Sunday 16 March 2014

Chapter 21 - Gen 2 - Tapestry


I make my way out of the bedroom aching after another long restless night of tossing and turning and hardly any sleep.  The house seems really quiet as I make my way into the kitchen after using the bathroom ... I can't hear Winter moving around anywhere in the house so I think that she might be at work today even though I can't remember her telling me she is.

I'm unusually hungry, especially so early in the morning, I don't usually do breakfast!!  I guess it must be from all this running around town that I've been doing every day for the past week.


I am planning on another morning of hunting before I go to work at the bar where I have managed to find myself a piano playing job ... that homeless girl is seriously starting to get to me ... every time she sees me she bolts, she doesn't let me get anywhere near her, not even to give her any money, and I can't work out why, she is now totally occupying my mind to the point I've hardly got the room to think about anything else.

I've had one short conversation with her outside the hospital, but it didn't last for very long before she bolted and ever since she hasn't stopped running.  I've spent hours chasing her around town, but she's too quick on her feet for me, I keep losing her, she flies over walls like a cat and by the time I get there she's vanished out of sight, she knows all the short cuts that I'm yet to learn.

Storm is finding it highly amusing that I'm being out run by a girl, I'd get him to catch her for me but I'm worried it will completely scare her to death or drive her out of town ... I'm getting frightened that I might already be doing that keep chasing her around.

I open the fridge door and don't know what to eat, I can't cook, and I really feel like eating some pancakes but don't have the slightest idea of how to make them.  I just stare into the fridge like an idiot not knowing what to do with anything in there ... I don't even know how to boil an egg!!


I've never had to feed myself there has always been someone at home to do it for me, I doubt they would have trusted me to cook anything without burning the kitchen down anyway ... something else I need to learn to do for myself before I go home ... cook.

I am not going to give my Dad the slightest excuse to keep treating me like a child.  If I've learnt one thing on this trip of ours it's that him smothering me in cotton wool has never done me any good ... it's kept me dependent on him and everybody else and I am actually capable of a lot more than even I realized myself. I need to learn to fend for myself and the only way I am going to do that is while I am away from my control freak of a Dad.

"Are you hungry?"  suddenly Winter says from behind me, she makes me jump and I slam the fridge door shut with fright, I hadn't even heard her coming.

"I want pancakes but I don't know how to make them."  she smiles at me and says she'll show me.  I stand back so she can get into the fridge.  She pulls out butter, eggs and milk then goes into one of the cupboards and pulls out a packet of something, I'm not even sure what it is.  Flour she tells me when I ask.  I stand watching her making the pancakes, not sure I'm even going to remember what she's doing, but it looks easy enough.

Watching people cooking is something I've never really done before.


I try not to think about the baby bump, but trying not to think about it makes me automatically look at it.  I know River is really happy about the baby, he keeps waffling on about it like an excited child with the biggest grin on his face.  They know it's a boy and they think they are going to call him Ocean, but it depends on what colour he is, if he's blue he'll be called Ocean if he's orange they don't know, they are still thinking.

I'm slowly getting used to the idea that that baby is going to be my nephew, I am going to be an Uncle and I'm going to have a baby around me whether I like it or not ... the hardest part is knowing it's not going to be mine like it should have been.  I know Winter will have to go to Sugar Valley before he is born, I suspect before we go home, she can't have a mixed berry baby in this town.

"When are you moving to Sugar Valley?"

"As soon as Mango is well enough to look after himself, although I am going to be cutting it a bit fine, I'll only have a month left ... we have to pray he doesn't decide to come early!!"

"When is River coming home?  I thought he'd be here by now"  He said he would be able to come home for the rest of his recovery after three weeks, it has now been more than three weeks, but he's still in the hospital.

"Probably another week, and we should be able to move him."  she smiles at me, I can't wait for him to come home but I doubt it will be much fun, he's going to be totally bed bound still for another 8 weeks.

I watch Winter pouring some of the pancake mix into a frying pan, she swears under her breath as she loses her grip on the container and spills some of it all over the working surface. 

"You are supposed to get it into the pan ... unlike me!!"  she laughs, now seeing the funny side of it.  I decide to clean up the mess while she is cooking the pancakes ... something else I've never really done before, cleaning, I usually just leave it for somebody else to do.

 "Are you not at work today?"  I ask her, she says she is but not until 11 oclock.


