The Birthday Party Read Online Free PDF Page A

he hasn’t slept with someone else since he got
     married to his wife in nineteen seventy-nine. So what happens then is his mistress gets pregnant. Oops. And that wasn’t the
     plan. She was just supposed to be a mild diversion for his mid-life crisis – he’s been faithful until now, but he can’t cope
     with his once-glamorous wife hurtling into jam-making and comfy shoes. Thirty-something Saskia seemed the perfect answer,
     happy to have no-strings sex. But now things are complicated – and made even more so by the fact that Hugo’s oldest daughter
     has announced she is pregnant, too: he’s about to become a grandfather …’
    Dickie sat back with a smile and looked to Raf for his reaction.
    He gave an amused grimace. ‘There but for the grace of God …’
    ‘Exactly!’ Dickie leaned forward again, clasping his hands and resting his elbows on his knees. ‘This could conceivably be
     you.’
    ‘Except I’m not being unfaithful to Delilah.’ Raf fixed himwith a stare. He wasn’t going to be a walkover. He would make Dickie sing for his supper.
    ‘No. But you have been in the past.’ Dickie knew he had to stand up to Raf. If he didn’t he would have no hope of getting
     the actor on board. And it wasn’t as if Raf’s former infidelities weren’t common knowledge. They had kept the nation enthralled
     for years. ‘So you understand the temptation. And the ramifications. Just imagine you took up with that waitress over there
     …’
    Dickie gesticulated towards the very attractive blonde who was taking an order from a sofa full of businessmen.
    ‘And then Coco or Violet or Tyger announced she was pregnant at the same time as she did …’
    Raf sighed and stretched out his legs. ‘That’s pure fantasy. It’s no better than saying imagine if I’d discovered the cure
     for cancer.’
    ‘It’s not that impossible! Come on, play the game.’ Dickie’s desperation was making him irritable. ‘It’s perfectly feasible.
     You’ve still got lead in your pencil. And your girls are getting to that age—’
    Raf unleashed his famous blue gaze – the one that bored right through you, so you couldn’t be sure what he was thinking.
    Dickie squirmed. ‘Come on, Raf, give me a break. I’m talking to you first because I think you’d be perfect. You’d walk it.
     And it’s a winner. There’s something for everyone: you for our generation, Pandora Hammond for the next generation, cutting-edge
     sound track, great locations – three months’ filming in Bath. What’s not to like?’
    Raf swirled the drink in his glass. Dickie didn’t realise it, but he was acting a part now. Playing the reluctant star. He
     wanted this part, desperately. Acting was in his blood. He longed to pick up the script, absorb every word of dialogue, immerse
     himself in the character, find all the little nuances that would make the role his.
    There was just one huge and insurmountable problem. He had never acted sober in his life.
    For all he knew, without the crutch of drink he was as wooden as the bloody table the script was sitting on. He didn’t know
     if he could do it. And he was reluctant to take a risk with a director he genuinely admired.
    Frankly, it was astonishing that Dickie wanted him to so much as carry a spear. But Raf wasn’t a fool. Dickie wasn’t doing
     this out of the kindness of his heart. This was a gamble, and if it paid off, Dickie would be credited with resurrecting the
     career of one of the best-loved actors of the twentieth century. Like Tarantino had with John Travolta in
Pulp Fiction
. Except
     John Travolta hadn’t been a pisshead …
    It was ten years since Raf had trashed the epic, multigazillion-dollar production of Homer’s
Iliad
with his legendary binge.
     He had been carted off the location and slung into rehab, and he hadn’t set foot on a film set since that day. No one would
     touch him. He was a liability.
    Raf picked up the script. His heart was pounding. It felt so good –