The Black Album (8 page)
Deedee
I’m prepared to include voodoo as a subject of study because it’s part of the culture of some Caribbean Blacks, but that doesn’t mean I have to believe in it.
Shahid
Please, Deedee. I’ve got to make up my own mind about things! I don’t always want to be on the outside.
Deedee
Don’t ask me to believe in a communicating vegetable – and nor am I going to compete with one either. I’d heard books were on the way out, so now Riaz will want libraries to be replaced by greengrocers.
Shahid
It doesn’t matter any more! The Iranians are involved. They want to ban the book! I need help, Deedee.
Deedee starts laughing
.
What is it? Deedee?!
Deedee
Give me your aubergine. Stick it in my earth and let me bless it with my holy waters.
Shahid
I’ve forced Riaz into an open debate tomorrow.
Deedee
What are you going to say?
Shahid
Give me a precis? I haven’t got time to become educated first.
He gathers his notebook and stands ready
.
Deedee
Right then. There’s nothing new in wanting to ban a book. We’ve been down this road before – with Joyce, Lawrence, Miller, Nabokov. They were all censored in their time. And what did it change? People still read the banned books. Censorship’s never been successful. The last time it was tried was during the Inquisition – and that led to the fall of the very Church it was trying to protect. Not what your friends really want, is it?
Shahid
(
impressed
) Can you take them on instead of me?
Deedee
And what will you do?
Shahid
Cook you dinner?
Deedee
I’ll pass on that. These are your people, remember?
Shahid
I get confused sometimes.
She hands him a pile of books from her bag
.
Will you stay?
Deedee
You’ve got work to do tonight.
Shahid
It’ll help me focus.
Deedee
The miracle and me aren’t meant to be in the same room.
She gathers her things and leaves
.
Shahid
Fuck!
Shahid resumes working on his computer, flicking
through the books. Chili enters with Strapper
.
What’s he doing here?
Chili
That’s Strapper –
Shahid
I know who he is! I’m working, Chili!
Chili starts scrabbling about on the floor, hunting for
his stash
.
Strapper
Come on, Chili!
Shahid
What the fuck’s going on?
Chili
Didn’t think you’d met my partner.
He finds the stash he’s hidden in the copy of Satanic
Verses that Deedee had given Shahid
Ah, there you are, my beauty!
Strapper
Come on, Chili, I’m dying here.
Chili
Patience, Strap-boy, there’s an art to satiating hunger.
He carefully unwraps the coke, cuts it up on a page
and snorts
.
Shahid
(
to Chili
) Your closest brush with literature, ever.
Chili
(
passing the score to Strapper
) There you go, Strap – you gotta trust me.
Strapper snorts
.
(
To Shahid
.) Got a drink?
Shahid
Fortunately not.
Chili
Been to evening prayers?
Shahid
Go home, Chili. If you can’t, just leave me be. I got things to do.
Suddenly, two Heavies burst in. Strapper shrinks back
in fear. Shahid is frozen in shock
.
Strapper
I told you! Chili!
Heavy 1
(
to Chili
) So?
Chili hands over the money. The man counts it, snorts
derisively and takes a step forward. Chili hands over
his keys
.
Heavy 2
He’s got brains.
Chili
The Beamer parked outside. Full tank, too.
Heavy 1
Pardon?
Chili
Full tank.
The Heavies look at each other, and kick Chili
repeatedly. They leave. Shahid scrambles over to his
brother
.
Shahid
What’s happening to you, Chili?
Chili pushes him away and goes to the still-whimpering
Strapper
.
Chili
(
knocks on Strapper’s head
) There’s someone in there. Oh, yes, I know there is.
Strapper
Christ. They … they gone?
Chili
For now.
Strapper
Right. Phew.
Chili
(
to Shahid, as he lays Strapper down gently
) Floor’s very hard. Where’s your landlord?
Shahid
What’s going on, Chili?
Chili
(
ignoring him
) I want to complain. He’s a fucker. (
Beat
.) If Papa were alive, we’d be giving him heart attacks. Which of us, do you think, would he be more horrified by? I’d love to take a picture of you praying on your knees and send it to him in heaven. He’d probably say, ‘What’s my boy doing down there, looking for some money he’s dropped?’
Shahid, exasperated, resumes work on his computer
.
