David Nwokedi

ABC
1 David Nwokedi was born in Nigeria in 1965 to a Nigerian father and a British mother. He grew
2up in Newhaven and Brighton. He is a qualified social worker and has worked in Brighton and London.
3His first novel, Fitzgerald's Wood, was published in 2005 and he is currently working on his second
4novel.
5 Several months before Abraham died a large, blue van with the words Vernon Opie's
6Removals and House Clearances painted in white on its sides, and a beat up old car trundled
7into Sagacity Square on a chilly Saturday morning. It pulled up outside the Bennetts' house a
8few doors up from us. There was a woman at the wheel of the car, which was a green Ford
9Granada Estate car that had seen better days. In the passenger seat was a young girl who I
10reckoned was a year or two older than me, about Abraham's age. Three other younger children
11were crowded in the back seat in a heap of suitcases and boxes. All the children were black but
12the woman was white. She got out of the car, its door hinges creaking badly. She was a round
13woman about the same age as Mother. She had a cigarette in her mouth and the wisps of smoke
14obscured what I could make out was an oddly beautiful, pale face with flushed red cheeks. She
15spoke to Mr Bennett, a tall, thin man with thick-rimmed black glasses and two strands of
16greying hair that he had swept from one side of his head across to the other. Mr Bennett's
17strands always looked as if they had been stuck to his head with glue. Whatever the weather,
18they hardly moved. As the woman spoke, Mr Bennett, keeping one hand in his pocket, used his
19other hand to point up the road in the direction of Sagacity Terrace, the road that backed on to
20ours. After he stopped talking he smiled at her and with his free hand he gently caressed his
21remaining two strands of hair and then patted them down. His other hand remained in his pocket
22and I could see it move around like he was fiddling with his keys or some loose change perhaps.

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23 'Lovely children,' Mr Bennett said, gesturing towards the green car.

24 'Thank you,' the woman said and I could hear the trace of an Irish accent in her voice.
25'Thank you very much.'
26 'Coloured children, eh? Not many coloured types around here you know.'
27 'Not coloured,' the woman said. 'They're brown.'
28 'Not many brown types around here,' Mr Bennett said. 'Where you from then?'
29 'Streatham. It's in south London.'

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30 'Oh,' Mr Bennett said. 'And what about the children? Where are they from?'
31 'Streatham, of course.' The woman looked a little annoyed.
32 'Are they yours?' Mr Bennett asked.
33 'Of course they are,' the woman snapped. 'Who else's could they be? Do you think I
34borrowed them for the day?'
35 'They could be Barnardo's children. You know. Adopted?'
36 'Well, they're not.' The woman looked annoyed. 'They're all flamin' mine. They belong
37to me.'
38 'And will you be staying here?' Mr Bennett said looking a little uncomfortable. 'I mean
39living here?'
40 'Of course we will,' the woman said. 'We left London to get away from all that hustle
41and bustle and flamin' grime. I want my children to be having some fresh sea air in their lungs.'
42 'Oh,' Mr Bennett said and I could see his fingers clenching in his pocket. 'Well, I hope
43they'll be happy here. If you need anything just pop round.'
44 'Thank you,' the woman said. 'Sure enough I will.'
45 'It's a pleasure,' Mr Bennett said. 'It'll be nice to have some coloured people around
46here.'
47 'Brown,' the woman said.
48 'Brown people,' Mr Bennett corrected himself.

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49 The woman turned on her heels and went over to the van. I couldn't see the driver but I
50could see puffs of cigarette smoke coming out of the cabin. The woman spoke to him in short,
51sharp sentences and pointed towards Sagacity Terrace then she walked back to her car and got
52in. She turned the key in the ignition but it didn't start. 'Bollocks,' she said throwing her cigarette
53out of the window and then tried again. The second time it started but sounded like it would
54probably only just make it to Sagacity Grove and no further. Making a three-point turn into a
55ten-point turn she turned the car around and it slowly crawled on up Sagacity
56 Square, the van slowly following. When it passed me I caught a fleeting glimpse of the
57girl in the passenger seat and was sure she looked at me and smiled. She was the most beautiful
58girl I had ever seen.
59 Later that afternoon there was a knock at our front door. I ran down the stairs to answer
60it and looked through the peephole. On the other side was the girl in the passenger seat. Because
61of the peephole, her head was too big and her eyes leaped out at me as if they were on stalks and
62her feet appeared to be tiny specks at the bottom of a pair of overly long legs. Her hands had

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63disappeared into her sides too but despite all the deformities created by the peephole I was still
64taken aback by the vision of beauty before me. Keeping my eye wedged to the peephole I called
65out.

