Chapter 10
Prince didn’t want to wake up the day after the feast. The fisherman asked him repeatedly to start waking up and getting ready, but he just moaned.
‘What is the matter Prince, we have to go now.’
‘Why do we have to go? Why is he so mean? I don’t feel like seeing people today. I wish I was with my mother. She would let me sleep; bring me fruit in bed, give me cartoons to read.’
‘Come on prince that was the past. We have to keep going.’
‘But if this is my great grandfather’s hut, why can’t I stay here. I don’t want to see people today. I don’t want nobody looking down on me. My other grandfather who died, he had the best farm in the village. There I was a prince. Who am I here? Prince nothing.’
‘Hey Prince, Less of the talk; time to get moving,’ said the fisherman
‘Why can’t I stay here? I have a stomach ache,’ asked Prince
‘You don’t know pirates. If they come here to try to seize the hut, you couldn’t defend it. It’s better that it stays locked. Here, here are some ten coins to buy bread.’
‘I’m tired of bread. My mother used to cook me eggs.’
‘Don’t worry Prince. This week we will see your great grandfather and you will live like a prince once again. Now come on.’
‘Come on Prince. I’m not even going to sell today. I’m going to see Star Strummer.’ said Amelia, who had decided she didn’t want to meet the policeman at all.
‘That sounds boring. I want the new Cola Champ ice lolly. All the tourists are eating it. My mother would have bought me that straight away.’
‘Your mother lost you. Think only of yourself now.’
‘That’s not true,’ said Prince and kicked out at the fisherman.
‘That’s enough. You are not my son, yet I give you money for bread. I don’t even know if you are really Melchior’s family, but I took you in. Now get out. I have to start. I cannot lose my livelihood because of a child feeling sorry for themself.’
He opened the door and pushed them out. Prince was crying to himself. Amelia felt embarrassed. She had never seen him show emotion. When they got outside he flung himself down on the sand and wouldn’t move.
‘Come on, let’s go and buy bread. I am hungry, ‘said Amelia pulling at his arm, but Prince didn’t want to move.
‘You don’t even have a mother so you don’t know what it’s like to miss her,’ Prince said.
Amelia felt a surge of rage go through her. She felt she would scream at Prince. Instead she said,
‘I must have had a mother that is why I am alive and so good. Do you see me sitting down and crying like some of those children? No I am working, and if you are just going to moan I am going.’
‘You don’t have nobody. Everybody left you; you are just a street rat an old lady took in. Now you have no cage, and the rat catchers are looking for you.’
Amelia strode off. She didn’t care about going to get bread. She was hungry, but Prince had touched a nerve. She had often stood on the street in the city watching women. Was one of them her mother? Did she have the same eyes? Was she a hairdresser who had lost her, and when she found her she would put her hair in pretty plaits and ribbons? Did she not come for her because she was dead? She couldn’t bear to think of her in a grave in the earth with worms crawling on her. She had to be alive, and one day they would meet.
Amelia felt tears coming out of her eyes. She had not had these thoughts for years. Her grandmother was so sweet to her, she was all she needed, and she had come to be satisfied with her. She knew if she thought about it she would just cry, and this either made people upset or angry with you. At any rate, it took you to a sad frustrating place where there were no answers. To stop thinking about it Amelia started to skip and sing to herself. She was going to see the music. She was going to dance. She was going to forget about making money for the day. She was hungry and shouldn’t go without food though; so she thought about who would buy her bread. There was Peto, but he was quite poor. Maybe she could make do with a bit of melon. Looking around for Melons, she thought of Hat Boy. He worried when he didn’t see her. Maybe she should go and see him and tell him that she wasn’t going to sell today and ask him to borrow money for bread. She skipped over to the café and found him.
‘Hey, Hat Boy! I’m not working today. I am going to dance to Star Strummer.’
‘Hey Amelia you act like rich people: not working. You are going to dance? That is good. You need to look more fancy. Let me see if I have a scarf. You can tie it around your waist. You should have some earrings and a fancy skirt. You still didn’t get no other clothes?
Amelia still had on the shorts and t-shirt he had given her.
