Evil Empire

Evil Empire

“Stop being so hard on yourself, always putting yourself down James, don’t think like that” She spoke to me without a care for the world, all she cared for was her close friends and family, anything else was just there, like images she sees on the television.
I’d been watching Cleo carefully for the last 10 minutes as she tried to study my motives for not having the confidence to fulfil my ambition. The fact is, I had no intention of becoming an accountant, I failed my tests on purpose, I just don’t want her to know, because if she knows then my father knows and we all know what that means. Ever since I was a child it has been drummed into me not to be like my friends from school, all my older brothers went to private education schools except me, I think I was the social experiment. My father would always tell me how I was better than the people in my school, the dear old Portobello Hill Comprehensive; a school consisting of a wide range of children from backgrounds of working class stock.
But me I was different he would say, I was long distant blood of the royals. The grandson of the great bourgeois master of industry; a family empire built upon the workforce of exploiting others for our family gain.
Why they put me in that school I will never understand.
It turns out it was my mother’s idea cause she didn’t like how molly cuddled and poncy my older brothers became after starting their private education.
My Mother didn’t know her parents and had met my father at a charity ball for orphaned children, she had been adopted by an old lady who donated generously to the orphanage; turns out a very wealthy old lady who left a lot of money to my mother and the orphanage after she did the macabre dance.
She has always had a strong will about her and always let my father know she could give him it if he ever tried his father’s old fashioned methods of house control.
Cleo was still pestering, god bless her, she means no harm.
“Look Cleo I’m ok about it really, it’s not the end of the world now is it, and I can just go back to university next year and take up something else.”
“Something else, Like what exactly, how are you going to tell your father?”
“Well”
I thought for a moment, like every action in life I take has to be stamped and approved by the bureaucratic office of father.
“I will go to his office tomorrow and explain how I failed the exam and tell him I want a change of direction, if he doesn’t like it then so what”
“Ha so what, you say, well how about he stops your allowance and forces you to re-sit the exam, you know how he wanted you to join the family business”
The words slash my brain especially the word family, what is a family, a structure of morals with the father as ruler, a man whose morals for his family bare no resemblance to his morals in life. Yes a family business. What about the families forced out of their homes in the name of business, such a family business is this.
My father’s company was involved in credit collection, if someone had a loan with a bank and struggled to make the repayments then the bank would sell the loan to my father’s company for half the price of the debt and my father would then pursue the poor soul and get them on his books for life, and if they had no means of payment the family business would offer them alternatives. If they had any valuable goods they would be sold, and if they had not even that, then it was home repossession or work off the debt in one of my fathers associates factories. This was all legal going and if they refused any of the family business methods then a swift stint in jail would soon settle it, and then you still had the debt to pay at the end of your sentence so it was never a soft option.
This type of business was not my idea of family.
“Well Cleo, I think I’m gonna go get my head down ready for the confrontation, make sure I’m not disturbed would you”
“Very well I’ll leave you to it”
And off I went to slumber away and allow my sub conscience to re assemble the past 24 hours into a manageable little story board.

His office sat on the top floor of an old government office building, he had made a deal with a government friend of his in exchange for a list of certain banking establishments selling debts on. What the government friend wanted with this info I have no idea, but my father got the place shortly after they moved out,
Along the walls of the corridor leading to his offices were large golden framed renaissance style portraits of often fat men with large moustaches, each one a symbol of heritage to him, a reminder of where he came from and where he belongs.
As I approached the door I could feel the confrontation before it happened, my palms had begun to itch and my throat had dried up, I always hated the fact I had to knock and wait, no matter how busy or free he was he would always make the person knocking wait a minute before he would answer.
“Enter” he replied;
Always doing the same thing I thought, laid back in his leather luxury chair behind his large oak desk pretending to study a model of some prehistoric pulley device. It was a small scale replica of the type of machinery used to build the pyramids; it even had a little half built pyramid in the middle of its scaffolding type structure.
“Brilliant isn’t it, all those thousands of years ago, able to build such structures and without the need to even pay for the workforce, they were just happy to be fed by their masters.”
“Yes father I think the term is slave labour”
He looked at me thinking something behind his dark eyes; I knew what he was thinking,
“shame we don’t have those hard workers around these days, they re all lazy bastards who want everything given to them, the banks give them loans out of the goodness of their hearts and then they show their true colours and fall behind on payments, makes me bloody furious, you know son, I’ve paid taxes in all ventures of business and now this stinking government wants to use my taxes to bring these work horses out of their self made poverties, but what can be done” More talking to himself than actually addressing me, without those people your business would have no need I thought to myself.
“So lad, what brings you to the office this time of day, come to offer your service of accountancy to the family business, I hear you had your exam results recently, well what of it.”
Ok here goes I thought to myself, deep breath then let him have it.
“Well dad that’s the thing erm”
“Yes son come on spit it out, I didn’t bring you up to mumble”
Here goes everything.
“I don’t wanna join your predator of poverty family business and I hate what you do to the working classes”
Well that was it; he nearly fell off his seat backwards with laughter, so arrogantly loud the whole office must have heard.
“Well son why didn’t you just say you didn’t want to join the family empire no body ever forced you to become an accountant, did they? No they did not, however I feel that if this is the route you would like to go then I think it is time you gained the responsibility of a man and earned your own fortune, consider your allowance cut off”
And with that he turned round in his chair and gave me a “don’t slam the door on your way out”
Wow that was easier than I thought, I guessed he would stop my allowance so no surprise there. What I didn’t bargain on was soon as I left his office he picked up the phone to one of his brutes and arranged a mugging, nothing to rough just take what possessions I have and leave me stranded. I never saw it coming.
It was a weekend and I was just returning from the playhouse, I had been watching a student production of Othello, I only went because a little sister of my friend was playing in it and I said I would come along with Cleo. I had left Cleo after the play and was walking down a narrow alley, I could hear the foot steps creeping behind me, when I turned to see who it was I felt a giant clunk across my head, next thing I know is I’m sat up on the pavement under a street light with a small crowd around me.
It was strange because I had never been in that type of situation with all manner of people staring at me like some sort of creature emerging from an egg, each one with their little curious expression, expecting me to say something to make their waiting for my conscious worth while. I disappointed them; I just got up and took off. That was my wake up call; time to leave this town.
I packed some things and then there I was on a train with no money and no ticket, just the feelings built up inside of hate and determination to find something in life, something beyond the structure of work and play, something meaningful.
Since I arrived on the train I had been thinking what am I doing, what will I do when I get to wherever I am going, how will I pay for things.
I made up my mind to go to London and follow the Oliver Twist dream, that’s what I will do, run away to London and learn something meaningful about life.
But then I started thinking about what I would be leaving behind, the security, all I have to do is go back make up with my father and follow his guidance, but no I mustn’t.
It was just then that I spotted a rough looking man making his way through the train carriages; if I was judgemental I would say he was homeless, but he may have just been having a rough day. I decided to take my chance and find out.
