Westpoint Tales - Entangled Tales, 93 - Justin & Billy

(It doesn't ALWAYS rain there)


While they were still out of town, up on the hilltops, early Sunday morning, the doorbell rang. Dee rolled over in bed and one hand reached out to shut the alarm off.

Then she stopped. “No, dammit. That’s not the clock!”

She opened one eye and looked over at her bedside clock. 7.45am!

“Too friggin’ early for a Sunday!”

Then she was wide-awake as she clicked and realised that the ringing that woke her was the door-bell. She rose up out of bed and grabbed her dressing-gown, putting it on as she walked to the front door.

She cracked the door open and peered out at the dull morning outside. There was no-one there, but, as the door swung open wider, she could see Mrs. Campbell the florist’s van pulling away up the street.

Then the cardboard box at her feet caught her eye and she picked it up and inspected it. The long, slender and light, box was branded, ‘Floratime Florists’.

“Flowers? Who’s sending me flowers?”

The box was addressed to ‘Dee Jamieson, Peel Street, Westpoint.’

“Great!”

She took the box to the kitchen and opened it on the table – it was a rose! One deep-yellow rose. The card read, ‘No reason, but thank you for being my friend. I love you, Justin.’

“Oh, Justin! You sweet, sweet, idiot! I love you too.”

She grabbed the phone to ring him at the Adelphi, but his grandmother answered.

“Oh, hello Dee. No, he’s not here. They both got dressed up and went away somewhere for the night – they didn’t say where. They’ll be back sometime later today.”

Disappointed, Dee rang Claire, not to boast – not really – but to tell her about her wonderful surprise. But, Claire had already received an identical gift and her mum had got one too.

As the day went on, they discovered that a lot people, all of Justin’s closest friends, all over town, had all had the same surprise – boys as well as girls. Justin’s shares – his popularity and his love in that town hit an all-time high.

A couple of days later, Billy arrived home, late, after school and handed Justin a gift that he’d bought downtown.

“What is this, Sunny?”

He opened the card first, it read, ‘No reason, but thank you for being my Love, Billy.’

“Oh, Billy!’ he sighed as he put the card aside and opened the box. It was a solid, clear-plastic block containing one, partly-opened, red rose bud.

“One rose, Sunny? Is this artificial? And why’s it set in plastic?”

“Yeah.” Billy took the rose from him. “One rose for one love because that’s all I have to give. It’s not artificial, it’s a real rose but it’s set in plastic so that it will last. It will last forever. This time next year, and the year after and every year it will still be as young and fresh as it is now, and ,”

He threw it at the wall. It bounced off, fell down and rolled across the floor.

“And, my love is unbreakable.”

Justin burst into tears, as usual. He hugged him and he cried. “Oh, Billy! Thank you, Billy. My love for you is like that too. You’re just perfect, Billy. I love you so much!”

They didn’t get any work done that day.

Excitement and anticipation grew during the week. The World Premiere – the first ever screening of Whozzat’s Movie was to be held on Saturday night, in the St. John’s theatre.

Even the members of Whozzat hadn’t seen the completed work, not even Peter. Crispian was the only one who had seen it and he was keeping tight-lipped. All he would say was, “It will do.”

Crispian was being a pain too. He’d been bossy enough during the filming, but now he was right over the top. He wanted the premiere to be perfect and he was running around trying to attend to every last detail. He was getting stressed, short-tongued and impatient as he snapped orders at everyone.

Thursday evening, at an open and casual band-practice in the Union Hall, Crispian came in from the back, spotted Sandie’s new hair colour and he went right off at her.

Sandie had wanted to smarten herself up for the big night on Saturday, so, with help from Shelley and Kadie, (neither of whom knew what they were doing), she’d dyed her mousy-blond hair. It had turned out a horrible brassy, bottle-blond colour with traces of green in it even! It was shocking, and she knew it.

Crispian came in, stopped dead and stared, and then he yelled at her. “What have you done? You stupid little girl! Are you trying to sabotage the whole damm show?”

Sandie burst into tears – nervous, frustrated ad embarrassed tears. Jay tried to calm things down.

“Whoa, Lordship. It’s not that bad – these things happen.”

“Not that bad? Not that bad??” Crispian yelled. “It is that bad! Look at her. She looks like a tart – a cheap, two-bit hooker! Is that what we want Whozzat to look like? Saturday night in a whorehouse?”

