Who’s looking after the pub?
Hayley Manners, his new woman. She used to run The Victory with an iron fist.
Nice coat, by the way.
This old thing, Temps? Had it years.
Suddenly the siren stopped. Col climbed out from the driver’s side and gently closed the door.
What you doing here, Col?
Welcome to you too.
You know what I mean.
Just wanted to see what it was all about. That a crime?
Course not.
But knocking that man over in Milan was, said Pete.
You still going on about that? I hardly touched him, said Col, moving to the rear of the van. On Col’s back was taped a sign: ‘Kick me’ in three languages. Ulysses kicked him.
What the fuck d’you do that for?
Ulysses pulled off the sign and showed him.
Col turned to Pete. Don’t you close your eyes tonight, he said.
Haven’t closed them all week, said Pete.
Got any luggage? said Ulysses.
Pete held up his holdall. A few underpants and socks for me, he said.
Col unlocked the back of the ambulance. One suitcase, three cardboard boxes.
What’s in the boxes, Col?
Spam, said Pete. He hasn’t stopped eating it. It’s been like lying next to something dead.
Ulysses stuck Col downstairs in the pensione and Pete came to live with them upstairs. It was so he could be near the piano, that was their excuse, but Pete couldn’t bear to spend another minute cooped up with the man. And when Pete walked into the living room and saw Claude, he gasped and said, I never thought I’d see him again. How on earth did—？
Nothing to do with me, Pete, said Ulysses. It was all Cress’s brilliance.
Got Cress written all over it, Temps.
What’s got me written all over it? said Cress, coming into the room.
Put it here, Cressy, said Pete and the two men shook hands.
Pete! shouted kid.
Hello sweetheart.
Look what I’ve got! she said and thrust her guitar his way. I want to play the blues, she said and Pete placed her fingers along the fret – classic territory in the key of E. That’s a good place to start, he said.
Claude took to the air and performed a little aeronautical magic. Fuck the Palladium! he chanted on repeat.
Look at that, said Pete.
He’s a constant surprise, said Ulysses.
You’d think he was too heavy to do something like that, said Cress.
Suddenly, Col walked in. I knew it! he said. That bleedin’ bird! Who’d wanna eat that?!
Claude startled and flew straight into the window. He dropped to the floor like a bag of nuts.
Claude! shouted the kid.
What you do that for? said Cress.
Do what? said Col.
No one could survive that, said Pete.
But Claude did.
And the unfortunate dip in festivities was instantly restored by the suggestion of dinner at Michele’s. Kid led the way.
This is a bit of all right, said Pete, opening the door to the warmth and the smell and the Italian ambiente.
I still don’t understand, said Col, looking down at the parrot prone in Ulysses’ arms. How’d it get here?
Followed us.
Followed you?
Like a homing pigeon, said Ulysses.
Don’t homing mean home?
Not necessarily, said Cress.
Oh here we go, Doctor Dolittle.
Homing also refers to an ability to return to one’s territory. Ergo—
Ergo? Er-bloody-go?
Ergo, said Cress. We’re his territory.
Giulia led them to the table at the back and Ulysses explained that the bird had just suffered a concussione （he guessed at the word）。 She gasped and placed her hand to her chest. He wished he’d just told her that he had a concussione. He asked her what the specials were, and she moved close to his ear. Tortellini in brodo, she purred. It was as erotic a moment as he’d had in years. He felt giddy and stumbled against the chair.
Grab the bird! shouted Cress. Grab the bird, Pete!
Pete made a dive for it, caught it inches from disaster.
You’re the safest pair of hands I know, said Cress.
The tortellini in brodo that first night was the dish they would talk about for years. Oh how it nourished them and pleased them, gave them resilience for all the unexpected moments to come!
The salty porky chickeny-ness of it, said Col in a rare moment of epicurean eloquence.
And the floating clusters of filled pasta that offer the gentlest of resistance, said Pete.
Al dente, said Cress.
Who’s he? said Col.
To the tooth, said Cress. Al dente. Means firm to the bite. Al dente.
Stop saying bloody al dente, said Col, wiping a chunk of bread around his bowl. Just when I began to like you again.