Gang Of Losers
Chapter Seventeen
The next morning's breakfast in bed came with the addition of a half of grapefruit, presumably in an attempt to get more vitamin C inside Theo. As always, his mum presented him with the breakfast, opened the curtains and commented on the weather, which today was similar to yesterdays.
Then came the question Theo had been dreading:
"How did you get on yesterday dear?"
"Well I...er..."
"Oh Theo..." Sylvie replied, her voice filled with reproachment.
"No no, I did do something, it just wasn't what I planned. The quarry was shut so I had to improvise, so I went up to Box Hill, and..."
Instead of explaining further, he got out of bed and showed her the Box Hill drawing - the rolling countryside realised in meticulous coloured pencil, and then the looming water tower-cum-mushroom cloud, and the Crass logo-sun, its dark power catching the eye and refusing to let go.
His mother studied it for what felt like an age.
"It's very... powerful dear. Is this how you feel? I mean about nuclear war, or the threat of it. I'm sorry if you find the CND stuff all a bit upsetting?"
"No honestly mum, it's fine." Although Sylvie had plenty of CND literature at home, she tried to keep it out of view of her squeamish youngest son, (as well as her civil servant husband). Theo viewed the threat of a nuclear war as an abstract one, believing that Mutually Assured Destruction would stop either side pressing the button. The drawing was more to do with how the Crass gig had made him feel, which until this moment he hadn't really thought about.
Not wanting to sound shallow, he improvised: "Well I guess it does worry me a bit yes. But I think it's really important that people like you and Crass draw people's attention to it - that's the Crass logo there by the way, where the sun is setting - and not sweep it under the carpet."
Feeling uncomfortable with being less than truthful to his mother, he changed the subject to today's itinerary, "So the quarry is open today and I'm going over there to do some sketching this morning, and maybe this afternoon I could go into Bath to the library to see if they have any books on umm...estate agents, or something on the different types of housing stock or..." He tapered off.
His mum smiled at him. "That sounds like a good idea." She kissed him on the forehead and left for work.
Last night's phone call with Martine had gone well: she'd had fun on her Outward Bound weekend and was looking forward to seeing him. She had suggested coming round to his this evening, but it was Theo's band practice night followed by his first guitar lesson, so that was a no-go. They had left it that she would come round tomorrow night. Only a day to wait until they were together again.
Once he had finished his breakfast and got dressed, he made his way back to Hartham Quarry on his ten-speed. He arrived just before nine to find the gate still locked. He assumed that the quarry would open any minute, so he decided to get back on his bike and ride around for ten minutes and then come back. But just as he was getting on his bike, he heard the sound of a car coming towards him. He looked up to see the pickup truck from yesterday coming to a halt outside the quarry gate. Not sure whether to get on the bike or not, he watched as the same man from yesterday got out of the truck and walked towards the gate, a bunch of keys ready in his hand.
"I saw you yesterday didn't I?" said the man, unlocking the padlocked gate.
"Um, yes." Theo replied. Plucking up courage, he continued, "I was wondering if it might be possible to do some drawing at the quarry. I'm a sixth-former at Lyncombe Comp and I'm doing a project on rural labour."
"Well I'm not sure how much labour you'll see in a dark quarry."
"Well it was more the men working with the stone once it had been mined." Theo replied.
"Ah. You're in luck then. We've got an order for a customer in Bath, chap building a neo-classical swimming pool or summut, so we'll be carving some stone a bit later on. You're welcome to come in and have a look around in the meantime. We don't have insurance though, so you'll have to keep well away from the actual cutting."
Theo agreed that he would and followed the man into the quarry on his bike. The quarry itself consisted of an open concreted area, about half an acre in size, with a Portakabin office at one corner and a large open-sided barn next to it. Slabs of stone lay around the place, some with spray-painted names or numbers on them. To his surprise, Theo could see a train track leading from the centre of the clearing towards what appeared to be a tunnel opening, which he assumed to be the quarry entrance.
