Chapter 2 - West End Morning

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Rob was woken up by his dream. In it he was frantically searching for a toilet. Every so often he would find one and begin to urinate. He would then realise it wasn’t a toilet at all. As was always the case when he had these kind of dreams he was vaguely aware that it was a dream and eventually thought to himself, have I wet myself? Rob felt the sheet he was lying on in a circling motion and was relieved to find no damp patches. He got out of bed and found a real toilet. It felt good to finally urinate after so many frustrating attempts. 

Looking in the mirror he saw puffy eyes and dishevelled hair. No drink tonight, he decided. He was glad Lisa was at work. By the time she came back he would be respectable looking and he wouldn’t have to endure another lecture. He shuffled his way downstairs and poured himself a bowl of Sugar Puffs, emptied the remains of the coffee machine into a cup and heated it in the microwave. Sitting at the breakfast bar he flicked on the TV that Lisa had recently had installed. It was a ceiling mounted plasma screen. He had been sceptical about it at first but he had to admit it was good for hangover mornings when every movement was painful. All he had to do was get to the kitchen and everything he needed was within a few steps.

Rob thought about the previous night and shook his head. Everything was a fight these days, from what to have for dinner down to what time they went to bed. Rob didn’t see why they had to go to bed at the same time but Lisa felt as though he was undermining her career by staying up to watch a movie.

“I’ll keep the sound down,” he’d said.

“But I’ll know you’re up.”

“And?”

“If we’re a team we should do things together.”

“Fair enough Lisa, I shouldn’t have had a Pot Noodle for dinner before you came in, but sleeping isn’t really in the same category. Once you’re asleep, you’re asleep. It’s not really doing something.”

“I’m working tomorrow!” she shouted.

“I’m not,” said Rob.

“Exactly! You don’t work, you don’t do anything. Where’s the future in that?”

And that, he had concluded, was the problem as he drank his beer and eat his macadamia nuts whilst watching Apocalypse Now. It bugged her to see him doing nothing. Why do busy people get so annoyed by other people doing nothing?

Now, in the cold light of day he admitted to himself that he had drunk more beer and eaten more nuts than he had planned, probably out of spite. Just before heading off to bed he had taken down the gold discs from the wall of the cinema room. It had been Lisa’s idea to put them up and Rob had never been comfortable with them. He felt like an African dictator wearing a shirt with a self-portrait on it. He was embarrassed to have people in the room as a result, which irritated him because he loved the room and enjoyed watching movies with friends.

Rob’s review of the previous night was interrupted by a mobile phone advert on TV. A boy and a girl appeared on a split screen. She walked through cold grey streets of a British town, he walked in sunshine. The two scenes merged in the middle with them holding hands. They both held mobile phones and talked and laughed with each other. The soundtrack was a simple keyboard accompaniment and Rob singing.

I can still hear your voice from five thousand miles away,

I can hear the sound of rain on a warm summer day,

The line from Johannesburg is absolutely clear,

But all I keep thinking is I wish that you were here.

Rob hit the breakfast bar with his middle finger, ‘Ka ching,’ he said. “I am working even when I’m not.”

Four years after it had appeared on the band’s last album the song was making him money all over again. I’ve got a great future behind me, he thought to himself. Pleased with the line he stored it away for his next argument with Lisa.