The Fall - "Y.F.O.C. / Slippy Floor"

A stranger approaches.

He walks with indignity, as if he were always in a bathrobe. But he is not in a bathrobe, he is in acid wash, tight acid wash denim, his body rolling slightly around all its edges. His smile seems to roll out of his face like an excess, like a an unsightly pimple. His hair is long and graying and coming out of a toque. His hands are stained with bike grease and his shoes are breaking open on one side.

The stranger continues to approach. He approaches a group of younger people, all at least ten years his junior, and none of whom he knows.

"Hey, anybody know if there are still tickets to the Gay Dusty Springfield show?"

A long pause. The smoke break quickly becomes a smoke race as they all hurry to finish their cigarettes.

"I don't know, I guess ask inside," says one, with a regal scarf and steel sunglasses.

"Cool, yeah," and the stranger has already settled in. "I saw them like 10 years ago, but I can't wait to see them again, they're so great. Anybody here going?"

A long pause. One goes inside, the winner of the smoke race. Another picks up a flyer from the windowsill, and stares at it, suddenly rapt.

The stranger clears his throat and smiles, that unwanted, goes-to-a-party-just-to-offer-massages kind of smile, and grabs for the flyer. "Check it out," he says.

Reluctantly, the smoker gives up the flyer. "Check it out," says the stranger, "Check this out. If you just--" and he throws the flyer like a frisbee at the young man. It hits his coat and falls to the ground. The stranger picks it up. "'Kay, wait.."

The stranger holds the flyer like he's trying to skip a stone across a calm lake, and throws it again against the young man's chest. Again it falls to the ground.

"Shit, I used to be able to..Hold on, check it out," he says while picking it up. Toss. Fall. Pick up. "Shit, no, I can do this. I learned this, it's hilarious, just check it," toss, "--damn it."

You can see his hands are getting cold and his nose is starting to run. "Just wait, I used to be able to do this."

--

[The Fall are STILL DOING IT, pre-order Your Future Our Clutter from Domino UK]