“Excuse me sir”
“I’m running away and, don’t take this the wrong way but you look like you may already know a thing or two about living off the land, so to speak”
I had never seen someone’s face drop so much, I felt awful, turns out the poor guy was nothing of the sort.
That was my first lesson learnt.
“You cheeky young man, how dare you assume I’m living off the land, I’ll have you know young lad, I happen to be on my way to a very important meeting, I plan to shower and shave when I reach my hotel, I have been travelling for 2 days without rest. I hope this may explain my appearance.”
As he said this I could of turned and ran myself, but he didn’t stay angry at me, he took pity on my naivety and sat me down and actually listened to me, I told him all about my fathers business and how I didn’t agree with it at all. Then in turn he explained who he was and where he was going.
He told me he was a research scientist on his way to a meeting about some idea he has about black holes; he has this idea that if two places in nature have singularities like the ones found at the beginning of time we may find out how the universe began and where we come from, he claims the second singularity is to be found in Black holes; a sort of meeting point of infinity. All very interesting for a science meeting, but when you’re sat on a train with a complete stranger it can be a bit overwhelming.
It was worth listening to him though; cause after I sat and listened to all that he bought me some dinner and wished me luck.
So there we go my first free meal on the move.
He got off a couple of stops later and I carried on the journey, after a little sleep I found myself at London Victoria station.
I walked out into the noisy city around me and took a deep breath of the stiff air.
There was an intense smell of fumes from exhaust mixed with fried onions from a nearby hot dog stand, I looked around and decided my first task was to search inside myself and find out why I am here, I don’t know why but the first thing I thought of doing was finding a church.
It was from here I planned to find myself spiritually, except when I got there I found a hall full of stalls selling new age medicines and assorted healing stones, there was even 3 stalls at the back offering palm readings, this is not what I was expecting, had the entire social idea of religion been sold off to the latest trends, well good riddance I thought. While I was there I decided to give palm reading a try, turns out that were a waste also;
“Your future is clouded; this is strange; I’ve never seen one like this before”
All the while she was looking up trying to catch on to something, if this is how she makes her money well then; each to their own.
“Tell me is there some hardship in your life; cause I’m seeing dark clouds on your hands”
Dark clouds I thought, bloody hell love that’s muck not clouds, I didn’t want to be the sceptic and tell her clouds are things that float up high in the atmosphere so I allowed her to carry away with herself…
“No matter how hard I try to open up your channels, there is some dark figure in the way, it s a father figure standing guard not letting any thoughts through”
“Do you have a good relationship with your father?”
“Erm; no I don’t not at the moment”
“That’s it you see, you need to break free from the shadow over you”
Wow she’s good; I’m starting to get the little shivers up my back.
”What am I to do then?”
“Well my dear that is up to you, all I can do is show you the doors, you must choose your own path”
“Now that will be £30 please”
“Is that it, we were only here for a few seconds?”
“That’s all it takes dear now £30 please”
“Very well” I said and handed over a napkin with I-O-U written on it. If she is that good she would of seen that coming.
“What is this?”
“Well you see thing is I don’t have any money and wasn’t expecting it to be that expensive, I have £10 on me to last till I find some way of making more?”
She looked at me like an old aunty would with that stuck up look yet some glint in her eye like you remind her of some younger image of someone they used to know.
“So you’re looking for work then my boy?”
“Well not exactly but I guess I’m going to need to do something”
“Have no fear my lad, they call me lady clairvoyant rose, I happen to need a little helper to carry some of my wares about to my next opening, would you be interested in helping an old lady for a minimum wage of course?”
It didn’t take me long to decide, so far things were taking a course of there own I offered my services and packed up her table, and walked outside to her little white run around van. It is amazing the amount of new age cures and books that have absolutely no use whatsoever that are actually available, she had a whole selection of little quartz gems and other coloured stones, each one supposedly had some mystic power over the body, then there was the wikka books containing all different witches spells; Spells for what; I don’t know, it was all a bit over the top.
“So will you be paying me by the hour then lady rose?”
“No my boy I will pay you by the days, do you have any where to sleep tonight?”
Up until now I hadn’t thought about that, I suppose I was mentally preparing my self for a rough night on the streets.
“As it happens I don’t truth be told I have left my previous dwellings and gone out into the world in search of myself”
“My silly boy, the world doesn’t hold yourself, yourself is in the world”
Yes I thought to myself, yes that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, who is this crazy lady I have found myself in company with.
“And what does that mean?”
“It means my boy that you cannot find yourself in the world, until you know who you’re looking for”
“Well when you put it like that”
I still didn’t have any idea what she was talking about, why it was all in bloody riddles is as much a riddle as the riddle she speaks of.
“So; how much exactly are we talking for these days?”
“I will pay you £30 a day for everyday we set up stall and return with all our wares and sales in tact, I will feed you and give you shelter on top of the £30, we will be travelling extensively around the country and I should mention that we will be travelling in my motor home”
“What motor home, this is a van, who will be driving the motor home if you’re driving the van?”
“I can see you’re a bright lad so I will let you figure that one out”
“But I can’t drive”
“Oh don’t worry I just call it a motor home so as not to scare people”
I jumped in the van and went along with rose, she didn’t speak much on the journey. I just amused myself by admiring the views of the passing sights through my window.
We arrived at a quiet part of the town and turned left down what looked like an old farm route.

The road led along to a dusty old track; the route of which looked as if the fly tippers annual conference had just been held; every hundred metres or so there would be some piece of left over rubbish from gas bottles to sofa’s to refrigerators.
The road continued along up to an old farm with a couple of horses running free in a large fenced off field, the farm yard housed a large newly built bungalow with 3 old fashioned caravans, the types pulled by horses, I had seen something like this in a museum once, it was all hand carved with beautiful red and gold painting all over it, however this one was nothing like it, it had a large green Perspex arched roof and the sides were all scratched up, all in all you could see it was once a work of art but now it was old and battered.
“That there is the motor home” she said
“The horses will do all the work so all you have to do is hold the reins, do you like horses lad?”
Well no I didn’t like horses, they reminded me of a traumatic incident as a child with Cleo, her mother used to have stables and was forever talking horses, she would come round in the summer for morning tea with my mother and constantly bore us with her tales, one time me and Cleo were out at her stables when one of the brutes broke loose, it ran straight over towards me and raised itself up onto its back legs and began scraping at the air in front of me, I had never been so frightened in my entire life, luckily one of the stable hands was straight over to grab the beast and calm it down, as for me I never looked at a horse the same again.
“Yes sure I like horses” This was a new start after all so no point holding on to the old fears.
“Well the big one over there is called Hercules and the long mained one behind is called Achilles”
“Wow Greek legends; cool names for horses, I hope Achilles doesn’t live up to his name, last thing I want is to be breaking down and asking AA to send a knackers yard van.”
“Don’t worry too much lad, go now into the farm house while I feed them some carrots and I will make you some tea and show you to your bed for the night.
