Aaron Connor (11 page)

Later on, as we were fully
dressed and heading down to breakfast, it turned out those towels
only counted as freebies if you were not caught taking them out.
Lizzie told me that the maids continuously change the towels and
are easily lost. As long as the towel is tucked away in a case
where no one will find it, the hotel workers shouldn’t really
notice that you took it at all.

The others were already in the
breakfast room eating away at many Full English Breakfasts. Out of
everything that the British have contributed to the world, I
believe that the Full English Breakfast is the one to be the most
proud of. My perfect Full English would include some Cumberland
sausages, the smoked bacon, the hash browns, the fried eggs and the
baked beans. There are many varied versions which can include
mushrooms, tomatoes and maybe even some black pudding.

I and Lizzie were broke. So we
sat among the others and nibbled away at some buttered toast that
came with the table. We were content with this until a waiter came
to us and placed two large breakfasts in front of us. We were
confused at first and looked back at the waiter baffled. The waiter
was about to go when Lizzie called him back.

“
I’m sorry”
she began, “but we didn’t order a breakfast”

“
I know you
didn’t” said Stewie, who was for some reason looking a bit bashful,
“I ordered them. Just to say thanks for carrying my bass. It was
the least I could do.”

“
Thank you” we
said together. Stewie smiled at that before going back to eating
his rashes of bacon.

We thankfully tucked into our
breakfasts. Blimey they were fantastic! Everything was cooked to
perfection. The bacon was succulent, the eggs weren’t too runny,
and the sausages were cooked just right and tasted amazing when
dipped in the baked bean sauce. I have no idea how many times we
thanked Stewie for paying for the meal. It must have been at least
ten times throughout the day. We couldn’t believe that he’d spend
his money on complete strangers like us. It was so nice that it
touched us. We completely forgot about how rude he was when we
first met him. He shall always be in my memory as a nice bloke,
simple as.

We didn’t really do an awful
lot during the day, at least not much that I can really write that
much about. We just moved from café to café drinking tea and
chatting about nothing in particular. We and the band talked about
our favourite music, films and books and so on, those usual topics
of conversation that pop up when you have nothing else to talk
about.

Lizzie and Ritchie got into a
long chat about the American sitcom Friends, they were even quoting
their favourite lines and jokes to each other. Some of the others
joined in and stated their favourite jokes from the show. When
someone told the group of their favourite moment, everyone would
laugh at the memory of watching it. It was a pleasant and light
hearted conversation, as we were talking about a pleasant and light
hearted television show.

I was really beginning to like
these guys. I told myself to try to not get too fond of these guys.
The mission I set for myself and Lizzie was to go around the nation
and be as helpful to as many people as possible. Even though I was
enjoying the company of the band, I knew that we’d have to move on
from them eventually. Life’s too short to be doing the same thing
all the time. Things would need to change. That didn’t necessarily
mean that I wouldn’t be sad when it did happen.

I listened to the film based
debates and books. I listened to the chat about TV shows and what
was and wasn’t good music. I rarely added to the conversation. I
like to listen. I love stories as I told you before. A story from a
book is one thing, a story was the mouth of another is a different
thing entirely. Everyone has their own way of telling a story,
whether it be comic or serious, and is usually always worth a
listen. Even the tedious stories you hear can be at least bearable
if the person telling it can deliver it in the right way. If you
talk you only tell others of what you already know, if you listen
you learn what others know and expand your mind to new places.

We had lunch at a restaurant in
Town. The band was once again generous and pulled their money
together to buy me and Lizzie a small pizza to share. I think by
this time me and Lizzie were accepted into the group. This meant
that they were willing to share a few coins, they’ve earned from
playing various gigs, to make sure we didn’t go hungry. They really
were proper decent lads, even now I miss their company and wish I
could find out where to meet them. One day I might, hopefully.

Anyway, night was drawing in so
we headed back to the hotel to fetch the equipment. I was surprised
to see, after taking off the cover from the side car, that the bass
guitar was still strapped in where I left it. Being how tightly it
was wedged in, no one dared try to steal it as it would take too
long and they would most likely be caught in the act. The lads went
through the back of their bashed up van and checked that everything
was in order. Thankfully everything was where it should be and so
we were ready to go.

I was looking forward to seeing
these guys play. I’d come to love their company and sense of
humour, so I just hoped that my impressions wouldn’t be soiled by
their lack of talent. I’m not saying that I’d only like people if
they’re talented. It’s just that, after establishing themselves as
a rock band, I really wanted them to be good at what they did. I
think I would have liked them all the same if they were bad. Still,
I was excited to see how these guys would play and what their
chances were at actually making it as musicians. I hope that they
do. I haven’t heard from them since then, so I don’t know how
they’re doing right now. I just hope that they get a record deal
soon, they deserve a break.

After confirming that everyone
was ready, the boys got into the van and set off down the road. We
followed them with Lizzie driving this time and me sitting behind
her. She wanted a go so I thought, why not? I had about the same
experiences in riding bikes as she had, so it would have been quite
mean to say no. Besides, it was only up the road. She drove us
through the Town, all the time following the black van, until we
finally reached the Speakeasy Bar.

CHAPTER NINE

We pulled up in front of the
building and parked up on the curve. Even though it was only
Tuesday night, the bar was heaving full of people who were all
dolled up and ready to party. The girls were wearing short dresses
that left nothing to the imagination. Men and Women alike were
covered in fake tan and orangey make up. Music was bellowing out of
the bar doors. There was a lot of drinking, smoking, kissing and
vomiting going on. To readers who are not from the United Kingdom,
this is what England is like every night, brilliant init?

