Chapter Twenty-Eight
By the time the 5:12 from Bath had reached the top of Box Hill Theo was desperate for the toilet. He didn't think he could wait for the stop nearest home, so he pressed the bell just outside the Hare & Hounds.
He entered the pub and went first to the toilet, and then to the bar. Sadly there was a different barman to last Friday, so it wasn't a given that he would get served. This evening's barman looked young to Theo and had very blond hair and very tanned skin.
"Can I help you mate?"
"Um, pint of Fosters please." Theo was thrown by the barman's accent, which he guessed was Australian. He also wondered why he had called him 'mate'. Was it short for 'shipmate', or 'workmate'?
The barman stared coolly at him. "How old are you?"
Theo could feel the eyes of the other patrons on him and he started to blush. "Er, twenty."
"What's your date of birth then?"
"Um July second 19...65?" Theo had been asked this question plenty of times, but something about the strange accent and the 'mate' had thrown him. He realised he was not sounding particularly believable.
"Sorry mate, I'm not gonna serve you." There was the mate again.
"Oh right. Fair enough I suppose." He turned around and headed for the exit.
"Oi! Where do you think you're going?" It was that Australian accent again. "You can't bugger off without buying a drink if you've used the toilets."
"But you wouldn't serve me!" Theo replied, perplexed.
"You can buy a soft drink though can't you?"
"Oh right." Theo could feel himself going even redder "I'll have a coke then please"
He heard some laughter coming from somewhere in the bar. He downed the drink as quickly as he could, its sweet fizziness clearing his head.
When he got home he ran up to the bathroom in need of the toilet again. As he headed up the stairs his mum called out from the ground floor.
"Yoohoo! Theo!"
"Hi mum, down in a minute, just going to the loo."
"Rightie-ho. You just missed Laura though."
He stopped dead. "Laura?"
"Yes. She popped round to return a plectrum. Said you left it at her house last Tuesday."
The plectrum ruse! It worked! But was this good news or bad news? Did she just drop it round out of politeness, or was she using the plectrum as he'd intended to - as a device for seeing him? Theo ran down the stairs three at a time to where his mum was. "Did she say anything else? Did she ask for me?"
"Well of course dear, she asked if you were in. When I said no, she handed me the plectrum and asked me to pass it on to you."
"Anything else?"
"Oh yes. She asked if we were going to watch you on Sunday at the White Hart and I said yes. She said she'd see us there. Her dad has finally relented and allowed her to go."
Laura at the White Hart. This was good news indeed. An image of her in a mini skirt roller-skating around The White Hart while he tapped out a rhythm on his drum kit filled his cerebral cortex.
At the dinner table, Theo told his parents and brother about his week at Cabot Farr: about the huge farmhouse and the record producer; about all the flats and houses he had shown; the newly-learned vocabulary and sales techniques; and how Rick had told him to give him a call 'any time' should he want a job. At this, Theo's parents exchanged a smile and Roger said "That's fantastic news Theo, well done. Rick's a good guy to keep in with, and that firm is one of the best around. This causes for a celebration." Roger left the table and came back with a full bottle of Dry Blackthorn cider. Not Theo's favourite, but better than nothing.
Later on at the pub, Theo attempted to bring up the subject of Laura. He mentioned casually that Tim was letting his youngest daughter attend the Blues Train gig on Sunday to see if this engendered any response from his friends. What he needed to know was whether Laura was considered good-looking or not, as he genuinely couldn't tell. Having seen her first as the gangly and awkward thirteen-year-old, he wasn't sure how far from this she had progressed. All he knew was that his subconscious considered her jean-covered rear to be worth dreaming about.
"Well if her older sister is anything to go by, she's probably pretty hot." These words of Pete put Theo's mind at rest. It seemed his subconscious was right after all, and he offered to get a round in.
The only space at the bar was next to Tom, who was chatting to a couple of older guys Theo did not recognise. He had managed to avoid anyone from X-Tradition all week but his desire for booze outweighed his desire to avoid Tom, so he positioned himself next to the bass player and tried to catch the barman's eye. Once he had ordered a round, he looked over at Tom, who now seemed to be on his own. He remembered his policy about politeness and made the first move: "Sorry about the other day. I mean throwing that drum stick at you."