“Oh I’m not worried, this is all a new adventure for me, I will see you in the house”

I crossed the farmyard and opened the door; I had never seen so many fine china plates in one place before, the bookshelf was filled with golden pattern plates of all different sizes, the same pattern on every item, little gravy boats finely decorated with a red and gold design carefully painted onto each porcelain master piece.
This lady certainly had a collection, I walked over and inspected a piece; royal crown derby it read.
It looked expensive so I didn’t handle it for long, I looked around to get my bearings, The design was all open plan and from where I was standing I could see the kitchen with all wooden work tops and a big old white porcelain sink. Across from the kitchen was a large rug possibly some Middle Eastern design, laid down in front of an open log fire. This was real cosy stuff, the type of place you wind find in the rocky wood cabins of Canada, except the walls and mantle piece where decorated with this continuous pattern of royal crown derby.
At that the backdoor swung open; it was rose carrying a small box with some strange Mandala carved into it.
“Found your bearings ok my lad”
“Yes fine thank you”
“I hope your hungry cause I’ve had a nice stew cooking all day, going to need your energy for the days ahead my lad, but we can talk about that in the morning for now eat up and get some rest; You will be sleeping in the guest room tonight, then in the morning we will pack up the motor home and I will explain the schedule, I do hope you have no plans for the next 3 weeks”
“Well to be honest I don’t but this is all a bit sudden for me” After being in the area for less than 24 hours it was strange to listen to my inner workings sign me up for a 3 week tour of life.
But since you are offering me something similar to what I have been looking for I am going to follow you on this journey, I’m looking forward to getting to know you better rose, if you don’t mind me calling you rose?”
“No lad don’t fret rose is the name, you are in good company, I can see your journey ahead, you will learn a lot about the world in your life, now as I have said eat up and get some rest”
And with that I finished my meal and tucked myself down in to what can only be described as a pure sheep wool throw over, comfort wasn’t the word…

Rising up with the sun is not such a deity, one can only ever hope to see the sights that a beautiful morning on an open farm yard can offer, out across the fields the dew hovering lowly above the grass, an almost mystical occurrence when the only sounds you can hear are the faint love calls of the birds out for their morning hunt, I emerged from my sheep skin bed and stepped out into the farm yard to find 2 chickens running free, almost frightened by my sudden appearance, I stared at the old open lot that was to be my travelling home for the next 3 weeks. This is certainly going to be different I thought,
I turned my attention to the beautiful morning sun and took a deep breath of the fresh moist air and for that moment felt completely full circle with my inner self and with the outer world around me, in the last week my life had completely changed, one minute I’m the son of a wealthy dictator the next I’m out on my own after a beating which I know was set up by my own father and a train journey out of there without a note or any message. Was this how I wanted to live my life? Continually running from myself; No it was not, for today I had awoken into this reality. Across the distance all I could see was patch work farmland and forestry and the bumps of the terrain. There was no sound of man made endeavour, just the pure brilliance of solitude that one can only get by waking up in such a place, I wandered around for another few minutes just absorbing it all into my conscious then ventured back indoors for a moment of breakfast and reflection.
“Beautiful isn’t it lad? Nothing better than breathing in the morning dawn and allowing it to flow through your body”
“Good morning Rose, I didn’t know you were up.”
“I’m always up and about my lad, even while my body is sleeping, can I get you some eggs and toast?”
“Yes please”
This was turning out rather sweet, she was still talking in riddles but I was starting to get a feel for her new age hospitality.
“Stop me if I’m being nosey Rose but how long have you lived like this for?”
“Well my lad the farm has always been in my family, I come from a race of Romany travellers, all but forgotten in this modern world, years gone by we would travel up and down the country making our living as we went, but these days the race has just given up on its old values, it became harder to make a living so many of the younger generations turned to selling drugs to make money and other criminal activities, you could say it was forced onto them but I wouldn’t say that, they just got it all handed to them instead of having to work for it and then used the money to invest in illegal activities, gone are the honest days of rag and bone and horse dealing, now its all cocaine and dodgy deals.”
She was starting to sound like my father talking about the younger generation like they are a separate responsibility from there elders.
“They can’t all be involved in criminal activities as such”
“Well no, but there was a turning point, there is always some honest hard working people in all broken society, but it’s a majority that make a race, trouble with the Romanies was we always had a name as a fighting tribe, it was a known tradition of the men to be involved in bare knuckle boxing, this in itself was interesting enough for the members of society interested in that sort of behaviour, all that happened was the younger generation clung onto that macho image and when the criminal communities would mingle with the men it would be over a love of the brutal sport, some of them would then get jobs because of their reputations as good fighters, often the jobs would be as frighteners; men with names who could be used as a weapon. These same men then starting to learn the game they were involved in and seen a market in the cocaine world. It soon spread”
“You certainly know a lot about this stuff”
“Old women have eyes and ears too you know, I’ve seen so many changes in societies in my days, it’s all a lack of soul you see, they fill their bellies with the porridge of the royals, the trouble is they don’t feel it when they get full. But it will all burst one day my lad”
“So are there still hard working honest Romanies about then?”
“Oh of course, yes but there is also a lot of them who aren’t so honest, the ones who are honest seem to have found Christianity, which is all good because it can help them, but it was never for me Christianity, I can’t conform with mass organisations, to much power in the collective of the people, it’s the mob psychology. All it takes is one bad preacher to add a bit of spice to the flavour and before you know it certain mouths are being burnt asking for water.”
I looked at rose knowing that she was speaking honest wisdom yet I could not fully understand her message, when she spoke she commanded attention just the same way my mother would when speaking, although the principles are nothing alike.
There was still something mysterious about her, some kind of divine presence, maybe I was just still taking in by the whole clairvoyant thing, but she certainly had wisdom.
“Enough history for now though lad, lets eat up and then we can get the motor home packed up ready, today we are going back into the city for a service in the house of socialist values, basically it’s a charity event for politicians and their wives, they pay well you know”
Great I thought a day as the stage hand in front of a load of stuck up politicians they will probably expect me to shine their shoes for them once they see me carrying in the table, I may even pretend to have a hunch just for the effect, oh well, at least the breakfast tastes nice.

As I had never yoked up a horse before Rose showed me the methods used, it was rather simple once you got the horses calm, today I was taking Hercules to town, I thought it was a bit strange to use the horse and motor home just to ride into London but Rose assured me it adds to the mystic charm of the clairvoyant; if the customers see the old fashioned traditions it seeps into there unconscious and it all seems more authentic, we were going to the politicians ball so to speak in the centre of London so traffic was going to be a nightmare, but once we get there I will be inside and Rose will stay in the open lot for customers to come in and enter and experience a bit of the old style fortune telling, at £50 a go today she is going to make a killing, think if each reading takes 10 – 15 minutes, she is going to have no shortage of customers, maybe she might influence one or two of them into some god awful terror, one can only dream.
