Chapter 11
Star Strummer must be some kind of magician, Amelia thought. She had not stopped dancing and partying all day. Town people put her on their shoulders and spun her around; suddenly she was not lower than them. Tourists had come over to hear the music, and clapped Amelia and her friends’ dancing. One tourist was eating chips and Pearl had cheekily asked him for one. He had given her five paper money to buy some, and so her and Pinky and Peto had gone off to get them. They had asked Amelia, but she didn’t want to leave the music. Fisherman Papa had come and Star Strummer waved at him. He sang a special song for him about a fisherman falling in love with a mermaid. Fisherman Papa took turns lifting up George and Beno all though he was often distracted by women coming over to kiss him. Amelia asked George if they were his girlfriends. George said they weren’t. They were just women from the town who sometimes sold in the market where he sold his fish. He said when they were pregnant Fisherman Papa would give them free fish to make their babies strong. Amelia liked this story. She looked at all the women. They were so pretty with their hair worn into sleek ponytails, their shiny hoop earrings and their splash of make-up. She wondered if she would look like this when she was older. She wouldn’t like to be poor and not have enough to feed herself and her baby. She would need a rich husband or to have a shop like the fisherman from the hut said
Star Strummer kept saying,
‘This is the last song for today,’ but the crowd would not allow it and whistled and called out, ‘More! More!’ and begged him to play on. It was late afternoon and the sun had stopped burning so hard. The music somehow made everything seem beautiful again: the castle in the background, the old yellow Spanish cottages, the roofs and spires of the town, the gentle lapping of the sea. Amelia felt free of all worries as she arched her back and danced her hands above her head the same way she had seen the women dance.
At the end of the song, Star Strummer said they were going to play at the next town for the evening, and gave a bow, then put down his guitar. The crowd clapped, and clapped and surrounded him. Amelia felt sad that the day was over. She hadn’t liked anyone as much as she liked Star Strummer and his band for ages. They were so special. She didn’t want to go back to the everyday struggle of life on the beach. She looked down. Raindrop came up to her and said,
‘Amelia! Why are you looking so sad? Didn’t you enjoy yourself dancing?’
‘Yes I want to be a dancer now, a dancer for Star Strummer.’
‘He asked me to come to Island View where they are playing tonight. Do you want to come? We can go there with the band in their truck.’
‘Raindrop I want to. Please, please take me.’
‘Come. I think they are getting ready, come with me.’
Amelia sat in the back of the truck with the band and Raindrop. The trumpet player was driving. Raindrop had told Star Strummer that she was bringing Amelia to help collect money. He had asked her if Amelia was her daughter and Raindrop had given her a look, and said,
‘No, but she is like my daughter. All the beach children can come to me if they are sad.’
‘Bring her, bring her; your daughter is my daughter,’ he said, and pulled her into the back of the truck.
Amelia could tell that Raindrop liked Star Strummer. She spoke to him for ages about how she loved all the poor children. Amelia thought that she was not really lying, she was a kind person. Star Strummer asked Raindrop if Amelia was abandoned, and she said she was. Star Strummer called Amelia a ‘Poor little Angel,’ and then started to talk angrily about people who abandon their children.
‘How much is milk? Just five coins. Anybody can go and clean a house and make two paper money, and so have money for their child. How much is bread? How much is sardines? These women, they would rather sit in a hairdressers like a pack of sardines than find where their children are. Anything could happen to this girl on the beach, anything. Girl is your mother dead? How else could she not love you? Look at your eyes, as beautiful as the lakes of the Blue Peak region. Look at your smile! You could still smile. These parents they leave their children on the street and their smile and their laugh disappears, they never get it back’
Amelia blurted out,
‘It is not my mother’s fault. My mother loved me.’
‘So why are you alone? You must promise me you will grow up and be good, and when you have a child you will not leave her.’
Amelia nodded and said,
‘My grandmother died. It is not my family’s fault.’
