Friday Flash Fiction 39
Filed under Flash Fiction • Friday Flash Fiction • 27-06-2008 •
CARNIVAL
By Gareth L Powell
By midnight, she was in the arms of a Brazilian telemarketer from Teddington. They lay together in his hotel room, the open window allowing the deep bass of the street festival to ebb and flow over them, the mingled smells of hashish and fried onions to galvanise their empty stomachs.“I feel kind of bad about Richard,” she said. “I shouldn’t have left him like that.”
Alejandro rubbed a sleepy palm across his face. Although bare-chested, he was still wearing his jeans, and his hair was flattened on one side, damp with sweat. “You don’t have to worry about him any more,” he said. “You have me now.”
He lit a cigarette from the pack on the bedside table. Leigh sat up and hugged her knees. She was wearing a creased cotton sundress with buttons down the front.
“Do you think he’ll be all right?”
There were steel drums playing in the street. She got up and pulled back the net curtain, looked down at the crowd. She said: “It was just a stupid argument.”
Her shoes were lying on the floor by the door. In the orange half-light, Alejandro held the cigarette pinched between his thumb and forefinger. He took a small, tight drag and cursed in Spanish. “Come to bed,” he said.
Leigh ignored him. All she wanted was to be left alone.
“You know, it was his idea to come here,” she said. There were people blowing whistles in the street. She wrapped her arms across her chest. She didn’t know where she was.
“I hope he’s all right,” she said.
It’s great to see this piece expanded!
A lot of these vignettes have a character smoking. Is this just to add to the atmosphere, or is there something more sinister at work? Are you, in fact, working on a subliminal marketing campaign?
Hey, there’s an idea for a story…
Interesting observation, GDJ. I’ve just scanned the back catalogue and I only count 5 stories (out of 39) where a character is either smoking or referring to smoking. Don’t pin the tobacco industry’s success on me!