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66 'Who is it?'
67 'Angela,' she called back. 'I'm Angela Flood.'
68 'Do I know you?'
69 'No,' she said. 'But I saw you earlier when we arrived.'
70 'Then what do you want?' I said and I noticed that she was becoming more beautiful as
71we spoke.
72 'It's the ball,' she said, her eyes looming closer to the peephole. 'Fish's ball.'
73 'What's fish?' I asked.
74 'Not "what", "who",' she said.
75 'Who's Fish then?' I asked.
76 'My little brother.'
77 'What about Fish's ball?'
78 'It's in your garden.'
79 'Is it?'
80 'Yes.'
81 'And how did it get there?'
82 'Simon kicked it.'
83 'Who's Simon?'
84 'My brother; he's older than Fish but not older than me.'
85 'Oh,' I said, still entranced by her beauty.
86 'Why don't you open the door so we can talk properly?' she said. 'I feel like I'm in a
87goldfish bowl.'
88 'I'm sorry,' I said and I slid the silver chain from the door and eased the door open.
89Without the distortions of the peephole her beauty took on a life of its own. I inhaled sharply
90and felt a quivering in my bowels. Her eyes were so deep and so dark I was sure I could see a
91tawny owl fluttering across her irises. And her eyes were so perfectly placed on either side of
92the bridge of her nose that I was sure I could almost hear them whispering to each other like two
93close friends sharing a secret. Her nose was so smooth and round I felt compelled to reach out
94and touch it but I didn't. Her mouth was delicate, with lips the colour of squashed raspberries.

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 95Her hair hung from her head in loose, long dark brown curls like little children hanging off the
96climbing frame at Geraghty Park, and her skin was a warm brown that reminded me of the
97colour of Demerara sugar that Mother sometimes put on our porridge in winter. But the most
98beautiful part of Angela Flood was the line of her face that ran from her chin to her ears; her
99lower jaw, her mandible. I'd never seen such a perfect jawline. In fact I'd never seen such a
100perfect person. I knew then that, for the first time in my life, I was in love.

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101 She held out her arm to me, extending her long, delicate fingers. 'Hello,' she said.
102'Pleased to meet you.' And I noticed then that she had the tiniest of lisps; hardly there really but
103there all the same.
104 'Hello,' I said. 'I'm Thomas, Thomas Wisdom.' And I clutched her hand, not wanting to
105let it go; it felt soft to the touch and precious. I wished I could keep it.
106 'We've just moved in,' she said.
107 'I know,' I said. 'I saw you arriving in the car earlier. The green car.'
108 'Our garden backs on to yours,' Angela said. 'We're on Sagacity Terrace, number
109twenty-one.'
110 'But we don't have a garden,' I said, still holding her precious hand, wanting to examine
111every detail.
112 'Oh,' Angela said.
113 'It belongs to Joshua, Joshua Fountain,' I said. 'He lives downstairs and we're on top.'
114 'Oh,' she said again and I let go of her hand. I didn't want to but I felt I should. I gazed
115into the well that was her eyes and the tawny owl gazed back. My heartstrings were pulling
116inside my chest and it felt as if a ghost train was passing through my bowels.
117 'It was Simon,' Angela said. 'He kicked the ball over our wall. He was being Rivelino. It
118was a banana shot; me and Fish were being the wall. Simon's usually good at banana shots.'
119 'Is he?' I said.
120 'Yes,' she said and a brown curl fell across her magnificent eyes. I couldn't resist any
121longer and I leaned forward and flicked the curl away.

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122 'Thank you,' she said. 'Who's Joshua Mountain?'

123 'What?'

