For the next twenty minutes he walked from the front door of the pool hall down the lane to the back. He thought often of sneaking back in and watching somewhere he wouldn’t be noticed. He imagined the perfect shot, the ball dropping into the pocket, the money changing hands. If he was Jammy Tierney, he’d be doing better than this dive. He’d be at it night and day until he got to the big time. He stopped by the back door again. What if Jammy was giving him the brush-off and was going to leave by the front? He took a step up toward the open door but stopped when he remembered Jammy’s face. He jogged to the front of the building in time to see the guy with the glasses leaving.
The gloom of the pool-room seemed to have deepened. Tierney was setting up the balls. A skinny, hippy type was chalking his cue.
“Hey, how did you do, Jammy?”
Tierney jerked his head up.
“What are you doing back here? I thought I told you to get lost, didn’t I?”
“I heard you, Jammy. Yeah, and I left. I seen the other fella go, so…”
Tierney took a step back and looked him up and down.
“Even in here I can see how wasted you are. The state of you. You’re sweating.”
“It’s a heat wave, man.”
“Oh yeah? Look in a mirror, Leonardo. You’re a mess.”
“Looks aren’t everything, Jammy, man. Come on, man. I just came by to talk to you for a minute.”
“ ‘Talk to you?’ Sure you’re not sussing out the place to see if you can do some dealing to the kids in here? Because if you are, I’ll burst you.”
“I just wanted to say hello. Is that such a big crime these days?”
“What are you into now, Leonardo? You graduated to the hard stuff?”
“No way!”
“Here, let me see your arms. Yeah, you’re wearing a jacket and it’s like the Sahara this last ten days here. C’mere!”
He pushed Tierney’s hand away.
“Don’t start with me, Jammy.”
Tierney laughed.
“Or what? What’ll you do, Leonardo? Faint on me?”
“All I wanted was to say hello and that.”
He looked back into Tierney’s face and took in his scorn. They were the same age. They had been friends since the first day they had started primary school together.
“Did you get a job?”
“I do a bit of this and that. They’re going to cut down me rock-and-roll. They found out I was living at home, you know?”
“And you’ve given up completely on the drawings and stuff, right?”
“No way! Well, not exactly. I go out some days with me stuff.”
“I never see you out there. I haven’t seen you for months. Anywhere.”
“Well, I’m trying to stake out new places, amn’t I? I don’t like to just do the one spot all the time, you know. That’s not how the art business works, Jammy.”
“The art business. That’s what you’re calling chalk drawings on the frigging footpath, is it?”
Tierney folded his arms. The tattoo of the snake and the guitar swelled out from his upper arm.
“It’s the summer, man. There are millions of chalkies out there. Jesus! Foreigners even. Every street-corner. What am I supposed to do, have a barney right there in the street with every single one of them so’s I can have a good spot to show me stuff?”
“Let me guess. You want me to stand there with you and collect money for you.”
“I can look after myself, so I can.”
“What, then? You came by to talk about the bleeding weather?”
“I want to get on with someone, Jammy. You know.”
The shadows dug deeper into Tierney’s forehead.
“What,” he said.
“You know. Get something going. A future. Show what I can do.”
Tierney continued to stare at him but his eyes had slipped out of focus.
“The Egans? You are a header. ‘The Egans’ he says. Like he really means it.”
“Don’t give me that look, Jammy. Come on! I done stuff!”
“Crack, you mean. Speed.”
“You’re not even giving me a chance, man.”
“Chance at what? Here, let me tell you something. Nothing personal now.”
He leaned in close to whisper.
“You’re a total waster. Okay? You’re out of your box.”
“All I’m saying is maybe you can put me in touch with people.”
“‘People’?”
“Everyone knows you’re clean, Jammy. They respect that, man. But the lads in here: you know them, they know you. Fellas come through here every day of the week. Some of them are in the line of what I’m talking about.”
“Listen, man. Get this through your head: I’m clean. Like I always been. Like you used to slag me about. I play an odd game here and that’s it.”
“Don’t get me wrong, man! I’m not asking you to get in on something you wouldn’t want to. Really, Jammy! I swear. All I’m saying is maybe you could put in a word for me. Only me, like. Not you. I’ve been thinking, right? I want to settle down, don’t I. Get a start and do things right. You know, move in with someone.”
“Who’s the lucky someone?”
“Mary, maybe.”
The scorn left Tierney’s face.
“Mary? Mary Mullen?”
“Well, yeah. Maybe you wouldn’t understand.”
Tierney blinked and looked away to the end of the hall.
“Come on, Jammy! You could get me in the door at least.”
“I don’t work for the Egans. I mind me own business. So should you. Fucking iijit.”
“It’s not just them, Jammy! You know people. People coming through here, like.”
“Get the message, man.”
“I’m good at stuff, Jammy! I am!”
Tierney’s eyes bored into his now.
“What the hell are you so good at that the likes of the Egans would want you for? ‘Pavement Artist: Leonardo Hickey. Specialising in chalk, and getting high.’ ”
“I can do cars steady, Jammy. I’m good at it. Regular fence. I do a bit every night now.”
“Oh, that’s brilliant, man,” said Tierney. “Just ace. Oh, yeah. Christ. I’m out of here.”
He walked alongside Tierney.
“And I can drive. Aw, man, you know I can do that.” Tierney didn’t slow his pace.
“You’re about ten years too old to be still joyriding. Get smart, Leonardo. Fuck’s sake.”
He rapped Tierney’s shoulder as they stepped out onto the footpath. Tierney whirled around, his face twisted in anger.
“Don’t do that, man! Don’t fucking touch me!”
“Sorry. It’s just that… you know.”
“It’s not like it was! Never!”
“I said I was sorry, didn’t I?”
“You never listened to me, did you? Ever. I told you to stay away from that stuff. To look out for yourself, you know. And now look… Jesus, you were the best soccer player all the way through school. You could have-”
“I still can, Jammy! You should see me, man!”
Tierney’s eyes rested on the far end of the street now.
