Saturday 1 July 2006, Dalystown, Ireland
"Well the days went by in Dalystown, I was having fun with my friends, Croix and also with my mums, wewere very relaxed playing or doing anything, it was marvellous, I've said it many times, it's a place you haveto go yourself with your friends, we always find something random to do and I found mine which was to justrelax around, playing video games, running around, jumping in the lake to go swimming, inventing somethings, having mud wars and many other things, while the city was getting busier, you could really hear thefestival from afar, which was going to start the great day, I was very anxious for everything, since it would bethe great gymkhana that never before had so much to entertain around."
I wake up, it's today, I'm rubbing my eyes, I'm watching my girlfriend Croix next to me, all cuddly and sleeping like a little angel, she's a cutie, a sweetheart, I give her a little kiss on the forehead, I get out of bed, look in the mirror and take a deep breath, it's today? Today I'm going to present myself, today I'm going to have fun at the gymkhana, these are my last days off.
I do my personal hygiene, which I look at in the mirror, wash my face and comb my hair, watching my girl-friend Croix go into the bathroom too, we're so comfortable with each other that we're even going to the bath-room with each other around, it's really cute, I look at her sitting on the toilet and I smile.
"Good morning, my love," I say to my Meridies.
"Good morning, Chariot" said my girlfriend, yawning, she's so cute, I love her.
"It's today, love, today the gymkhana starts" I say to her, who nods in agreement.
I leave the bathroom and go to my room, where I'm already getting an outfit that will be good for the gym-khana, putting on baggier trousers, an older T-shirt, as well as a sports top underneath the T-shirt, which I put on with old trainers and tie up my hair, I soon see Croix coming out of the bathroom and she comes to give me a hug and a good morning kiss.
She, still in her pyjamas, decides to go downstairs with me, where we go to the dining room to have break-fast, and I can see that my mums are already up very early.
"Good morning mums," I say with a smile on my face.
"Good morning, Chariot" said my two mums also nodding to me.
"She's really excited for the gymkhana that doesn't start for another four hours" said my girlfriend, who was laughing a little, but I'm very anxious to that.
"Well, at least she's prepared, maybe we can win" said my mum Bernadette.
I certainly am, all I can think about is how I'm going to win the events, it's been on my mind a lot, I've even been training with Croix on some of these days, we're going to take home another trophy like that, soon it'll be time for the festival, I can't wait to see what happens, the food is already very good to start the day in the best possible way, I can tell, it puts a smile on my face.
"Well today unfortunately during the festival we just won't be able to show our love, it's always a disgrace, in the old days there was section 28 that threatened us if we made any show of affection outside the house, nowadays there's the Diana thing, we'll just have to pretend to be very good friends, although some people know that's not all" said my mum Laura.
"I hate always having to be erased, I think that's the worst part, in almost 20 years together we've rarely been able to be in public showing affection, a mere hand holding is enough..." Said my Cavendish mum, who's even huffing a little, I imagine it must be annoying to go through these things.
"When one misfortune ends, another comes along, but one day in the future you'll be able to live peacefully and show your affection, I'm sure, you won't have to hide it from Diana or anyone else" said my grandmother.
I continue to eat, just getting ready for the festival, which I can already hear some things from afar, the city already getting ready, which I soon finish eating, getting all full, satisfied, I've eaten enough now, I even feel fuller after everything.
After I've eaten I go to the sofa, where I'll wait until the festival starts, I even turn on the television to start playing, my girlfriend goes to change, she's also going to take part, I'm so anxious for today, to have a chance of winning, which I see my aunt April also next door, sitting on the sofa.
"It's been years since we've had a good gymkhana like this, this year's is definitely going to be great, it re-minds me of how unforgettable 1988 and 1989 were, we had a great time that day" I'm even curious.
"Really? Tell me more?" I want to know more about it.
"It would take hours or even a whole day to tell you about the summer of '88 and '89, or even '90 when we graduated, we did everything and more, Phoebe who is now asleep would go crazy, we turned the house up-side down with the parties we threw, the house was full, everyone did everything, there we knew how to have fun and there was rarely any drug or alcohol consumption, we didn't do that, only a few people in the group like Rose who smoked from an early age, the rest practically didn't do it, this place became such a mess, when it was over it took us a whole day to tidy up, but it was worth it, just for what was experienced, do you want to see a bit?" I certainly do, I'm shaking my head, I want to see a lot about it.
