Wigan is Wonderful

Oh Wigan town (Oh Wigan town), Is wonderful (Is wonderful), Oh Wigan
town is wonderful. It's full of tits, fanny and football. Oh Wigan town
is wonderful. (Folk song)

*************************

Wigan is wonderful, thought Jason. Where else in the country, in the
whole fucking world, could you be in a strange house, kneeling on the
living room floor, banging the arse off some bird whose name you forgot
the moment she told you because you're so pissed? Jason knew how he'd
got here, he just wasn't too sure of where here was. He was still
marvelling about how it had even happened and that was making the
details a little blurry. One minute he'd been standing in the taxi rank
arguing with some girl that her house wasn't on his route home, the
next thing he knew they were chewing each other's faces off on the back
seat. And now her skirt was pulled up around her waist while her
parents snored away loudly upstairs. He couldn't stop smiling. They'd
started on the couch and he'd lifted up her skirt to go down on her.
She'd held his head down for as long as he could take while she ground
her hips against his face and then begged him to bite her neck. She
wanted a mark, she said, a big fucking mark. And he couldn't even
remember her name. His smile turned into a grin as he grabbed her
harder and the next thing he knew he couldn't stop laughing.

*************************

Denise sat back on the burn-hole cratered brown sofa and inhaled
deeply. The room was filled with blue smoke, which hung around in the
air and made her vision even more hazy. Her head was swimming as all
the substances inside her body made their way through her blood stream.
There was music, but it sounded muted inside her head. There were other
people, but she couldn't focus on all the figures moving around in
front of her. She felt the sofa move as someone fell next to her and
removed the joint from her hand. She turned and saw his face but it
blurred away in front of her eyes. She felt like she was going to be
sick, but when she tried to stand she realised she couldn't. Her legs
didn't feel like they were attached to the rest of her anymore. Pins
and needles ran through her entire body and while her feet felt heavy
on the floor, her legs felt fluid. She remembered how she had arrived
at the flat with Dan, her boyfriend, how he had helped her up the
flights of stairs in the tower block. But she didn't know where he was
now and she was beginning to lose the battle with the rising sensation
emanating from her stomach. Suddenly she felt arms lifting her up from
the sofa, dragging her through another room as the fluid inside her
rose and she saw it spray out before her as the bathroom door was flung
open and she fell towards the toilet. She grabbed out at the porcelain
and tried to aim into the bowl, retching even harder as she saw the
vomit already inside. When there was no more to come, she turned to see
whoever had helped her into the room was no longer there before leaning
against the wall next to her and passing out.

*************************

Drink up gentlemen.

Been watching 'tics tonight Frank?

Aye, down at JJB.

What were score in end? Last I heard it were two nil.

Three bloody nil in end. Waste o' bloody time. That manager wants his
head seeing to, I've never seen such a bloody shower in all me
life.

Three nil at home, that's sacrilege that.

It's bloody scandalous is what it is. And that forward, the new lad,
couldn't score in a bloody brothel. No heart, that's trouble. No bloody
heart.

Mark heard the men talking in the other bar, but his eyes and his
thoughts were firmly fixed on the main function room where the DJ box
was being packed away in the far corner as the hen night wound down.
Mark stood by the bar and watched the women dancing without music, some
singing off in a corner, the older ones slowly finishing their drinks
or putting on their coats and saying goodbye to the merry girl by the
door, who propped up her back with one hand and held a half empty wine
glass in the other. Mark's eyes didn't leave her bulging stomach as she
laughed with the departing women. He couldn't take his mind off how
she'd grabbed his arse when he'd been crossing the dance floor earlier
with the green glass carrier heavy in his hand. The bump fascinated him
and for a brief second he felt as though her eyes met his when she
turned and accepted a cigarette from the girl next to her. When he
realised she wasn't going to look back again he turned and saw his dad
waiting in the members bar to his right.

Time gentlemen please!

Sneak us a pint while he's not looking lad.

Dad I can't do that I'll get sacked.

No you won't. Come on, now, while his back's turned. He's a friend of
mine anyway, if he sees you I'll sort it out.

Alright dad.

There's a good lad.

Mark stop nattering away you lazy bastard! Jack stop distracting your
lad, he's supposed to be bloody working for me, not propping up the
other side of the bar.

Go on lad, get yourself collecting some glasses, here's fifty p for
that pint.

Oh cheers dad.

Mark get your arse round there and get some bloody glasses!