She finishes cooking the pancakes and puts them onto plates, well they seem simple enough to make!  We both sit down and start eating in silence.

"Oh, I meant to ask you something"  she says as she stands up suddenly and moves over to one of the kitchen draws and opens it  "I pulled this out of your trouser pocket the other day when I was doing the laundry."  she says as she sits back down and puts a card down on the table top.  "Where did you get this from?"  she asks frowning at me.  I look down at the card suddenly remembering what it is, I'd completely forgotten all about it.

"Busking in the park ... a creepy guy gave it to me after the cheeky git got me to sing for him  ... he said he has a job for me and told me to phone him ... I forgot all about it."  her eyebrows raised a little as she picks up the card and starts inspecting it, turning it over a few times like she is reading the back and front of the card  "What is it anyway?  I don't read."

"It looks like a personal business card ... Grape Studio's and Mr Grape himself no less!!"  she starts waving her fork at me  "Did you say he asked you to sing for him?"

"Yeah ... why?"  I frown at her  "Grape Studio's ... is that some sort of bar or club in town?" she starts laughing at me saying I'm a music man she thought I would know what Grape Studio's is.  I shrug my shoulders because I'm not really thinking.

"You buy cd's don't you?!"  obviously I do  "Have you never seen that stupid green grape symbol on some of the cd covers?"  she says laughing again, then it dawns on my just what she's talking about ... of course I already know what Grape Studio's is ... one of the biggest record labels on the planet.


"So are you trying to tell me that creepy flash git in the park was Mr Grape from Grape Studio's?!"  No she's got to have this wrong ... it would be silly to even think it was him in the park ... and if it was he definitely wouldn't be interested in giving me a job ... what could I do?

"Without seeing him, I couldn't say ... but that is definitely his business card ... and their main studio's are in Rainbow Valley over the other side of town!!  That is what a lot of wannabe artists come to this town for."  she starts scratching her head  "Why did he ask you to sing?"  she frowns at me then walks over to the sink to wash up her plate.

"I don't know ... I was just minding my own business playing my guitar, he stood watching me for ages before he asked me to sing, two songs, then he threw that card into my guitar case and told me to phone him."

"Are you going to phone him?"

"I don't know, I might later ... but I've got work later and I've got something I really need to do before then."  I tell her as I get off the seat and take my plate towards the sink which she takes off me.

"What do you need to do before work?"  she eyes me suspiciously, I ignore her question and just smile at her.

"I'm just taking a shower"  I tell her before I walk out of the kitchen, I can't tell her I'm chasing a homeless girl around town, especially the reason why, she'll think I've gone totally mad!!  I doubt she even knows about Storm she hasn't mentioned him at all.


After spending quite a few hours wandering around the streets in town unsuccessfully looking for the homeless girl and not finding her, I decided to check out the cemetery ... I never like going into the cemetery, because I always see too many ghosts hanging around which I always try to ignore, but it's not always easy.

When I was younger they really used to scare me, I only used to feel safe with 'The Man', who I now know is Cosmic, wandering around our house, because he never used to pester me like the others, I knew he was a nice spirit.  I'm not scared of them anymore, but once they find out that I can see and hear them they won't leave me alone, sometimes they ask me to do things for them and I'd rather not have the hassle, so over the years I've perfected pretending that I can't see or hear them, most of them don't even realize that I can.

Storm has been spending a lot of time hanging around this cemetery when he's not with me, he gets to socialize and spend time in different company other than mine,  he can happily hang out with ghosts ... that is his life now.  Storm spots a spirit who he has spoken to before apparently, so he goes over to talk to him.

I carry on walking, up past the mausoleum, I spot a familiar figure, sitting on the grass among the headstones so I go over to him, he looks up at me as I approach him and he smiles when he recognizes me.  I think I can already guess what he is doing, seeing the four graves he's sat in front of.


I sit down next to him

"So I guess you spend a lot of time here?"  he just smiles and nods

"Probably too much ... but I don't have a lot else to do with my day!!"

"How long has it been since they ...?"  I was really surprised when he said it's been six years since his family faded and he's been on the streets for five years.  He is obviously still really upset over it, by the way he has been acting I thought it was only recently that he'd lost his family.

"What are you doing in the cemetery anyway?  I didn't think you was from this town?"  he asks me frowning.

