Chapter 3: Street Life

It was hot Saturday night and Aberdale was alive. Every car stereo was turned to the full, every convertible car was covered and every house that had a fan was burning up electricity. Every fifteen minutes or so sirens could be heard in the distance –And some not so distant-. People took it for granted that whatever was going down had nothing to do with them. All they had to do was get out of the way and stay composed as they did so. Even the police looked relaxed tonight: those that were on the cruise had their windows down, shrtisleeves up and radios blasting out –police radio that is, talk radio-.

At home Clarence had just finished his bath. He stood in his bedroom looking at himself in the full-length mirror making sure his old green sweatshirt and baseball cap went with the jeans that his mother had just bought him. But he wasn't sure about his trainers. Could he wear a pair of cheap Hi-Tec trainers with his $50 worth of sweatshirt and his $90 worth of jeans? It didn't look right. Then he realized that he didn't have any other trainers anyway. The doorbell rang once, ding-dong, then twice, ding-dong ding-dong, then there was a continuous ding-dong ding-dong, ding-dong. Clarence ran sounding like a herd of elephants.

His mother shouted from the living room, -Clarence, tell ya friend that there's no one here with a hearing problem. One bloody ring is enough…and walk, will ya-

When Clarence opened the door he found Sumo and Jeff trying to keep a straight face. –Why ya ringing the bell so much, man. My parents are watching television, man-

Sumo stopped laughing –What's the problem? That's the way ya ring my bell-

-Yeah but not if yu parents are in-

-Dat's how yu ring it all the time, guy-

-I don't man, I look for ya dad's car first-Clarence said, pointing to the road

-My dad dosen't always drive, yu know, guy. Anyway, ya don't even know my dad's car-

-Course I do-

-What is it, den?-

-It's a red truck-

-Look, how many different Trucks there are. What kind of truck?-

Jeff interrupted –Forget it, let's go-

Clarence shouted back into the house –Mom, Chad, I'm off out. I'll see ya later-

-Hang on a minute-Clarence's mother forced herself to leave the murder mystery she was watching and made her way to the door-Now you lot, look after yourselves and don't go getting yourselves in trouble. Any problems give us a ring, all right…and Clarence, look after those jeans, they cost a bloody bomb, I should have insured them-

Sumo and Jeff muttered –Yes, Mrs Wendell- holding back laughter

Clarence felt obliged to answer –Yes, Mom, we're safe, don't worry and if there's any problems with my jeans, I'll ring-

-Go on, get out-

As they approached Sophie's House they walked very slowly, knowing that she would be looking out for them. Clarence promised that he would not call attention to himself or look in but he couldn't help having a peep. He called Sophie's father Sherlock, after Sherlock Holmes, because he always wore tweed and he always had a pipe hanging from his mouth, which never seemed to smoke.

As Clarence looked in, there was Sherlock, reading a newspaper on his puffy chair. His chair placed so that he could watch television and the world outside the window at the same time. It look as if her mother was asleep on the settee and he could not see Sophie. They walked past, stopped at the corner and after a small debate on whether they should or shouldn't, they decided to walk past again. As they walked past this time all three looked at once. Sophie's mother and father were still in position but this time Sophie was there, standing above her father, with a slight flick on her eyes and they were gone.

By the time they reached the other corner Sophie was out of the house and walking down behind them. She was wearing clothes that shone, light green satin trousers and frilly dark green satin blouse with platform shoes that weren't quite platform shoes but platform trainers.

Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was not wearing a smile. –I told you lot not to look in my house. What if my dad sees you?-

I was Clarence job to reply –We couldn't see ya, and always we were careful-

-You weren't careful, you were all staring into my house as if someone in there owed you money-

-Come on, take it easy, you know I love you-

-Love what? Where are going then?-

Clarence looked at Jeff, Jeff looked at Sumo then all three looked at Sophie and shuggered their shoulders. Sophie raised her voice. –Hope you ain't brought me out here to walk the streets-

-No way, I wouldn't let my girl walk the streets all night. We just wanna gonna walk to kill a bit of time, then we going to a nice club where you will be wined and dinned, man-

-Man, why do you always say "man"?-Said Sophie -If you're a man ,that means I'm a woman and even so, I ain't YOUR woman, I am me-

Sumo tried to lighten the conversation –Yeah, Girl power-

Sophie was abrupt –Shut up, you-

An outsider would have been fooled but none of them took this conversation seriously. They all laughed out loud and began to walk. The walk was a lazy, slow one; there was no breeze, so after 10 minutes on the move the sweat broke out and their clothes began to stick their skin. They stopped first outside Rough Riders Fried Chicken shop on the main street, but no one wanted to eat.