‘No I kept my money for food. Speaking of which, I got annoyed with Prince and didn’t have bread. Can you lend me until tomorrow?’
‘Sure okay, but what did you get annoyed with Prince for? You two are like family. You shouldn’t argue.’
‘He was crying for his mother, and said I didn’t have a mother. So how was I born then, if I didn’t have a mother?
‘Everybody gets the blues sometimes. Did you say you were sorry for him?’
‘No. I just walked off.’
‘Amelia, you have a bad temper. It will get you in trouble. That is your best friend. You are supposed to care for him.’
‘Well he didn’t care about me.’
‘Tut, tut. You have to make it up.
‘Later, after I see Star Strummer. Prince doesn’t like guitar, only rap music.’
‘Here Amelia, here is a few ten coins.’
‘I will give them back to you tomorrow.’
‘No problem. I will miss you.’
‘Come and see Star Strummer.’
‘If I make enough I will come.’
‘Thanks Hat boy. Tell bracelet boy to come too. It’s by the hotel.’
‘Okay. You have fun.’
Amelia felt good with the orange scarf tied round her waist. It stopped her from looking like an ordinary abandoned. She went up to the bread shack and queued for bread. She looked around for Prince, but didn’t see him. Maybe she should have been less selfish and consoled him. He only had the fisherman, and he hardly talked or felt sorry for you, he was a kind of closed up, cold person. At the same time, Prince had made her feel sad. It was a code amongst the children that you didn’t tell someone their mother didn’t care for them, or they were no good because they didn’t have a mother. You just didn’t talk about the past: you lived for the moment and tried to make each other feel happy. Amelia still felt a sadness that Prince had said she didn’t have a mother because she liked to keep the dream of a mother being out there, it kept her going. In the dream her mother had a face. She wondered if this was her real mother in a memory. Her grandmother had had no photos of her. She felt herself dissolving into a sad blues. She quickened her pace, and tried to make these thoughts fly away like a flock of seagulls after a kid had thrown a stone at them. She looked toward the hotel; it was a little way off, beyond the tap. When she was walking, she saw the ragged man who had clapped her when she got up after she had fallen down.
‘Hey hey! You look like a Queen with that scarf around your waist. Where are you going?’
He said.
‘I’m going to see the music up at the hotel.’
‘Dance yourself happy. I am too old to dance now, ‘he said with sadness.
‘You are not too old. You look fine. You should go too.’
‘Maybe I will, maybe,’ he said, and she walked on feeling better. Her grandmother had had a radio that she used to put on, on a Saturday night, and Amelia used to dance to it. There was a carnival once a year through the streets, and she would watch how the people danced. Often there were special dances for special songs. Her favourite was one that was called ‘The Chilli Song’ that sang about the town being as hot as chilli. When the man sang this part, the dancers at the carnival had all jumped from foot to foot and waved their hands in the air. In
town Amelia wasn’t allowed friends. Her grandmother was suspicious of everybody. However, the neighbouring children would always wave to her and sometimes they would do the chilli dance in the street.
There was a big queue for the tap, as usual. Amelia was thirsty from the bread so stood in line. She had a ten coin left, and there was a little abandoned girl in front of her with some bottles.
‘Here, I will give you a ten coin for a bottle,’ Amelia said. She couldn’t be bothered to go and find her own bottle.
‘A whole ten coin! I can buy something for me. It is never my turn. I am here with my brother. It is always his turn. Here, take this big one. There’s a top too.’ She gave Amelia the bottle. She had sad eyes. Amelia couldn’t stand the deep sadness of them. She gave the girl the coin then gave her a hug, but the sadness didn’t go away.
‘Hey, you know the chilli song?’ Amelia asked the girl. The girl smiled and nodded
‘This town is hot like chilli!’ Shouted Amelia, and danced in front of the little girl who smiled. A man standing in front looked at her and sang,
‘This town is hot like…’ Another man sang,
‘Chilli!’ and soon all the queue was singing the chilli song and laughing. The policeman that had told Amelia that no-one was looking for her looked on. ‘Good,’ thought Amelia, ‘he is jealous. He wants us all to be miserable, and just the people with money to be happy.’ The little girl had reached the front of the queue, and was filling her bottles.
