Dare You? Tina Ch. 02

"Beautiful son, beautiful," the tramp cooed.

Tina looked back at him like she was surprised he was there. She looked at me and dived to get her coat, which I had placed on an old broken chair. We moved out into the daylight, and I gave Tina a few minutes to calm down. We went back around the corner to the main shopping area. Tina stopped at the boarded up window, which so much had gone on behind. I just watched her place the palm of her hand on the wood which covered the window. Probably she couldn't believe what she had just done behind that very window.

For a few seconds I left her to think whatever she was thinking. I just watched her, captivated by this strange act. Now and then people looked at her, but that was all it was, just a quick glance at the woman who seemed to be in touch with the wood, or someone weird like that. Finally she turned and smiled at me, and then straightened her face. She walked the few paces between us.

"Can we walk together for awhile, please?"

She slipped her arm through mine as I nodded. We didn't speak, but Tina had this aura about her, a satisfied happiness, which she was revelling in. We walked slowly, whilst all around us people rushed by, intent on doing what they had to do. It was like a film where we were the two main characters, and everyone else was the extras and didn't mean fuck all. After a few minutes she stopped, and I watched her smile up ahead. She looked at me grinning,

"There's Jayne, the woman I was with in the café, the day you dropped the card on the table."

Jayne hadn't spotted us yet; she was too busy being weighed down with two kids, who seemed to be trying to get her into a toy shop. Suddenly one of the extras had a main part in this film, or life, and I didn't like that.

Tina pulled out of my hand and went to Jayne. I watched as she eagerly greeted her friend, and then Tina turned round, I suspect to introduce me. Her head spun this way and that, and her happy smile dropped. She looked back at Jayne, and shrugged her shoulders. Tina carried on a conversation with Jayne, and now and then she looked back over her shoulder for me. I watched from the doorway of a book shop, as they walked in the other direction together. Now and then Tina looked back to see if she could see me. I was lost now in the sea of faces. I lit a cigarette and walked off in the other direction.

Tina phoned me several times, and I ignored her calls. Gradually the time between the calls became longer and longer, until they stopped altogether.