There you have it, Strap, my hard-working baby brother. Times are moody, I have to admit, but he’ll sort us out, won’t you, bro? Hey, Strap, look at the dreamer.
Strapper
Like me.
Chili
You?
Strapper
Yeah, me, man.
Chili
They ain’t dreams, they’re drug hallucinations!
Strapper
Fuck off, man. You should’ve sorted the cash! You kept sayin’ London was too small a place for ya. Is it small enough for you now, Chili, eh – this small enough?
Chili
Shhh, let the boy work, Strap. Hey, what’s the score, bro?
Shahid
(
tetchy
) What’s free speech to you, Chili?
Chili
Don’t bend your knee.
Strapper
Windbag! You done shat yourself when those heavies came in for their money!
Chili
That’s just a game, Strap. But this here now –
He clutches hold of Strapper, as he addresses Shahid
.
– this here is pure censorship. Nothing terrible will ever happen to us, unless we will it. That’s just the way it is. But evil’s been done to Strap, practically from day one he’s been censored. Don’t do this! Stop there! Stay away from that! He don’t deserve to be wasted. If you want to fight for anything, fight for him.
Shahid
I think I want to be a writer.
Chili
What’s wrong with being a travel agent?
Shahid
You try it! Papa left everything to you. Ammi needs you.
Chili
You want me to be like all the other Pakis in their dirty shops, humourlessly keeping their eyes only on the pennies dropping in their palms? Go and work there if you like it so much. I give you my place! But you won’t either. We ain’t ones to make sacrifices, are we, bro?
Shahid
Just go home, Chili, please. Papa worked his arse off.
Chili remains silent
.
(
Insistent
.) To give us a decent life.
Chili And what is that? Do you know?
He grabs hold of Shahid
.
Why won’t you tell me?
Shahid
Let go of me!
Chili
No one knows!
He slaps Shahid. Shahid goes to punch him, but Chili
slaps him again
.
Now shut it!
Shahid
Fuck, fuck!
Shahid returns to his computer, as Chili and Strapper
lie wasted
.
After a time, Shahid covers his trembling brother
with a blanket and continues working
.
Morning dawns. Chili gets up and takes Strapper out
with him
.
There is a knock on the door. Shahid shuts down his
computer, tidies himself and opens the door to Riaz,
Brownlow, Chad and Hat
.
Riaz
Salaam a-leikum
, Shahid.
Shahid
Wa-leikum salaam
.
Riaz and the others take their seats in the room
.
Riaz
Come, remind everyone of the topic you want to debate.
Chad
You call us here for what, when the issue is obvious?
Shahid
I hope it is. John Milton said long ago that he who destroys a good book kills reason itself. The best way to respond to the book is to guard against that.
Hat
Are you talking of that book?
Shahid
Yes, Hat. There’s been a long history of books being banned – Joyce’s
Ulysses
was burned in New York and then Lawrence, when he wrote
Lady Chatterley’s
–
Hat
Is that Lawrence of Arabia?
Shahid
No, D. H. Lawrence – he wrote a lot about physical passion – sex –
Riaz
So did Barbara Cartland. (
Addressing the others
.) See how calm I am?
They laugh
.
Shahid
(
continuing
) History shows that books can’t be suppressed. Dr Brownlow, surely you see how this is the road to dictatorship of the mind, like in those Communist states.
Riaz
That is presumption and arrogance.
Shahid
I am asking the brothers to consider that the telling of stories helps us all. It starts a conversation, however hard that may be.
Chad
You agreeing with that blasphemer?
Shahid
I am talking of what we need to do. As a poet yourself, brother Riaz –
Riaz
This is not about us but the mind of the author –
Shahid
And that mind you should defend!
Riaz
This is the presumption I am talking of, brothers!
Shahid
(
powering on
) He has said time and again he has your view of the world – the migrant’s view. He celebrates what you are because out of you come new things.
Riaz
There is nothing new after Allah’s revelations.
Shahid
But even these are not without dispute.
Riaz
(
angry
) What do you mean?
Shahid
(
overlapping Riaz’s question
) I have read the history. There were verses added to the Koran –
Riaz
(
interjecting
) – and refuted by Allah himself as the work of Satan!
Shahid
But the fact of those verses remains. And if these were the work of Satan, you have to agree his mischief made the faith stronger.