Sumo, Jeff and Clarence spotted four boys from School and headed over to say hello. This was not Sophie's scene at all. She knew that she couldn't afford to look timid, so she lifted her shoulders and held her head high as she stood around listening to the boy's small talk.

After a couple of minutes she realized that her every move was being watched by a group of three girls and she couldn't help noticing how tough they looked. All three were wearing blue baggy jeans. She was pretty sure they were Americans born and bred but thought that they could find a job working for the Jamaican tourist board, not simply because their dark skin but also because of their had a T-shirt saying "I love Jamaica". Another wore a T-shirt that was the Jamaican flag and the third just had a West Ham football T-Shirt on, but she -like the others- was adorned with yellow, black and green bangles, badges and necklaces. Sophie thought they looked good but dangerous.

Sophie shifted nervously. She didn't know quite where to look but she had to put on a front. The other three girls made no attempt to hide the fact that they were on Sophie's case. They began to whisper to each other and smile as they stared at her. Sophie felt illuminated in her green satins and began to wish she had choosen clothes that they weren't so loud. What are they grinning at? She wondered. Is it my clothes? My shoes? My hair? Do I look too innocent? Suddenly the three girls started to walk towards Sophie. Her heart began to race, the palms of her hands began to sweat. She felt like falling apart but se held herself together.

-You from round here, den?-said the big girl wearing the Jamaican flag

-Yeah-

-What school yu go to, den?-

-Aberdale High Middle School-

-Yeah, I wanid ta go there but they wouldn't let me, said I had ta go ta Aberdale Park, said it was nearer. What ya doing here?-

The two other girls continued to look her up and down. Sophie expected trouble and in her mind she cursed the boys for bringing her there and for the way they had got lost in their silly conversation about football and cars.

-I'm just hanging around with me boyfriend and his mates-

At this point the girl wearing the West Ham shirt reached into her back pocket. Sophie swallowed hard as the girl pulled out a couple of leaflets, after separating one from the other she handed one to Sophie. –Dat's the place to be, check it out, good vibes, good music. Ya like rap?-

Sophie wanted to kick herself. The girls weren't out for a fight, they wanted to find out if she liked clubbing, They wanted to find out if she was one of them, an Eastender.

-Yeah-Sophie replied, feeling a sense of relief-Yeah, rap's cool, I used to love MC Lucky till he got all serious. Now I'm into The Tribe and stuff like that-

-Me too, I love The Tribe. If yu like The Tribe, you'll like dis place, dis place is great for rape tunes. Try and make it down there if you can, see ya later maybe. It's girls free before 10-

Which that all three turned around and went into Rough Riders Fried Chicken shop.

The Gang of Three were rounding off their conversation behind Sophie. Sophie was still recovering, she began to wonder if she sometimes looked threatening and if she herself had been misjudged by people in the past. For people to be friendly, did they have to have permanent smiles on their faces?

Clarence joined her with the other two following. –Who were they?-

-Who?-

-Those black girls you were talking to-

-Me friends-

-I didn't know you had black friends-Clarence spoke in almost a whisper

-I haven't got black friends-She replied firmly-I've just got friends-

Clarence looked around and again in a whisper he said –Hush-

Clarence knew that there was no way he would get away with a racist remark here. The group they had been talking to had ethnic origins that ranged from the Phillippines, to Africa and Bosnia and he was not going to upset any of them.

-Let's make a move-He said.

They walked down Main Street. Main Street was a Street with two personalities. By day it was a shopping area, at night clubbers used its Kebab Houses, Restaurants and Indian Take-Aways. Groups gathered on corners.

As they walked, Clarence tried to guess the smells he came across: Fish and Chips, Curries, Pizza and Kebabs. Not begin a imaginative eater, he got many of them wrong but it was sometimes hard to distinguish smells in places where all seemed to meet. As they passed the various butchers, all of them played dodge the chicken heads. He remembered how Green Street was described as the heart of the Asian community in a school project that he had done on History. He picked out Chinese Shops, African Dress Shops, a Filipino Bookshop, Shops that sold jellied Eels (Author: Agh, Gross! Dx), Jamaican breads and Somalian foods. Then he saw a reminder of the sadder side of life in this area. Many of the shops had metal shutters on their windows and doors to protect them from racist attacks. But here racists had even attacked the shutters. Some of the shutters had racist graffiti painted on them and others had scorch marks left after the fire bomb attacks.