The man parked his truck by the Portakabin and got out. Theo came to a stop next to him and dismounted. The man nodded towards large slabs of Bath stone in one corner of the yard. "There's about a million quid's worth of stone here, hence the security. Not that it's possible to nick much of it - too bloody heavy. I'm making a tea, would you like one?"
Theo nodded that he would. The man went into the Portakabin while Theo looked around. Clouds of dust rose as he walked and his blue Rucanor baseball boots were already practically white. He headed towards the quarry entrance, walking alongside the railway track. As he got nearer he could see that the entrance was a brick arch about fifteen feet high, with a metal padlocked door in its middle. The train track disappeared underneath the metal door. He looked back and saw the manager heading out of the Portakabin with two mugs of tea in his hand.
"There probably won't be much action for a while," the man said, "The mason isn't due for another hour or so, but you're welcome to draw whatever you see, or just come back later."
Conscious that he had wasted enough time this summer holiday already, Theo said that he'd like to sketch the quarry until the mason arrived, so the manager left him to it. He wandered over to the largest blocks of stone and found a couple perched on top of each other, each about five feet high with weeds growing between them. Theo liked the contradiction of the blunt stone next to the creeping complexity of the plants and thought that this could make an interesting study. He decided to draw the stone using standard 2B pencil and the weeds using colours. Pleased with the effect this created he sketched more stonework, gain using the 2B for the stone, and coloured pencils for everything else - the spray-painted codes, the buildings, the signs, the tools.
After an hour or so, the manager came over with another cup of tea. "Mind if I take a look?"
Theo didn't really feel that he could say no, so he passed him the sketch pad. The quarry manager leafed through them. As he did so, he gave out a snort of laughter. Theo felt wounded. "Sorry pal, didn't mean to laugh, it's just that these are really really good. I used to draw as a young man but haven't done it for years. I should get back into it." He handed the pad back to Theo. "That's a real talent you've got there, keep it up."
Theo thanked the manager and watched him walk back to the Portakabin. Not sure what to sketch next, he set about drawing his dust-covered baseball boots, but then a van arrived. Theo watched as a man got out and walked to the van's rear and started to unload tools. The manager came out of the Portakabin, and walked up to the new arrival and they chatted for a few minutes. After that, the manager came up to Theo: "All fine. He's perfectly happy for you to sketch away, so knock yourself out. Oh, one thing: it's pretty bloody loud, so you might want to cover your eardrums somehow."
Theo watched as the mason walked around a selection of knee-high slabs laid out underneath the open sided barn. After looking in a notebook, the mason measured out and then marked the stones using a black piece of chalk. He then donned gloves, earmuffs, a visor and a facemask before revving up a circular saw. The manager was right: it was bloody loud. Theo reached into his jeans for a tissue and tore strips off and stuffed them into his ears.
The mason got to work. Once he started on a piece of stone, he was more or less motionless, the saw taking an age to make its way through the limestone. Perfect, thought Theo.
So now it was his turn to get to work. This was the rural labour he had promised his parents he would capture over this summer holiday. Usi
ng the 2B pencil he drew the outline of the mason; his shoulders round, his arms thick, his head stooped. Then he filled in the mason's form: the black boots, the canvas workpants, the shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbow. Then the mason's face - all of which was covered in one way or another. He drew the visor and filled it in with a 4B, giving the figure the appearance of a soulless automaton.
Now to sketch the surroundings. But there were no surroundings - the dust bellowing from the side of the saw obscured everything around to a distance of about five feet. Drawing these circling clouds felt futile to Theo, so he decided not to: instead leaving the space immediately around the mason completely blank, as if some exclusion order on the physical world existed. Then he began to bring in the background - the barn, the vehicles, the tools, the trees.
Theo looked at his work. The dead white paper around the mason looked like the flash of an explosion caught on camera. It gave the drawing a vibrancy that thrilled him. This picture was dynamic, not the sleepy rural scenes he had imagined, but something much more vital. He knew his mum and dad would be pleased.