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124 'Joshua Mountain? You said it's his garden.'
125 'He's our neighbour; he lives on his own downstairs. He's a painter. He paints elderly
126women with nothing on.'
127 'Starkers?' she asked and even the way she said starkers sounded beautiful.
128 'Yes, nudes,' I said.
129 'Wow!' she said and I nodded.
130 'How long have you lived here?' she asked.
131 'We've always lived here,' I replied.
132 'Who do you live with?'
133 'My mother and my brother, Abraham.'
134 'Like in the Bible?'
135 'I'm sorry?' I said.
136 'Like in the Bible?' Angela repeated. 'Isn't there an Abraham in the Bible?'
137 'That's right,' I said. 'Mother said he was born in the Ur of the Chaldeans.'
138 'Oh,' Angela said. 'Where is the Ur of the Chaldeans?'
139 'I've no idea,' I said. 'A long ways away I guess, somewhere near the Garden of Eden
140maybe.'
141 'So will he let me get it back?' Angela said.
142 'Who?' I was puzzled.
143 'Joshua Mountain. Fish's ball, will he let me get it back?'
144 'I'm sure he will but he's not in at the moment. He's probably down at the market,' I said.
145'I'll leave a note for him and ask him to throw it over your wall when he gets back.' I knew I
146would relish writing the note and I would dwell on getting Angela's name just right. 'And it's
147Fountain by the way, not Mountain. Joshua Fountain.'
148 'Oh, right,' Angela said. 'I'll try to remember that... Fountain not Mountain.'
149 'That's right,' I said.

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150 'Well, thank you, Thomath,' Angela said, her tiny lisp turning up at the end of Thomas
151as if she was trying to say my name backwards. 'It's been lovely meeting you.' She held out her
152hand to me again and I grabbed it, perhaps a little too quickly. I didn't want to let it go again and
153I wished she could leave it behind so that I could hold it all day but I kind of figured she would
154need it. I looked at her perfect mandible again trying to memorize it and her eyes and the tawny
155owl. I knew that later, after she had gone I'd want to remember everything about her. The curl
156fell across her eyes again but this time she quickly flicked it away herself with her free hand, the

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157one I wasn't clutching.
158 'Goodbye then, Thomath,' she said and she pulled her hand free. 'I'll see you again I'm
159sure and I'd love to meet your brother, Abraham. You can come and meet Simon and Fish too
160and I've got a sister called Selena. I think you'll like Fish — everyone loves him, he's only little
161and he can get away with murder.'
162 And with that she was gone She left me with the ghost train still rumbling chaotically
163inside my stomach. I rushed to the toilet thinking that I needed to go but nothing happened, I
164just sat on the toilet for ages thinking of Angela Flood. Within half an hour of Angela's
165departure I couldn't for the life of me remember what she looked like and I desperately needed
166to see her again.

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167 In the days after Angela Flood came around I thought about her every day; I dreamed of
168her and tried to remember her smell and tried to remember her face too when I lay in bed. I tried
169to conjure up the sound of her lisp in my head but I couldn't find it. From our kitchen window
170that overlooked her garden, I would stand behind the net curtains and watch her and her sister
171and brothers whenever they were in the garden. Simon, the brother older than Fish but younger
172than Angela had the biggest afro I had ever seen, bigger than Michael Jackson's even. So big it
173almost moved. He had the darkest skin of the four and he had spots too, lots of spots.
174Sometimes he would stop what he was doing and squeeze one and wipe the pus off on his
175trouser leg. Selena, the next oldest was beautiful — but not as beautiful as Angela — and she
176had huge eyes too and I was sure she might well have her own owl fluttering around in them. I
177noticed that, rather strangely, no matter what they were doing, Selena never smiled. Selena had
178an afro too, but it was smaller than Simon's and neater. Her curls were much tighter. Then there
179was Fish. As if to make up for Selena, Fish had a smile so wide you could almost see the sun
180rise on one side of his face and set on the other. But when he wasn't smiling he was giggling or
181crying if Simon punched him, which he appeared to do quite a lot. Fish had looser curls,
182midway between Angela's and Simon's and his afro was uneven and bobbly as if he had been
183fidgeting when the barber (or his mother) had cut his hair. If Fish wasn't smiling, giggling or
184crying then he would stand with his mouth wide open as if he was waiting to swallow a fly.
185Fish's head seemed a little too big for his body and his eyes were big and brown like Selena's
186and I was sure he would be able to see more of the world than anyone else with eyes like that.
187Abraham always said that little children are deliberately given big eyes by God so that they can
188see the world better; see it like He sees it.