"I'm still looking for that colourless homeless girl, I thought I might find her here."  he doesn't say anything as he carries on staring at the graves in front of him, like he's transfixed on them.  I'm sure this can't be doing him any good ... surely after 6 years he should be feeling a lot better about it ... I hope it doesn't take me this many years to get over it!!

We sit in silence for ages, I start to think about Honey and the babies and I don't really want to start getting upset again.  The homeless guy doesn't seem too interested in talking, he might not want me here, I hadn't thought about that ... he might want to be alone

"I should leave you in peace!!"  he looks up  "I'm sorry I didn't think you might want to be alone!"

"No, you are okay, you don't have to go ... it's nice to have some company for a change!!"  he smiles at me.  "I'm sorry it should have been my sons birthday today I'm just feeling a little out of it!!"


I hear his stomach growl quite loudly

"Have you eaten today?"  I ask him and he just shakes his head  "Come on I'll get you a meal before I go to work."  he looks up at me in surprise as I get to my feet, he just sits there looking a little unsure, I have to tug his arm to get him to stand up. He follows me quietly at first then as we walk out of the cemetery we start talking and he tells me his name is Denim and about the job that he used to have at the local sports stadium.

I start to wander where I can take him, I am guessing that a lot of places probably wouldn't let him sit down and eat because of the state that he is in, the smell of him is enough to put anyone off their food!! then I remember Winter won't be home because she has gone to work.. So I take him home.

I'm not sure that he knew where we were going until I told him I'd brought him home as I unlocked the door to the house.  "You live in a blue house?"  he says looking pretty shocked.

"I lodge here with my brother, we have an orange room, if it was my house I'd let you stay here, but it's not up to me ... our landlady is blue, she's at work right now."  he smiles at me.  "I can just about cook pancakes ... I think ... but I can't guarantee they will be very good."  he laughs saying he doesn't care what he eats it's got to be better than his last meal, a stale loaf that the bakery threw out.

I'm really glad Winter showed me how to make pancakes earlier otherwise he would have had to have cooked his own food!!


As I start making the pancake mix Denim stands there awkwardly watching me, he looks lost, embarrassed even,  I don't think he knows what to do with himself.  I told him he could take a shower or a bath if he wanted to, he went off quite happily into the bathroom after I pointed out the bathroom door.  I would have washed and dried his clothes for him too if I'd had time, but I have to be at work at 1 o'clock so I couldn't, he said it didn't matter I've already done enough.

It makes me feel really guilty, if this was my place I wouldn't be able to help myself ... I'd take him off the streets and let him stay here, so that he could sort himself out, but I doubt that Winter would even entertain the idea, I bet she won't be too happy when she finds out I have brought home and fed a homeless guy.

I didn't burn the pancakes surprisingly, and they actually tasted like pancakes.  I was secretly pleased with myself ... the first thing I've ever cooked!!

Denim came out of the bathroom looking a lot better, his skin and hair were nice and clean, its a shame his clothes weren't.  I've never seen anyone eat so fast, he ended up eating three plates of pancakes, he must have been starving. I suspect he would have eaten more if he wasn't so embarrassed.

It kind of made me like him and feel sorry for him just a little bit more, his awkwardness and embarrassment, even though he has hit rock bottom he's not comfortable having to accept someones help, I wander if he thinks he doesn't deserve anyone's help ... I doubt he would ever ask for any.  I can tell he's a really kind hearted man, who doesn't deserve to be where he is.



I made my way to work, not in a very good mood, these homeless people are really playing on my mind, I felt really guilty for leaving Denim knowing that he will be sleeping on the street again tonight and I don't know when I'll see him again ... probably the next time that I bump into him somewhere.  I'm also now starting to worry that I might scare the homeless girl out of town ... she knows I'm after her and she keeps running away ... she's terrified of me and I really don't understand why when all I've done is give her money and tried to talk to her.

The bar I work in at dinner times is quite a nice place, it's half bar half restaurant, so it's always fairly busy and the diners appreciate the music while they are eating, the tips are always pretty decent in this place, sometimes I come out with more in tips than I get in pay.

River was a little uncomfortable when I told him I'd found work in one of the bars in town, worried I might be tempted to drink, but I'm not.  I am not actually that bothered with it any more .. it's exciting when you are under age and you know your parents will kill you if they catch you ... when you are legally old enough all the excitement goes out of it and I definitely don't like the hang overs you get from drinking too much!!  I remember the hangover that I had the day after that night me and River went out and got totally hammered ... I said never again, and I meant it!! He will be very surprised when he sees that all I am drinking is flavoured water!!

