LAST CUBA LIBRE

TONY

I park the Carrera in Piazza Cavour between Claudio's Maserati and the X5 with a 'Fuck' sticker on the rear window, belonging to my pusher. In front of the post office I pass a girl I once screwed. She's arm in arm with her boyfriend and doesn't say hello.

I turn the corner and enter Miami and almost bump into one of the waitresses I screwed – two out of three at Miami – and I glance over the tables until I see the one Greta is sitting at with three other girls, and, if I'm not mistaken, I screwed two of them about a year ago.

I walk over and say 'hello' to Greta. I apologise for being late and say that I was watching Dismissed on Mtv. Greta objects that Dismissed is on at two in the afternoon and the two girls I screwed look at each other and start laughing and Greta turns to them and says, "What's up?" and they say in chorus "Nothing" and I feel an urgent need to alter my perceptions and ask Leo where Max is and he says he's in the toilets with Claudio and I hurry in there.

I walk in and call, "Guys..." The door of one of the stalls opens and Claudio and Max are in there sniffing.

"You're late," says Claudio. "Where have you been?"

I stick two fingers under his nose so that he can smell the cunt of the girl from Blockbuster.

"Wow," he sniggers. "An excellent year."

"Got anything for me?" I ask Max.

"Sure, hombre," he answers preparing a line. "There you go."

I bend over, take the rolled up banknote and sniff so hard the white powder seems to tickle my brain, then I take another sniff with the right nostril and I stand up and shake my head to steady myself and I wipe my nose with the back of my hand and I immediately feel more charged and gritty and active and at the same time clear headed, not stoned or groggy like when I smoke a joint, that's the good thing about coke, you guys!

"This stuff sends you fast forward!" says Max sniffing, and I leave.

Max and Claudio close the door and I greet my PR friend Manuel with a slap on the back. He asks if I am going to the sex party and I say, "Of course."

Manuel gives me a ticket and some drink vouchers and I ask if he knows any tricks for jumping the queue and he gives me the name of one of the organisers and I thank him again and say I'll see him there. I stop at the bar and ask the barman for a Black Hawk and he pours 3/5 gin and 2/5 whiskey into the shaker with ice cubes, shakes it and serves the drink in a narrow glass. I pay and return to Greta's table. Max and Claudio are also returning. The girls are cheerful and chatty, except for Greta, who is sipping her Piňa Colada listlessly and brooding over Dismissed, I'm afraid, and she wants to know why I didn't answer the phone, if I was in the house and watching TV. I tell her I was taking a shower and she demands to see my mobile. I sigh and take my Nokia 6260 Smartphone out of my pocket and put it on the table. In any case, I've deleted the all the text messages and the lists of calls.