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 Lines 167-188: 393 words
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189 They played football in the garden all the time. Simon would line them up into a wall,
190Fish on one end, Selena in the middle and Angela at the other end and he would get his orange
191Trophy football and try to curl a banana shot around the wall. 'Rivelino!' he would shout.
192Sometimes he would hit the ball just right and it would zip around the wall and whiz between
193the two jumpers that were the goalposts. Most times though the ball would rocket off on to the
194bushes that surrounded their garden or, even worse, hit Selena or Fish in the face or some other
195part of their bodies. He never seemed to hit Angela; maybe that was because she was the oldest.
196 'That'll give you another reason not to smile!' Simon shouted as the ball hit Selena's
197arm.
198 'Shut up, you dincy!' Selena scowled and she ran after Simon to try to hit him. He was
199too quick and he ducked and weaved like I had seen Muhammad Ali do on the telly.
200 'Dincy!' Selena shouted but she never managed to hit him.
201 It was pouring with rain the first time I actually went in to Angela's house, the first time
202I saw where she lived. A few days after our first meeting, after I had fallen in love, Angela came
203round. I was sitting on my doorstep looking up at the clouds watching the first drops of rain as
204they started to fall.

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205 'Hello, Thomath,' she said, the lisp making a welcome return through the clouds.
206 'Hello,' I said getting up.
207 'Would you like to come over and meet my family?' she asked.
208 'Simon and Selena?' I said.
209 'Yes,' she said and she smiled.
210 'And Fish?' I said. 'The youngest?'
211 'Yes,' she said and she looked impressed that I had remembered all their names. The
212corners of her lips turned up and her dark eyes were wide. Her nose twitched a little like a
213rabbit. 'Fish the baby,' she said and she chuckled to herself and her chuckle seemed to dance in
214her throat.
215 'But it's raining,' I said.
216 'Doesn't matter,' she said. 'I love the rain.' It was raining harder now and her brown curls
217began to gain weight as the water dropped on her and little droplets hung on the end of her nose
218and from then on I loved the rain too.

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219 'So do I,' I said.
220 As we walked around the block from our house to Sagacity Terrace, water squelched
221under my feet, my hair flattened on my head and little trickles ran into my eyes. I had to keep
222wiping my face with the sleeve of my coat. Puddles formed in the street like mini lakes and in
223one someone had dropped a few matches that were swirling around like tiny swimmers in red
224swimming caps.
225 As we approached the Flood house, one of my neighbours, Mr Tanker walked past with
226his hands in his pocket, his side parting that was too far to one side and a smoking Woodbine
227wedged between his dry lips. 'Tsst,' he grunted not looking up. 'Grrrr,' he said. That was all I'd
228ever heard Mr Tanker say, tsst or grrrr, and I don't think I ever saw him look up. He never
229stopped to talk to me or Abraham or Mother, or anyone come to think of it. He was always on
230the move, always hurrying by, grunting and groaning to himself.

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231 We reached the Flood house. It was the same size as ours, only not divided into two
232flats so they had the whole house. There were nets in the windows but no curtains up yet and the
233door had graffiti sprayed on it — Up the Reds! and Fuk the Systim! and Shit on Pigs!
234 'Mum's gonna paint over it,' Angela said, noticing where I was looking.
235 'Oh,' I said. I could hear music coming from within the house ... thumpety thump,
236thump, thump overlayed with a tinny rattle. And I could hear what sounded like several dancing
237feet. We walked up the front path and Angela pushed the door open; the music was louder, I
238recognized it as the Jackson Five. Angela stepped into the living room and I could see over her
239shoulder. Selena and Simon were standing next to each other swaying from side to side to the
240music and Fish was bouncing up and down on a psychedelic sofa as if he was on a trampoline.
241The Jackson Five were singing as loudly as they could.
242 'I want to be Michael!' Fish was shouting as he bounced. 'I want to be the Michael!' And
243because Fish was so little and because he was so small and couldn't speak properly it sounded
244like he was saying, 'I want to be Bichael! I want to be the Bichael!' I would later learn that Fish
245would muddle up some of his 'm's and his 'b's and other letters too ... 'cauliblowler' (cau-
246liflower), 'kwecious' (precious), 'lelloplane' (aeroplane) and so on.
247 'I want to stand in the biddle! I want to be the biddle one!' And of course he meant
248'middle'. Fish wanted to be the middle one. Fish wanted to be Michael Jackson.