Star Strummer threw her a pack of bubble gum and continued his talk with Raindrop. He spoke for about an hour about how bad people where to abandon children; he mocked the people of several areas, people from gangs, people who sold themselves to the Indigo men that made you work to pay off your debts that Prince had spoken about. Amelia thought that Star Strummer was a bit hard on people. She had never blamed anyone. He spoke as if the children should hate their families for abandoning them, as if their families were evil, not just poor. Raindrop tried to argue that it was not people's fault, mostly they were young and poor. Star Strummer objected saying he had seen men who had abandoned their children on the street wearing designer clothes instead of feeding their kids. He said some of them just left their wives for other women and forgot about their children. The Bongo man shook his head and said,
‘Star Strummer, you have no love for the people. It is the Government’s fault.’
Star Strummer said,
‘If the people have no love, how can I have love for them? I am a realist, and don’t talk about the government or you could end up in jail.’
‘Come on man; look at the upper town where the government meets. Look at their big cars. How come they don’t share the money better? Why are there no orphanages? They can spend billions on sports stadiums, but they don’t care about children dying on the street, living on the street exposed to all kind of murderers and monsters.’
‘Don’t speak about the Government again! If you do me and you are through!’ shouted Star Strummer at the man. There was silence as they drove on. Star Strummer got a call on his mobile and spoke animatedly to someone. Raindrop spoke to the Bongo player,
‘Why is he so touchy?’ she asked
‘About a year ago we gave a concert and we all said that the country should be fairer, not so many poor people, the rich should help. We said that it was time for the government to make a change. Anyway, it was at a university, and all the students started to cheer and shout. Then they went and marched on the town hall and demanded more for the poor. Anyway, the Mayor didn’t like it and we were arrested for starting trouble. It was hell. We were in jail for a month. Star Strummer, he acts like he likes the poor, but he wanted to get married to this rich girl, but because he got in trouble, her father didn’t let her. He is still mad about it’
‘Can you really go to jail for just that?’ asked Amelia. She knew poor people went to jail a lot. It was why her grandmother didn’t let her have any friends: she was frightened that she would get in trouble.
‘Why do you think there is no change? People are frightened to talk.’
Amelia felt sad. She looked around at the fields where people were working. Maybe her parents were like Prince’s working in the fields somewhere. She wouldn’t care if they were poor, she would still love them.
‘Hey don’t look sad,’ said the Bongo man, and took out his percussion shaker. He began to sing a song about a snake that thought it was King of the Jungle. He made a funny ‘Sss-ing’ sound that made Amelia laugh. All the other animals were friends, but the snake always told them hurtful things that he was going to eat their children. They warned each other of danger. One day a fierce crocodile came up the river and all the animals warned each other to flee. The snake didn’t want any part of their chatter and the crocodile ate him up. The Bongo man made a snapping movement with his hands. Raindrop clapped and said
‘This is how we have to comment, in our country, by telling tales. You see the governmen
t is like the snake. It doesn’t want to listen.’
Amelia thought she understood, but wasn’t sure.
When they got to the next town which was a quiet place with hardly any ragged people, they stopped the truck in front of a bar.
‘Here, this is the bar of my good friend where we will play. Eat whatever you want.’
He jumped out from the back of the truck and was met by the bar-owner he came and hugged him. Amelia and raindrop got out and Star Strummer gestured them towards a table where they sat. Amelia’s knees trembled. She had never sat at a restaurant table before. Suddenly she needed to go to the toilet very fast. She told Raindrop who took her quickly. The toilet was beautifully clean, not like the ones on the beach which smelt bad, and were often blocked up. There was beautiful smelling soap near the sink, and Amelia washed herself. She had missed soap.
‘Have you finished smelling salty like a sardine, and now you want to smell like a princess? Asked Raindrop. Amelia smiled and dried her hands on the hand towels. She tried to fold up five to put in her pack pocket, but they were a bit bulging, she always needed tissues, but never had.
Back at the table there was a basket of bread. The Bongo Man ordered Amelia a coke from the waiter who smiled at her. Not like the waiter at the café on the beach who had called her abandoned, or the one with Rosa- Anne who had made her go away. The bread smelt lovely and was soft and there was butter. The coke was cold with ice and lemon. Amelia normally only had coke cola on her birthdays with her grandmother. It got better: soon plates of grilled chicken and chips were brought over. Amelia felt guilty thinking of Prince. She had not told him where she was going or when she would be back. She didn’t know when she would be back. She shared her worries with Raindrop.
‘Girl, the last thing you need to do in life is worry about a man. Feel free! You are young! You don’t owe him anything. I see you, every day you work. You are your own woman.’
