Chapter 4– At the pub.
Some men stop the fight before Fabio is badly hurt. The boys decide they don’t like British football and, particularly, they don’t like British football hooligans. They both like music and spend two weekends in various Manchester nightclubs. Most of the English young people drink a lot of beer. The nightclub they like best is ’The Haçienda’, in the centre of Manchester.
The club is incredibly popular. There is a long queue to get in. The queue (=coda) is full of young people dressed in the height of Manchester fashion (=di gran moda a Manchester), t-shirts and baggy (=sformati) jeans. The girls wear make up and jewellery.
Fabio nods to (= fa cenno) a girl in the queue, “Don’t you think she looks like Ingrid?”
Maurizio laughs. “Ingrid is probably with some Irish boy in Dublin by now, Fabio. Forget her.”
Fabio starts to talk to three girls ahead of them (=davanti a loro) in the queue.
“I am Italian,” he smiles.
The girls wear a lot of make up and are all drinking from a bottle and laughing. They are not impressed with Fabio.
“Can I have a drink girls?” asks Fabio.
“What is it?” he asks
“Wham’s Dram,” smiles the girl. “A wine and whiskey cocktail. Keeps the cold out (=tiene caldo).”
Fabio’s head buzzes (=ronza) . When they arrive at the door the bouncers (=buttafuori) search (=perquisire) them: they are polite but firm. They search everyone who enters the club. They even make Fabio take off his shoes to see if there is something hidden in his socks.
“What are you looking for?” asks Fabio
The bouncers ignore him and make the boys empty their shoes.
Finally, they enter.
The Haçienda is a new experience for the boys. A fire-eater is throwing flaming sticks into the air. A woman acrobat is flexing and relaxing her muscles in another corner. Crazy, children’s cartoons appear on one wall, and an old Batman film on another. Everywhere teenagers are kissing and young people are laughing. Best of all is the music. The boys leave at 4 o’clock in the morning, eyes bright with excitement, and join the queue for hot dogs at a nearby stand.
“That was amazing,” says Fabio. “That was a great night.”
“We have only got £200,” worries Maurizio. “We can’t stay in Manchester much longer.”