Storm always comes with me when I am out in town, I'm always worried that I might do something stupid especially with the colour code, being colourblind I could quite easily do something without realizing it and the last thing I need is to attract police attention to myself. Today he's sitting on a nearby table while I'm playing the piano and he's telling me about Bayleaf, their relationship, how it started and how they used to hide it, especially from me.


I'm miles away playing and listening to Storm when the landlord comes up behind me and makes me jump.  He puts his hand on my shoulder and a glass of water down on top of the piano.  I stare at it for a second, he doesn't usually bring me drinks.  "I can bring you a proper drink if you want one!"  he laughs at me

"Thanks, the water is fine!!"  I smile at him  "I'm on regular meds, they don't mix too well with alcohol!"

"I don't suppose you want to swap shifts, come off the day shift and cover the night shift permanently starting from tonight?  He's just phoned in AGAIN, he's sick today apparently! I'm sick of him messing me around especially at such short notice!!"  he smiles at me  "The shift is your's if you want it ... it's more hours for you ... he can take your days, I'm not so fussed about him not turning up for the day shift."

"You want me to work tonight as well?"  I ask not sure I heard him right.

"If you could .... the restaurant is fully booked up tonight otherwise I wouldn't ask!!"  I pull faces at him at first because I was all set to visit River and stalk the homeless girl again ... then I think what's the point she'll probably just run off again   "I'll make it worth your while!!"

"What time only I said I'd visit my brother, he's in hospital."  he tells me 6 till 12 as he cringes because he knows I'm here till 4 pm as it is  "If you do tonight you can get off now, it's quiet and that will give you 4 hours."  I tell him okay, I could do with the extra hours and I'll just have to give the homeless girl a break today.

There is a sudden roar and a load of commotion going on by the bar.  The landlord runs off to sort it out. Like every bar it has its regular drunks and this one is no different, I look over towards the commotion which they are causing and laugh at the same faces propping up the bar, especially the one who has just fallen off his bar stool and can't get up off the floor.  It is dinnertime for berry's sake and they are already slaughtered!!!

I laugh at myself for a moment wandering why I'm starting to sound like my Dad!!


I left the bar after only an hours work and went straight to hospital to visit River.  As usual he is pleased to see me ... he's getting very bored and a little stir crazy being stuck in this hospital just reading and staring up at the ceiling with only nurses for company.  He only has me and Winter here to visit him and he doesn't even have a television in his room to keep himself occupied ... there is only so much reading that he can do without giving himself a headache.

"So what have you been up to?"  he smiles at me  "Winter thinks you are up to something ... you keep taking off without telling her where you are going and what you are doing and you are hardly home!"  he raises his eyes at me.  "Remember Tap you need to keep your head down!!  I hope you are behaving yourself!!"

"I am behaving ... besides busking and working I'm not really doing much else honestly!"  he raises his eyebrows at me again and asks what exactly is 'much else'?  I tut at him, I may as well tell him because I know at least he will understand without thinking I'm mental  "Okay, if you really must know, when I'm out if I'm not busking or working, I am spending the rest of my time chasing a homeless girl around town, trying to talk to her, but she sees me now and she does a runner, I can't get near her." he looks at me wide eyed


"I think you need to start at the beginning ... why exactly would you be chasing a homeless girl around town ... you don't fancy her do you?"  he starts laughing at me

"No!! idiot ... it's nothing like that ...."  I start to explain to him about her being colourless, where I'd seen her first outside the hospital and that she can see and hear spirits like me, how she had heard Storm bad mouthing her for being a tramp and had shouted at him.  I told him I want to speak to her try to find out why she can see spirits like me when nobody else can, but she won't let me get near her she acts like she's terrified of me and only has to see me and she bolts straight away.

"I wish you'd spoken to me about this earlier ... I know what her problem is, it isn't you ... she is acting the way she does because she's colourless!!"  I frown at him

River starts explaining something that really shocks me.  Sugar Valley and the other two colour mix towns that he knows exists, are full of people who may as well be colourblind like me, nobody cares about colour especially not the lack of it ... colourless people are treated just like a person with colour in these towns and as I have grown up in one of those towns I wouldn't know any different.


