"Fuck off," said Maureen.
"Forty," said Candy.
"Not you," said the man, "her," and he pointed at Maureen.
"You can fuck right off, son," said Maureen venomously.
"She's not working," said Candy. "Thirty."
The man looked at them and assessed the situation. He glanced down the road to the gangly woman standing on the street corner and slid back reluctantly into the driver's seat. "Twenty-five," he said.
Candy broke away and got into the car, slamming the door shut behind her. Maureen watched the car pass and, through the back window, saw Candy and the man ignoring each other, a canyon of space between them, already behaving like an unhappy couple. The car turned up a side street and disappeared out of sight.
Back on the corner the smallest woman was missing. Her gangly pal was bleary-eyed and trying to make sense of a cigarette.
"Are ye all right to walk?" asked Maureen, and she followed her along the road. Suddenly, a fast car full of young men screeched past, crossing the grid, bravely defying the give-way sign. The windows were down and they hung out screaming "Cunt," and "Bitch," and "Slit" at the women, whooping and laughing uproariously as they passed. Maureen had a sense that in a few years' time one of the boys in the car would be back here, harassing the women, raising a hammer to someone's head in a dark alley. And no one in the car would connect the two incidents because it was just a bit of fun.
"God," said Maureen, "it's fucking horrible here."
"Tell me about it," said the woman sagely.
"I'm Maureen, by the way."
"I'm Candy," said Candy II, and Maureen smiled.
Candy II was less fraught than Candy I, principally because she was so off her tits she could hardly remember where she was. She sat on the wall, blotchy legs drifting out in front of her, her head sagging into her chest, and Maureen thought they should get the questions over and done with. "Do you know the Park Circus Health Club?"
Candy II pressed her lips tightly together and held out her hand. Kilty put a tenner into it. Candy II clenched her fist and retracted her hand, closing her eyes and nodding. "No," she said. "I've never heard of it."
"Have you ever heard of Si McGee?"
"Oh, aye, yeah." Maureen was afraid to believe her.
"Where do you know him from?"
"Gorbals. His ma lives in Benny Lynch Court. I was at primary school." She looked up and seemed startled, as though she wasn't where she had supposed she was.
"Have ye heard of him being in this business?"
"No." Candy II was certain. "He went to St. Aloysius. He's a businessman." She smiled slowly. "He used to sit next to me in assembly. D'ye know his sister?"
"Tonsa?" said Maureen.
"Aye. She's mental."
And then a strange thing happened. The inside of a Kinder-egg, an orange and white plastic capsule, dropped from nowhere and rolled on the ground. It was wet and glistening. The sun trickled down the lane, lighting up the egg and shining through it. Inside, a little rectangle of something settled against the side. They all stared at it, apart from Candy II.
"You've dropped your…" Kilty trailed off, not knowing what to call it, and Candy looked to where Leslie's reluctant finger was pointing.
"Oh, aye." She fell forward from the waist like a rag doll, picked up the wet thing and wiped it clean on her leg. She opened her knees, lifted her bum off the wall, pulled the crotch of her pants aside and fitted the thing back into her vagina. She sat down again and looked at them expectantly.
"I can't think of anything else to ask ye," said Maureen.
"Excuse me for that," said Candy II, knowing she had breached the formal rules of etiquette.
Maureen had to ask: "You're not using that as birth control, are ye?"
Candy II laughed a high, happy laugh, wrinkling her nose and squeezing her eyes tight. She looked like she'd be a good laugh if she was at herself. She held her hands up. "No pockets," she said, looking down at her bra. "They'd steal this if it was their size."
"Why would they steal from ye?" asked Kilty, smiling. "They must have money to come to ye in the first place."
"Oh, they love ye till they shoot it. Then they fucking hate ye, like ye made them come looking for ye. They want tae hurt ye, a lot of them."
"Why is that?"
"Shamed," said Candy II nodding sadly. "They're all ashamed." She stood up abruptly and Maureen took an extra tenner out of her pocket and handed it to her. "Ye haven't asked me why I do it," said Candy, suddenly coherent.
"Do what?" asked Maureen.
"This," she said, pointing at the ground. "That's what everyone wants to know. How did we get started, why we do it."
Maureen shrugged. "I'm not bothered about that, Candy, everyone's got their reasons."
"I do it for my weans," said Candy II, talking to the far wall, her eyes wetting, her mouth drooping at the corners, "because I love them. I never wanted this. I want them to have all the things I never had."
The line sounded heavy and hollow, like the words from an old song. Maureen and Leslie looked at the ground, embarrassed. Kilty watched Candy, enjoying the performance.
"I love my weans." She looked at the two tenners in her hand and wept.
"That's nice," said Maureen. "I heard a lot of cars there – I think you might be missing trade."
Candy II made a sad clown face. "I really love them," she whispered, and followed Maureen out of the lane.
"Thanks for talking to us, Candy, that was nice of ye," said Maureen, when they were back in the bright street.
"Why did ye want to know about Si McGee?" asked Candy, no longer sad at all.
"Uch, his mum died and I was just wondering about her."
Candy II had stopped walking. "Ella the Flash is dead?"
"Aye, she died on Saturday. I went up to the hospital to visit her and she was dead."
"Aw, that's a sin." Candy Us whole body had changed. She stood upright, and crossed her arms, head dipped to the side like a woman passing on local news in a supermarket. "She was a gamey old dame. She was a pro an' all."
"Aye, I know," said Maureen. "She'd retired. She'd been working at Paddy's selling tapes, that's how I knew her. I saw her laid out in the hospital and she hadn't her eyebrows on -"
Candy smiled. "They big mad eyebrows she used to draw on her head?"
"Aye. Anyway, I drew them for her and brushed her hair up a bit."
"Aw, that's nice. That was from the flicks, the eyebrows. From Greta Garbo or someone." Candy started walking again. "She never took no shit from no one, Ella. Always dressed nice. Got him an education. He lives in Bearsden now. Good on her, eh?"
"Aye, good on her," said Maureen, suddenly choked. Her eyes began to prickle. Maureen wouldn't have credited her with the wherewithal but Candy II saw she was upset and rubbed her back briskly.
" 'S about all ye can ask, innit?" said Candy II.
The smallest woman was back at the corner, tugging her skirt down and looking pissed off. Maureen was slightly annoyed to see her there. No one knew anything about Si McGee and she didn't want to lose another twenty quid.
"Go wi' her," said Candy II to the woman. "She'll give ye money for talking. And she'll not ask why ye do it either."
Candy II stepped away and over to the curb, watching the occasional cars pass, looking in at the drivers. The small woman followed Maureen round the corner. "Is your name Candy?" asked Maureen.
"Naw, Alison."
She was younger than the other women and clearly hoping to cash in on it. Her bunches looked grotesque and she had drawn rosy cheeks on her face.
"I'm Maureen." She held out her hand and Alison pulled a face.
"You don't want to touch my hand," she said apologetically, wiping her palm hard on her skirt.
Alison was terrifyingly young, hardly sixteen, and her body had the unformed look of someone still developing. Her wee breasts were smashed into a tight orange bra, pushing them up to make them look like something. Maureen pointed back to the corner. "How many kids has she got?"