Nico (24 page)

After the meeting we left Le Kid behind to blow the dough, packed Nico's few belongings – the harmonium and her bag of clothes – into the bus, and headed home.

‘I say, chaps,' said Demetrius suddenly during a lull in the journey, ‘don't let's have any tasteless confessionals appearing in print, in the form of “My Life with Nico” or “The Last of the Bohemians”, or any other such opportunistic banalities.'

Absolutely. We all agreed.

‘Of course,' he added, ‘for a man of acute literary sensibility, like myself, such a subject would lie beneath my concern.'

As we came into France, north of Lille, our favourite customs post gave us the traditional shakedown. Demetrius immediately broke into his nervous whistle.

Waiting for us in the shed was the same rodent-eyed little ‘flic' who'd finger-fucked Eric Random the last time we dropped in for a tête-à-tête.

Everyone had to wait by their personal luggage while Rat-eyes's pals combed the van. A sad little shoulder bag, with two empty motorbike boots standing to attention on top, remained unclaimed in the corner. Rateyes asked us who it belonged to. Demetrius spoke up:

‘You may recall the last time we visited your establishment. We had with us a singer, a good German lady by the name of Fraulein Paffgen. I was her personal physician. It is with great regret that I must inform you that she succumbed to an accident while on holiday … fell off her bicycle … Sadly she is no longer with us.'

‘So where ees she now?'

‘Above or below – who can say? Beyond the comprehension of mere mortals …'

Rateyes's whiskers twitched.

‘Dead,' said Eric Random, getting to the point.

Rateyes still wanted to sniff inside her bag. He motioned Eric to bring it to him.

‘An what ees ze style of musique zat you play?' He spread Nico's belongings over the counter.

‘Pop,'/‘Jazz,' said Demetrius and Eric simultaneously.

‘Jazz,' repeated Eric, throwing Demetrius a black look, ‘definitely jazz.'

Rateyes fingered a pair of Nico's grey knickers. ‘Aaah …
J'adore le jazz …
Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli … You like ze 'Ot Club de Paris?' he asked.

‘Never bin,' said Eric.

NICO DISCOGRAPHY

Chelsea Girl (Verve) 1967

The Marble Index (Elektra) 1969

Desertshore (Warner Brothers) 1970

The End (Island) 1974

Drama of Exile (Aura) 1981

Live in Denmark (VU) 1983

Camera Obscura (Beggars' Banquet) 1985

Behind The Iron Curtain (Dojo) 1986