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

188
EMPIRE OF THE SOUL
Swallowing audibly, Franco turned in circles and banged at the
springy black mop on his head.
Ray turned to me, smiling and confiding in a low tone, ‘You see?
Franco has a problem. He’s pumped so much shit into his arms that
he hasn’t got it up in as long as he remembers. But poor Sophie here
– she has to fuck anyone and everyone in sight just so Franco can
support his little problem. Not fair, is it? So now I think it should be
Franco’s turn to fuck his girl, don’t you?’
There was a slight pause.
‘No fuck, no luck, Franco old pal.’ He flipped the canister,
catching it in a jacket pocket held open without even taking his
eyes off the Frenchman. ‘C’mon, be a man, Franny. Show her you
care, go on! It’ll make a change from beating her up – won’t it,
Sophie?’
I confess the scene was morbidly fascinating. Franco’s
humiliation lasted half an hour, Sophie frantically striving to divert
his tenaciously single-minded junk-craving cells with every trick she
knew. Sweating and shaking, Franco struggled to accommodate her.
Furious, Sophie cursed him in an impenetrable argot, the only word
of which I caught was tata: ‘queer,’ or ‘faggot’.
‘Enough!’ he snapped, springing off the table to slap Sophie’s
bum. ‘You find yourself a man, babe – really, I mean it.’
‘Man,’ Franco pleaded. ‘Doh do diss to me, Ray. C’mon . . .’ His
expression was naked and vulnerable, the eyes wide and helpless
like those of a rabbit caught in oncoming headlights.
‘Pack ya stuff, Sophie,’ Ray said, still watching Franco. ‘I’m gonna
save your life for you.’
Sophie tried to plead, but Ray told her to shut up, do what he
said. It took her under a minute to fill a ratty holdall with some rags,
a small painted box, two worn paperbacks. She pulled on a cheap,
creased kurta and matching baggy trousers.
Franco had fallen to his knees, begging for his life.
‘But whatta bow me?’ he kept almost sobbing. ‘Ray? Whatta I do,
man? I do any ting, man. You know me, man . . . any ting!’
‘You can’t even do anything for yourself, Franco,’ Ray said in
disgust. ‘What the fuck could you possibly do for me? Jesus, you pig
– you can’t even get it up anymore. Here.’ He threw the Kodak