STARSHINE, THE OCEAN AND THE UNICORN.
Chapter three                                                                                                          Part 8



                Leicester Square was crowded with people and pigeons, all brisk and strutting.  Joe sat in the park in the middle.  It was anaemic patch of grass with a path around it, all covered in bird shit and surrounded by iron railings.  Joe sat beneath the grey spidery branches of winter trees, on a wooden bench that was so cold it felt like stone.  He looked around at the film titles, he picked one out and headed for the ticket office underneath its big, brash letters. 
                 Joe found himself a place in the back row while the adverts were showing.  He sank down into the soft velvet seat, it was large and comfy with a high back and wide arm rests.  Joe ripped the cellophane from a new packet of cigarettes and lit one, and in the blackness of the auditorium the flame threw a flickering orange glow over his face.  He flicked his wrist and the match died and the glow was gone.  He sat back and drew the smoke deep into his lungs.  It seemed to have been days since he had smoked, he guessed it had been his lack of money before Morgan Alexander had paid him his pittance and then after that , one thing after another had simply left him no time to think, or maybe it was just forgetfulness.  He felt the nicotine mingle and move with his blood, it felt good.  He relaxed and looked at the screen that was filled with the sea, breakers and surfboards and girls in bikinis with droplets of salt water over their dark tans, and bottles of clear, sparkling lemonade. The lights came on. The tiny matinee audience was scattered over the rows of red velvet seats.  The floor was littered with spilt popcorn, plastic cups and sweet papers.  Joe dragged hard on his cigarette and let the smoke out slowly through his nose to deaden the stale, toasted smell of the popcorn.  He watched in disgust as a teenage couple three rows in front of him gave each other salivary kisses and he was relieved when the lights went out again and the movie began.
                              He sat through two hours of star ships flashing through space outer space and landing on mountainous and cratered planets where humans wearing bizarre uniforms and six eyed aliens shot at each other with laser guns on battlefields of swirling orange mist.  And a beautiful alien queen who wore garments of coloured scales like an exotic fish and who had foot long silvery eye lashes , was rescued by a swarthy, blue eyed space outlaw.  They got married and there was peace throughout the universe and Joe knew he should have gone to see the movie on the other side of the square.