In the world ruled by the colour code it is far from different.  People who lack colour are seen as abnormalities, freaks of nature, and treated accordingly, they are treated very badly, to the point where he thinks that is why she is probably homeless ... many parents of colourless children just throw them out into the world to fend for themselves, most of them fade because they can't fend for themselves and society doesn't help them.  Families with a colourless child are also treated badly and that is why they get rid of them.  Colourless people are shunned, bullied, beat up, ignored avoided, even murdered sometimes to rid society of them ... that is probably why she is scared of me because everyone will treat her very badly, so she wouldn't know that I would be any different.

"And Tap ... I know you probably don't like or agree with what I've just told you ... but seriously, you need to keep well away from her, if you start hanging around her ... you will definitely attract attention to yourself which you know we really can't afford right now!!  It won't be very nice attention that you attract to yourself either!!"

I'm stunned into silence for a while trying to process everything that he has just said.  I wander for a moment about River, he was born and brought up in Apple Hill, a colour coded town, does that mean he thinks and feels the same way about colourless people, so I ask him.  He actually looks offended and I think I upset him a little.

"How can you even ask me that question when Affair is my mate!?  Not to mension Mosaic, Coral, You ... would I be here if I felt like that!!??" 




I left the hospital with my head totally blown.  I really can't believe that people are treated this way just because they lack colour ... they lack colour because of a medical condition, and its not even their own medical condition, it's a fault in both of their parents genes ... do these evil people not know that!!  And I thought I was treated badly and misunderstood because of my medical conditions!!!  First the homeless people, now the colourless, what else goes on in this world that I don't know about!?  Fudge she is both homeless and colourless ... she has no hope!!

I went back to the bar and started the evening shift.  Like the landlord said it would be, it is very busy tonight, there are a lot more diners in than usual.  I don't really take a lot of notice too busy wrapped in the music and my head is spinning with the homeless guy the homeless girl and everything that River told me about how colourless people are treated outside of colour mix towns.  It makes me think about my own Mother, and for the life of me I can't remember where she was born, I just know she wasn't born in Sugar Valley ... so she must have been through it when she was younger, being colourless, she must have been treated badly ... is that why she was sent away to a boarding school??

Suddenly I'm disturbed from my thoughts.

"Hey Orchid!!"   hearing our surname being shouted out, I stop playing the piano and me and Storm, who is sat on the piano stool beside me, both just automatically spin round ... at first I thought someone was calling me ... even though nobody knows my real surname, everyone thinks my name is Tapestry Peel, me and River had spent hours in hysterics trying to rename ourselves, we thought it best we keep our first names because I couldn't get used to calling River by a third name it's bad enough him already having two to contend with Mango and River.



"I'm not going to tell you again Orchid ... shut your hole!!"  I can see nobody is calling me, it is just two of the drunks at the bar who are arguing with each other, stood glaring at each other fists clenched.  I would normally just turn around and carry on playing ... but I'm interested to know which of those guys has the same surname as us ... it is quite an unusual one so I've been told.  Storm is very quiet, just staring at the two men.

"Don't you tell me to shut my hole ... you better get out of my face mate before I rearrange it for you!!"  one of the drunks shouts at the other. Storm looks at me wide eyed and mumbles Fudge!! under his breath.  The two drunks start throwing punches.  There is a load of commotion going on, a few people in the bar are jeering them on, mainly the other drunks, they are like children in a playground.   The two drunks are really going for it, I'm actually amused because the old man is giving the younger man a really good pasting.

"We seriously need to get out of here ... NOW!!"  Storm says suddenly which I find strange, he grabs my arm and tries to pull me off the piano seat.  He's usually always up for watching a good fight.

"I'm working you idiot!! I can't go anywhere!!"  I try to shake him off me wandering what his problem is all of a sudden, we are both distracted back towards the fight when we hear glass smashing.

A bottle has just been smashed over the old mans head by one of the other drunks not the one he's fighting with, he falls to the floor and the younger guy decides to use him as a punch bag while he's down. Its now two onto one as the third drunk joins in.  The old man is trying to get back up onto his feet but the other two guys keeps laying the boot in and he falls back onto the floor.  The guy behind the bar is yelling at them and I can't help but jump up off my seat to try and help him stop the fight.


I grab the younger guy and drag him off the old man, he tries to take a swing for me, he punched my shoulder as he tries to start on me, but he's so wasted I drag him to the door quite easily and push him out side.  The barman grabs the other attacking drunk and does the same with him.  Two of the drunks have gone flying out of the door while the old man stays lying on the floor raring like he hasn't noticed the other two have now gone.

