It was so nice to run into you again

Yes it was a nice surprise

How long is it

About six years I think

I left you on that railway platform in India

I was on the run

Yes the cops were after you

I know

How did you leave the country

I bribed an official

Are you still with Allen

No he ran off with a girl from New Zealand

I believe he married her

And you

Still on my own

No passions since then

Not really

You

I tend to float from girl to girl

Are you working

Yes

Where

In a gallery in Smith Street

I pass it most days on my way to work

Then we were always going to meet again

How long have you been there

Six months

I smile when I think of all the jobs you have picked up

Are you still as uninhibited

Yes but possibly less wild

I like the cut of your hair it suits you

You have not changed Joe

Do you realise that I always fancied you

Yes

So why did we never fuck

Because I liked you as a friend and I did not want to take away your space

If we had got together I would have smothered you

Have you had any success with your writing

In a way yes

Have your poems been published

Yes and no but I self publish

You have never really wanted fame

Not really

You are so different Joe

Tell me about your job

Barry’s dad owns the gallery

Lisbon Barry

Yes

What do you do

I arrange exhibitions

Do you enjoy your work

Yes but some of the artists are right cunts

They have one exhibition and they have arrived

There is an artist named Sue Hill who everybody thinks is the next big thing

Is she

No

Does she paint

In a way but she spends most of the time taking photographs of her cunt

And then she transfers them to canvas

There was a review in the Guardian last week

They loved her work

What do think of it

Pretentious shit

She is saying nothing

Do you remember when I was working on the webcam channel

Clearly

You came to get me

I was lying on that floor stark naked with shit pouring out of me

But nobody cared

It was only when Annie told you that you found me

You kicked that freak in the building down stairs

And then placed me in the back seat of your new car shit puke and all and took me to the hospital

I was very ill but you were always there and asked for nothing

When mummy and daddy arrived to take me home you just faded in the background

I should have been an artist

This is my art

Lying half dead in a rented house

Covered in shit

Keep your cunt Sue Hill you are a fucking fake and you know it

Pretty one question

Fire away

As you know Annie called me out of the blue to alert me to your situation as I was only four hours away across the border

Why was she watching this channel

I asked her to as I had been involved in some weird shit

Porno

In a way

I was scared but I was not clean by far

I just asked her to keep an eye at times

What could she do

Not much but it comforted me

You are still confused by the whole story even now

In what way

Annie was in the house with you

She shared your flat but it was not her night

But she kept tabs on you

Little Annie

It was just pure luck that she checked on you and the rest is history

How did she know where you were

She had kept my number

Annie did try to alert the authorities but nobody was interested

So she rang me as I was only hours away

She did go to the building but the caretaker became very unpleasant with her

Annie was scared

Scared for you

Scared for yourself

It was such a horrible period

You cannot change history Pretty

How is Annie

Well

She lives in Scotland now

With

Ross

Do I know him

I doubt it

Joe can we make this a regular place to meet

I would like us to meet at least twice a month

Fine by me

No strings

No strings

It is so good to see you

After all this time

I feel safe with you

I was in your nightmares

But now you are in my dreams

Tuesday

That will be nice

Till then Joe

Cheerio

Take life slowly Pretty

It is not a race