-
It was only when he got home that he realised that he did not thank or say goodbye to the quarry manager. The thought saddened him for a while but he soon managed to bury it beneath the growing excitement of the guitar lesson and more importantly seeing Martine tomorrow night.
Instead of the usual routine of packing the drum kit up and taking it over to Tim's on the Tuesday evening, Theo and his dad headed out to August's house to pick the kit up from there. August had dismantled the kit and it lay ready in the farmhouse's entrance hall when Theo and Roger arrived. As they loaded the kit into the car, Mr Wells walked from the back garden to greet them.
"Good heavens! Roger isn't it?"
Roger looked up to see August's father striding towards him, his hand outstretched. "Sir Terrence, pleasure to see you again!"
"Oh please just call me Terry, everybody does."
"Of course. Well, it seems our sons are in a rock group together."
"It does indeed seem that way. The world better watch out."
Both fathers laughed and continued to chat. Theo and August rolled their eyes.
Once they had got the kit into the car and were on the road, Theo asked his dad how he knew Mr Wells.
"Well, Sir Terrence - Terry rather - is about as high up in the Civil Service as it's possible to get. He was a defence advisor under Callaghan I think, and was then stationed at Copenacre when Thatcher came in, which is where I met him. Very pleasant chap. I think he's a Knight of the Garter, or MBE or something. A Sir anyway. A good family to keep in with, that"
-
That evening's Blues Train practice session saw a couple of new songs by The Doors and Creedence Clearwater being sessioned to Tim's liking. Once the practice was over and the other members of Blues Train had packed up and left, Tim turned to Theo and said: "Right then young man. Guitar lesson number one coming up! Oh, and Laura has expressed an interest in learning as well, so she'll be joining us."
Theo felt like he should know who Laura was, but did not. Tim saw the confusion on his face and said "My daughter, Laura? She's been learning the piano and violin at school but fancies the guitar as well, which makes sense, her being my daughter and all."
Theo had not seen Laura for several months now. She was usually in her bedroom when the practice sessions took place but he had spotted her occasionally, running up and down the stairs in her school uniform. The only thing Theo could remember about her was that she had red hair.
"Okay, great." Said Theo, trying to sound enthusiastic. He would have preferred solo lessons though, so that he could target them specifically to what he wanted to know. Now that there was a second person taking the lessons, Theo assumed that they would have to take a more traditional approach.
"First things first," Tim continued. "You'll be needing a guitar. Follow me." They went through to the main house and into the dining room. One wall was filled completely with guitars.. Theo estimated that there must be about twenty in total. Tim turned on a light that shone directly on to the guitars and Theo could now see them properly; chrome and lacquered wood glinting at him.
Theo knew very little about guitars but recognised some of the shapes: A Les Paul; a Telecaster; a Stratocaster. The one that caught his eye was a sky blue Strat, and it caught his eye precisely because of the colour - it was the same shade of blue as his favourite Wrangler jeans. In his mind's eye he saw himself wearing the jeans with a white t-shirt, the guitar slung around his shoulder.
"Right, I was going to give you this Epiphone Les Paul," Tim continued, motioning towards a walnut-coloured guitar "but I noticed the other day that the neck had warped a bit which means it will be tricky to learn on. So..." Tim hovered near the sky blue Strat and Theo's heart raced. "... I thought this one might be a good alternative." And yes, he did it: he took it off the wall "It's a Fender Stratocaster, circa 1962 I believe. Nice colour, you don't often see them in blue."
"Wow, this is really kind of you, thank you very much." Theo managed to say.
Tim sat on a chair with the guitar in his lap and strummed out a few basic chords. "It's got a nice easy action, so it's ideal to learn on, but the pickups might need replacing in a year or two. Now then..." Tim stopped strumming and looked at Theo sternly: "I can't really give you this as it's quite valuable, but I'll let you have it on a permanent loan. So it's yours for all intents and purposes, but I might need to ask for it back at some stage. Unless you don't get on with it in which case just bring it back. Okay?" Theo nodded that it was. "Right, let's crack on with the lesson."
