Faith - Lesley Pearse [151]
It was immediately obvious that Robbie had known of this for some time, and they realized he must have given up or sold his magazine business, otherwise he would have found another studio to use. All three of them were furious. Robbie knew they had rent to pay and children to provide for, yet he hadn’t even had the decency to telephone one of them to apologize. As the photographer hadn’t turned up, that suggested he was in on it too.
For Laura it felt like a stab in the back. She’d given Robbie so much of her time when he most needed a friend, listened to his angry tirades about his wife, comforted him when he said he was afraid he would never see his children again. Time and time again she’d dropped everything for him, she’d cooked him meals, washed and ironed his clothes, and Barney had formed a real attachment to him. She had believed Robbie was really fond of both of them, yet it seemed he had once again only used her for his own ends.
Pete went off disconsolately and Laura went back with Katy to her flat to discuss what they should do. They knew if they went cap in hand to the Social they wouldn’t get any money for several weeks because they couldn’t explain how they had been living up till now.
Katy was a good dancer, so she could go back to stripping if necessary. She had also been saying for some time that she thought she was getting too old for a business which was gradually becoming more demanding and explicit. She paid a very low rent for her flat, as well, so she didn’t feel quite as dejected as Laura, only angry that they’d been let down so suddenly.
But for Laura it was a real calamity. She knew that a job in a shop or an office wouldn’t even cover her rent, and unlike Katy who had a mother close by to keep an eye on her children if she had to work at night, she had no one to help her out with Barney.
They talked and talked around the subject. Katy even suggested that if push came to shove Laura could move to Glasgow where rents were lower and maybe take in a lodger who would babysit in the evenings so she could get work in a night club.
Laura asked her if she knew anyone else that produced pornographic magazines, for she was loath to give up her flat and work for far less money.
‘No, I don’t. Blue movies are the hot thing now anyway,’ Katy said gloomily. ‘And we aren’t up to starring in one of those. They want nubile sixteen-year-olds.’
‘So maybe we should make one,’ Laura retorted. ‘There isn’t much we don’t know about porn between us.’
It was like a flash of lightning brightening up the shabby room. They looked at each other and both grinned. ‘Could we do it?’ Katy asked breathlessly.
‘I don’t see why not. If we could find a photographer who has his heart set on becoming a film-maker, a couple of girls and the right man, we could start our own company.’
It seemed a preposterous idea, well out of their league, but at the same time it appeared startlingly right. For Laura, too, the thought of getting some revenge on Robbie was sweet. He would be pig-sick if they beat him at his own game.
‘There’s Tod,’ Katy said excitedly. Tod had often been used as a stand-in for the regular photographer, and he’d told them he much preferred making films, though the only paid work he’d ever had in filming was doing a couple of short documentaries. Both girls liked him too; he was young and funny and he made things much less embarrassing for everyone.
‘I could write the script and market the first film,’ Laura said. ‘Let’s face it, you don’t need much of a script anyway.’
Katy giggled. ‘I’m pretty certain I could get a couple of girls, and Pete would be glad to be in it,’ she said. ‘But what would we do for a studio, and how would we distribute the film? Do you know anything about that?’
‘We could make the first film in my flat in Edinburgh,’ Laura suggested. ‘That won’t cost us anything. As for the distribution, I can find out about