Mrs Jordan takes some cassette tapes and turns on the VHS, I never thought I'd see something like this be-ing turned on again, she puts them in and starts filming, you could see the date, it was many years ago, 18 years, I could see that there was a party going on, everyone was so different, John himself was there with extra hair, he was someone else, Granny Joanne still with her red hair and no wrinkles, the mums were mak-ing out on the wall.
"Those girls never stopped making out, you blinked and there were Laura and Bernadette, it was everywhere in the house, there was no bad time for them to kiss, the amount of kissing I've seen makes me lose count" said my aunt April.
"Oh, it wasn't meant to be!" My mums said.
"Yes, it was! The only thing missing was that you had a more intense hold on each other, even in front of eve-ryone. You seemed to have repressed feelings for generations, as if you'd been apart for years, but in reality you'd only been apart for a few days, sometimes not even that, but you showed it in a way" Grandma said.
"The terror of Luna Nova, because of these two the dating restrictions had to exist in Luna Nova, that's why today it's forbidden to date there, Professor Finnelan put a lot of pressure on this, but do you think it's used in practice? All the teachers, with the exception of Finnelan and Badcock, turned a blind eye to them, the truth is that love is more intense than anything, seeing them being forced to stay away today is a huge blow" said Mrs Jordan.
"Soon we'll be back together, you can be sure, we'll make the most of the time we've lost, let our daughters hold on, they'll know how much we loved each other and there'll be no questioning the fact that they're our girls" I laugh.
While I'm watching everything that's on the TV screen, my mums are practically enjoying the party that's go-ing on right here, wow, there are so many different people, it's limitless fun, I'd love to spend time like this, look at all the things that are going on here, this slide that goes down to the lake, that's brilliant, how could I not have thought of that.
People doing everything, those were different times, I'm really looking forward to seeing the others, that film finishes and Aunt April puts on another one, this time it's of the gymkhana, how different times really were, the young mums have changed almost nothing over the years, they still have the same faces as when they were young, just Mum Laura who was a bit thinner, them running, facing the Murphy family, the laughter, gee I wish I lived back then too.
"We won the '88, '89 and '90 competitions with ease, the Murphy's didn't hold us and our friends back, we had a lot of them and we're still together, nowadays most of them have gone to their places to pursue their adult lives, but they must remember a lot from when they came here, days and days of partying" I could tell by the way everything was lively.
"WowApril, you still had that cut, that was the most 80s thing possible" I realised when I saw her filming her-self with the ponytail going over her head with the fringes, Aunt April was very different.
"Things at the time, I'm very different today, but are you going to say we weren't a bit cheesy back then too? Beatrice was the pinnacle of that, I don't even know how she must be today, I know she has a daughter called Hannah" I remember you talking a bit about this Beatrice.
"Yes Hannah is Diana's age, most likely these two will be studying in Luna Nova, I occasionally leave Diana with her since I don't trust Daryl very much, right now she must be with her and the other friend we also made, she's also Diana's age, and she has an older sister who must be in Luna Nova, you must know her Chariot, Daniella Parker" Really? Parker's younger sister is Diana's friend? That's marvellous.
"That's marvellous! I didn't realise they knew each other, what a small world, Daniella has already spoken about Barbara a few times, it's a shame that the Parker family is a bit stricter, because otherwise they could have more freedom to be who they are, I remember Daniella often talking about how there she has to be per-fect, even Barbara herself has to be, since they are an important family in Wales" My mother Bernadette even agrees with her head.
"That side is very demanding indeed, but Victoria Parker makes a few exceptions when Diana and Hannah are there, it's nice to see them together, Diana's cousin also appears from time to time, but it's always con-flicting since the father you know who it is, I also try to make him and Diana friends, but it seems that my daughter doesn't like it at all, maybe there must be something there" I know that guy very well, Mr Hanbridge was horrible, at least I hope his son isn't.
I kept looking at more old footage, showing how simple and yet lively the competitions were, very similar to when I was a child, I watched it all excited, it's nice to see how much fun people had, it seems that many things don't change at all over the years, but it was a very intense business, even simple, you could see that it was full of soul and everything.
[...]
When the time came for the festival, we all got on our broomsticks and approached the place, you could al-ready hear the DJs playing music and shaking the place up, there's a huge stage and fireworks and lights, I didn't expect it to be like this, it feels like we're at a music festival and everyone on the street was even wav-ing at us.
