Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO


It was clear from the off that they knew Graham. Whoever these people were, and there were a lot of people in this place, whoever they were… they knew Graham. And they were steering clear.

I could see them looking. I could hear them talking. Some just turned away. Others pretended not to have seen anything. Others were more upfront.

“You’re back, are you? Didn’t think I’d see you again.”
There were a few like that. A couple of faces said “What you got? I’m in Room 24.”
Mostly though, people said stuff like “Hi” or “Good to see you” or “You stayin’ long?” and all the time they all meant “Just leave me alone, please. Just leave me alone.”

I didn’t get it really. OK, he was a bit mad, a bit of a loose canon, but people reacted to Graham like he was a serious bad man. Dunno. He was OK with us. He sorted out a room for me and Ben “Listen, I’ll get you a room, be OK if I just leave my bags there for a bit, yeah?”

“Yeah, OK. Sure.”

Looking back, we were so stupid it was almost funny. We knew he was a drug dealer yet “Sure we’ll look after your bags and if the place gets busted, course we’ll take the rap. No problem. Fancy a tea?” It was like we’d turned from hip, smart, media players into Forrest Gump.

I went for a walk. There were two floors. A big kitchen and a lounge area with a few beat up chairs and a telly. The Kirk Douglas film Spartacus was on and maybe there were six people hanging around.

It was like a student nightmare – The Young Ones, maybe – but there was a different vibe, a lack of care. It was a nonchalance borne out of displacement. Mostly if you’re not playing the game, you can measure your personal rebellion against your peers and your culture. I’ve never been in prison but I’d imagine it’s the same sort of thing. You’re all just passing through, you’re here but not here. And here was like some ‘holding tank’, somewhere you were waiting. But the thing here was that everyone was from some other culture so there was no ‘home’ to measure yourself against. And your peers were the same as you and the ‘home’ culture was Japan and that was so weird that you could be some green thing from Mars and you’d still be more normal than them.

He sorted us out a room. A room. It’s a curious word really because if you asked anyone what that place had, the last thing they’d say would be ‘room’. The rooms at the Palace were either three mat or six mat. A mat – a tatami mat – was about one metre wide by two, so a three mat room had room for a mattress and not a lot else. Me and Ben were sharing a three mat room. That was cosy and there’s nothing like cosy for getting to know people well.

Later that first night we were settling down. It was late. Cheap Japanese whisky had been drunk. Cheap god knows from where dope had been smoked and the night was done. And then all hell broke loose.

The noise came from the kitchen. I walked out into the hallway to see what the commotion was about.

“I’d steer clear of that” someone said.
“Oh, I’ve got to have look” I said like a tourist.
“It’s gonna be messy. I’ve been here before when Graham’s been in town and, believe me, it’s gonna be messy.”

Messy was one word. Graham was chasing some blonde bloke round the kitchen holding the biggest knife. I don’t know what he’d done, but I was glad I wasn’t the blonde lad. What can I tell you? It didn’t end well.

I’d love to say that was the last time I saw Graham. But it wasn’t. He came back a few times – different stories – but it had all changed. It didn’t take me long to turn into one of those people I saw on my first day in the Palace, one of those faces that said “Hi. Good to see you” and shuffled along.

What’s he doing now? No idea. Really, I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter. Odds on he’s dead now. I heard some story from Pauly about Manilla and you don’t fuck about in Manilla. Still, bless him. He brought me here.

Anyway that was all a long time ago. Now it’s today and today’s a grey miserable day. One of those days when even the rain can’t be bothered…
“Aren’t we supposed to be falling today?”
“Nah, stuff it. I’m going to stay in the cloud today. Watch a bit of telly.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right. No one ever thanks us for falling anyway. Fancy a beer?”