I go to help the old man up off the floor who has blood streaming down his face, with the help of the guy from behind the bar we stand him on his feet.  "It's okay Tapestry, I'll sort him out!!"  he says to me I smile and go back to the piano keeping my eye on them  "Grape Vine Orchid, I've seriously had it with you keep coming in here causing trouble ... out and stay out!!"  he shouts at the old man then roughly throws him out threw the door.  I sit back down and start playing the piano again, I look up at Storm and he's sat staring in the direction of the door a strange look on his face.

"What's up with you?"  I ask him quietly he says nothing so I just leave him to it, there is definitely something up with him but we are in public so I can't really push him without making myself look crazy talking to myself.  I glance at him a few times and his eyes still haven't left the door yet.


The time passes by quite quickly and Storm is totally silent for the rest of the night.  The guy behind the bar pays me for my nights playing at closing time and I walk out of the bar, Storm trailing miserably behind me.

"What the hell is your problem?!"  I snap at him, all he does is start laughing at me as I trip over something on the path because I'm too busy glaring at him instead of watching where I'm walking.  I land flat on my face on the hard concrete.

"FUDGE!!"  Storm says and stops laughing.  I sit up and look to see what he's staring at, a leg sticking out of the bushes ... that is what I'd tripped over.  I look up at him  "Man we should just leave him there and go!!"  he says.  I seriously don't know what his problem is lately, he's become completely heartless since he faded!!

I crawl on my hands and knees pulling the bush back ... just hoping I'm not going to find a faded body in that bush.  After I've fought with the undergrowth for a while I see that it's the drunk old man that had been in the bar and had a bottle smashed over his head.

I poke him and he moans ... well he's still alive.  I can see the gash in his head and the blood running all down his face.



"Storm help me get him out of the bush!!"  I hear him grumbling and he refuses to help me insisting that I just leave him there.  I try to move the old guy, but he's tangled up in the undergrowth and a dead weight because he is out cold ... he's totally wasted and I doubt I'll be able to wake him up.  Storm asks me what I plan to do with him  "I don't know I suppose take him home, I don't know where he lives and Winter can sort out that cut."

"No man we should just leave him here or dump him at the hospital!!"  I tell him that home is a lot closer, it's only round the corner, I can't just leave him here bleeding and the hospital is the other side of town and Winter might know who he is  "No!!  I'm not going to let you do this!!  Just leave him Tap ... it's his own fault he's in that state ... he doesn't deserve your help!!"

"I swear ... you have changed ... first the homeless people, now him, what is it?  Don't you think these people deserve to live just because you're not!!"  I snap at him.  He gives me a right evil look before he says he has his reasons and if I knew I wouldn't want anything to do with him either, but he wouldn't tell me what or why, he's really not making a lot of sense.  He starts to lose his temper with me.

Give me your phone idiot!!"  he shouts at me ... I laugh at him wondering why he is getting so irate with me and ask who he thinks he's going to call because River and Winter aren't going to hear him, I laugh and ask him sarcastically if there is a ghost police  "Jerk ... I need to phone Jazz, he can hear me ... somebody needs to talk some sense into you!!"  We end up arguing, I don't even have Jazz's number in my phone so that sacks his idea ... I don't know what his problem is and he won't tell me either which is starting to irritate me.


I must look like a right mental case to the people walking past, shouting at fresh air, I bet they must think I'm as wasted as the old man in the bushes.  I'm sick of Storm arguing, he can't give me one good reason for leaving the drunk man here so I tell him I'm taking him home with or without his help ... he says its my funeral but helps me anyway which doesn't make sense.  He helps me pull the old man out of the bushes, we stand him on his feet and between us we start carrying him.  We don't speak all the way home.

As soon as I open the front door Winter see's me as she is just coming out of the bathroom.  She rushes over asking what is going on and tells me I should have taken him to the hospital, not brought him home.  She grabs him and helps me to sit him down on one of the chairs in the hallway.  When I tell her we found him just round the corner she just laughs at me as she checks the old mans head.  I remember what the barman had called him before he threw him out of the bar.

"His name is Grape Vine Orchid, do you know him?" she looks up at me nervously then frowns at him and mumbles that she isn't sure.  Her face is now wearing a strange expression she asks me to watch he doesn't fall, saying she is going to get something to clean him up with and she walks off into her bedroom and closes the door behind her.



