STARSHINE , THE OCEAN AND THE UNICORN                              
                                   CHAPTER TWO                          Part two



                   He found the side door of the pub unlocked.  He went in.  Mad Maria, the early bird of The Drakes Head worked alone in the pubs unnatural silence, when all the words that were uttered with alcohol the night before hang dead in smoke stale air and chairs stand on tables like abstract art forms.  Every morning Mad Maria scrubbed, mopped, dusted and polished away the night ready for another day's dogends and spilt drinks.  She was an italian grandmother living in a foreign land just as she had lived in Italy.  She saw no reason to change.  She still went to confession, her english was apparently minimal, her expectations small and her wages low.  Mad Maria never spoke to people.  She answered questions with a shy, nervous laugh that might be joy, hilarity, hysterics, or just despair, nobody ever knew which, or cared to know.
                    "Hello Maria!  Is Annie about?"  said Joe.  Maria did not look up from her mop and bucket.  She shrugged and laughed her weepy laugh.  Joe gave up and decided to look for himself, but there was no need.  Annie stood in a doorway, a silk dressing gown wrapped
 around he long, cat-like body.  She had emerald eyes and hair of red fire that fell about her shoulders, disorganised with sleep.  Her laughter lines showed just a hint of her age and only because she knew it suited her.
                    "How's the merry widow?" said Joe.  Annie half closed her eyes and looked at him through long lashes.
                    "Oh,she's merry"  she said happily and then disappeared again to the sound of male footsteps descending the stairs.  Joe heard their hushed goodbyes and kisses and then the closing of a door.  Joe wondered whether he was out of favour, he wondered if she would lend him more money.  Annie reappeared and Joe hid his insecurity behind a saucy smile " Bit of alright was he?"
                  "Mmm"  she purred.  She poured cold water into the top of the coffee machine and set the jug on the hot-plate beneath the filtre.  The coffee began its monotonous drip.  Wood clattered on wood as Maria took down the chairs from the tables and arranged them neatly.  Joe waited for Annie to start the conversation but she was not going to, so he did."Annie I'm broke."
                  "Oh!"
                  "And I'm hungry."
                  "Ah!"
                  "And a cup of coffee would be nice 'n' all."
                   She opened a fridge door underneath the bar." Ham or cheese and tomato?"
                  "Ham."
                  She gave him a roll wrapped in cling film, a plate, a knife, a napkin and a pot of mustard.                    Joe peeled off the cling film, slapped some mustard in the middle and tucked in.  It was yesterday's roll and leathery,but beggars can't be choosers.  Next came the cup of black coffee with a teaspoon and two white sugar lumps resting on the saucer.  Then Annie unlocked the till and pulled out a ten pound note.  The phone rang.  She answered it with the note still in her hand.  After a brief conversation that Joe had not bothered to listen to, she popped the tenner back in the till and closed the drawer.  Joe looked at her.  She smiled warmly.
                   "You won't be needing it.  That was Jason.  He said to give you a message."
                   "What!"  It scared him that Jason knew exactly where he was.  He hid his shock from Annie.  It was better that she thought he had been expecting the call. "So what's the message?"
                   " You've to meet him at the restaurant at twelve 'o' clock.  He said you'd know which one.  He's got a job for you and he wants to buy you lunch."
                   Joe felt sick, the roll was too stale, the coffee too strong and Jason's call too soon.  He gulped down his breakfast so as not to appear ungrateful and to hide the effect of Jason's message.  It helped that Annie was so pleased for him.  He tipped back the the last of his coffee.  "So what am I going to do between now and twelve 'o' clock?  Give us a couple of quid for some fags and a paper."
                   Annie did so and kissed him quickly on the lips "Its my bath time." she said and left him.
                    Mad Maria was polishing the tables with an empty spray can and a ragged duster but her powerful elbow grease seemed to be doing the trick.  As Joe got up to leave she stopped for a moment, breathless.  Her coal black eyes looked into him and she said something.
                    Joe was halfway down the street before Maria's unexpected words registered.  She said that she would pray for him and light candles for the dead.  Joe walked through the streets of Soho trying to deaden her words with the noise of traffic, construction work and pneumatic drills.  The rain had stopped and the sun was peeking around the edges of grey clouds.  Why had Maria said that ?