‘Don’t stop singing. Sing it again!’ she said so Amelia sang it a bit more and waved her arms. The little girl laughed.
‘Don’t lose your money. Go to the green bread shack, his stuff is the best value for money. Anytime you see me, you can ask me for bread. Remember.’
The little girl kissed Amelia, and this lit her up inside. She was a good person, she could sell and be useful and help others. She gave the little girl a hug and then filled up the bottle. She started to hear some noise coming from the hotel then a melody played on a guitar. Everybody at the tap, who had been singing bits of popular songs loudly, hushed up. Some started to exclaim as if they were praying about the beauty of the music. Amelia picked up her bottle and walked towards the melody. It was everything she had felt that day, happy and sad. There was a big crowd outside the hotel. It was mainly ragged people and town people. Amelia pushed her way to the front to look at Star Strummer. He was a little short man the colour of a cappuccino. He had dancing starry eyes, and his dark hair was in a plait down his back. There was a man playing bongo drums, another man with a guitar, and another with a trumpet and flute. The man with the bongos also had shack-shack percussion, and was shaking something furiously to create a rhythm. They all struck up a melody together. It was so sweet to the ears. Star Strummer stepped forward and said,
‘Welcome West Beach! I am going to make you dance for me today! I am going to make you feel like you are special. This party is just for you. I could play for some rich people down at Kings Moorings, but I want to play for real people, real people who can dance. Nobody can dance like West beach people. Am I wrong?’
‘No!’ shouted the crowd and he began to play and sing. Amelia wasn’t sure of what the dance was so looked around at the other people. They were making little steps from one foot to the other, walking backwards and forwards, and making little circular motions with their hands at their sides. Amelia copied, she thought the song was quite calm, about the town Star Strummer was from, but then he went into a chorus, and really sang his heart out. Amelia felt her heart beat extra fast. It was amazing that music could do that to you. Star Strummer stopped singing, and the trumpeter picked up the tune. Star Strummer walked into the crowd and held his hand out and pulled someone to dance with him. Amelia was amazed to see that it was Raindrop in her usual long tunic. She felt proud and like Star Strummer even more. There were a lot of younger prettier girls in short fashion clothes that wanted to dance with him, but he had chosen Raindrop. The crowd looked puzzled, but then Raindrop started to do some very fancy footwork, and they clapped her. Amelia clapped hard and smiled, Raindrop looked really happy. The crowd began to grow and everybody danced as Star Strummer didn’t stop singing his beautiful songs about the ups and downs of life. Peto, George and Beno arrived with Pinky and Pearl, and hugged Amelia they all started to dance together. Star Strummer would talk to the crowd in between songs, saying that West Beach people were beautiful people, don’t let anyone put them down; they were the best crowd he had had; he couldn’t stop singing just to make them happy.
Amelia forgot everything and danced. She wished that Prince would come, but she didn’t want to leave the music for one minute to go and look for him. She was spinning round faster and faster, when she felt a hand grab her, and she saw it was Star Strummer.
‘I love this girl dancer! I want a daughter like her. Everybody watch how she dances.’ He shouted. Amelia felt embarrassed, but carried on dancing and the crowd clapped her. Raindrop came over to her and hugged her, and they swayed together for the next two songs. Star Strummer then said that there was going to be a break for lunch, and everybody fell down on the ground worn out with dancing. Peto rushed up to the band with bottles of water, and was bursting with pride as they thanked him. The trumpeter came over to Amelia and Raindrop. He took off his cap, and said he need people to collect money for the band, they should do it for them as they were such special ladies.
‘Please give what you can to the band. Not you West Beach people, you are good as you are, any town people. Please give anything to these two ladies with the hat.’
Raindrop and Amelia took the hat and went round the crowd stopping at the town people in their cotton shirts and flowery dresses. They dropped a few coins into the hat and smiled. Today all people were one. Star Strummer had done what Amelia longed for, he had stopped people from being mean to each other, for that she loved him, and didn’t want the day to end.