This is the second part of A Story in Several Parts, by Matthew de Kersaint Giradeau, the first part can be read here; http://thefoolscapjournal.posterous.com/a-story-in-several-parts-part-one-by-matthew . (The painting is by George Shaw and is taken from here; http://www.ikon-gallery.co.uk/online_shop/ikon_catalogues/artists_monographs/item/what_i_did_this_summer/image/806/ )
Alex has a friend called Gemma. She is a tomboy. Gemma goes to a different school to Alex and Shamim and she has two brothers who beat her up. A boy at her school dislikes Shamim and comes to her house with his friends in half term to ask where he lives. She tells the boy, because she fancies him, even though later in her life she will not find men attractive. When the boy and his friends knock on Shamim's door it is only early in the morning. You would not knock on someone's door as early as the boy and his friends knock on Shamim's door if you were an adult. When Shamim opens the door, the boy does not say anything, but simply punches Shamim in the face as hard as he can. The punch knocks Shamim out and he is unconscious for about thirty seconds. He wakes up and the door is open and the boy and his friends have gone. Shamim tells this story proudly.
Alex and his friends are at Gemma's house. They are so nasty to John that John leaves goes to sit in a tree on the field opposite the house. There are red ants in the tree. At first everyone is being nice, especially Gemma, but even the boys are trying to say sorry. John likes the attention and the boys slowly turn on him. They laugh at John scratching his legs, and at how he does his laces up on his shoes really tight. Alex thinks that John is secretly attracted to Gemma. When John is older his mum kills herself. John and his brother move into the flat in which she lived after her divorce from their Dad. All through her life she has terrible tinnitus and depression.
Until John is older, his mum lives at home with him, his brother, and his Dad. Alex walks past the house when he comes home from school. John's mum sits in the front room, looking out of the window. Alex thinks that if he doesn't look at the house then he won't have to smile and wave. She looks like a ghost. Her face is strained, and the television is on but probably doesn't stop the ringing in her ears. They don't have any net curtains. Alex's house has net curtains, but Alex's house is closer to pavement than John's house. John's Dad has an old Porsche with a personalised number plate. One day, when John and Alex are at secondary school together, John's Dad gives them a lift. John's Dad gets angry at Alex about having Tesco value orange juice, saying that it is just as good as normal Tesco orange juice and that it means that the family can drink as much orange juice as they like and they like drink a lot of orange juice.
Once John and his brother move into their mum's old flat, John completely abstains from sex. He is a fairly asexual adolescent and as he gets older he is unable to find anything attractive about women or men.
Before all of this, when he is young, he is attracted to Gemma, because she is the only girl he knows. Alex doesn't find her attractive, though he doesn't know why. He has known her longer than the other boys, and notices how they try and impress her. Sometimes Gemma's older brother comes in when they are playing computer games and is nasty to Gemma. Then he is nasty to everyone; accusing them of being gay, or fancying his sister, or both. Gemma's older brother is the reason that Alex and his friends are so nasty to each other.
Alex is on the bus to his Grandad's house. His Nana is dead and sometimes Alex talks to his Nana when he goes to the toilet in the house. The house hasn't been decorated since the 1960's and has brown, floral wallpaper on one side of the living room, and stone-wall cladding wall paper on the other. There is a three bar electric heater in the front room, and no heating in the rest of the house. When Alex is older and has finished university, his Grandad dies, and his family sell the house. Alex and his sister are both given one of their Grandad's rings, but lose them.
When they were both younger, Alex's mum would wait with Alex and his sister at the bus stop until the bus came. Now Alex's sister is a teenager, she takes Alex to the bus stop, and watches him get on the bus. When the bus gets to where it is going, Alex's Grandad is waiting and waving.
When Alex talks to his Nana in the toilet, he knows she isn't really there. She is dead and rotting and looks like the dead fox that Alex and his friends found in the woods. When she was dying, Alex saw her in hospital, and this is how he remembers her. She has big black eyes, like she has been punched, and she looks like she is wearing a wig. She drinks a chocolate drink and Alex asks for some but his Nana says that it isn't very nice. He knows now that she had cancer, but when she died he did not really understand what was happening. Hospitals are in between places. Everyone is waiting to leave.
Alex tells the rest of his friends that 'The Shawshank Redemption' was written by Stephen King. They laugh at him and tell him that it wasn't and that he is stupid for thinking that it was. Alex knows that he is right, but the more he says it, the more they laugh at him. They are playing football. The football pitch is next to the woods and sometimes older boys watch them and shout and it makes Alex nervous. The older boys want to play on the pitch because it has proper goals and white paint markings. There is only one set of goals and Alex would rather they just used a jumper and a tree for goalposts like they used to. He doesn't want to get beaten up by the older boys, or have them shouting. Alex knows that he is right about 'The Shawshank Redemption' but it doesn't matter to his friends. They don't believe him. He wishes he had never said it, but he can't take it back. Once you have said something you cannot take it back. No matter if it is true. No matter whether you wish you had never said it.
A boy appears from the path through the woods. He is on a bike and he is called Lloyd. Alex used to live in the house next door to Lloyd, but doesn't remember this until he is older. Lloyd is a weirdo. He plays alone and doesn't go to school and rides weird bikes and scares people. He is being chased by Gemma's brothers and Gemma's brother's friends who are shouting and running. Lloyd doesn't look scared or angry. He just rides over the football field and for a moment everything is quiet. Alex and his friends move out of Lloyd's way, and he moves past them, without looking at them. He is graceful and stunted. Alex is scared of him but grateful that he has quietened the laughter. Lloyd moves away from them and does not look back. Gemma's brother and his friends slow down to a walking pace and carry on shouting at Lloyd. They say that Lloyd is going to fucking get it and he better fucking watch out because they will fucking kill him when they see him. Chris tells Gemma's brother that Alex thinks that 'The Shawshank Redemption' was written by Stephen King. Gemma's brother starts to laugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment