Calliope: Voice of the Writers

 

 

The Great Novel Race 2008:

Last Train to the Sun

by Luigi Marchini

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Chapter 6

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Sitting at his school desk, he hangs his head as, in front of the blackboard, something grotesque is pointing a piece of chalk at him, something human certainly but something more. The piece of chalk is held in not one of a pair of hands but in one of eight hands. The thing has eight of everything-eyes, legs, arms. And four faces, all of them his mother's. He recognises her voice as she says:

"Time for your first lesson."

He awoke suddenly and sat there in the dark, blinking and listening. Ten years old was too old to rush to his parents' bed. After a while he lay down and tried to get back to sleep but he was too frightened. He knew that sleep would bring further bad dreams. He got out of bed, opened the door and went across the landing to his parents' bedroom. The door was ajar and he pushed it open. His parents were asleep - his father on the edge and his mother in the middle of the large bed. As Jamie approached he saw Peter asleep between them, his mother's arm around him. There was still room for him on the outside though. However as he went to climb into bed, his mother half opened her eyes and moved across to his side, blocking him out.

Merlin leads Celia and Jamie the way downstairs to the jazz lounge (though how ‘jazzy’ it actually is a matte of some conjecture - Jamie remembers a DJ playing some Leftfield and Roni Size a couple of weeks before). Live bands played only rarely and right now the DJ was playing a Billie Holiday cover of ‘Falling in Love Again’. Why has Merlin asked him here? They only saw each other yesterday. He knows that Merlin likes to take Celia out each evening, almost as if he has her for show. She is very pretty after all. It’s more than that though. Merlin treats her with a respect that he shows to no-one else – he is courteous, chivalrous and patient. To Jamie it feels almost as if he is atoning for something. It’s just a feeling. He has
known Merlin for about a year and he knows what he can be like, what he IS like.

Merlin orders drinks, not just for them but also for Brendan and some of Merlin’s other cronies who had come in after and were sat at the table next to them.

"‘Don’t look so scared, Jimbo."

He wishes he would stop calling him that. Why is he here? Has he done something wrong? He wasn’t that well after all - overdid it a bit last night.

"I’m okay. You look lovely by the way Celia."  She does as well. A black and white off the shoulder evening gown, which is undoubtedly very expensive, complements her long blonde hair and her smile. Sitting opposite him, she reminds him of Carole Lombard. Jamie knows that Merlin likes people complimenting his wife; safe in the knowledge that no-one dare try it on with her. And Celia is devoted to Merlin.

"Thanks, Jamie."

"‘Jimbo, you know how I like to celebrate after something special has happened. That’s what this is about. A few drinks with my closest friends."

Jamie knows what this means and sure enough Merlin confirms his suspicion by bending over and whispering in his ear, "‘Listen to the news in the morning."

He wonders if Celia knows what Merlin really does under the cover of his estate agency business (the largest in England by some way). Doesn’t she (or anyone, come to that) find it strange that now when there is a downturn in house prices and businesses shutting down every day, Merlin’s business is expanding. Of course she knows, she just pretends she doesn’t. Sort of like Tony Soprano’s wife.
'
"What’s your favourite album, Jimbo?"

Welcoming the change in topic, Jamie answers, “'Let it Bleed' by the Stones. Though it’s funny you should ask that question, I am just compiling..."

"Mine’s 'Let’s Get it On' by Marvin Gaye. Love that album. So sexy, so full of love. That’s what I’m about Jimbo. I want to spread love and happiness. It’s just that sometimes people get in my way, and I have to take action. For the greater good."

Jamie wonders if Merlin actually believes that spiel himself. That DOES sound like Welles’ speech in ‘The Third Man’. He must remember to put “What’s Going On” at number 13 of his greatest albums – he’d forgotten all about that.

The evening continues in similar fashion with topics of conversation centered round music, films, TV, football. Safe topics. Alcohol is inevitably consumed and so are harder substances. Voices bounce off the chandeliers, conversations caress the sofas, and the lounge fills up; after - theatre and after-dinner people mostly, but also passers by. People who take comfort in the buzz of  a crowd, people ‘on the pull’, others who want to reaffirm their lives after a day as mere nodes in the programme.

At the bar, Jamie spots the Stalker in conversation with the Scientist and the Writer. He gets up to go over to them but as he does so they turn round, wave to him and disappear. Just like that.

Non-plussed, he sits back down. Now he spots Carole Lombard, just as she looks in Twentieth Century. She is chatting to an older, shorter woman with black hair, bare feet and a blanket for a dress. His hands shake and his throat feels as if he has swallowed sandpaper. They turn round, wave and Lombard picks up the old woman and carries her upstairs out of the lounge.  He vaguely hears Merlin’s voice, ‘Are you alright?’

He shakes his head, and with his hands still shaking, rubs his eyes and replies: ‘Yes’.  He sips from the glass of Glenfiddich, Merlin had poured him. He feels the shakes going and shuts his eyes. He lets the sounds of the club drift through him; the voices, the clinking of glasses, shuffling of bodies, the murmur of shoes. All these soothe him, relax him - his mind journeys over oceans, continents, climbs up to the planets and leave him suspended in space. After a while he comes back down and opens his eyes. There at the bar stands a beautiful girl. Shoulder length black hair, dark-skinned, taller than he. Just like a goddess would have looked like. She is looking at him and smiles. He gets up and walks over to her, soaking in her perfume, letting it run through him. It reminds him of the most fragrant flowers mixed with the scent of lust.

"‘Hi," he says.

"Hello."

Her voice is elegant like the first sip of a glass of vintage Bollinger. Up close she is even more beautiful, too beautiful for him.

"I’m Jamie."

"Alicia. Are you by yourself?"

"I’m with my friends over there," he says nodding towards Merlin and Celia.

"‘I see. Buy me a drink?"

"Sure. What would you like?"

"Vodka and orange please."

Jamie orders for her and straight vodka for him. The conversation progresses and Jamie ascertains that Alicia is older by a few years (six) and a Modern Languages Oxford graduate. I could go on and give you the details of the conversation but they don’t add to the story in any way. All that you need to know is that for Jamie this was not so much a meeting as a melting. He hears Sarah Vaughn and Billy Eckstine singing ‘Passing Strangers’ and asks her to dance. As they dance he wonders what Merlin thinks of this beautiful girl. And he looks round at him, but he isn’t looking his way as he is deep in conversation with Brendan.

On cloud 1009 now, Jamie feels the happiest he has ever been. Earlier he was tired, now he is back in space skipping on air, breathing in lungfuls of Alicia, holding on to his future.

When the club calls for last orders, they exchange numbers and kiss. He tastes her lipstick, feels her body, breathes her breath. In the Mercedes, Merlin, Brendan and Celia are deep in conversation, but Jamie is only vaguely aware of this as he is miles away on top of a Greek mountain, sitting side by side with Alicia.        

 

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