Aaron Connor (15 page)

“
Are we?” I
asked,

“
That was
quick” said Lizzie,

“
That’s
because you slept the whole way!” said Joe with a creepy laugh,
“come on! Let’s get to our rooms! We’re staying at a boarding
school just outside the main city, it’s been closed for the
holidays so there are no pupils staying there. It’s meant to be
very nice. The cooks said that they’re making some dinner for us,
so come along, don’t want our grub to get cold”

Joe Pepper ran off with his
hand luggage and his copy of Mein Kampf under his arm. He was
singing some song we’ve never heard of very loudly in German. I
sighed loudly at the horrible prospect of what was to come. I could
hear an imaginary announcer talking loudly in my head:

“
Ding-Ding!
This is the end of line, welcome to Bedlam. We would like to remind
everyone to make sure that all of your possessions are on you, EVEN
your imaginary ones. Please ensure that your straitjacket straps
are nice and tight. Before you leave, keep in mind that seeing
things that aren’t there and thinking your Elvis is NOT a good
sign. Have a nice day and mind the gap. Cheerio, bon voyage,
tally-ho, whippidy-boom and good luck in the big world out
there!”

We got off the train at
Edinburgh Train Station. It was quite dark as it was fairly late at
night. A cold wind blew through the Train Station and sent a shiver
down my spine. While we were asleep we had missed all the beautiful
landscapes coming into Scotland, so our first impressions of the
place were purely based on the fact that is was cold. Once again
the United Kingdom freezes us at the time of the year it’s meant to
be hot. It was almost as if the weather was mocking us, bloody
weather.

Joe was gathering the young
actors around to do a head count. After counting everything he
started to lead them all out the Station towards and the main
entrance. It wasn’t too busy so there wasn’t much pushing and
shoving. I and Lizzie hung around the back. We knew very well that
our popularity among the theatre troupe was wavering before it even
had a chance to develop.

We then suddenly remembered
about the Moped, so we headed back as fast as we could towards the
carriage which held bulked and larger luggage. Upon arriving there
we saw the bike, showed our ticket to the worker in the blue peaked
hat and took the bike away. We simply took off the brake and pushed
it along. It didn’t take us long to catch up with the others.

When we came out of the doors
and up a long slope towards a main road, Lizzie nudged my shoulder
and pointed towards a boy in the group a head of us. He was a
small, blonde haired and nervous looking boy who was trying to talk
to a very pretty girl he was walking with. He looked no older then
fourteen.

The girl was far more
interested in a tall, hard looking bloke who was walking on the
other side of her. Soon her interest in the small boy went as she
walked on with the taller lad. The small boy looked a bit
downhearted as we walked on through Edinburgh, on that cold night
in summer.

The boy fell back in the group
and was looking down at the ground sadly as he walked along. He was
all alone now. The group up ahead were laughing, singing and
fooling around. Meanwhile one of their own was left to walk all
alone, as none to them paid any interest in him. I saw an
opportunity to be helpful and kind. I turned to Lizzie who smiled
at me, in a way which told me that she was thinking of the same
idea.

We sped up ever so slightly
until we were walking on either side of him. I stood to the right
of the boy still pushing the Moped along. Lizzie linked arms with
the nervous boy and gave him a kiss on the cheek. This startled him
to begin with and he became all shy. Lizzie giggled when she saw
the young lad’s cheeks go bright red under the harsh
streetlights.

“
Alright?”
Lizzie asked sweetly, “You seem a bit larrysome”

“
I’m fine” he
replied the boy in a very pronounced way, “I’m just not very good
at making friends”

“
Join the
club!” I said, “Me and Lizzie only have each other. Everyone else
back home thought we were dicks. Don’t you worry mate. It’s all
about quality, not quantity”

“
But, I don’t
have any friends” said the boy sadly,

“
Nonsense!”
said Lizzie, “You’ve got us now”

“
During the
production anyway” I added with a smile, “who was that girl you
were talking to?”

“
That was
Amber” he said, “just a girl I like”

“
Aww, young
love” said Lizzie grinning, “how sweet”

“
But she’s not
interested in me” said the boy sadly, “She likes
Anthony”

“
Is Anthony
the big lad who’s trying to grab her boobs?” I asked, watching the
event unfold in front of me,

“
Yah” replied
the boy meekly, “that’s him”

“
Don’t worry
mate” I said, “I’ve come across a lot of guys like that. Girls go
through a silly faze, in which they find brutes like that
attractive. Most of them grow out of it and find someone a lot
nicer, unfortunately a lot of the others don’t”

“
He’s so much
bigger then me” said the boy, “He’s way more popular as
well!”

“
But what does
that prove?” asked Lizzie, “popularity in school just proves to
everyone else that you’re not a very nice person. That’s a
generalisation I know, but all of the popular boys that I’ve come
across have all been sexist pigs. Not like Aaron here, he’s a nice
guy like you”

“
I’m not
anyone special” said the boy,

“
You are mate”
I insisted, “everyone in special. Even that pleb in front of us is
special in someway. Stop being so negative, it really doesn’t suit
you. We’ll keep you company, don’t you worry”

“
Thanks”
replied the boy simply.

This was a lad of few words. I
connected with him instantly. I knew how it felt to feel
disconnected from the rest of the world. I knew how it felt to feel
unwanted among your peers and those you like. It really is horrible
when you really like someone, for them to not like you. I wanted to
cheer this little fella up. From my own experiences I know how easy
it is to fall into these kinds of pits of depression.

Meeting this young boy had
brought a new meaning to this trip. A new and more meaningful
mission had been brought to my attention. Joe Pepper’s messed up
show no longer mattered to me, for that point on it was just a
reason to keep within close contact to this troubled boy. Suddenly
I didn’t feel so bad about coming to Edinburgh. I knew that I was
going to be able to do some good after all. If this boy hadn’t come
I think within the first performance of this deranged play, me and
Lizzie would had gotten back on our bike and whizzed on down the
road.

