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Rating: ".......where are we......?"
"Hey, Nick. You're home....."
"A....at home? But.....I don't....."
Then, he hugged him. The photo portrays them like this. He, a self-taught painter, about ten years older, traces and absorbs the suffering.
".....I feel bad....."
"I know, Nick. I'm sorry you have to go through all this. Later, if you want, we can try to eat something, do you want....?"
"I can't get up, I can't get up. I would like to......"
Then, he cried.
"I'm thirsty....maybe, also hungry. Just that you....."
"Yes, don't worry. I'll take care of it." Then, he cracked a smile.
"What did you do to the Italians......? But also to the Italians, huh...."
Nick tried to smile, he couldn't manage it.
"Explain....."
"You have 3 - 4 groups of fans, on Facebook. They are almost all Italian. They've remained clinged to you, to 1987. Some leap to '92, then you disappeared."
".....what do they say.....?"
"Say? Nick, they are fans. They wonder if you're okay, they're excited about the release of the box...."
"The.....the box?" He coughed.
"Here, drink some more. Yes, the box. I told you about it. 6 CDs. The remastered albums, b-sides, remixes, rarities."
"But....why? I don't......."
"Well, Nick, I don't know. The record labels. They need to cash in, dust off, rediscover. Who knows....."
"Will I live long enough to......", and he forced a vague, languid smile.
The friend hugged him again.
For the past few months, the painter friend, a lifelong friend, had decided that the world, part of the world, a niche of the world, needed to know. He had published photos. First one, then two, then a handful. Rarefied over the months. Nick Kamen, heartthrob of the '80s, devastated by cancer, exhausted by chemotherapy. He still has the mole, he's almost sixty but, a bit like Ralph Macchio, he looks twenty years younger. He's in bad shape, you can see. He's annihilated, suffering. Survives. For how long, no one knows.
Music has kicked him, or maybe it's the other way around. There was something good, the writer captured fragments of essence, year 1990, album 'Move Until We Fly' for those interested.
".....you know, sometimes these fans discuss or deal with your b-sides. Can you believe it? And you......"
But Nick, with a slight mocking smile, yes, like when he winked at the screaming girls, was elsewhere. In the dreamless sleep that only chemo.
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