38 - The Gift of Giving

Even though the pub is dingy, practically empty and a good twelve miles from Tendringhoe, Sian feels anxious. What if some friends of her parents come in? What if some friends of hers come in?! She has picked a small table in the corner between the pool room and the gents, but still leans back into the coat rack every time the door opens.
“How you doing then, babe?” Dezzy says, returning from the bar with half a pint of lager and a rum and coke.
“It’s a bit of dump isn’t it?”
“It’s not so bad.” He scans the brightly patterned interior then nods at a huge games machine. “That’s a good one. Very good effects.” Dezzy drums on the table with the flats of his hands, then stretches back in his chair and puts his arms behind his head, forcing the energy down into his right leg which starts to jig up and down.

“What’s in the bag?” Sian asks, looking at the large orange carrier bag beside Dezzy’s chair.
“What’s in the bag? Now let me see. Hmmm, I don’t remember? What is in the bag?” He leans over and hangs his arm over her shoulder. “As if you didn’t know.” He kisses her ear and puts his hand on her thigh. Sian pushes it down to a respectable position, and pecks him on his bristly cheek. “Come on, then, Dezzy-Dez. Show me what Santa’s bought me for being a good girl.”
Dezzy pretends he’s about to unzip his flies and expose himself.
“Dezzy!” She grabs his hands.
Dezzy laughs loudly. “Oh sorry – you mean the present.”
Sian leans over to grab the bag from the floor but Dezzy pushes it away with his foot. “Where’s my present, first?”
“Haven’t got you one.” She picks up her drink and starts swizzling the ice cubes around with her finger.
“Yeah you have, I saw it in your bag when you was in the bog.”
“Dezzy! You shouldn’t go through my bag!”
He leans into her. “Was it expensive?”
Sian sighs. “It’s the thought that counts.”
“Cheap then.”

Sian puts both arms round Dezzy’s neck and looks into his eyes. “Come on baby, give me my present.”
Dezzy hands her the bag. She pulls out a large, untidy shaped package wrapped in supermarket-thin paper dotted with snowmen. There’s no tag. She can feel the contents through the wrapping. Soft and squishy but too firm to be clothes. Oh no, she thinks, please don't let it be a stuffed toy. She pauses. “Actually, I’m going to wait until Christmas Day.” She says, and tries to put it under her chair.
“I want you to open it now.” Dezzy says, pulling it back onto the table. “I want to see your reaction.”
“It’s unlucky.”
“Open it!” Dezzy insists, draping his arm across the back of her chair.

She tears back the paper and reveals a large fluffy white toy cat. It has a collar round its neck with a red love-heart hanging from it. She’s seen them on the market. A whole stall of them, all the same. “It’s sweet.” She covers it back up with the paper and tries to reseal it with the furzy tab of sellotape. “Thanks”.
Even Dezzy senses her disappointment. “Look, it’s cute.” He pulls it back out of the paper, and holds it in front of his face. “Hello, lovely lady” he mimes in a high-pitched meow. He leans towards her and angles the cat’s head on one side. “Why you look so bloody miserable?”
She pushes him away. “I’m not miserable. I’m just a bit tired. I’ve got a bit of a headache coming on, actually.”
“Whassa matter baby. Don’t you like my pussy?”
Sian glances across at the elderly couple at the next table. “Dezzy! Keep your voice down!”

He drops the cat face down on the table. It has a rough nylon base with a label on the seam. The fact that it’s fire retardant doesn’t strike Sian as a good thing.
“You don’t like it.” Dezzy says, dejectedly.
“I do. It’s cute. It’s just…”
“What?”
“Nothing. It’ll be my mascot. For my car, when I pass my test”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Dezzy lies. “So where’s my present then?”
Sian hands him a small, flat, square package. He takes off the raffia binding.

“What you tied it up with straw for?”
“It’s raffia.”
“Oh, well pardon me, m’lady, I didn’t know it was raahfiah – ooh la la!” He takes off the hand-made paper and flings it to one side without a glance. “Oh yeah, cheers babe, that’s fierce.” It’s the new United Stereo Collective CD he’s been dropping hints for. Sian leans over and opens the case. “There’s something else.” Inside the case are two tickets to see United Stereo Collective, who is in fact one man, performing live.
“How d’you get tickets! I thought it was sold out?”
“I got them ages ago. Day they came on sale”
“You did?” He looks up at her. “For me?” He turns the tickets over in his hands. “No-one’s ever….” He stops himself. “Wow. Thanks babe. .” Dezzy places the tickets carefully back in the case. He doesn’t know what to say. “Happy Christmas, baby!” He raises his glass. Hers is empty but she clinks it against his anyway. He takes the glass from her hand. “What you having then?” He’s already on his feet. “Another rum and coke?” He goes up to the bar without waiting for an answer. “A rum and coke for the lady, please, Mein Hose.”

Whilst Dezzy’s up at the bar Sian stuffs the cat back in its wrapper and puts it down on the floor. She really does have a headache now. She doesn’t want another drink. She just wants to go home.