With that he handed the Strat to Theo and left the room and shouted for Laura to come down. Once more Theo heard the thumpa-thumpa-thumpa of a teenage girl running down the stairs, this one not quite so heavy of foot as Martine.
When she walked into the room, Theo was surprised at how tall Laura was. She was probably taller than him. And her hair was a reddish-brown now, not the bright red he remembered. It was longer too, and straight - the frizziness that he recalled from the last time he saw her having presumably grown out. She was wearing a white XTC t-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans.
"Theo, you remember Laura don't you?"
"Of course" Theo replied, blushing.
Laura smiled, revealing a mouth crammed with large white teeth.
"Okay." Tim continued "First things first: everybody sit yourselves down."
Theo and Laura did so, and Tim handed Laura another guitar from his collection. Then he handed them each a plectrum before sitting down himself and picking up his own guitar.
"Right. Probably the best thing to do is to see what you already know. Laura, you've never played before have you? But Theo you reckon you know the basics - a few chords and what not?"
"Correct" replied Theo.
"Okay, fire away then"
"Er, okay" Theo replied, blushing again. He took the plectrum in his right hand and moved his left hand to the end of the fretboard. He peered down at his fingers as he formed an open E chord and strummed. The resulting chord sounded strong and resonant. "Very good" said Tim. Next he formed an open G, strumming up and down, and then moved back to the E chord. "Nice, nice" continued Tim. Next Theo tried to make an open C, but this required a bit more concentration, so he studied his fingers as they tried to make the correct shape. He strummed again, but this time the chord sounded messy: he had hit the open low E string and the A string hadn't sounded at all.
"Oh dear." Theo said apologetically and laughed.
"Never mind, never mind. Keep trying" said Tim,
So he did, this time trying an A chord. But again he hit the lower strings and the chord sounded a mess.
"Eek. Sorry," said Theo.
"Not to worry lad. But it seems like you've picked up a few bad habits there. Your fingers are positioned right for the chords, but you need to move your thumb over the lower strings for the C and A chords so that they don't sound. Otherwise you won't be
able to strum those chords properly without them being drowned out by the open E and A strings."
Tim showed him how to do this on his own guitar and Theo tried it. But it meant repositioning the hand in a way completely unnatural to him, and it made the muscles in his forearm hurt. Tim could see that Theo was getting frustrated, so he changed tack. "Okay boys and girls let's leave it there for a moment and let me show you what they call the three chord trick. This is your basic E A and B7 chords, which are used in countless rock n roll and blues songs. Loads of Beatles and Beach Boys songs use them, so they're a pretty useful three chords to know."
Tim set about showing his two students the chords and then gave a demo of how versatile they were by playing 409 by the Beach Boys followed by Hound Dog by Elvis followed by The Gambler by Kenny Rogers. Then Laura and Theo had a go, gingerly changing from one chord to the next. Both students had difficulty with the B7 chord, which Tim assured them was the trickiest of the three.
"Of course, there is another way to play these chords, and pretty much any other chord for that matter," Tim said in an off-hand manner. This piqued Theo's interest. Tim's phrase "or any other chord for that matter" implied to him that this other way may be a shortcut, an easier way to play guitar.
"Oh really? What's that?" asked Theo.
"Oh just bar chords, or the Johnny Ramone chords as I like to call them. Basically, any note can be turned into a chord by just forming an E shaped chord and then placing your forefinger over all the strings on the fretboard one fret down." He illustrated what he was talking about and then strummed out a note. "That was an A played as a bar chord, but it essentially sounds the same as an open A." He then strummed an open A and they did indeed sound the same.