"What is all this?" I say shocked.
"It's the Shiny Chariot effect" replies my girlfriend.
The whole thing is huge, and I hope it doesn't take any of the soul out of the event itself. We immediately or-ganised ourselves into teams, and we even had t-shirts to represent our team, orange ones with the fox sym-bol, the same as is used every time the McLarens compete, and then we came across the Murphy boys in purple t-shirts with drawings of lions on them.
"So the McLarens have arrived, are they ready to lose?" John is already challenging us.
"Not at all, this year we're going to break the Murphy hegemony, I'm no longer pregnant, you're going to feel what Laura McLaren is like competing with everything" said my mum McLaren.
"Even the oldest girl turned up, so they'll want to try everything to fail" said the oldest boy.
"That's it, boy, get cracking, this is Gregory, our pride, look at him, six feet tall and with a body to envy, this boy here at school is a great sportsman, the best in his class at rugby, he's our star" said John.
"What about me? When we were teenagers, you played the bad boy the same way, and when you went to see a girl less than five feet tall, you shuddered at the thought of her winning everything" said my mum Laura.
I was just laughing at this dispute between the two of them, it's comical, it's their way, I can't wait for it all to start, we're already at our posts, then they'll separate and go to another place in the curtain, while we're stretching, for the nine witches it's the first gymkhana I'm going to take part in, it's going to be perfect and marvellous, I'm really looking forward to it.
"And here in Dalystown we're returning to an old tradition dating back to 1966, the grand and competitive gymkhana, the event that for 40 years has been fought between the Murphy and McLaren families to see which of the two is the best, they who fight for this title every year here in town, are returning after a brief hia-tus of one year, for this special 40th anniversary edition, and look at that, we also have the presence of the first competitors, Joanne McLaren and Vivian Murphy!" We watch it all on screen.
What fun, her appearing, waving to everyone, I remember she said she was the first winner, she must have worked so hard, given everything to get that far, the first one must have been really historic, everyone was clapping and the songs were still playing, I can't wait for us to be announced.
"And now for this special 40th anniversary edition, not only will there be a dispute between these two families who have the same origin, but there will also be a dispute between other Dalystown families who have shown up just to show that there are not only these two who are great in the history of this city, and here we
are going to give the families a gift, starting with the historic family that has lived in Dalystown forever, the Murphy's, represented by John Murphy!" And they're appearing on screen being taken up in a lift, waving at the team they've assembled, they've brought in some interesting people, they're going to do a lot of work.
"They're very confident, but we're going to break their faces, you'll see" whispers my mum and I just laugh.
"Then there are the witches of the capital, who were the origin of the Murphy's here, the McLarens! Repre-sented by Laura McLaren!" Our turn has come.
The lift went up and we waved to everyone, it's a pity that mum Bernadette couldn't take part so as not to cause suspicion, even though she's part of the family, but I promise I'll represent her absence well, I could see in the background my other mum watching us with the children on her arm, I waved to everyone and they just started shouting my name, I could notice a lot of people saying "It's Shiny Chariot!". I get very emo-tional.
"It looks like they've got a huge surprise for these girls, they've brought along this girl who keeps getting mentioned! Shiny Chariot will be competing alongside the McLarens! They've really gone to great lengths to get this star!" Said the announcer and I got a little embarrassed.
The other families were being announced, but I kept hearing people shouting my name over and over again, I'm a bit embarrassed, it's not that big a deal, I know I'm a stage presenter, but it's not that big a deal, they even did a remix of my theme with electronic music because of my presence, damn these DJ's really don't waste any time, I keep waving and people keep shouting, all this just because an event has started.
As I announce everyone's name, the smoke clears from the stage, I think the gymkhana can now begin, I'm really looking forward to it all, look how much people are enjoying watching all this, I'm going to do a lot of damage to Croix, we're both going to win this one.
"Well, to start with, there's nothing like the old sack race down the main street. Those who get to the front will receive a score for their position, so stay alert, families, put your sacks on and get to your places!" And the first competition of the gymkhana is being announced.
The sack race, I'm running to where the finish line is, already starting to get ready, I'm putting the sack on, the girls too, the other teams are getting ready and lining up, the finish line is the same at least, nothing dif-ferent, I remember it well from when I was younger, which I'm staring at and concentrating on.
