tell me a story - iggy pop

tam texted me early afternoon, asking if i fancied a pint. i replied in the affirmative. after everything that came out yesterday, i could do with going through it with someone, laying it out flat to see what kind of sense it all makes.

another thing i wanted some input into was the addiction. this morning, i'd woken, already coughing, with a sore throat. so i'd decided not to smoke. i lasted less than two hours, which shocked me. i thought i'd have managed until this evening, at least.

i met tam in the acrobats' arms in town. i was there first, so i texted him, then took a paper from the rack and carried it - and my pint - to a corner table. i was halfway through a story about levels of domestic violence among government ministers, when tam suddenly appeared, towering over the table. he had a black eye and i had a feeling there would be a story attached.

he pointed at my pint. i glanced at it, nodded at him. he turned towards the bar as i closed the paper, tossed it towards the window sill, missed, came round the table and picked it up.

i sat down and watched tam at the bar. the way the barman leapt to serve him. the way young guys tend to do when you look as if you've been in a fight. even if it looks like you came second. tam came back to the table, sat, slid the darker pint across to me.

i waited for him to start.

"see after you fucked off..?" he began. and for the next thirty minutes, more or less, i sat in silence as he described saturday night's catalogue of disasters.

as he told it, his voice shook, as did his hands. i've never seen him so angry.

i let him go on til he finally ran out of steam. although i'd planned to run a few things past him, it felt churlish to interrupt just because i felt loved up and fancied stopping smoking.

we had a couple of pints and left. tam seemed drained, deflated after telling me what'd happened. outside, i lit a fag as we started walking.

"i thought that was you back on the fags," he said. he shook his head. "fuckin' stupid if you ask me."