*************************

Look what you've done to me neck, me mam's gonna fucking kill me. What?
said Jason, his eyes having trouble focusing on what was happening and
his head taking an age to work out where the hell he was. Look at it,
how am I going to hide this? she said, and Jason began to remember
where he was and what had happened. He looked at her neck and saw that
she had about four love-bites up one side, running from near her
collarbone almost to her jaw. The bigger ones were joined up by lighter
coloured bruises and made that part of her neck nearly completely
black. Fuck was all he could say. Fuck, she says, what am I going to
tell me mam? I don't know Jason said, you asked me to do it. She said,
Well you've got to go, she'll be up any minute. Who will? Me mam.
Finally her words started connecting with something in Jason's brain
and he was filled with an instinctive survival response. He sat up
immediately and found he was naked. He was sure she hadn't slept in the
bed with him, it was too small. The room seemed like it belonged to a
little kid, a younger brother or sister. There were teddy bears on the
wallpaper next to his head and the bed he was in definitely belonged to
a smaller person. Come on, get your clothes on, she said and Jason took
his boxers from her and stood up to put them and the rest of his
clothes on. His hangover hit him the minute he found his feet and he
dizzily fell onto the bed again. Jesus are you still pissed? she said.
Fuck, was all Jason could manage. I'll go and phone you a taxi, you've
got to get out of here.

*************************

Denise woke up feeling even worse than she had the night before. She
had no idea where she was at first, but she was on her side. She tried
to blink her eyes open but her lids felt stuck together. Her neck hurt
like hell and she uncurled herself from the foetal position she was
lying in. There was a naked light-bulb shining directly above her and
the sun was beaming through an open window above a dishevelled bed to
her left. She wasn't nearly ready to deal with the searing pain inside
her head, which felt as though someone had started a small fire behind
her eyes, and she let out an audible groan. She sat up, but couldn't
stretch her legs out and it took her a moment to realise her knickers
were around her knees. She looked around quickly but couldn't see
anyone in the room with her and she grabbed between her legs and felt
the flaky substance there. She lifted her hand to her nose and smelled
what was on her fingers before using what energy she had left to pull
her underwear back up and run out of the room, not registering if
anyone was in the flat or not, just wanting to leave and trying not to
vomit as she skidded down the concrete steps to the street below.

*************************

He is in love with her. She does not know this, just like she doesn't
know that he watches her and thinks about her nearly all of the time.
He has seen her getting undressed hundreds of times, it is an almost
nightly ritual and he will break off any prior engagement to be in his
room with the lights off late at night so he can watch her. He hopes
that she knows he is watching, but he doesn't think it is true. She's
just careless at closing the curtains that's all. He always wanted a
girl next door, but he is happy to fantasise instead about the one over
the road. He is fifteen and she is nineteen and she has always gone out
with boys very different to him. He knows she would not look at him
twice. He stands by the road, his arm over next door's car, with what
he hopes is his best film star look. But the effort is wasted. She
looks at him briefly, smiles and even says hi, before swaying off down
the road. Off to see him probably, her future husband, to tell him all
about last night over a couple more drinks and continue last night's
feeling.

*************************

Look at that, I'm not kidding. Some men are so fucking stupid. They
work like slaves on twelve hour shifts and think their wives are just
happily wandering around the park pushing the pram.

Jay, that's what they are doing.

That's what they're doing now, but you need to be a little bit
persuasive. All they need is one little push in the right direction and
they're putty in your hands, I'm telling you.

And how would you know?

Because I've experienced it first hand, that's how I know.

As if you have.

I'm telling you there's no feeling like banging a woman that belongs to
someone else, no feeling in the world. I've had a woman spread out on
her back screaming away while her kid is screaming blue murder in the
next room.

Doesn't that distract you?

No way, it makes you remember what she is, that she's got a kid and a
husband and that she's sick of it, bored to death with it all and she
wants you to fuck her brains out. And so you fuck her brains out, she
gets fucked and her husband comes home too tired anyway and gets his
dinner fresh on the table from a smiling wife. Everyone's happy.

The husbands wouldn't be happy if they ever found out.

Well I'm not going to tell them. And who else is going to? Not the
wife, she's shit scared now, that's why she has dinner on the table the
minute he gets back. It amazes me they never notice a thing, mind you
they're so dumb these guys they never know the difference. Slaves to
the system, they come home tired from work, tired with life and think
the wife's happy because they provide the money. Which they do, and so
I provide whatever else they need.

Pass us the can.

*************************

She takes a shower but she still can't get the dirt off her. It's as
though the filth is inside her, tainting her from her core. She scrubs
as the water cascades down her body and she grabs between her legs,
trying to wash away the idea as much as the physical remains. She has
no memory of what has happened, but she knows that it has. Her mind
races as she tries to think what to do next, where she can turn now.
She retches again, but there's nothing left inside her anymore. Maybe
it's started already. Maybe it's begun so soon. Salt water washes down
her face with the soap. Later, she stares at the mock Tudor shop fronts
in town and although she's there with three others she has never felt
so alone. She can talk tough with them and drink and have a laugh, but
there is not one among them she can discuss her fears with, or the fact
that if she is what she thinks she might be, she has no idea who the
father is. So she sits there and laughs when the boys come over, trying
all over again, worried that not one of them will ever touch her if
they find out.

