They were sat in the pub, as usual, and Hank was in a good mood. All was well with the world. They were both on leave, Rosey had finally had enough and kicked Bill out and he had moved back into the flat four days ago. And to cheer him up they had started getting up to there usual fun and games. It was working as well. Bill was smiling, even giggling at times and Rosey had not been mentioned once.
Bills phone rang but Hank picked it up before he did. ‘That Bitch’ flashed on the screen.
“Who is it?” asked Bill.
“Er well, rosey mate” Hank held up his hand indicating to Bill that he would not let him speak to her, and pressed answer, “Hello you’re through to Bill’s phone”.
“Hank?” By the sound of it she had been crying, “Is he there, can I talk to him?”
“Rosey I don’t think that’s a good idea, I can’t see him wanting to take you back, after all that’s happened.”
“Him take me back! What has he told you? Look let me talk to him!”
“Look breaking up is hard to do, is it really worth arguing who is to blame?”
“He pissed all over the living room! He came back drunk, pissed all over the living room and then used all the freshly ironed clothes to mop it up, MY CLOTHES”
“Well look Rosey, maybe it’s for the best. The two of you have been unhappy for so long, and yet now you should see Bill, He is calm, smiling carefree chap that he hasn’t been for a long time, Do you want to make him unhappy? Do you? Do you Rosey?”
“You fucker, you never liked me, all you have done is try and break us up, well I hope you two cunts get some fucking dick rot and die, Bastards”
Bill looked at Hank and mouthed “What ‘s she saying?” Hank again motioned Bill to be quiet.
“Yeah that’s the spirit, you take care”
“Cunts” Rosey screamed but Hank was already pressing the hang up symbol.
“Well what did she want?”
“Oh she just hoped you were well, reckons it’s for the best, usual break up stuff”
“But she’s ok? She isn’t upset?”
“Erm a bit, but she mentioned something about going on a date before she hung up so no worries there”
“Oh, right, so it is over then.” As he said this Hank’s phone rang.
“Hello your through to Hank.”
“You sick fucker, I suppose you think your funny”
“Er who is this?” But the caller had hung up and left no number.
Bill was smiling,” so who was that mate?”
“Fuck knows mate, been getting calls like that all day, don’t know why. Fancy a pint?”
That was of course a daft question. The quiz machine took a pile of money off them and the landlord was wringing his hands in glee, truly there were no better customers than these. Three O clock came and went with Bill and Hank the only customers, he had to change the hopper in the machine twice which mean that his two week holiday, all inclusive to the Algarve was paid for. The lads had enough and left at 4 O clock. Outside it was cold and wet but they were oblivious to the weather. Back in the flat they had a night cap and fell asleep in the living room. Hank woke at 6 and went to work leaving Bill at home alone. He awoke about noon , had a shower and a bite to eat. Then boredom set in. He didn’t fancy a drink yet and Hank would undoubtedly have plans for later so he sat down to watch daytime TV. Christ that proved really boring so he paced up and down the room thinking of something to do. His eyes settled on the phone, he could phone someone and arrange to do something. Two phone calls later he had exhausted all his friends and they weren’t keen on doing anything. Next he called the television stations to complain of the quality of day time television. He started with a rant to BBC1. The PR lady he spoke to apologised profusely and explained that as the entire day time audience consisted of single mothers eating pasties and smoking heroin there was no need for quality programs before 6 pm . On a brighter note she explained that the beeb were having difficulty recruiting half wits for Bargain hunt, and if he could find a partner they would gladly have them on the show. Bill accepted at once and gave Hanks name as his partner.
Hank returned from work quite tired and had a large Jamesons. Bill was full of excitement and babbled his news to a fairly unresponsive Hank. He just didn’t seem that interested or enthusiastic. Bill threw himself into the preparations with a vigour seldom seen in the flat. He spent every spare moment on line and when not sat at the computer desk he had his nose in an antique journal or book. It was beginning to become an obsession, every conversation was about antiques, walking anywhere he would stop and question the monetary value of anything as they walked past.
The night before the show they were in the stoke arms for a quiet one, the bbc were sending a driver and to be clever they left their wallets at home and had brought a tenner each, guaranteed to be back early.
Pint fella? Eh, oh hang on a minute.” Hanks phone was ringing. “hello you’re through to Hank.”
“I suppose you think it’s funny?” said the caller, “you sick twat”
“look will you people stop calling. At least tell me what I’ve done!” but it was no good, the caller had hung up.
“still getting those calls mate” Bill asked with a wry smile.
“yeah it’s fucking mental, dave two of the usual please mate. By the way dave are you still keeping the policy of no bar tabs?”
“yes Hank, it only leads to arguments, I know you two are my best customers and that….”
“No fella , that’s fine, we’re limiting ourselves tonight, only brought limited funds but as a precaution. Did we mention we’re on telly tomorrow?”
“Oh jeez,” said dave under his breath,” Yeah, Bill has mentioned it a few times”
At the Bill perked up “ oh yeah dave I forgot about that, did you get the bar pumps valued? Was I right? Was I?”
“No I didn’t Bill, will you just let it go. Anyway Hank, I thought you were banned from the telly, after countdown.”
“only channel four mate, this is the digital age, plenty more channels to go round. Cheers shippers”
“Cheers” Bill and Hank supped at the pints. “fella fancy wasting a couple of quid in the quiz machine?” Behind his eyes Dave danced for joy, it was going to be the best holiday ever!
The driver picked them up at 06:00 sharp. They both settled in the back and were soon asleep. It only took ten minutes before they were at the antique fair and went in to make up. By ten they were ready to start filming.
“here comes that ponce in the waistcoat” Hank observed.
“Mate” replied Bill.”Do you know who that man is ? He has spent a life in the business and there is nothing he doesn’t know about antiques. For example..”
