paula parked the car in the town centre , convenient for most places , and the streets were even worse than they had been on christmas eve ; there were arguments everywhere , people shouting and reeling and throwing up in the gutter , and it disturbed paula as much as it did me , we held onto each other as we walked along the street , holding on more tightly whenever there was trouble ahead , someone staggering too drunkenly or a crowd suddenly breaking into an argument , our bodies so close that i could feel those contours that id previously only traced in pencil or charcoal .