‘You mean exercise?’
‘You look as if you can use it I can see a second chin arriving. I’ll see you on the sports satellite in a couple of hours, give you time to sober up.’ The hologram goes as quickly as it came.
‘She is right, Sir, I didn’t want to mention it but you are getting a little podgy.’
‘Fuck off Brian.’
***************
The sports satellite is in orbit around the planet. The ground of the planet is too precious to house anything a frivolous as a sports field. I arrive as requested sober and ready to do battle. However the evening does not go as planned. Zeno is super fit and thrashes me 15 to 2 and 15 to 7.
Zeno looks like she has been for a gentle stroll in the fresh air. Her cheeks are only slightly flushed and her chest is rising and falling at a normal pace. I feel like I have gone fifteen rounds with Jim, big nose, O’Roak the galactic heavy weight champ.
She is waiting for me as I exit the changing rooms.
‘Looks like I’ll have to buy you a pick me up. You don’t look up to afters.’
‘If you mean sex. I have a drawer full of V’s’. If you mean more exercise like a half marathon or the Tour de France circuit, you are on your own.’
She takes my hand, leads me to the bar, and orders two large slimline cokes. I down mine in one gulp, a habit I have kept from prep school days. Zeno orders two more with Jamaican rum. I can see where this evening is headed.
‘How far up your list am I now?’
‘Absence is a great aphrodisiac to some’
‘Don’t tell me I’m number one?’
‘Could be, we will see how the night shapes up. So far it is going okay. I like to win.’
I should be apprehensive, but what the hell, I have faced greater perils in the past, than being fucked by the top call girl on the planet. I only hope I can pay the price. Nothing is for free.
************************
When I wake up Zeno has gone. By the bed is a note.
Not quite number one yet. Must try harder. xx
p.s. you owe me 5K.
I, with my new wealth don’t flinch at the price, but my pride is hurt. I expected to climb the list. Brian is too cheerful, his voice has an upbeat ring to it. I shower and shave, then breakfast on scrambled eggs and bacon. Brian is really getting on my nerves, he has no reason to be so cheerful he is a computer.
‘For Mars sake Brian give it a rest, I am not in the mood for happy clappy. Unless you have good news which you are keeping from me. Don’t tell me you have been offered a job with a body’
Fuck me he’s whistling.
‘While you were servicing Miss Zeno, Sir, you had a vid call. But you were in mid coitus, so I took a message.’
‘Which is?’
‘It was from Miss Lake, Sir. She said it was urgent.’
‘And you let me bang away’
‘As I said, Sir, you were..’
‘Brian I am losing patience, think of the circuits on the Garbage Planet, which will be shuffling over to make room for you.’
‘You are to meet her in Harry’s Bar at noon. I remind you that it is now 11.15.’
‘I swear I’ll scrap him.’
****************
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