35053668-Empire-of-the-Soul-Paul-William-Roberts

‘A FLAME OF FAITH’
‘Ray!’ Esther said reprovingly.
‘What?’ This annoyed him. ‘The guy’s on his own, ain’t he? I
thought he might want a chick. All right?’ He turned back to me.
‘She’s dynamite – but you gotta make her have a bath first.’
I nodded understandingly, then told him a Velocity said she needed
to see him urgently.
‘Oh, really?’ he said, smiling. ‘Good. Very good. Efficient little
worker, that Velocity.’
He seemed unwilling to elaborate and no one seemed to want
him to. I added that she’d invited me to a party.
‘You don’t need her to invite you,’ Ray scoffed. ‘Any guest of mine
can go wherever they want from here to Anjuna. Stupid bitch. I bet
she hit you up for rupees.’
‘Tried,’ Esther told him curtly.
‘Who is she?’ David wanted to know.
‘Just a smart little hustler who’ll do absolutely anything – for the
right price.’
Dinner was goat curry cooked in coconut milk. Ray had five
servants, I discovered – two cooks and three maids – and he made
them dress like French chambermaids to serve dinner. With the
candlelight flickering across all manner of exotic knick-knacks, I
felt transported to another age. The feeling lasted until we set off for
the party, walking beneath the stars along the edge of a roaring
black sea, the wind rattling palm fronds, the smell of woodsmoke
drifting out to mingle with the salt spray, and the faint thunder of
distant drums sounding like the planet’s beating heart itself. It was
nice of Ray to inform us that the curry had been laced with hashish
after we’d all finished our second helpings.
My legs were beginning to feel like rubber columns when we
passed a clump of agitated, stumpy palms and saw far off the writhing
flames of a vast bonfire spitting red stars up at the strong competition
shimmering in that great cupola above.
At least two hundred people were standing, dancing, or sitting
around the area where the bonfire crackled and blazed. Most were
Westerners, but a few Goan men who’d grown their hair and been
very busy threading dried beans and shells into bracelets and
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