"Yes his name is Grape Vine Orchid alright!" I frown at him as he's just sat on the floor leaning against a cupboard glaring at the old man  "He is purple exactly the same shades as me ... that cretin couldn't even be bothered to attend my funeral ... and if you want to know why my Dad is a drunk ... that's the reason why!!  That was his roll model!!"  he says pointing at the old man.  "You need to get him out of here before he realizes who you are!!  I tried to stop you but you wouldn't listen!!"

"Storm what are you blabbering about now?!"

"HIM!! ... Rainbow Valley is where Dad, Mulberry and Lilly were born, Wisty and Affair too ... I guessed this might happen you working in bars especially the one he drinks in, I worried we'd come across him because he's a serious drinker ... I spotted him a few days ago but I hoped you would just ignore each other ... that drunk is our Granddad ... and I think she knows now you've told her his name ... why do you think she's taking so long in there ... I bet you anything she's on the phone right now panicking trying to get hold of your Dad because you've gone and brought the one person home they hoped you would never bump into let alone have anything to do with!!"

"Don't talk shit!!"  I frown at him



"Straight up ... If Uncle Mango had been able to have a say in the place Jazz sent you and River too it definitely wouldn't have been this town because of HIM!!  I've seen pictures of him ... and I remember that berry hole ... Dad actually brought me here once, this isn't my first visit to Rainbow Valley, Dad thought because I was completely purple he'd be okay with me, but he didn't want to know because I have green blood running through my veins according to him!!  He didn't want me in his house!!  I remember the evil berry hole!!  He hates mixed berries and especially Lilly and Affair because they are colourless!!  Seriously we need to get him out of here!!  He'll dob you in for being a mixed berry if he finds out who you are and for berry's sake don't let him see your colourless eyes!!  He definitely won't give a shit that you are his Grandson!!"  I just stare at the old man who is now snoring his head off, not sure I can believe what Storm is saying.

Winter comes out of her room finally, looking troubled, carrying Rivers bag, she asks me if I can get him to the spare bed in my room, so I pick him up and carry him over my shoulder and lay him on the bed, he feels like a 10 tonne weight and I struggle on my own, Storm is now refusing to help me.  She starts cleaning his head quietly and I stand there just staring at him, trying to take in what Storm had said.

"I don't know where he lives so he'll have to stay here tonight, but I want him gone first thing in the morning."  Winter says to me ... that look on her face like she's talking to a naughty child, a look I've seen my parents use with me so many times  "I hope you aren't going to make a habit of this ... and I'm telling you now ... I don't want you making friends with these drunks ... you are to keep well away from them!!"  she really doesn't look or sound amused.

I told her I couldn't just leave him lying there bleeding in the bushes and if the hospital had been closer I'd have taken him there ... if this is how she is going to react over me helping someone who's hurt, I don't think I'm even going to bother telling her about me bringing Denim home earlier and feeding him, she'll probably have a hissy fit over that too!!


I sit and watch her stitch up his head then she puts a few stitches in his face.  He moans a bit but he's too wasted and doesn't wake up.  She tells me I should sleep in the living room, but I tell her I'll be okay in my bed he's too wasted to do anything but sleep.  She laughs and tells me a drunk snoring all night and stinking my room out might teach me a lesson to not bring any home in future.  When he wakes up I'm not to talk to him I'm just to get rid of him and keep away from him ... she does know who he is doesn't she!!

After Winter leaves the room  I sit for ages just staring at him, Storm sits next to me doing exactly the same, he's telling me things, everything that he can remember his Dad and Mulberry telling him about the old guy, especially the way that he treated my Mother and Affair because of their lack of colour, he even used to encourage Prelude to beat up on my Mom when she was little, and because Prelude didn't know any better and was too young to understand why she was colourless and he used to get beat up by the other kids himself for having a colourless sister, he used to do what his Dad told him to do.

The old man even used to beat the Grandmother when he was drunk to make her tow the line, she was the one who worked to keep a roof over their heads and all he used to do was drink.  Storm said Prelude told him that he used to sit for hours listening to his parents arguing and smashing the house up because of Lilly, the old man wanted to just throw Lilly out on the streets but the Grandmother wouldn't let him.  He sent my Mother away in the end to get rid of her, he wanted her kept away from Mulberry, they were getting too close and the old man didn't like it, he hoped that none of them would ever see my Mother again.