I hit the road with Hercules going at a good trot, by the time I reached the city the morning had truly broke, here I was for want of a word on a horse and cart in the middle of London how these poor beasts keep there composure I will never know, at one point I noticed Hercules give a great huff at a passing cyclist, he just looked back and pedalled like the wind, his face was a picture, I don’t think he gets road rage from a horse every day.
It was approaching late morning by the time we reached the spot, it was a large 4 storey Victorian building with a huge courtyard and even armed guards, we entered easy enough, for all they knew I could be packing explosives, I just told them why I was there and they let me in, he directed me to a little space in the courtyard and I could make out Rose’s little white van; she had arrived previous to make necessary arrangements about the day. I climbed down and took Hercules to a quiet spot in the courtyard with a small patch of grass next to an old tree.
“Got here at last my lad, how was it?”
“It was easy enough, once I got over the initial shock of trekking through London on a horse drawn vehicle.”
“Not to worry you will soon get used to the looks of disgust and general abuse.”
“But I didn’t suffer any”
I said this puzzlingly; not once on my journey had I received anything of the sort in fact the only abuse was my horse towards the cyclist.
“Oh but you will”
With that she hauled herself up onto the motor home and pulled out that box with the mandala carved into it from a cupboard above the bed.
“What’s in the box? I seen you with it last night”
“It is my special deck of tarot cards, most Romanie people won’t have them near there homes they are said to bring bad luck, that’s why I keep them in this box, the mandala carved into it is a mystical archetype carved by the hands of a mad man, it contains the bad luck in the box, be careful to take my words as serious as any others, superstitious or not.”
“Okay, so you really believe in all this stuff then?”
“My lad when you have seen the things in this life that I have been witness too, you would know that there are things in life that we just never fully understand, some things are only seen, in order to believe. If you ever have a dream in which you are drowning know that you are on the verge of madness, if you do drown then your mind has rescued you into its inner depths, I read peoples fortunes to help them escape from the waters of the deep.”
“So when you read mine you weren’t just using simple techniques or did you actually see anything?”
“No lad like I said at the time, you are a clouded being, an unwritten soul”
I felt the shiver down my back again as she said the words unwritten soul; what does that actually mean I thought to myself, how can a soul be un-written, is it to say we are written in the first place, and if it is then why?
“Ok I will take your word for it, but no more riddles for today please, I am still figuring out the ones from yesterday.”
“Don’t worry yourself too much my lad, the world will open up for you when you are ready, now do me a favour, take the table out the back of my van and the wares and set them up just through those double exit doors, there is a young lady directing the table layouts, go in there speak to her and find out where the table is going, that is going to be your job for the day, selling my gems and other assorted witch craft”
There it was again the little glint, she smiled as I turned to go for the van, I hope this table designer isn’t some no minded politician’s wife or even worse a do good-er working for the wikka world of witches.
How wrong I was; young, beautiful, a commanding tone and wow what a frown she has,
“Don’t just stand there come on we have got twenty minutes before they come flooding in, they don’t get many days like this, so we want to make it a success, are you going to be working the stall or are you just carrying it?”
I was still stood in the doorway while she was barking orders about, she stood there hands on her hips, with dark rimmed spectacles hanging of the end of her prim nose.
“Erm working on it, where should I put it then?”
“See that spot over there next to the fire extinguisher, well that will be your home for the day, I will be round shortly to take your name and some details about your stall, do hurry.”

Three hours later I’m still sat at the stall; if this is her idea of shortly I would hate to see what she is like when she takes a long time, so far for today I have sold two scented candles, one packet of universal Waite tarot cards, and a couple of name meaning cards, my cash kitty is standing at £90 I would say the stuff I sold cant be worth more than £10 for the lot, and here I am holding £90, this is certainly good trading.
If my old man could see me now he would probably try and buy the business off old Rosy,
I remember one year at franchise show walking round with my father looking for a good investment, he had this idea that I could choose a good one and help work towards making it a success, at only 10 year old I had other ideas, why the fuck would I want to be running a business at 10 year old. I wanted to be out playing with my friends, my father wanted to re live his life through me, I imagine as a child he would have loved to have had an open market to invest in and play around with, but me I just wanted to be out with friends doing absolutely nothing but just being there.
There is a saying by someone many years ago that children should be the arrows, for the bow that the parents have bent, but they must not try to aim the bow themselves, only bend it in the shape of a good guide.
I’m not sure if it makes sense but I interpreted it in the sense that parents should love their children, guide them and that is it, allow them to live there own lives.
As I sat there with my mind wandering I failed to notice as she walked over, all I can say is a class above the rest, she has the air of private education and high end dinner parties, yet she has a somewhat down to earth presence, she is a contradiction of my senses, I look at her and I see this rich, elegant and beautiful woman walking towards me, yet when I look at her face and its frown I see a down to earth troubled young lady, not troubled in a dark sense but more of a lonely troubled.
“Hello there, sorry about my bossy appearance earlier I was very stressed with all this, My name is Natasha, I should of came over earlier to get your details but I’ve been really busy sorting other things out”
Her words melted me, it had been a while since I had spoken to a lady this beautiful without her looking down her nose at me, and somehow I presumed she would do the same.
“It’s ok” I replied
“I’ve just been getting on with the stall; James is the name, very pleased to meet you”
Keep it smooth and cool, don’t come across to strong. I thought to myself. My palms started itching; I was hoping I looked presentable.
“So James I just have to ask a few questions about your stall, what type of items you’re selling and any services you offer such as palm reading and tarot reading”
“Well I’m not offering any services; I’m a bit of a sceptic myself I only got the job yesterday, so this is my learning curve, I can give you a try though if you like, see if my skills are starting to develop”
“Well I was thinking more along the official lines, type of stall and type of services, but I will offer you my hand for a quick look”
This was going to be easy, I thought, take her hand and tell her just what she wants to hear.
“Well my dear Natasha, this is strange, I see your love line is a bit under developed, is there a man in your life at the moment?”
“Well not quite, but are you asking because you can see something on my palm or is this a personal interest question?”
“hush hush now I’m picking something up, oh yes this is interesting, I see a large window, and inside there are lots of tables and people rushing about, yes It’s clearer now, your sat at the table near the window, there is a gentleman approaching you, he is dressed in a black suit, almost like a waiter, in fact hold on, yes it’s a waiter, your sat in a restraint.”
“Oh do go on tell me more, its not often I get to sit in restaurants these days with my busy schedule”
“Well I would love to tell you more but that’s all I have, but if you would be so kind as to accompany me for a meal tonight I’m sure we could find out more”
“You sly little snake charmer”
She was giggling as she said this so it was looking good; I passed her hand back and gave her an innocent butter won’t melt smile,
“Ok your on, but you will have to help me finish up here after all this is over, my father is a politician so I helped organise this to help his party and their families let of some steam.”
“And may I say what an excellent job you are doing”
“Don’t push it, your smooth but don’t get too much like the politicians or I might be able to see straight through you.”