When we finally arrived at a
main road, me and Lizzie climbed on the bike and invited the boy to
come, with me in the sidecar. There were no seatbelts now, because
we gave them to Purple Skull, so we improved and tied me into the
seat using some mouldy old rope from the sidecar boot. That boot
was full of so much rubbish, that I don’t think I ever found out
what it all was.

On the morning we left, Joe had
even us a print out from Google Maps with a map of Edinburgh and
the surrounding area. On the map was a red line which showed how to
get to the accommodation from the Train Station. The boarding
school they were staying at was in a little town on the outskirts
of Edinburgh, not too far away. Lizzie was driving this time, the
boy gripped around Lizzie’s waist for dear life while I sat in the
sidecar holding the printout.

As Lizzie revved up the engine,
I suddenly realised that I hadn’t asked the boy the most obvious
question of all.

“
What’s your
name?” I asked,

“
David” he
said, “David Nork!”

“
Cool name”
commented Lizzie, “Let’s roll!”

The yellow Moped went zooming
down the street and towards the location of the school. As we past
Joe and his group walking along, we noticed the girl from the train
roll her eyes disapprovingly and telling her friend something. We
went past shops, bars, clubs, restaurants and theatres. Scottish
folk who were laughing their heads off at the funny looking yellow
moped with the rusty sidecar. We saw lots of oddly dressed people
who were handing out flyers, obviously trying to promote their
show.

People who put on shows at the
Edinburgh Fringe are very brave indeed. The competition between
theatre troupes and acts in incredible. Many stand-up comedians
come up against some of the worst hecklers that the world can
offer. These people are putting themselves up for a serious gamble
with their careers. They do it because they love what they do and
want to make a living from it, so they put up with the torment.
They’re so brave, I mean I couldn’t have done it.

I very soon regretted the
decision of going in the sidecar. It shook and wobbled. I hadn’t
felt so unsafe since I decided to give the roundabout at the local
park a go. I gave Lizzie the directions when we came to forks and
turnings in the road. I found myself holding onto the sides of the
car, in an awful attempt to feel a bit safer. My entire body shook
and vibrated, it was like being in an electric massage chair set
onto full blast. There were some sharp turnings which made the
sidecar rise off the ground ever so slightly. It was enough to
scare the shit out of me though.

After a frightful half an hour
speeding through the City, we came out into some countryside and
fields. This passed briefly as we came into a small Town with many
boarded up shop windows. This Town had been affected by the
recession quite badly, as there were just rows of buildings all
empty and vacant. The only shop that was still open was a
supermarket where everything only cost a pound or less.

The Town was quiet. Only a few
windows were still alight in this late hour. The only people who
were still out and about were people just younger then me. They
were in hoodies, sitting on a wall and smoking cigarettes. Many
would scorn at this image and go on a rant about how much they hate
“chavs”. To me it was just a sad sight. Those kids had nothing left
in their Town. There was nothing else here for them but poverty and
boredom. My heart went out to them.

I gave them a wave. The kids
looked up and, with a weak smile, waved back. I knew so well how
those boys felt. To be cast aside by society without any real
reason, expect for the rubbish that they’ve read in the paper.
We’ve turned full circle. We were once in a prosperous time where
we accepted everyone as equals and tried our best to be good
people. Now we have returned to a Dickenson Britain, one where the
class system rules and the poor are left alone with no one to help
them.

I really wanted to change that.
I’ve said this many times before but when I see kids like that
who’ve given up on their childhood, it makes the passion for my
mission grow within my heart. One guy can only make a small
difference on their own, so I hoped that in the future others will
follow my example. We can bring this system down, make the upper
classes come down from their silver thrones and help us down here
in the real world. It’s only right. It’s only fair. It’s only
humane.

We passed the boys with that
sad thought still lingering in my mind. We then came up to an
archway made of brick, which sat to the right hand side of the
road. We turned in and drove into the school’s grounds. The gravel
path was lined with trees and the grounds covered in lovely green
grass. We came to a little roundabout type flower arrangement,
stopped and waited there for the others to arrive.

I got out of the sidecar and
almost worshiped the nice steady ground. All three of us sat in the
grass and faced the archway we’d just come in from, so we could see
the others when they arrive. David’s face was a lot brighter
compared to how he looked before he left. Apparently he’d never
been on a motorbike before and absolutely loved it. His hair was
pulled back dramatically from the wind blowing through it as we
were travelling. It took him a while to calm down as we sat there
on the grassy grounds of the school.

The place looked more like a
castle then a school. It had thick grey bricks, large windows,
gothic architecture and even some towers. Even though quite a lot
of the place looked run down, it still looked very nice and
impressive. That was just my opinion about the exterior, I hadn’t
seen the interior yet. It was getting colder so we decided to wait
for the others in the foyer of the first building we saw.

The front of the foyer was
entirely made of glass, so we had the same clear view of the
archway as we did before. When we went inside we saw a large sign
which said: “Boys Dormitories”. Inside were six couches. Three of
the coaches were in a horseshoe formation facing the front. The
other three were in a similar formation facing the back, which was
another wall made of glass looking out onto a basketball court. The
couches were in pretty bad condition with balls of fluff pouring
out of rips in the material, springs poking out at all angles and
some pretty nasty stains which looked irremovable.

I sat on one of the couches. It
sunk down so much, that I nearly felt my bum touching the floor.
The sudden dip into the couch made me jump and led to a lot of
laugher from the three of us. Lizzie and David joined me and sank
deep into the couch, just so much that we could see the archway
outside. Soon the laughter died down and we sat quite
comfortably.