Parables of Clippety (6) - Never Been High

 

‘Angel’s Trumpet powder.’

 

‘What?’

 

‘That’s only one of the names for it. It’s all fine. People get so het up about drugs but honestly this is nothing out of the ordinary. I only got a tiny amount. It is potent stuff though. Hey, I had quite a funny experience when I was preparing the bait you know.’

 

‘The bait?’

 

‘Yes, the Love Heart sweets for Jurgen. I was dusting them with the special stuff, using my make-up brush and I actually got a high just from the particles in the air.’

 

‘Really?’ Clare froze and looked concerned. ‘How frightening. I’ve never been high before.’

 

Marni smiled, shrugging her shoulders, she said, ‘It didn’t last for long, at least I don’t think so, well I don’t know how long it lasted, like I said, I lose track of time these days but I know it was still daylight when I came to, and I’m pretty sure it was still the same day.’

 

 

‘Came to?’

 

‘Yes I went away,’ she pointed at the ceiling, ‘somewhere far away. I had a dream that Christopher and I were still together and..’

 

‘Oh god!’ Clare began to laugh.

 

Marni joined in with the laughter for a few seconds, then pulled herself together. ‘And he was going to prison for fraud.’

 

‘Fraud, Christopher? The most straight-laced person on the planet?’

 

‘I know, and he was trying to drag me down with him but the thing was, I woke up, pulled myself together and realised I was in a different room and guess what?’

 

‘What?’ Clare asked, smiling and frowning in the same face.

 

‘There was a cake baking in the oven, one that I had cooked myself, the smell filled the house! I have absolutely no memory of it. ’

 

‘You’re joking! Was it an angel cake?’

 

Marni looked confused for a second. ‘Oh, ha ha,’ she laughed, ‘no, it was a cake from a box, Betty Crocker, just add eggs and stir but the thing was I didn’t, not enough anyway. When I ate it there were lots of little cells of dry powder in it but like I said, I don’t remember a thing about it.’

 

‘Really? It’s that strong? Isn’t it just going to knock him out then...or maybe fucking kill him.’ Clare was getting undressed now. She was changing into a bodycon dress made from thick, red and white polyester, pulling it up over her white flesh which made it dimple unflatteringly.

 

‘I doubt it,’ said Marni as she let the nail varnish brush glide along her nails. She had a very steady hand, in seconds her nails were neatly painted, ‘Well I suppose it could but it’s a calculated risk. I reckon he’ll be okay, he’s a big man, he can take it.’

 

‘He’s German.’

 

‘Ja! And it’s only a sprinkle he’s getting. He’ll never notice it on his sweets, they’re dusty anyway. You wouldn't know anything was amiss. I’ll show you in a minute when my nails have dried.’

 

‘Okay. By the way, did you bring a coat, Marni? You can’t wear that bodywarmer over your posh dress.’

 

‘No, it’s not that cold is it?’

 

‘It’s getting chilly. You can borrow my mac if you like. I don’t feel the cold these days.’

 

‘No, you’re alright. I think it’ll swamp me Clare.’

 

Clare paused, she felt a degree of anger rise within her. ‘I don’t think I’m that much bigger than you.’

 

‘Okay,’ Marni said dismissively as she put on lipstick, smacking her lips together several times. 

 

 

‘I can’t wait to touch him, kiss his neck, suck his blood. Do you think German blood tastes different?’

 

‘What? Different to what? Whose blood have you been sucking Marni?’

 

Marni shrugged. ‘No-ones, as yet. But it’s kind of a fantasy, actually it’s one I’m having with increasing regularity.’

 

Clare turned to stare at Marni’s face. ‘You've been very pale recently. I don’t think you’re getting enough iron.’

 

‘Do you like my dress?’ Marni held up a knee-length black dress, rather plain with a high neck and a lace panel cut-out just above the chest.

 

Clare studied it for a few seconds. ‘Yes. It’s a safe choice, not like my bright red number. I wanted to get into the spirit of Liverpool. Your’s is a bit like something you’d wear on a work night out.’

 

‘Eurrgh, I knew you’d put a downer on it. Well, I don’t have a job and too much red doesn’t suit my pale skin-tone. At least now, my nails will be a little nod to the football club. I don’t want to look like a pillar-box.’

 

Clare put her hands on her hips. A second degree of anger took hold of her, she said, ‘I wondered how long it would be before you made a derogatory remark about my body shape. I can’t help it, my boobs won’t stop growing and my torso has been like this since Adam was born and it doesn’t matter how many sit-ups I do, it’s never going to change. It’s just one of those things that happens when you’ve given birth, it happens to mums everywhere, the world over and you just live with it!’

 

Marni blushed slightly and looked as if she’d been struck across her face. ‘Hmmm,’ she said, ‘it didn’t take you long to make one of your, I have a child and you don’t, comments, did it Clare?’

 

There were a few moments of silence while both women aggressively applied make-up, each returning their cosmetics to their respective make-up bags with an audible click before rummaging around aggressively to locate the next one. Marni felt deeply sad as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, her girlish figure, suspended, unchanging and unspent.

 

 

 

Clare had always hated the sight of herself but her overwhelming emotion was more anger than sadness. She’d been bubbling with anger for almost twenty years when her fiance Robert left her with a newborn baby and disappeared with the woman who came around to measure the windows in their conservatory for Roman blinds. A livid serpent lived inside her and it was constantly searching for people to hiss at.

 

‘I wasn’t referring to your body shape Clare,’ Marni said slowly and quietly as she stepped into her dress. ‘You do have quite a wide mouth but I don’t think an envelope would fit through it.’

 

Clare gasped then laughed and sighed at the same time before becoming slightly glassy eyed. ‘I’m glad you’re my friend,’ she said.

 

‘Me too,’ said Marni and sidled up to her friend and gave her a half hug. ‘Zip me up will you. Tonight everything will change, you’ll see.’

 

‘Gosh Marni,’ Clare gazed at her friend’s back, pale and bony with a few wispy hairs growing downstream from her spine. ‘You haven’t changed in twenty years have you. Still a size eight, maybe even a six.’

 

‘Your hand’s fucking freezing Clare, hurry up!’