"Don't worry about it."
Another of Theo's policies was to not ask a question if you thought the answer would be one that he didn't want to hear. But buoyed by his successful day at Cabot Farr, and his first boozy business lunch, Theo was confident that he could withstand any bad news he might learn from quizzing Tom about August:
"So how is X-Tradition coming along?"
"Dunno. Not even sure if we're still going to be honest."
Theo's heart quickened. "Really? Why, what's happened?"
"Dunno. I haven't heard from Wells all week. I phoned him the other day but he was out and never got back to me. I thought we had a gig lined up here in a couple of weeks but Bill doesn't seem to know anything about it. I left Downward Spiral for that sod. The least he could do is return my calls."
"Oh, sorry to hear that. So, has he recruited another drummer?"
"I think so yeah, that bloke who was messing around on your kit the other day. He's pretty good, but well-dodgy."
"How do you mean?"
"Druggie. Whatever you want, he can get. Him and Wells are constantly off their gourds. I think he deals at the Hat & Feather; Wells has been going there a lot apparently. I might go there later on actually; see if I can track him down."
The Hat & Feather was a pub in Bath popular with crusties and punks. Theo knew it by reputation only. It was situated at the top of Walcot Street near the London Road. Whenever Theo walked past, he could always hear loud dub music coming from inside, and there were usually half a dozen dogs on strings sniffing around the entrance.
Theo offered to buy Tom a drink by way of apology, but Tom said he was going to head into Bath, thanked him anyway and patted him on the shoulder.
Theo left the pub before closing time once again and wandered home by himself. He wasn't sure if the news that X-Tradition had imploded was good or bad. Maybe he should take it as a compliment that once he had left, the band fell apart. But then again maybe Theo had nothing to do with it, and August's increased drug use could be to blame.
He wished he'd asked Tom about the Dead White Sky, and whether August had mentioned the ownership of the song. Too late now. He walked home humming the tune he had written, with August's powerful lyrics playing over in his mind:
A blink of light that cracks the sky
Leaves houses up but children die
Then, with a sudden cringe of embarrassment he remembered some of his own lyrics from his recently completed Jeans Girl:
Well she's my jeans and t-shirt girl
She knows just how to rule my world
How many times had fledgling songwriters rhymed 'girl' with 'world' he wondered? On reflection, hiding the cassette containing this song in his t-shirt drawer wasn't adequate. This was a song that deserved to be buried in a very very deep hole.
When he got home he went straight up to his room and listened to proper pop music on his portable bedside turntable: 'Ant Music', 'See You', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'The Model'. He flicked through the rest of his collection as he listened and came across 'Romeo & Juliet' by Dire Straits. He had yet to play it since buying it in Cruisin' Records the other day. Remembering the song's lavish production, he decided that
the portable player wasn't up to the job and turned on the Panasonic music centre. He turned the volume and bass up as loud as he dared for such a late hour and listened.
Like Don McLean's 'Vincent', 'Romeo & Juliet' starts with a guitar riff that Theo could never imagine mastering. The song is a reworking of the timeless love affair, with Shakespeare's prose replaced by contemporary street slang. At least Theo could understand this version.
Mark Knopfler's raspy low-key vocal was barely audible above the reverberating guitars and drums. He sang of love-struck Romeos, serenades, and the endless yearning of boy and girl, boy and girl.
And this love-struck Romeo thought of Martine of course, of course. The girl who pierced his heart with her knowing look. That undeniably pretty face, that stocky body, that surprisingly hot skin. That smile meant only for him. Was she alone in her bedroom thinking of him, or out with some other guy...
And then he thinks of August of course, of course: his soul being stolen by the drug dealer, the new drummer. He imagines August at the Hat & Feather, pills being folded into his palm, a smile on the dealer's face. But it didn't have to end that way; with August's head nodding downwards in a stupor while dogs barked all around.
And Theo knows now that he isn't ready to leave August behind. The Wallflowers will have to wait. This love-struck Romeo needs to get August back of course, of course.