And with that she gave me the hottest look this side of the equator and turned and walked away, I imagined steam coming out of my collar. I had did it, now all I had to do was sit through this long day of finely dressed madams approaching with there uninteresting questions about psychic readings and the rest of that hocus pocus. I put a little sign up “back in 5 minutes” and walked outside to see rose, when I got outside I saw the line to get into her dwellings, she must be good I thought to myself, in fact by the looks of things she has quite a reputation, none of the readers inside had anywhere near this much attention; best not disturb her while she is busy, she will come to me soon enough, so in I went and got back to running my stall with all the airs and grace of a man who has just conquered the world, it’s a strange feeling you get when you can introduce yourself to a beautiful lady and know that you will get an opportunity to get to know them better, it almost makes you feel like a king.
The day went on and I had sold a few more things when rose came in to see me.
“Hi rose, how’s your day been so far any thing strange in the palms of those power dresses?”
“My lad there is always something strange whether it be the hand of a street urchin or the hand of a fine monarch, but today many of them have just been empty lives with nothing but time keeping them going, which for me is interesting in itself, but I can immediately tell you have had a bit of good fortune, lady fortune if I’m not mistaken.”
“And how exactly do you know that?”
“Well your eyes tell me, they never lie the eyes, look around at all these people today and look into their eyes you notice how there is nothing behind them, just autonomous people succumbed to their own ego’s, if you look deep enough into someone’s eyes all their secrets are revealed, looking into yours I see that something went your way today, something has clicked, I’ve also seen the daughter of a well known socialist walking around today, her eyes have the same look in them, a beautiful young lady if I may say so, but a troubled soul none the less nothing permanent I may add, but she is troubled at this moment in life”
“Wow you can tell all this just by looking at her passing glance? You should be some sort of psychologist with those skills.”
“Psychology is nothing more than the same thing with scientific background, it could learn a lot from a spiritualist like me; I like to think of myself as a natural psychologist except I don’t have any letters next to my name. But however I do have a deep knowledge of the workings of the inner mind, or as I believe the workings of the heart. And looking at yours it is a shame you haven’t approached that girl and asked her out for a drink sometime.”
“Aha see that’s one you haven’t picked up on because I actually have asked her to come for a meal with me tonight, but only thing is she wants me to help her here after this is finished, could we perhaps stay back till the end so I can give her a hand?”
“My lad who am I to stand in the way of the seeds of love, if you want I will even give her a free reading once you are finished to find out some of her inner charms and offensives confidentiality of course between us?”
“Well here she comes now I will let her know”
“Ah Natasha this is rose the lovely old lady who gave me this job, Rose, Natasha; Natasha rose”
“Very pleased to meet such an elegant young lady, many days gone since I could turn heads like you do my dear”
“Why thank you rose, nice to meet you to”
“I will leave you two alone now I have people waiting for readings, can’t leave them in suspense, nice meeting you Natasha.”
With that rose went back to her open lot, just as she turned she gave me a little wink and a nod, she certainly was a lovely old woman whom I had already grown very fond of.
“She seems very mothering towards you James; I thought you only just met her?”
“I have, she is an old darling, truth be told I have actually only just left home to venture out into the real world and she is one of the first people I met, she gave me a reading which was a bit spooky then offered me a job, and here I am”
“I suppose she told you about my father already has she?”
“No she mentioned he was a socialist but that’s about it, is there something I should know before I take his daughter out on a date? Any ex boyfriends he has had bumped off?”
“Don’t be silly” She giggled
“Just asking, don’t wanna be a snipers target tonight especially on our first date”
“First date I thought it was just a meal so you could tell me more about my fate”
“Oh well that’s all changed now, I’ve consulted my psychic boss and she tells me that there is something in your eyes that the other people in this place don’t have, so now I’m intrigued and wish to get to know you properly so one meal just wouldn’t do.”
Maybe I was pushing it here, didn’t want to scare her off but I had already spoken the words. She looked at me sensing maybe I could be a bit full on.
“We will see how you score tonight James; remember I am the daughter of a very well respected politician so I expect to be treated with the highest level of chivalry”
“Of course, of course, just one more thing, only if you would like to of course, but rose told me to ask you if after we have finished here you would like a palm reading on the house of course.” I was well aware I had just used of course four times in one sitting so I could of sounded like I was lost for words but it came out crisp enough.
“Ok but only as long as you swear she isn’t doing it to get inside tips on me for you”
She didn’t seem to have noticed I was turning into a blubbering idiot.
“No no she is of the strictest confidentiality, I will let her know”
“ok then James, I will leave you now to your sales of the unknown, I just have to go hand out some feedback forms to some of the guests and then they will all be leaving shortly, if you could hang around after all the other stalls have gone, just to help me with some boxes that would get you one point on the chivalry list.”
“Ha ha no problem”

She had been inside rose’s mind reading chariot for 30 minutes now, all the stalls were packed up and we were ready to go, I had helped Natasha with the boxes and now she was having a palm reading from the fabulous lady clairvoyant rose, except it was taking a really long time, who knows maybe she can see into people and she is seeing something terrible about her future, what if she is really a deceitful old witch and she is telling her to stay clear of me because of something awful she seen in me but wouldn’t tell me. What if she can see our date tonight as being a disaster and is trying to persuade her to stand me up. Best not to let my mind start wondering, after all I don’t believe in clairvoyants readings so it won’t make any difference what she says.
“Ah Natasha there you are how was your reading?” By the look on her face it went well, she had such a tempting smile, I hadn’t noticed it earlier; that’s not to say her frown isn’t a master piece in its own right, but her smile well, that was truly a gift from heaven.
“James my lad” she giggled.
“Rose certainly has a woman’s intuition and I must say I am thoroughly looking forward to our date tonight, so please don’t be late, which I’m sure you won’t.”
As she said that she handed me a piece of paper with her full name and phone number, a sort of hand written business card, except this wasn’t business this was true romance, if love at first sight was ever a true moment then ours surely was. I know she was feeling something special just as much as I was, call it my intuition.
“I will give you a call once I have sorted myself out, as I’m new round here is there any place in particular you would like to go”
“well to be honest I prefer to just go with the flow, if you would like there is a little bar not to far from here called the oak tree, meet me there say 8 o clock then we can decide our next course of action.”
And with that she gave me one final smile and turned and walked to her car, I could feel my inner heart skipping a beat, life was certainly feeling great, what a beautiful young lady, and such a beautiful lady to be escorting for a drink, how lucky can I get.
“Rose are you in there?”
“Yes my lad; come in”
I could smell she had been burning some incense as I climbed the step into the open lot. Rose was sat behind her crystal ball looking deep into with a sort of mesmerising smile.
“She is a very special soul you know my lad, just like you, I can see you’re meant for each other. Do you believe in fate James?”
Well I think this must be the first time she has actually called me by my name, just a small point to notice, however there must be a reason I thought to myself.
“I’m not sure, I suppose there could be something such as fate, but then it comes into question about all the non memorable things that happen to a person, I mean are they fate too?”