Now the old man has totally disowned all three of his children for having mixed berry relationships and children and that our Grandmother, who I saw turn up to Storms funeral, has left the old man, she has stayed in Sugar Valley after his funeral and is now living in MY house with my parents and refuses to come back here to him.  The old man hates my Dad in particular because he stood up to him once over the way he was treating Lilly after Cosmic and their baby had just faded and because he's orange and not purple.

He only wants to know Wisteria because she is the only pure purple berry out of all of us, he's not interested in any of the rest of his Grandchildren and Storm says that he doubts he would even spit on us if we were on fire and he says that because when the old man found out about my Mother being a coma all he had to say was "Good lets hope she stays in there" and he's said on more than one occasion that he hadn't given Lilly enough beatings and should have drown her at birth because of her lack of colour ... he's an evil man!!

I can tell that Storm hates him with a passion just by the way he's looking at him and the tone in his voice.  He told me the old man had a huge fight with Prelude for taking Storm to see him, he scared Storm so much he had nightmares about him for years.  He says I think Prelude can get evil and nasty, that I haven't seen anything because Prelude is not a patch on his old man, he totally wiped the floor with Prelude on that visit.  He's a vicious violent evil drunk and we need to get rid of him and keep well away from him.


I can't help keep thinking about what River had told me about the way that people treat colourless people. Now Storm is telling me that this man treated my Mother, his own daughter, badly because of her lack of colour.  How can people not love their own children and treat them so badly?!  What happened to that unconditional love that you are supposed to feel for your children like my family back home keep spouting?!  This really doesn't sit well with me ... these people don't deserve children and it's definitely not fair when mine never even got the chance to live.

Also we are giving this drunk a bed for the night ... he isn't dirty and homeless, he's clean, well dressed and well fed ... he obviously has a home and a bed of his own ... we are giving this horrible man a bed when there are people sleeping out on the street tonight, like Denim, who need and deserve a bed way more than he does!!

I suddenly get really angry!!

"You are such a jerk Storm!!  Why didn't you just tell me all of this outside the bar ... if I'd known any of this I would have just left him there to rot!!  It's your fault that I brought him home ... you are just like everyone else ... treating me like an idiot child and hiding things from me ... not telling me until it's way too late ...well it's got to stop!!!"  I snap at him  "If I'd been warned I would have kept away from him!!"


I get up off the bed snatch up my dressing gown and walk out the bedroom angrily slamming the door behind me, I need to get out of there I can feel my head starting to go.

Why has Storm never told me any of this before?! In fact, why has nobody ever told me about this before?  Instead of telling me, they have let me believe my Mother has no living parents.

I decided it would probably be best if I slept in the living room after all!!


~~~~~~~~~

6 comments:

  1. It is so awesome to see Tap growing in to adulthood. It's even better that he wants to learn to do things for himself. It was nice to have a chapter where we got to connect with Tap a little bit.

    Of course Tap would find the ONE person in town that could blow everything for them...lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This trip regardless of what he thinks about how it started, in the end is going to help him grow up in a very big way ... something he never would have done sheltered in Sugar Valley by Mango ... he's finding out how the world really works!!

      and yes - Taps middle name is unlucky - The old man is the last person he needed to bump into - but how is he going to handle it from here :D

      Delete
  2. I wonder if Tap will call the record company now that he knows who the business card was from.
    At this rate, I felt like Tap could open a homeless shelter, LOL.
    Oh everyone. LOL, and what I mean by that is everyone's secrets are now blowing up because Tap is kind hearted. I agree with Tap, Storm could have explained just outside the bar who their grandfather was, then Tap wouldn't have brought him home. Maybe Tap finding his grandfather can help everyone realize they should just tell Tap things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL - he is too kind hearted for his own good - and yes he's virtually running a homeless shelter lol keep taking in the strays!!
      Im not sure they will ever learn that lesson even though they should - they don't give Tap enough credit - he's not as stupid as they think!!

      Delete
  3. Tap's absolutely right! Some of these situations that he gets into are caused by them not trusting him and just telling him the truth.

    He is just the nicest guy! Wanting to help people. It just might not have been the best decision this particular time. Here's hoping that it doesn't blow up in his face. . .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah keeping him in the dark is causing him problems - he does do some things because he doesn't know the truth.

      Delete