*************************

Messing about on BMX's, racing around the old dirt track in the woods,
taking the jumps at speed and hanging on for dear life. He is still
thinking about her though, wondering if he'll ever meet a girl like
that, get her in the family way, settle down. One of his mates has
already done it and he says it's like a warm, wet tunnel. He told them
all as they sat round with the cigarettes pilfered from many mother's
untended packets, how girls moaned when you did this or that to them,
and how her hand had felt even better than his own. Mark doesn't know
whether what he is being told is true or not, but he does not dare
question the validity of the story - he is still a virgin, a baby. They
take a ball down to the school field later on and have a kick about,
whistling at some girls as they walk past the iron fence, the girls are
a lot older than they are, but they whistle anyway and cheer when one
lifts her top up and flashes them.

*************************

Lovely day for a walk.

You what?

I said it's a lovely day for a walk.

Says who?

Well, the sun's shining for a start.

Makes a difference from all the fucking rain.

Course it does. It yours, is it?

Yes. She's mine.

Little girl eh? She's a cracker, just like her mum.

What do you want?

Nothing. I just saw you walking and thought you might need some
company.

Oh yeh?

Well it can get lonely wandering about on your own, you know. Besides,
it looks like it could rain and I've got a coat you can borrow if it
does.

What do you care?

I have a specific empathy with the single mother's plight.

Have you now?

I think young mothers give off a glow you just don't see in other
women. It's very attractive all in all.

Is that right? And how young do you reckon I am?

I don't know, eighteen, nineteen.

I'm twenty-two. And I'm married.

That's not your fault is it? I can't be held responsible if your
husband isn't looking after you.

He's twenty-five.

Good for him, I hope he does well.

Why are you talking to me?

Well, you can't help but spot a rose in a field of weeds can you?

Why aren't you at work?

Is that where your husband is?

*************************

The rain falls heavy on Enfield Street, the clouds dark and sombre
above, the terraced red brick glistening. She stands in a shop doorway
as Dan fumbles around under her fleece. She feels numb but invites his
hand all the same, not thinking about last night anymore, but this
night and the next night, trying to keep her mind off the fact that
come Monday morning she'll be back behind the counter in Tesco's. Every
single fucking working day sitting at a till, with Dan the only bit of
fun she has. He has not mentioned last night and she doesn't think he
knows. But she doesn't care if she is pregnant anymore, if she is, Dan
will take care of her - he's said so before. He's said he'll get her a
ring as soon as he's saved up the money. She's already seen one she
likes. She opens her eyes for a moment to look at him as he fervently
sucks on her neck. She's only just got rid of the last mark, and it's
always hell to hide them from her mum, but she doesn't care. The
weekend is too precious to stand around worrying, and there's another
party to go to tonight.

*************************

He's back in her house near the park. He's on another living room
floor, but this is a younger home, not like last night where the
parents were upstairs. Two in two days, that's a personal record, even
for him. He was surprised how easy this one had been - it mustn't be
her first time and that turns him on even more. Thank God for the
English weather, the constant fucking rain. The minute the drops had
started to fall she had walked back to her house, with his coat over
her head. She barely flinched when he followed her, didn't say anything
when he walked in and put his arm around her from behind. The only time
she did stop him was to push the pram into the kitchen and he followed
her into the other room. Now she's on her knees between his legs and he
sits back on the sofa, his eyes moving from the plates on the walls to
her hitched-up skirt. The baby is crying in the other room and he
doesn't give a fuck.

*************************

Mark stands in the front yard, trying to find cover from the rain,
watching as she messes about with the bloke in the car dropping her off
and smiling as the windows start to steam over from the inside. He's
hiding behind the bushes, treasuring the moment, imagining it's him in
the car, his hand on that bump, his mouth on hers. He's kissed a girl
before, but he was drunk and now the memory isn't so vivid - he no
longer remembers what it tastes like, but he knows he wants to feel it
again. He's wanted inside for tea, his mum yelling blue murder because
the other two aren't back yet and he's nowhere to be found and that
useless fuck of a husband is down the pub again and the chips are
getting cold. The car bobs about from time to time and he raises his
head to see better when he hears her squeal with laughter. When they
finally stop and the car drives away he walks out into the yard and she
looks over and smiles at him, blowing him a kiss. He'll have her one
day.