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249 Angela sprang into action as if she were an ambulance woman at the scene of an
250accident. She rushed across the living room and left me standing by the door.
251 'Come on, get into line,' she said and I marvelled at her leadership skills. I was
252entranced. 'Fish, get down,' she said. 'Get in line.'
253 Angela was standing by the fireplace, hands on hips, all motherly. Angela would later
254tell me that whenever her mother was out she would become the Flood mother. Simon hated it,
255she said; he was only a year younger than Angela and thought that he should be in charge.
256 'I wanna be in charge!' he shouted.
257 'But I'm the oldest!' Angela snapped.
258 'But I'm the man,' Simon said. 'And a man should be in charge.'
259 'No, Simon, it's the oldest,' Angela persisted. 'And besides you're not a man, you is a
260boy ... B-O-Y, boy.'
261 'If we was in Africa I'd be in charge,' Simon said. 'C-H-A-R-G, charge.'
262 'But,' Angela said, 'we ain't in Africa, we's in blimmin' Sagacity.' 'Trinidad and Tobago
263then,' Simon said. 'If we was in Dad's country then I'd be in charge.'
264 'It's just Trinidad, Simon. Dad only came from Trinidad not both of them. You dincy.'

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265 'Shut up, Selena,' Simon said.

266 'But we ain't, Simon,' Angela said, hands still on hips. 'We ain't in Trinidad or even
267Tobago and even if we were you still wouldn't be in charge cos you is too dincy.'
268 'Dincy, Simon!' Fish shouted he was now off the sofa and standing next to Selena.
269 'Shut up, Fish!' Simon shouted.
270 'You missed out your "e", Simon,' Selena said.
271 'What, Selena?' Simon was annoyed. 'What the fuck are you talking about?'
272 'Your "e", Simon. You missed out your "e" on "charge".' 'What?' He was sweating a
273little now on his brow.
274 'Dincy, bincy, Simon.' Fish started rolling on the floor.
275 'Shut up, Fish,' Simon said. 'What "e", Selena? What fucking "e" are you talking about?'
276 'On the end of "charge".' Selena folded her arms looking like a matriarch. 'C-H-A-R-G-
277E, there's an "e" on the end of "charge", everyone knows that.'
278 'C-H-A-R-B-E,' Fish giggled.
279 'See, Simon,' Angela said. 'You is too dincy. How can you be in charge if you don't even
280know how to spell it?'

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281 'And besides, Simon,' Selena said scowling, 'Angela and me is fenminists and the
282fenminists say that the women should be in charge.' She scowled some more.
283 'Bollocks to that,' Simon said and he scowled too.

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284 'Dincy, wincy, bincy, Simon,' Fish giggled and rolled over again. 'Shut the fuck up,
285Fish.' Simon kicked out at Fish catching him on the top of the thigh.
286 'Owww!' Fish wailed and the tears were quick to come.
287 'Leave him alone, SI-MON!' Selena shouted and she knelt down to rub Fish's thigh and
288stop him from crying.
289 'Dincy ... (sob) ... wincy ... (sob) ... bincy ... (sob) ... lincy ... (gurgle)... flucking Simon,'
290Fish sobbed. Selena dabbed at his tears with a tissue with rose petal markings on it.
291 'Don't swear, Fish,' Angela said still motherly. 'You know it's not nice.'
292 'Flucking Simon,' Fish gurgled again, a bubble of snot forming in his nose.
293 'Yeah, Fish,' Simon grimaced. 'Don't fucking swear.'
294 'And you too, Simon,' Selena looked up. 'Stop it now.'
295 It was only then that the others noticed me standing by the door. They looked up at me.
296Simon was still grimacing and his huge afro appeared to be swaying a little, Selena wasn't
297smiling, and Fish's mouth hung open like he was catching flies and the snot bubble had now
298burst and was dribbling over his top lip. He licked at it with his tongue.
299 'This is Thomath,' Angela said and the way she said my name, backwards, caused the
300ghost train to return to my stomach and I could feel the passengers holding on for dear life. 'He's
301my new friend, he lives round the corner in Sagacity Square.'

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302 'Hello, Thomas,' they all said in unison and Fish said it through his tears and none of
303them had a lisp like Angela's.
304 'We were going to be the Jackson Five,' Selena said folding her rose petal tissue and
305stuffing it up her cardigan sleeve.
306 'And I wanted to be the Bichael one.' Fish's sobbing had almost stopped completely
307now.
308 'But I think I should be Michael,' Simon said. 'I've got the biggest 'fro.'
309 'But you can't sing, Simon,' Selena said.