“Fuck up mate, you really are becoming a bore. Right I think we are on”.
With that they were taken for the first shot. As the three hundred pounds was handed over Hank grabbed it and set off for the antique fair leaving Bill to be introduced to the guest specialist. He was tall, middle aged, handsome in a roguish manner and orange, bright orange. Bills jaw hit the ground. He was totally in awe and unable to speak beyond nodding and smiling inanely. They set off in search of Hank hand in hand and after about twenty minutes gave up the search and concentrated instead on finding bargains. Whatever David pointed out Bill agreed with wholeheartedly. Even when Dave produced two plastic cups of tea and asked Bill how he liked it Bill said that although fairly modern there was almost certainly a market for mass produced plastic cups in the not too distant future. Dave said no, did he want sugar or not.
It had been a good couple of hours since they had seen Hank, which surprised Bill, it took a lot of explaining from david and the film crew that although the show only lasted a half hour they had to film all day and there wasn’t a time limit on collecting the antiques. And Hank had not showed up, and he still had the money.
David picked up a cracked, puce coloured vase, “so Bill what do you reckon about this piece?”
“Christ on a bike! David you ask me about that vase one more fucking time and I’ll shove it up your arse. I hate the thing…”
“cut!” it was the director.
“why do I agree to working with these people?” david slammed the vase down and walked off into the crowd with one of the assistants running after him.
The director walked up to Bill, “Right ok Bill, I gather from the driver you had a bit of a late night last night so I’ll go through this one more time. For us to get all the angles we have to record you and david having the same conversation a few times. It’s because we have only the one camera”
“Yeah I get that bit. But why does it always have to be the same fucking vase every time”
Something snapped inside the directors brain “Because,” he yelled “it has to look like it happens only once and will be shown that way, do it your way and the vase will keep changing into different things! Why can’t you get that that into your skull, it has to be the same vase!”
“But why?”
“because it fucking does, otherwise the dolies, single bloody mums and students will be thinking my goodness isn’t dave clever he just magically changed that puce vase into a donkey, then a picture frame then a fucking teacup. That is why it always has to be the vase! This Vase, this cracked, puke coloured vile fucking vase!”
“Yeah, ok. But even if we’re not going to buy it?”
That was it, he’d had enough, the director needed a break. “Bill look we’re going to need a bit of time to er pick locations and stuff so why don’t you try and find that friend of yours. And the money”
At that a commotion at the far end of the arena grabbed their attention. A sudden sense of dread came over Bill and he rushed to the area where a large crowd was quickly gathering. On arriving he caught glimpses of naked flesh and the distinct aroma of spirits. With a sinking heart he nudged forward to the centre of the crowd and his worst nightmare was realised. Hank was dancing, well moving around in the mud as naked as the day he was born singing a song about two dwarves and an antelope. In his hand he held a rather aged looking empty bottle and in the other hand a mis-shaped turnip. On seeing Bill he stopped singing and rushed towards him claiming undying love and loyalty. Bill hurried him away to a quiet corner and got him dressed.
“Where is the money mate?”
“You are a great mate you are. This was a brilliant idea. I did buy you a drink but you were not here so I had it. I am so sorry mate, I really am.”
“Hank, where is the money, you cant have drank £300 quid in a couple of hours and there is no bookies so just calm down and show me the money. Come on Hank hand over the cash and we can get some bargains, that Dickenson fella is doing my head in, the daft fucker keeps showing me the same horrible vase.”
“Ah yeah, the money, if you will excuse the pun, I have entered into the spirit of the game. Walking past a high quality off licence I noticed an antique bottle in the window, on closer examination I realised that the bottle was indeed old and so probably worth a few quid. Obviously I then bought it, and I knocked the price down from 310 to 290, so theres a bargain and there was enough left over for 20 fags.”
Bill looked on bewildered. “So fella you bought a 300 quid bottle of whisky, drank the contents and now believe that we can take the empty bottle to auction and make a profit on 300 quid expenditure on a empty fucking bottle. For christs sake fella you just fuck up everything you touch. Selfish bastard.”
Hank was stunned. What the hell did Bill expect, he would show the bastard. He said he was going for a cup of coffee and would return presently. Bill was left holding the empty bottle, looking bemused and above all disappointed.
Later that evening Hank returned, sober. They were filming the last bits before the auction and were taking great delight in taking the piss out of the blue teams empty bottle, saying that the reds were assured of victory. Bill was looking embarrassed and squarely laying the blame at Hanks feet. The orange bloke asked Hank what he thought his chances were in the most sarcastic manner he could summon and was shocked when Hank insisted that they had a good chance of making a decent profit. Everyone laughed chummily and nodded their heads in unison.
The atmosphere in the flat that night was far from pleasant. Bill was sulking and Hank gave up trying to mollify him. Each went to their rooms early and got their heads down. Next morning Bill awoke to Hank singing cheerily from the kitchen. The smell of cooking breakfast wafted through the flat and Bills stomach started to growl. Hank shouted through that he had made breakfast so Bill got up and showered and came into the kitchen. Hank had just finished an enormous breakfast and was clearing the table.
“Cheers mate, where is it?” said Bill.
“Wheres what?”
“My breakfast, you said that you had made me breakfast, remember, so come on fella I am starving.”
“Ah, I think that you will find you mardy git that I shouted that I had made breakfast, which I did, I made it and I ate it. As you aren’t speaking to me it is not likely that I will cook for you is it? Now come on we have to get to the auction house.”
Bill was shocked. How bloody petty, but was determined to rise above it.” There is no bloody way that I am going to that auction, just to be made to look like a total twat on national television. So you fuck off you fat Irish turd and enjoy, we all know that you are a twat anyway.”