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| Two boys aged 23 or 24 |
"He had been at the café from half past ten expecting him soon to appear.
Midnight — he was still waiting.
One thirty: now the café was nearly empty.
He bored himself reading newspapers mechanically.
Of his miserable three shillings only one remained; the rest he spent on coffe and brandy while waiting for so long.
He had smoked up all his cigarettes. He felt exhausted now by waiting.
Because, being alone for hours, disturbing thoughts of having gone astray in his life began to gnaw at him.
But when he saw his friend come in, at once fatigue, boredom and worries disappeared.
His friend brought unexpected news.
He had won sixty pounds at the casino.
Their handsome faces, superb youth, the sensual love they felt for one other, were now refreshed, renewed, invigorated by the sixty pounds from the casino.
And full of joy and strength, beauty and emotion, they went — not to the houses of their decent families (where they were now unwanted anyway) but to a very special place they knew of ill repute.
They took a bedroom there ordered expensive drinks and went on drinking.
And when the expensive drinks were finished, when it was nearly dawn,
content, they gave themselves to love."
- David Hockney
