Chapter 6

“You asshole! You bastard, you bastard, how could you do that?! I'm gonna kill that little bitch, she is a bastard! You are ugly animal!”

“Honey, Led Wind has a gig at the Hot Club tonight, come on down.”

“Are you serious? Like nothing happened? Are you crazy?”

“Yeah. I'll send a limo for you. Come tonight without policemen.”

“Okay, I will. I want to look into your lousy eyes.”

So that's the phone call I had with Tizzy Pizzy.

Arina smiles and watches the trout being sliced. In twenty seconds, the apocalyptic pictures in the girl's brain have zoomed out. Still worried a bit, her mother arrives tonight.

Gabe opened a bottle of wine. He and his wife had come home from the party satisfied and tired. Viola, that's his wife's name, did face masks, then went to the bathroom.

“Love, Viola!" Gabe called out to her, "I'm going to ask Viola to take care of our dear guests, I've missed them so much. Darling! Please prepare a snack for me and the friends.”

Viola heard, but in response closed the bathroom door tightly.

Gabe said: "Ah, fuck" and set the table for us himself, feeding us pickled trout, cheese and vegetable spread.

Gabe poured himself more wine and asked about the last concert with exaggeratedly polite interest.

He's friendly, his wife's a socialite, what kind of breakfast for guests is she?

Later, Arina and I were splashing around in the shower stall.

"I don't believe that everything will be so easily resolved with mum", — said the girl, while I was soaping with a loofah and pouring jets of summer water on her flexible back, — I didn't do it to spite her, I just liked you.

“Great," I said to the driver over a cup of coffee, it was his eighth cup this morning, he drinks a ton of coffee, "now take us to the soundcheck at the Hot Club, then meet Alex the photographer at the station, he'll be with his assistant, bring them to the hotel near the Hot Club.”

Hire a limousine and bring Arina's mother to the concert by 8pm, make sure she is seated in a decent seat. By the way, the photographer is gay.

“Really?”, Great squirmed in his chair, “i’ve never seen a real gay man up close. Only at stage. I'm a man who lives by the book. Oldschool bandito-style cool guys, yes. This isn't ancient Rome. Its old-school rock area.”

“How are you gonna shake his hand?”

“I'm not gonna shake his hand, I live by the rules.”

“Come on, Great, it's the 21st century, it's show business, you've got to get used to it.”

“Very good. But I won't shake hands with an interesting boy," he blushed, his movements became fidgety, his fingers twirled a cigarette.

“All right, let's go.”

The Great started the Porsche, Gabe kissed his sleeping wife with unnaturally huge and gorgeous lips, jumped into the car and said:

“If you don't mind, I'm coming with you. I'd like to hang out at the concert tonight, I haven't seen Sid and the guys in a long time.”

We arrived half an hour early. The sound engineer hadn't arrived yet. After the tour of the Hot Club, Arina dozed off under the air conditioning in the dressing room.

She and Gabe went out for a walk and a cold beer. It was so hot that the asphalt was melting.

We went into a pub. There were pictures of Ozzy Osbourne on the walls, banners with Jim Morrison and Sebastian Bach. The one from Skid Row. Dorky, but charismatic.

“Hello, Paul.”

There's Kitten standing behind the bar. Older. Beautiful. Next to her, at the table, is a girl. She's writing something in her notebook.

“It's my pub, and finally you're here.”

“Hello, darling. Were you expecting me here?”

“No. You've been on my blacklist for ten years, why wait for you?”

She speaks, stretching his words, sexy as ever.

“This is my daughter, don't look at her like that”, laughs the owner of the pub, “say hello to Uncle Paul.”

The girl looks at her with a mute reproach and remains silent. Barely noticeable nods. She's pretty. Seventeen, eighteen years’ old

.

“Hello, Kitten's daughter. Bring your most delicious and cold beer. And salmon with sweet sauce, please. With lemon.”

Gabe and I sat down.

“Is this the legendary Kitten that you told me about?”

“Yes, Gabe. I was honestly confused for a few seconds. Yeah, she's got a pub I knew, but I never went to.”

“Did you ever love her?”

“I suppose I did. So many tears. My blue-eyed little Kitten.”