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310 'And you can?' Simon almost spat the words out.
311 'But I can, actually,' Angela said and I figured that Angela probably could. Her speaking
312voice was as sweet as the honey that Mother bought from the Co-Op on Grammar Street, only
313sweeter and not as cheap, and I was sure that if Angela's singing voice was anywhere near as
314sweet it would be sold in jars but it wouldn't have Economy honey written on the side, no, it
315would have Angela's Honey voice - Sweeter than the Angels.
316 'It's good that you're here, Thomath,' Angela said and she grabbed my hand and pulled
317me into the front room. Selena helped
318 Fish get to his feet and Fish blew a raspberry at Simon. Simon scowled again. Angela's
319hand felt warm and delightful to touch. I could feel each delicate finger pressing into my hand
320and I wished there and then that a strange disease would afflict us both and the result would
321mean that our hands would weld together and remain forever entwined.
322 'They've got TFD,' I imagined Dr Barnabas our doctor having to tell Mother and Mrs
323Flood in his sombre and morose surgery.
324 'What's TFD?' Mrs Flood would be bound to ask.
325 'Together Forever disease,' Dr Barnabas would reply, scribbling something on his
326notepad and then licking the tip of his pen.

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327 'Can anything be done?' Mother would ask.

328 'No,' Dr Barnabas would say. 'Nothing at all, I'm afraid. It's incurable. They'll be
329together forever. It's very rare but it happens.'
330 'Oh,' Mother would say. 'Does that mean Thomas won't be able to do the washing up
331any more?'
332 'They'll have to do it together,' Dr Barnabas would say. 'But look on the bright side Mrs
333Wisdom, whenever it's their turn the washing up will take only half the time. Many hands make
334light work and all that.'
335 And I wouldn't mind at all, I would love to do the washing up with Angela. In fact I
336would love to do anything; put the bins out, empty the washing machine, bring in the post...
337 'Thomath!' It was Angela; I had drifted off. 'Did you hear what I said?'
338 'I'm sorry, Angela,' I said. 'I was thinking about washing up.'
339 Angela looked puzzled. 'I said you can be Tito,' she said.
340 'Who?' I said.
341 'Tito.'
342 'In The Wizard of Oz?' I frowned. 'The dog?'

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343 'No, you dincy,' Selena said. 'In the Jackson Five.'
344 'There was a dog in the Jackson Five?' Now I was confused.
345 'Fuckwit,' Simon said.
346 'Fluckwit,' Fish said.
347 'Shut up,' Selena said.
348 'The Jackson Five,' Angela explained, 'Tito not Toto. Tito Jackson. We're going to be
349the Jackson Five. I'm going to be Michael, Selena is Jermaine, Simon can be Jackie ... (Simon
350frowned)... Fish, Marlon, and now that you're here Thomas, you can be Tito.'
351 'Me?' I said. 'But I can't sing or dance.'

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352 'Doesn't matter,' Angela said. She'd let go of my hand but she was still standing close
353enough for me to smell her honey fragrance. I watched her raspberry lips as she spoke and her
354perfect white teeth behind them like a group of tidy school children in their new white shirts
355lining up for a school photo. 'Tito played the guitar. You just have to move around a little and
356pretend to be playing a guitar.'
357 'And besides,' Selena said. 'Dancing's easy.'
358 'As simple as 1-2-3,' Angela said.
359 'Do-ray-me,' Simon said.
360 'A-B-C,' Selena said, just as Michael Jackson began to bah, bah, boom as their song
361'ABC' started to spin on the turntable. Michael Jackson's brother's fell into line behind him with
362their harmonies and do-wops and the Flood family's dancing feet began to move. It was to be
363the first of many times I would watch the Flood family dancing. Angela began to sing along
364with Michael Jackson and I marvelled at how smoothly and sweetly they danced as if they had
365rehearsed the moves over and over every day; even little Fish moved as if he was born to dance.
366'Gloove it!' he kept shouting. 'Gloove it, baby!'
367 'Come on, Thomas,' Selena said moving her hips, 'just join in. Move your body from
368side to side and pretend to play the guitar.' Self consciously I trudged over and stood in line
369behind Angela. My feet felt heavy and my fingers felt clumsy like uncooked sausages. I moved
370from side to side and twiddled my fingers as if I was playing Tito's guitar. Fish looked up at me,
371his big eyes dancing as much as his feet. 'Gloove it!' he shouted and I tried to groove as best as I
372could.
373 When Angela got to the line '... I think I love ya!' I knew it was worth it. I hoped it was
374me she was singing to, it was unlikely I knew but I hoped all the same and therefore I was
375happy to shake it, shake it baby and gloove it with Fish. I was happy to pretend to be Tito

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376playing a pretend guitar. It was as simple as that, simple as A-B-C.
Lines 351-375: 367 words
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Total number of words: 4900

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