The Cutting Room Read Free Page A

into a folder. Skinny made do with carrying himself. They stepped by me, lowering guilty eyes. I watched them go, wondering who they were collecting for,
     
    and if this would be the day the lift stranded me between
    floors. If it was, Rose Bowery would probably leave me there until an object of value came along. The lift juddered to a halt, I eased back the metal grille, the heavy outer door crashed open and there was Rose.
    If Maria Callas and Paloma Picasso had married and had a
    daughter she would look like Rose. Black hair scraped back from her face, pale skin, lips painted torture red. She smokes Dunhill, drinks at least one bottle of red wine a night, wears black and has never married. Four centuries ago Rose would
    have been burnt at the stake and some days I think I would
    have been in the crowd cheering the action along. They call
    her the Whip; you might think she likes the name, she
    encourages it so. Rose and I have worked together since Joe
    Bowery died twenty years ago. I have never been so close to a woman, never wanted to be.
    `So, Rilke, tell me why we are about to do three weeks’
    work in one?’
    I settled myself on the edge of a 1960s dressing table and
    fingered a black hollow where a cigarette had burnt away the veneer.
    `No choice, Rose. It’s good stuff. We’ll do well. It was
    take it or leave it.’
     
    `And you thought that was a decision you could make on
    your own??
     
    ‘Yes.’
    `Rilke, when my father left me his share in this auction
    house it was little better than a junk mart and organised fence.
    What is it now? I raised my eyebrows; never interrupt the
    litany. `It’s the best auction house in Glasgow. But it’ll not stay the best if you do things like this. There is no way we can shift that amount of stuff in a week.’
     
    `Wait till you see it. We can shift it, Rose.’
    `We can shift it, Rose. There’s no we about it. You made this decision all on your owney-oh. What if I’d arranged something else??
    ‘But you haven’t.’
    `Lucky for you. But I could have. You’ve never grown up if anything you regress a little every year. It’s going to be a real push to manage this job in the time allocated. What if I had got something else? Whenever I think you’re calming down
    something happens and I’m visiting the police station or
    the hospital. Sometimes I think you’re the reason I never
    had kids, I’ve been lumbered with you since I was eighteen.’
    She turned away. `Jesus, it’s been some bloody afternoon.’
    `The reason you never had kids, Rose, is you would
    strangle them in the first week. But if you’ve changed your
    mind we could probably have them together. I owe you that
    much. You’re forever getting me out of trouble and I never
    have to hit anyone in your defence or mind you when you’re
    on a tear.’
    `Ach.’ She waved my words away. `Do you not think I
    should have been consulted??
    ‘It was take it or leave and it’s unbelievable stuff. Christ knows why they’ve called us in, but be glad they have. This
    could make us, and if we pull our finger out we can do it in a week. Look around you. What’s in here right now?
    The room had the dead feeling common to public buildings
    when empty of people. Without the activity of a sale it was a ghost of itself, an echoing shell. There was a junk of heavy oak furniture, monstrosities too big for modern apartments,
    boxes of soiled drapery and bric-a-brac. Six large wardrobes stood like upright coffins against the far wall.
     
    `For God’s sake, Rose, look at those wardrobes. The Sally
     
    Ann had a sign in their window last week, Buy one wardrobe, get another one free.’
    `We’ve had better sales.’
    `Woolworth’s has had better sales. It’s sad, Rose, sad.
    Crap furniture for DHSS landlords and it’s been like that for weeks, months. This is good stuff, the best. I’ve seen it,
    you’ve not. We can shift it, but only if we stop arguing and get moving.’
    Rose had taken out her cigarettes