"All right, you're all packed and ready for the race, on your marks! Right away!" Said the commentator and the gun is fired and we start jumping.
I'm doing smaller jumps, which give me a bit of momentum and speed, I can see that my mum Laura is suf-fering at the back, she hates this one because her chest always gets in the way, but we can guarantee this victory, come on, I keep jumping with my own little way, seeing that the one next to us is Greg, he's big, but we can also beat him and get this victory.
Croix is right next to me too, that's good, we're going at a good pace, next to us is Auntie April, luckily they're taller and can jump better than me, even though I'm almost as tall as Auntie April in fact, at the back it's the fatter girls, Phoebe is the one who's doing the best, it must be bad to do this with a big chest, I can only im-agine the hell it's been for Mum Laura.
"Look at Shiny Chariot's spectacular and brilliant start, she's leading perfectly, she's not intimidated by the height of our champion Gregory Murphy, but Julian Henkel isn't far behind either, it looks like we've got a family together in the race, while the leaders of the main families are far behind, it looks like they must have eaten too much hahahaha" Oh come on, not that either, mum's fat, but there's no need to offend her like that.
I'm just concentrating without listening too much to the commentator, looking ahead on the road, I'll make it, I'm more thoughtful, I can't use magic just my physical strength, that's what I'm going to do, apparently Croix is passing me, it's better that way, she's taller, come on love, you can do it, use those legs.
She's getting further ahead, while I'm behind the boys in fourth place, what the hell, I didn't think they'd give me any trouble, but I can keep going, the important thing is consistency, fourth place I can keep, when they get tired I'll give them a longer run.
"Woah, it looks like we've got a new leader in the McLaren family and that's Croix Meridies, April Jordan's daughter, she's beating the two boys over six feet tall, that's what it's all about! She's battling as hard as she did in the last few editions, will this girl be able to keep up the winning streak? This is an exciting race!" said the commentator.
We're halfway down the street, there are only a few metres to go, I'm already in the same position, no one is passing me, the closest is another boy who is also a bit tall, but it's nothing compared to what I can do, I'm breathing, I'm just storing up energy, looking back a bit, seeing that Aunt April is still doing well.
I'm getting very close to the end, I'm now in accelerated mode, I start jumping faster, without saving energy I'm jumping quickly, I even manage to catch up with one of the boys, I see that my girlfriend is doing the same thing, she was still conserving energy the whole time, how brilliant.
"Look at that, it seems that Shiny Chariot is reacting and going faster and faster, she's showing that she was just waiting for the final moment, show your strength girl! That's an incredible feat, this race for second place is going to be intense between these three, as Croix Meridies has simply shot into the lead!" And it will be.
I keep jumping, the boys go faster, but I keep concentrating, knowing where there's danger, not only do you jump, but your legs get tired a lot, I see that one of them stumbles on my side, it wasn't Murphy, but it's given me a bit of an advantage, the crowd even celebrates, now I'm in third position, I can get there, I'll be in 1-2 with Chariot, hopefully.
We're jumping and jumping, we get to the finish line, Croix crosses, but I can't get level with Greg, he's tall and strong, he's got more leg strength than me and I'm still a dancer, I've got trained legs too, but I can't even get close to that, but third place is great.
"And first place went to the McLarens thanks to the agile legs of Croix Meridies! Shiny Chariot didn't do too badly either and secured precious points for the McLaren family with a marvellous third position, the Mur-phy's showed their strength with Gregory in second place in the middle of the McLaren's, but there's still a lot of racing ahead, let's see how far these people can go! Now that's quality racing!" said the commentator.
And we finished the race, I was really breathless, but when I saw the scoreboard I was relieved, we're on 22 points compared to the Murphy's 14, that's marvellous to see, we even celebrated more discreetly, between me and the winner, phew, we're really doing our best here, we've already got a win, the other families also have strong names, they're scoring well.
"And now that's the end of the sack race, now we'll go to the second challenge, the arm wrestling, where one of the families will choose one of the representatives to see who is the strongest, let's see who will win this one!" Said the commentator.
My mum Laura is already opening her arms, she's the strongest of us, there's no question about it, her arms, even with the fat, you can see that she has muscles and many of them are still showing, so she went to the tables, the girls and I watched and the first family that was going to fight her came.
"Now let's see who's got strong arms, the McLarens went with their leader Laura, while the Murphy's went with their prodigy Gregory, right from the start in the first race, the lad's got really strong arms, the girl's really going to come into her own" said the commentator and they have no idea.