“Well my lad, come sit here and I will have another look into you using my crystal ball”
“Very well then”
She stared deep into the crystal ball before her and began to adjust her head to the side, analysing whatever it is she could see, I began to feel a cold tingle up my spine and was really starting to open up to all this cosmic science.
“Things have changed my lad, this was not supposed to happen”
“What was not supposed to happen?”
“There has been an unbalance in your inner progress, although things started off unclear they have now taken a turn for the worst, this isn’t permanent but it is going to take a very strong will to over come the great difficulties I see before you, this is just the start, I cannot tell you any more. It seems trouble would like to follow you through out your life, just be careful tonight and don’t do anything out of the ordinary”
“Rose, are you ok?”
“Leave me now boy, go get out, I wish to be alone for a few moments”
“ok, I will go wait outside”
This was the first time I had ever seen her behave like that, if she was doing it on purpose to frighten me it certainly was working, she looked like a witch possessed, I stepped outside to leave her have her moment and went over to see how poor Hercules was doing. All day the poor horse had been in the yard, fortunately the guards had taken a shine and made the most of the day with a horse as I walked over one of them was stood feeding him a carrot, not sure where the carrot had came from but Hercules was enjoying it.
“Everything ok their sir?”
“Yes just coming to see how the horse is doing”
“Ah she is fine sir, my brother keeps horses so I know how to handle them.”
Obviously not one with a keen eye then to think he was a she.
“Oh well at least he has been in good hands all day”
“A he you say, well I beg your pardon sir, hope the poor brute wasn’t offended.”
“No I can’t say he will have been he looks like a thick skinned old bugger.”
“well good day to you sir”
“And you too my good man”
I took hold of Hercules and led him to the open lot, by now rose had calmed down and was just climbing off the last step up.
“Sorry about that my lad, but sometimes I get these head aches and I just need to be alone to get myself together I hope I didn’t offend you”
“No don’t worry about it rose”
Now I know she was doing it just to scare me. I yoked old Hercules up and set off following rose back to the farm yard, this was going to be fun again getting back out of London.

It was a lot quieter going back out of the city, once or twice Hercules had a little tantrum but once I was approaching the farm lane he must of knew he was close to home cause he didn’t half pick up the pace.
By the time I arrived back at the farm; Rose had already got some food well under way, she had been to the shops on the way back and picked me up some essentials, what a lovely old darling. I walked in to the farm house and could immediately smell the garlic oil in the pan, it was delightful.
“I hope your going to have some food before you go out, wouldn’t want you going out on an empty stomach, you can take the van if you like, I have a disabled badge so parking shouldn’t be a problem.”
“But I can’t drive, Rose,”
“Oh of course, strange thing that, I always taught my children to drive from an early age”
“You have children rose?”
“Yes a long time ago now, one of them is working in Uganda for the red cross, that’s my eldest son Michael, and my daughter Beatrice is a ski instructor in the French alps, I rarely see them anymore, but I put them in good order for life so they turned out well.”
“Certainly sounds like they are doing well, you must be really proud.”
“Oh yes but they are fully grown now so they are off living there own lives, they haven’t got time for their old mother now.
Sorry my lad, here I am moping about times gone by, never mind me lad, get some of this into your stomach, all goodness in that my lad, all goodness.”
“Hmm that is nice Rose, what did you say was in it”
“I didn’t, it’s just a big pot of all my home grown vegetables and a few extras.”
“Its lovely, so Rose do you know if there is any local transport around here?”
“Well there are the horses, but not sure if you can ride a horse bare back into town these days, or you could take the bicycle,”
“The bicycle sounds like a good plan, hopefully I will score a few eco points from Natasha. Thanks,”
“You won’t need any eco points, she has eyes for you my lad, now hurry up and go get yourself ready, I have bought you a razor and some other toiletries, make sure you clean the bath when you’re finished and the towels are in the basket.”
“Ok thank you Rose, you know you really are a kind old dear.”
“I will take that as a compliment although I’m only as old as I feel”
I often wonder if there are more people like Rose in the world, and for some reason I always begin to think of my mother, god bless her, I would like to think that somewhere in the regions beyond human thought there is some better place were our souls dwell, and who knows maybe the dead do look over us and guide us through life, Rose certainly beliefs so. The secrets of life; the one dilemma to last an eternity, the way I see it we are all just like tree’s. We are seeded onto the earth and then we spend the first thirty years of our lifes trying to plant roots, then when we do we just stay in the same place like a tree, occasionally changing with the seasons, but never quite uprooting and moving on. I think that is why Rose and her people have different natures, they spend there lives travelling around but even Rose has this farm as her roots, so it seems we are all like tree’s even the ones of us who travel around. The trouble with tree’s though is in winter they become stripped down bare, but normal people are more like Christmas tree’s always fully decorated never quite daring enough to strip down to the bare essentials of our inner minds, and with that thought a slice in my face. I rarely ever cut myself shaving, I must have been thinking hard, funny thing is I can’t even remember what I was thinking, something about tree’s.
I looked round the bathroom for something to dab on my face, the blood was trickling right down my neck. Time was ticking, I hurried myself up and made my way out the back yard to a little tool shed across from the stables.
She said the bike was hanging on the shed wall, and sure enough there it was, it must be about twenty years old. She must have still used it cause the chain was well oiled.
I took it down from the wall and give it a quick spin, it was one of those old types you see by the hundreds in European city’s; it had a large saddle so it was a very comfy ride.
I arrived at the pub about ten minutes early, luckily it had been dry on the way so my clothes remained clean, I put the little padlock round my bike and walked into the bar, Natasha arrived a few moments later, so there was no awkward waiting about. I hadn’t even time to order a drink, when she walked in looking like a goddess from Olympia; she was wearing a long black shimmering dress with a fur throw round her shoulders. She looked even more beautiful than I remembered from earlier, her eyes sparkled as she smiled, and her cheeks glowed like hot coals.
“That was quite an entrance, your looking absolutely beautiful,”
“Thank you James, your looking very clean shaven yourself.”
“Thanks, would you like to find a seat and I will get us a bottle of red wine.”
“Straight onto the red stuff, well you must be very passionate James, or you’re trying to get me drunk.”
“Perish the thought, I intend to treat you with the highest esteem tonight, a lady like yourself should experience nothing less.”
“Well in that case you can go ahead and get the red; they have a lovely house wine in here, a drink to our health.”
She gave me a devilish look and turned to go and sit down, a look like that can put fear into a man; it drove my inner animal wild.
I couldn’t take my eyes of her, everything about her was hypnotic to me, the way she smelt, the way she walked, even they way she stood still.
“Excuse me can I have a bottle of the house red wine and two glasses please”
“sure, you wanna try it first?”
“No thanks I’ve been advised it’s a good wine already”
“I see your with the generals daughter, have you known her long?”
“The generals daughter?”
“Yeah Natasha, she comes in here now and then, her father is very well known round here, lovely girl, shame really.”
“What’s a shame?”