Justin jumped up on the stage and put his arms around Sandie. “It’s all right, Girl. I know what a two-bit hooker looks like, and you don’t. Crispian, I’m not part of Whozzat, but if I was, I’d be leaving about now and telling you where to shove your movie.”

“Well, I’m pleased that you’re not a part of it then.”

“Good. I’m not coming to your movie anyway, I don’t want any more to do with it. Sandie, IF you want to fix your hair, cut school tomorrow and go and see Mrs. Richards. She can fix it, no trouble.

Now I’m going. See you next week, People.”

“Wait! Wait a minute, Justin. Are you saying that you’re going to boycott your friends’ movie? You can’t do that. We need you there. You’re a part of this too.”

“No, I’m not. I’m not boycotting anything, I’m just not coming, that’s all. It’s not my friends’ movie anyway. My friends were about making music and having fun. This might be music, but it doesn’t look like fun to me.”

“But we have to get it right. If you don’t come, nobody will. You’ll ruin everything, Justin.”

“I don’t tell anyone what to do and, as far as I’m concerned, your movie is already ruined.”

“He’s right, you know.” Jonathan stood up from his seat down in the hall. “I’m not coming either.”

“Nor am I.” Lana joined him.

“Me neither.” Claudette stood.

“See? See what you’ve done, Superboy? It’s started already.”

“No it hasn’t Crispian. It hasn’t started – it’s finished.” Peter came out from behind his keys. “I’m not going either.”

“Nor am I.” Jay jumped down from the stage. Daniel followed him and then Tony, Shelley and Kadie.

“No. Wait. Don’t do this.” Dee took Crispian’s side. “You can’t do this. All your money is tied up in this movie, everything you’ve made. If you walk out now, you lose the lot – everything you’ve done.”

“Fuck it, Dee.” Sandie snapped at her. “I don’t care. This was never about the money. This was about having fun, and we’re not. Shove it, Crispian, I’m out.”

“Wait,” Crispian pleaded. “You can’t all walk away. This is your movie and it’s good. You can’t just kill it now. You’re two days away from finishing it – just two days! Two days away from making big money. Dammit, Justin! This is going to cost them millions, and you too. There’ll be no money to invest in your burger bars either.”

“I’d rather have friends than money.”

“And this is how you help your friends, is it?”

“I’m not doing anything, but I know that I’ve already got too many dead friends out at the cemetery. I don’t want anymore.”

Silence reigned.

Crispian caved in. He sat on a seat at the side of the hall. His long hair covered his face and hands as he leaned forward and sobbed.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Sandie – everybody. I’ve been taking it all on myself and trying too hard. I wanted to make everything perfect; but, Justin’s right, you’re all right and I was wrong. This should be fun and it’s not. I’ve stuffed it up and I’m sorry.”

Justin jumped back up on the stage again. He looked at Daniel’s guitar, shook his head and turned and picked up another one. “Kadie, would you mind? May I?”

“Of course you may, Superboy.” She nodded with her glum face. “You go for it.”

All eyes were on him as he sat on the front of the stage and strummed Kadie’s guitar. Looking down at the guitar, quietly at first and then getting louder, he sang.

“Well, they walk, and I’ll walk. And they shimmy, and I’ll shimmy.

They fly,” he rose to his feet, still strumming. “And, I’ll fly.”

The others all came back and picked up their instruments and joined in as Justin sang, (shouted!), “Well, they’re out there having FUN, in the warm North’n West Coast Sun!”

Daniel’s guitar went back to the beginning and started wailing the introduction. Jay danced around his drums. Justin handed the guitar back to Kadie and, clapping his hands, he danced with Tony, mirroring his actions as he clapped and danced and bounced off and on the stage.

They all sang together in happy harmony. “I’m going out West, where I belong,
Where the days are short and the nights are long.”

Justin left Tony and danced over to Crispian, grabbing his hands and pulling him to his feet. Holding both his hands, he made him dance too.

“Well, they’re out there having FUN,
In the warm North’n West Coast Sun.”

Tony started a new, (old), song.

“Well, she got her daddy’s car and she cruised to the hamburger stand now,
Seems she forgot all about the library that she told her old man now,
With the radio blaring and she drove it as fast as she can now,
And she’ll have Fun, Fun, Fun, ‘til her daddy takes the T-bird away.
(Fun, Fun ‘til her daddy takes the T-bird away.”

And, they danced all night at the Union Hall, or, part of it anyway. For a few hours they forgot all about the movie. It would happen, but not tonight. They would do it and they’d do it right – but they’d have fun doing it.
“Can’t be perfect, if it’s not fun.”