At the end of Main Street there was a Massive police station that towered way above the other buildings. Clarence stopped and looked up at it. -"Forest Fortress". I hate this place-

Sophie quizzed him –What do you hate, the place or the people in it?-

-I don't care about the people in it, man. Just look at that building, it's the most uninviting building I've ever seen-

Sumo looked up at the dull red brickwork –It's a cop shop, cop shops ain't supposed to look inviting. It's supposed to be a symbol of Authority-

-You mean state oppression-Clarence replied-The papers said thousands and thousands of pounds been spent on this place…can't they make state oppression or authority look pretty, man?-

Sophie gently slapped Clarence around the back of his head. –What do you know about state oppression stupid?-

Next door to the police station was "Prices Galore". Outside it said "Amusment Arcade" but in truth it was just an old Shoe Shop with a couple of gambling machines in it. When Sophie and The Gang of Three arrived it was packed out and not one of the gamblers in there was over 18. Even the girl giving out the change looked underage. Here there was no such thing as silence; the machines in one corner let out a Hammer Horror style howl ever two minutes if no one played it, whilst in another corner a fruit machine shaped like a woman actually spoke. "Play me, Play me, Play me". Together they walked around, watching the games that were being played. When Clarence heard the fruit machine calling Play Me, his eyes lit up with excitement –I'll play you-He exclaimed.

Sophie put herself between him and the machine –NO, cause I know once you get playing we're gonna be stuck here all night…and how much money you got anyway?-

-Ah, don't worry, I got money and I only want one game-

Sumo took a good look at the machine and laughed –He just fancies her-

Jeff agreed. –Yeah, hey, don't be fooled, Clarence, she's only after your money-

Clarence began to search his pockets for change but Sophie wouldn't give him a chance.

-Come on, let's go, I'm not staying here-

Clarence put his "Puzzled" face and asked –What's up?-

-Ok den, you stay, I'm going somewhere else-

Whit that Sophie headed for the door. Clarence raised his eyebrows and turned to follow her. Sumo and Jeff followed him.

Outside the arcade Sumo took control –Right, Where we going den? We're just wasting time, let's go somewhere good-

-I know-Jeff replied-Let's go to the Unity Club-

Clarence was quick to interrupt –No way, man, that place is for soft kids. Table tennis, pool, tiddlywinks…that's no way to spend your Saturday night-

The Unity Club was a youth club in a church run by a priest. In reality the Unity was not the coolest place to go, but the kids in the area sometimes used it as a meeting place and as somewhere to shelter from the rain.

-Yeah, you're right-Jeff acknowledged-We should go somewhere where there's music-

Clarence's face lit up. –I've got an idea, a good one as usual. Let's go to dis new rave club. It's called Pyscho and it's just on Forest Road-

Sumo was never keen on rave music. –Nah, rave music, boff boff, bang bang, all night and the people are weird-

Jeff agreed. –Yeah, last time I went to one of them raves up, someone tried to sell me drugs every fifteen minutes-

Clarence gave up and turned to Sophie, who was reading the leaflet given to her outside the Rough Riders Fried Chicken shop. –That's it-She said-Let's go there, only three dollars entrance, ladies free before 10-

-What kind of sounds?-Sumo enquired

-Rap-Sophie replied

Clarence put on his "Disgusted" face. –RAP!-He move closed to Sophie, took a corner of the leaflet and read it out loud.

For the baddest rap music this side of Aberdale, check out

DANCEMANIA

The East End's premier hip-hop and Rap club

Every Saturday Night

Djs Loony Left and Belinda Bass spin the discs at the turntables

Rappy Roger and Golden Tounge verbalise

From 9:00 till 01:00 and ladies free before 10

Be there

385 High Street North, E6

Security tight but polite

To the east peace lover, to the east.

He looked at Sophie. –I'm not going there, it's all black music-

Sophie was outraged. –What you on about…nearly all music's black music. What do you know?-

-The place is gonna be full of blacks, they don't like us…OK, some like us but not in their clubs-

-I'm fed up of you, if you don't come with me I'm going there on my own, I got friends there-

Clarence couldn't quite believe what he was hearing but he could tell that she mean it. Sumo tried to make peace. –It's only three dollars each and we all got over three dollars, so let's go. If we don't like it, we'll move on. I reckon it'll be OK-

-Me too-Jeff agreed-Anyway, Clarence, what you got against blacks? No black's ever hurt you-

-I ain't got nothing against blacks, they're just different, they dance different and everything-

Sophie walked away from the group and called Clarence over her. –If you don't like someone just because they're different you got problems. What do ya expect, everyone to be like you? Maybe you should have went out with Amy, she dosen't like anyone-

-Do you think that's funny?-

-No, I'm not messing, if you keep on like this I won't go out with you anymore. Yu gotta respect people and if you don't wanna go to the rap club don't force yourself but I'm going-

-Ya really serious?-

-Yeah-

Clarence got the message loud and clear. As they joined Jeff and Sumo he proclaimed in a mediocre rap style.

OK, You guys

Me and you and the girl I love

Are going to the rap club

Sumo was surprised by his quick change of mind. –Are you OK, mate?-

-Yeah, man, rap's cool-