You can even see John's apprehensive face, he knows how strong my mum is, the moment it starts and the judge takes his hand away from both of them, in an instant the boy's arm drops quickly, everyone is in shock, especially as the boy's arm isn't weak, but I already knew it would be like that, so much so that the Murphy's are already breathing with frustration.
"Woah, look at that, Laura McLaren at 34 years of age and without even a muscular arm made the boy's arm fall off on the spot, she's really very strong, that's impressive, but will she be able to do it against Barry from the O'hare family, those lumberjack arms are no small feat!" This is going to be the test of the test - said the commentator.
In the sack race he didn't do well because his body is heavy, but here it's something else, look at the size of this guy's arms, he must spend all day in the gym, this isn't human, he must be on steroids, even so my mum kept her expression neutral and calm.
Then the judge let go of both their hands, and we saw the guy's huge arm making a huge force, you could see the apparent blood vessels, everyone watching was in shock, even more so because of Mum Laura's smiling expression, who didn't feel the slightest bit sorry for herself, she was even pulled almost to the side and when she used the force, the guy's arm went all the way to the other side, causing a bit of an impact.
"What was that? What was that? Look at the size of this guy's arm, yet a woman like that managed to just crash into him like it was nothing, she's extremely strong, the most shocking thing is that it was without magic, these witches really are something to behold, another spectacular victory for the McLarens, I wonder who's going to try their luck?" Everyone was in shock.
Which we expected, but given the guy's arm you'd think he could at least give mum a fright, but she didn't even sweat, she acted as if nothing had affected her, sometimes she scares us, which didn't stop comments coming in about her strength, well that's what happens when you challenge a McLaren.
"An arm wrestle with Laura is stupid, she's always been strong, she's been training with Mrs Elisabeth every day since she was a child, her body is already at another level, if they went up against a young Laura no-body would have a chance, she's already managed to turn at least 20 strong guys at once, let alone just one, that's easy enough, even with the years without exercising" said Aunt April.
"Woah, it must be really impressive" I say marvelling and watching the other times and we're gaining points.
Nobody could beat her, no matter what, all five challengers simply lost and with that we have a huge ad-vantage, we've gained 50 points on this one alone, compared to the Murphy's 30 and the O'Hare's 40, now we're leading with ease.
"Just look at this arm wrestling match, the scoreboard shows a comfortable lead for the McLarens with 72 points, the Murphy's are in third position with 44 points just behind the surprising O'Hare's, with these strong arms they have taken them to 45 points, one ahead, who would have thought that we would have more fami-lies in this dispute and let's go to the third dispute this time the tied race, will they be able to run together until the finish at Lake Ennel? Find out!" Said the commentator.
And there goes this race, last time I did it with Mum Laura tied to me, I'm going to do it with Croix, we're both going to have a marvellous synchronicity, I hope we make it to the end, anyway I'm having a lot of fun, soon I see Mum coming back from the arm wrestle and she's got a totally neutral expression.
"It's a shame I don't have someone extremely strong to fight me, another more trained witch would be more tired than these guys, I just leave them and even then they try with all their might, well at least we have a 28 point lead, the next one is another one that I know I won't be able to handle, but at least it'll be less worse if we lose, I trust you two, Chariot and Croix, you're the thinnest and most agile of us, I'll go with Rose and Phoebe with April, that way we can win more easily" Mum Laura said and we nodded.
And we're already on our way to the finish line, where they're tying us up for the race, I'm really looking for-ward to it, me and Croix in pure sync, it's going to be a lot of fun, ahhh I'm happy, this gymkhana is marvel-lous, even with all this event stuff it still has a lot of the soul of the old one, that's what's wonderful, there's nothing different from before, you can still enjoy it a lot.
"Well now the most fun part has begun, this gymkhana, which honestly was the best of all, even with thewhole festival thing losing a bit of its old soul, I was able to have a lot of fun, we could only go with six familymembers to compete, but that's the least of it, we knew we could have a chance of winning and we werethere for the fun of it, We were there for the fun of it, running around, jumping, getting up to mischief, youname it, and there's still a bit more to come from this gymkhana, you'll see how marvellous everything wasbetween me and Croix, how things were still building up nicely, before disasters struck, it was a wonderfultime, which I treasure in my heart.
See you, game witches...