"A lot of the punk bands use them as they are easy to learn, but they don't have the same subtlety as the open chords. But it's a pretty useful trick to have up your sleeve. The Ramones have based their entire career on them. I remember once I was in Cruisin' Records in Bath and they had just got this new album in by this American band The Ramones. They were dressed up in leather jackets and ripped jeans on the front cover. Bob who worked there put it on and it was just this wall of noise. At first we all just laughed because we couldn't believe how basic it was. But after about twenty seconds I noticed that we had all stopped laughing and were nodding along. They were playing classic rock n roll, but just faster and louder. So that's why I call them the Johnny Ramone chords." And then by way of illustration, he played the opening of Blitzkrieg Bop.
Theo knew The Ramones and liked a lot of their stuff. If their songs were created just using this simple bar chord technique, then couldn't he do the same? He asked Tim to show him the chord again. Tim also showed him another bar chord, shaped like an A chord that was used to create any note higher than an open A string
Once Tim had shown Theo the chords, he put his guitar down and said "Okay, maybe we should leave it there for the night. Your fingers are probably getting sore anyway. But before you go, I printed out some song sheets for you to practice for next time. Laura, could you grab those sheets of paper on the table?"
Theo watched as Laura turned around on her chair and stretched over to the nearby dining table to retrieve some A4 sheets. A shard of pale skin appeared between the waist of her jeans and her white t-shirt. She turned back around and handed them to her father.
"Right" continued Tim, "I have written out tablature and lyrics for two of the songs we did tonight - 409 and Hound Dog - so maybe you can both practice these and we'll see how we get on next time. Okay?"
Laura nodded and Theo said "Sounds great!" as Tim handed out the sheets. He then looked at Theo and said "Oh, and one more thing" He then handed Theo a carry case for the guitar. "You will look after her for me won't you?"
"Of course" replied Theo. "Thanks for the lesson and the guitar and... everything."
"My pleasure" replied Tim.
-
Theo walked home, leaving the drum kit in Tim's garage. When he arrived he went down to the living room to show his parents the guitar. He passed it to his father, who looked at it, disbelief forming on his face.
"Fuck me!" he said.
This was the first time Theo had heard either of his parents swear. "I mean Good Grief!" Roger corrected himself quickly. "Sorry about that. But this is a Fender Stratocaster! It must be worth hundreds! He can't give you this. It's too much!"
"He didn't give it to me, it's a permanent loan." Theo replied, now feeling guilty for accepting guitar so readily.
"But even so." Roger looked at his watch. "What time is it? Ten o'clock. I need to phone Tim to talk about this. I mean what if you lose it? We can't afford to pay him back."
"He didn't seem worried about that dad."
"Oh Theo." With that Roger left the living room and went to the corridor and picked up the phone. After waiting ten seconds or so, he heard his father saying "Hi Tim, it's Roger, listen, thanks so much for loaning Theo that guitar but it's too much..."
The phone call continued with Roger first doing all the talking and then doing all the listening. Theo heard the occasional snippet of the conversation: "...what if it gets nicked... shall we insure it...bring it back whenever..." until the call finally came to a close with Roger saying "Well if you're sure. Thank you so much. Bye"
Roger re-entered the room.
"What did he say?" asked Theo.
"He said he's seen the way you look after your drum kit. He's not worried."
Theo said goodnight to his parents and took the guitar up to his room. He sat on the edge of his bed and tried the open chords he had learnt earlier, this time trying to arch his thumb over the lower strings on the C and A chords. But with his wrist in this position he still found it difficult to get his fingers right, and his forearm started to ache. He gave up and tried the bar chords. These he found easier, and practiced moving his left hand up and down the fretboard as he strummed.
Then he remembered the melody from his dream the morning after the Steal Guitars gig. He replayed the tune in his head, nodding along as he did so. Then he tried to find the opening note on the guitar. He decided it was probably the second fret on the D string. Then he went down to the A string to find the second note. Then back up to the D for the third. On he went, finding note after note until he was able to play the melody from beginning to end. He played it again and again, and before long he didn't even have to look at his fingers as he did so.