The Bongo man piled chicken and chips onto Amelia’s plate. She bit into the chicken. It was heaven. She ate and ate until she forgot all her troubles. She was definitely going to save up all her money and take her friends for a chicken feast. Star Strummer took hold of her hand, and said he was so glad he could feed her, she would help him. He said that she could follow them everywhere and dance. He would teach her to sing, and she would become a great legend and travel all over the world. Amelia felt as if her heart would burst out of her chest. Maybe this was her destiny. She could be like one of those singers whose posters were all over the city, who were always on the radio.
It was around eight when Star Strummer and the band began to play. Once again, Amelia was transported by the songs and the melodies. She forgot everything and just shook and jumped about. When it came to a break in the melody she went around with the hat with Raindrop, amazed by the paper money falling into the cap. The town was pretty with flowered baskets hanging all around. There were many palms decorating the street, unusual types, which Amelia had never seen before with red leaves. The crowd that came were smart. The women wore fancy shawls around dresses; the men wore hats, striped t-shirts or cotton shirts and trousers not shorts. The Bongo man had said the town was wealthy as there were lots of factories nearby it. He said the area was run by Don Oro, son of Don Oro who was one of the richest men in the country. Don Oro was a kind of legend, but nobody knew who he really was, nobody saw him. Amelia remembered the name; it was the rich man her grandmother had said had given her flowers. Maybe she would meet him, and he would help her be rich; maybe after she was a singer. Bongo man said all the people worked in the factories so had money. He said that the Police here were mean though: if they saw a ragged person they would put him in jail for begging or force them out of the town, even children. Amelia had cleaned her shoes with a tissue, and had asked Raindrop to comb her hair before the music started. Raindrop combed it into a pretty French braid. Amelia looked at herself in the toilet mirror, and fell in love with her own image. She decided that she was definitely not going to be ragged when she was older. She looked far better than a girl who had to sleep in a fishing shack on a beach and trade for money. She looked like one of those girls she had seen in the city near the cathedral, with a white dress and a doll, who lived in the big houses with the gardens. Maybe she hadn’t met the Prince her grandmother had spoken about yet. Maybe he was one of those children that came to beach with his nanny, who lived in a big house. Maybe he would like her and his family would take her to live with them in their house with the swimming pool.
After she had collected the money, Amelia joined the crowd and danced to the other songs. Star Strummer sang from his heart about how he loved his people, how he loved all the little children who ‘watched him with their eyes making star trails in his world.’
Raindrop was not dancing wildly as she had done on the beach, and had made friends with a serious looking man with a hat who bought her wine. When Amelia went over to her she shooed her away to go and dance. She was sitting very upright and fluttering her eyelashes a lot. Amelia later saw her get up and go to the toilet so she followed her
‘Who is that man?’
‘He is a farmer, his wife died and he is looking for a housekeeper. Oh Amelia, it is so good, he has offered me the job. I will go with him tonight. I will have a home with a bathroom and television.’
‘But what about the band, aren’t you coming with us on the tour?’
‘No I am way too old for that sort of thing really. Aren’t you glad for me?’
Amelia tried not to look sad; she knew this was what Raindrop had wanted. She gave her a hug and told her that she would miss her.
‘I will come and see you on the beach on my day off,’ she said
‘But I might not be there, I might be a great singer with Star Strummer,’ Amelia replied, though saying it out loud made it seem unreal, not how it had all seemed before. She had imagined doing a concert on the beach when she was famous and buying everybody chicken.
Feeling a bit sad and moody about Raindrop going Amelia sat down on a stool without dancing. The waiter saw her and bought her a coke and some peanuts. Amelia smiled. Raindrop came over and hugged her goodbye, and Amelia tried not to cry.
The bar got more and more crowded, and Amelia was carried about by the crowd in a mad dance for about an hour. She did not realise until the band started to play some slow numbers that she was tired and felt her eyelids drooping. She nearly fell over. She went to the waiter and asked him what time it was finishing, and he said very late, maybe all night. She told him she was tired and needed to sleep. He put his hand on his lip, thinking, then gestured her to come with him. He led her through the kitchen to a linen room with a washing machine in. He put a blanket down on the floor, and told her she could rest there. Amelia could not think about anything except sleeping, and lay down on the blanket, and went out like a light.