“The general, he used to be a strong icon in the community, although I did hear he had a bit of a nasty streak if you got on the wrong side of him,”
“I thought her father is a politician”
“Yeah he is, well not so much now, more of a backseat man now a days; he was a travelling representative for some union who got caught up in the civil war of Venezuela, when he came back to England he got quite a following, they started their own party and eventually made a good impact on people in this area.”
“Sounds like quite a worldly experienced man”
“Sure is, like I said a shame, anyway you enjoy yourself tonight its not often Natasha gets time to herself.”
“Erm yeah thanks,”
He seemed to know a lot about Natasha, it’s strange that I have all these thoughts and feelings for her yet in reality I know nothing about her.
She had sat there with her back to the bar twiddling with her shoulder throw.
“Your drink my dear, would you like to have a taste before I fill the glass?”
“Don’t be ridiculous James” She laughed
“just fill the glass and lets get merry, I’m letting my hair down tonight”
“I was just talking to the barman, he seemed to know you, cliché, but, do you come here often.”
“ooh almost cringe worthy James, but since its our first date I will let you off. The Barman is the owner; he’s owned this place for about twenty years. He knows my father; Mike he is called”
“He told me your father was in the Venezuelan civil war, he calls him the general, I’m not sure if he was trying to warn me to be on my best behaviour with you but I got the impression he would be keeping a close eye on me.”
“He is just being protective, I have known him since I was a child.”
“So is it true?”
“Is what true?”
Her eyes looked around, as if something had suddenly caught her attention, maybe an idea in her head, a thought that can change your thinking pattern.
“Oh my father, yes he was in Venezuela during the civil war, he knew what was happening when he went there, he used to do a lot of writing and research for the labour workers union, investigating different political idea’s from different corners of the globe, he did a lot of travelling in those days, turns out he met a very influential socialist gorilla during those days, they became close friends, my father fought along side him during the civil war, that’s why he gets called the general, when he returned to England he took up a lot of the idea’s and tried putting them into practise in this country unfortunately he’s not been the same since his stroke.”
“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t know”
She had a delicate and fragile face that seemed to sadden the world when she got upset.
“No don’t apologise James, life is life, anyway you are the interesting one, what’s your story?”
“Well my mother past away when I was thirteen, and my father owns various businesses his main one though is the dreaded debt collection business. That’s part of the reason I’m here now. He had this idea he could make me just like my brothers and turn me into some robot for the family business, but how can they glorify the word family when it’s such a ruthless business. My father is a bully, and cares only for his money so I felt I had to get out of there.”
“So you just left? Don’t you miss them all?”
“No not really, my brothers and I never really got on, probably because I went to a normal school and they were brought up in private education; that was my mother’s idea. It probably gave me a better outlook on life than my autonomous brothers. Then there is Cleo, she is a close friend of the family, a bit annoying but still a nice girl none the less, but if Im honest I can’t say I miss any of them. I often used to think I was adopted or something, especially after my mother died, I just went inside myself and became withdrawn from my family, I had my friends in school to talk to so things never got that bleak, but my family always put fathers business first so when my mother died they just carried on making money, my father mourned for one day and then just turned back to work the following day, possibly with an even more ruthless streak.”
“So you turned your back on it all and ventured out on your own, well I think that is a really unique quality, one day James you will find what your after, we all do”
“Have you?”
“Well that would be telling wouldn’t it.”
She gave me a soft smile and raised an eye brow.
“Natasha, shall we drink to life and raise our glasses for the uncontrollable future”
“here here my good man, here’s to family businesses” She spoke in her finest upper class English and I watched as the glass touched her soft lips, maybe just maybe she was the one. They say in life you will meet three women that change your life, obviously the first one is your mother, the second one; the one that got a way and the third is the one that doesn’t get away. Hopefully she is the one that doesn’t get away.
“James will you be a gentleman and watch my bag while I attend the ladies room”
“Certainly try not to be too long though I don’t want to be sat here on my own when Mike comes over, I’m scared in case he interrogates me.
My eyes followed Natasha as she merrily walked towards the rear of the pub.
As she walked towards the ladies room I noticed two young gentlemen arguing in the doorway, Natasha went into the toilets just as they began to get physical pushing each other and raising their voices, I overheard one of them shouting put down the knife, a scuffle broke out and within a few seconds it was all over. Being quite a new comer to this place I tried to just ignore whatever was going on, if I had used a bit of intuition I would of known something was brewing. The pub was a typical English boozer with photos of the old area decorated all over the walls and fantastic wooden trimmings across the bar. You could tell that once upon a time this place would have been the hub of the community but now there was barely a handful in. I watched the youths as they left and could see in there faces there was a reason to be nervous.
When Natasha came back I told her what she had just missed, she gave me a really cold stare as if someone had just walked over her grave.
“You wanna know something strange about that James?”
“Go on”
“Well earlier on when I had my reading with Rose, she mentioned that there would be an incident tonight beyond our control that starts when I’m not there, I didn’t know what to make of it at the time but now you have told me that its seems a bit strange”
“So you believe in all that then” I asked
Before she could answer the four youths who had left the pub came running in with a look of panic over their faces and slammed the bar door behind them, It was a huge wooden door with wrought iron hinges, one of the youths was trying to close the bolts to lock the door, when mike jumped out from behind the bar.
“what’s going on” he shouted
Natasha had a hint of fear in her face, the door started banging while the four young men tried to hold it shut. There was a tense atmosphere in the place slowly streaking out of the walls.
“That’s Mikes son stood there with them, what in the name of god is happening”
Suddenly at that moment the four of them let go of the door, three of them ran through the pub and one of them ran into the little snooker hall next to the toilets. Besides us and the young men the pub had been empty. The door swung open and 5 armed men stormed in the pub, it was the most frightening thing I had ever seen, one of the five was stood about 4 foot away from us, his face was completely covered with a black hood, the style an executioner would wear, he was dressed completely in black with black gloves covering his hands, in his left hand was a foot long machete which he was waving around, he rampaged through the pub shouting at the top of his head, smashing tables and swiping at glasses with the blade,
The other men looking not quite as menacing but fearsome none the less ran into the snooker room and I could hear loud screams and thuds coming from the room. Just then a snooker ball came hurtling across the room and smashed a bottle behind the bar, a whole realm of mayhem was going on. My heart was beating fast. I held Natasha as the hooded man approached us.
“Nobody fucking move”
“You lover boy, get your fucking pockets empty before I cut your fucking arms off”
I didn’t know what to do, Natasha’s hand was cold with fear; she was just stood holding my arm motionless, I quickly emptied my pockets, there was only the piece of paper Natasha had gave me and a few coins change from the bottle of wine, I put it all on the table before me.
Almost in an instance he swung the machete down at the table and sliced a split of wood straight down the middle, then he ran over to Mike and began jumping at the bar taking swipes at the spirits behind the bar. Mike stood there frozen, all we could hear was the poor screams of agony, he turned back to face us and shouted some gang mantra and the four men came out of the snooker room and they left the way they came. I looked at Natasha; she was extremely shaken up, god knows what they did to the lad in the snooker room. It had all happened in what seemed like ages but was in fact mere seconds; I looked around the pub at the broken remains of table legs and smashed glass. Mike just started sweeping the glass off the bar and quipped “Its getting worse round these parts” and with that just went about his business cleaning up.