Lizzie got off the bike first
to take a look at the bar. The walls around the front window were
painted an olive green. The large round and friendly letters
stating the name of the bar was under lit with red LEDs, outlining
the letters in a cherry red glow. In the window was a neon light
with the image of a cocktail glass in green and the word “cocktail”
in red. From the outside it looked surprisingly small. This didn’t
matter as the building was trendy, modern and most of all cool.

Lizzie stopped admiring the bar
for a moment, to help me get the bass out of the sidecar. As we
were undoing the straps, I could see out of the corner of my eye
the boys unloading their van as well. Many guitar cases came out of
the van as well as padded cases holding parts of Zo’s drum kit. The
band’s appearance had almost instantly gained some attention.

“
Are you guys
playing tonight?” said a girl, “you like, a band or
something?”

The girl’s face was bright
orange, her hair was over stylized, her body was on show in a
shockingly revealing dress, wore some high heels and looked no
older then fourteen. Girls in England grow up fast. That sweet
innocent girl you once knew is gone before you know it. They’re
already wearing make up and wanting to get off with boys. It’s sad;
the Teenage years are expanding in size, while the childhood years
are shrinking.

I was instantly disgusted when
I saw that girl. She was too young to dress like that. She’s too
young to wear clothes which are designed to allure men. When she
left the house that night, did her parents approve this mode of
dress? Was it her parents who suggested her to dress in this way?
Where do we draw the line? It’s just such a shame to see the adult
world pressed upon the young so soon in life.

“
Yah we’re
playing tonight” said Stewie, who was looking just about as
disgusted as I was, “why?”

“
Because I
like boys who are in bands” she said in way she must had thought
was seductive, “you might get lucky”

As she walked away, I felt like
I was going to be sick. The other boys were going a little bit
green. Lizzie looked furious. Her fists were clenched, her breath
was running through closed teeth and her face was going bright red.
I saw danger, so I darted away and stood with the other boys who
were still standing by the van.

“
What’s up?”
asked Nick,

“
Lizzie goanna
blow!” I told them,

“
I know how
she feels” said Zo, who was bent over and looking ready to
chunder,

“
YOU!!”
screamed Lizzie, “YOU GIRL!!!”

The girl turned around and
stared at Lizzie for a while. She was staring daggers at the young
girl. One finger of Lizzie’s was pointed downwards to tell the girl
to come back. The girl began to click clack back on her high heels,
she was swaying her hips a little bit too much.

“
What?” asked
the girl, when she arrived a few meters in front of
Lizzie,

“
What do you
think your doing?” asked Lizzie, “how old are you?”

“
I’m thirteen”
replied the girl,

All of our stomachs turned
dramatically. Zo was ever so much closer to throwing up everything
he’d eaten. The girl was shocked by our reaction. She even looked a
little offended.

“
What you
moaning about?” asked the girl in an irritated manner, “Don’t you
think I’m sexy?”

“
You’re too
young to be flirting with guys” said Lizzie, “dressing the way you
do and being such a….”

“”
Such a”
what?” asked the girl jerking her head,

“
Such a slut!”
answered Lizzie,

“
I’m not a
slut!” exclaimed the girl, “forget you lot. I’m going somewhere
else to party. By the way, I was going to blow all of
you!”

Zo finally did throw up. The
sound of his sick splattering on the ground covered the sound of
the girl’s heels trotting away. Lizzie went back to untying the
bass from the sidecar, her face still expressed anger. I helped her
get the bass out in silence and hand it over to Stewie. We all
tried to forget that the event even happened. Zo kept on unloading
his drum kit as if he hadn’t thrown up at all. None of us wanted to
refer to the odd event again, so I don’t think I’ll write about it
anymore either.

Nick came up to us with a smile
on his face.

“
I’ve got a
job for you guys” he said cheerfully, “there might be some wonga in
it for you!”

“
What is it?”
I asked, I’d completely forgotten about asking Nick for a
job,

“
We need
someone to work the lightning and sound desks by the side of the
stage” explained Nick, “it’s not a big stage mind, but a little bit
of lighting might make a difference. We’ve never had someone to
control the sound levels before, it might be a great help. We’ll
pay you two a fiver each, out of the money we earn from this gig.
Is that alright?”

“
Yah!” I said,
“That sounds fine”

“
Thank you so
much!” seconded Lizzie, this good news instantly made her horrid
mood from before melt away, “We might be able to pay for our own
meals now!”

“
Great!” said
Nick with a grin, “Well, we’re ready to go inside and set up. You
wanna come help us?”

“
Sure” we both
said in unison.

The lads were already starting
to walk inside with their cases. I and Lizzie picked up the
remaining parts of Zo’s drum kit. I had the snare and bass drum,
Lizzie had the hi-hat and crash symbol. We carried them over the
pavement, past the line of people trying to get inside and into the
bar. Nick was just behind us. He was locking up the van and
checking we took the keys from the bike before carrying two
amplifiers in both hands. Happy that Nick was sorted out, I and
Lizzie went inside the building.

Inside the bar was buzzing
excited people. I saw women wearing pink boas and had learner
plates hung around their necks in string, obviously a hen night
party. Behind the bar’s long library of bottles and drinks, was a
huge illuminated sign which said: “Bar”, in case you didn’t know
what a bar looked like. The walls were all designed differently;
some had prints across them, some were purple, some red, some
orange and some black. It was like the owner couldn’t decide from a
collection of swatches what to have, so had he decided to have
everything.

The band’s “stage” if you could
even call it that, was right at the far end of the bar. It was a
small section painted black, with a small black curtain and stools
for the musicians to sit on. The stage was literally just in a
corner. On those two walls hung two large mirrors….I don’t know why
either. Just to the right of the stage was a lighting and sound
board. It was all extremely cramped and tight. Nevertheless the
band members looked decidedly enthusiastic about the gig.