“Natasha are you ok?”
“Yes I’m fine I think, it was just so much, I mean was that real, did it really just happen.”
We were both shaking.
“It’s ok they have gone now, the police will be here soon.”
“I wouldn’t hold your breath” Mike piped up.
We walked into the snooker room together and seen the poor lad laid on the floor, it was Mikes son, Mike walked in behind us and just stood over him looking, he tried hard to hold himself back but could not, he fell to his knees and tried to pick him up, he was lifeless, there was blood all over the floor, it must of been a disturbingly savage attack. It had all been so fast so we couldn’t see who had ran where; Mike would of had no idea it was his son in there.
“Why” Mike cried
“What did my son do to deserve that kind of beating, what did my son do”
I turned to look at Natasha I didn’t know what to say so I looked towards her for an answer.
“James would you go and phone an ambulance” her words came out with a calming effect, I left Natasha and Mike with his son and went to phone for help.
It was another 15 minutes before the ambulance came, the young lad was still alive but not in a good state, it was another 2 hours before the Police turned up. They asked for the CCTV but even with the most crystal clear imagery you still can’t see through hooded masks.
The young lads name was Mike Bretlin; the police interviewed all of us and written it all down, they asked Mike who the other youths where with his son but he told them he didn’t know them, he said his son had that many friends it was hard to keep up with them all. The final blow for mike seemed to be when they told him it was possibly a gang related incident so any inquiries would be very difficult due to the difficulty in getting information from gang members.
Mike looked heart broken; we took him and sat him down with a glass of water.
Natasha began to tell me of the local gangs and the trouble they create; we left Mike and went outside for some fresh air, trying to get our heads around what we just witnessed.
“Its easy to blame the gangs but you see James, there isn’t a lot going on round these parts for the majority of working class kids, after my dads stroke he had to take a back seat in the party and now they are all a bunch of typical blood sucking politicians, when my father was running things he would be down in the streets talking to people and getting them into solidarity for there own communities, now though the politicians are happy to sit up on their thrones and just throw money at the community and expect it to sort itself out, trouble is the people in charge of distributing the money to the community instead just create well paid posts and employ people in their own little circles, so the money never fully filters down. My father worked hard for this community and now its left to rot, that’s why we have gangs, they are just kids looking out for each other, but then they need money so they start selling drugs to try and maintain some standard of material living.”
“But surely there must be youth clubs or something for them”
“That’s what I do; I run the evil empire art workshop for young kids in the area. My father setup the trust about 5 year ago, before he had the stroke. Trouble is the money is nearly all gone.”
“Can’t you get a grant from the local council?”
“we’ve been trying to get it publicly funded for years but cause its not a profit making business they don’t want to touch it, we tried getting a youth club in the area and that is still in the planning and decision stage; its been 3 years in that stage”
“What do the locals think of the gangs? I mean surely they co operate with the police when things like that are going on.”
“Doubt it; most of the people round here are scared of the gangs, some of them even use them for protection instead of the police, there was some old guy not to far from here who kept getting problems with a local youth, he was only a bit of a rascal, maybe a boy of eleven if that. Anyway the old guy had called the police a couple of times about the young boy but they never used to respond, in the end he spoke to one of the teenage lads out of one of the gangs and got them to sort it out. The poor child had both his arms in slings the next time anyone seen him. It’s a terrible state of affairs.”
Natasha was such a star, when she spoke she had that grace of authority and confidence. We wandered along the well lit street having a brief moment of silence; I began thinking of the things Rose had been saying. Looking around I could see that it was once a lovely area but now in the night I noticed its somewhat neglected parts, Just then Natasha pulled on my arm and showed me a wall covered in the most fantastically coloured graffiti.
“see that wall, well the guy who done that received a week in a state institution and 300 hours of community service, all for creating a work of art.”
“It certainly is a work of art, do you know the artist?”
“Well after he had done his week in some borstal somewhere I heard his story, that’s how we came to setup the art workshop, he makes a lot of money out of his art these day’s but there was a time when he was a troubled young man. My father found out about his criminal damage charge and protested to death ears, he should never have had to do time for that.”
I stared fixated at this huge creation before me, it was a giant Muriel of steel painted letterings caged round a huge phoenix in the centre, it must of taken the graffiti artist a long time to paint and the level of detail as I walked closer was unbelievable, each lettering painted with the sharpest blue hays merging from the bottom of the wall which in turn was painted like a steel furnace from which the phoenix was rising, I couldn’t make out what the lettering spelt because of the dynamics used to shape round the phoenix but even to the casual passer by you could see this was made by a really talented individual.
“The courts wanted to make an example of him because he had some previous for cannabis possession, it was all kept quiet and only after he had served his sentence did the story catch the local media attention, originally the court order was to have it painted over but after lots of protest it was decided that the painting would stay.”
“So what happened to the artist then after all that?”
“Well he was quite a shy lad really, my father heard about the story through one of his friends and tried to contact the young man, possibly to show him that not all authority in this town was as bad as the justice system, for a while he ignored my fathers requests and just stayed mainly underground, but my father being the ever persistent fellow eventually caught up with him mid job, my father had heard he was still doing graffiti in the area so he got up really early one morning with a little hint of course and went and found him. After convincing him he wasn’t there to punish him or anything like that he eventually agreed to talk. He helped my father setup the workshop before moving away for good, he still writes letters to my father every now and then but they are getting few and far between these day’s especially since my father’s stroke.”
The moon was shining clear sky illuminating the Muriel before us, such a master piece that can entwine lives together for the better or worse, I gazed up at the sky for a brief moment and imagined a world without any interference, a world without money or excessive greed. In a way I imagined a world without my father, even as Natasha was telling me the story I could still see my father’s image bleating on about collecting what’s rightfully his from the scum below him. I wondered if our two fathers’ could have ever met and if they would have had anything in common, somehow I doubt it.
“Its getting late Natasha would you like me to walk you home, I have got my bike down at the pub I need to collect, then I could walk you home if you like?”
“Thank you James, you are sweet.”
“I hope Mikes son is ok, it was quite a beating he took tonight, I wonder what the culprits are doing right now, do you reckon they feel any guilt?”
“I wouldn’t of thought so, I know its strange but I think its just part of the culture, they have a reputation to uphold and are willing to go to any length to uphold it, they’re probably sat somewhere celebrating with a drink on their heroic deeds.”
I walked Natasha to a nearby Taxi rank and seen her off before I began my fourty minute cycle back to my new roots, it had certainly been an inspiring night, I gazed up at the sky again and caught sight of a large owl like bird flying over the top of me then allowed my mind to function in auto mode, tomorrow a new day rises and I think tomorrow a new me will a rise or at least a slightly more worldly me.