(eng) Mick Farren by The Texts of Festival

Author:The Texts of Festival [Festival, The Texts of]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

XIII

It was mid-morning and the Last Chance had rarely been so crowded at that time of day. It was not only the regular faces from the Drag, but labouring men and beggars from Shack town and the North side. Although some were drinking and smoking pipes, the atmosphere was grim. For an hour people had been asking the same question: Where was Starkweather?

‘I tell you, he’s sold us out!’

A labouring man pounded his great calloused fist on the table.

‘He conned you all into goin’ quietly, he ain’ gonna get us no guns.’

Frankie Lee turned on the man.

‘Joe Starkweather’s never let us down before; I don’t reckon he’s about t’ start neither.’

The Last Chance regulars chorused agreement, but a beggar from Shack town rounded on them.

‘Yeah, if he’s so much with us, how come he ain’t here? You bar-flies got an answer for tha’?’

Frankie Lee said nothing; there was no denying that Starkweather hadn’t kept his promise to show. Any excuse would only sound lame.

‘Can’t answer, huh? Mebbe yer precious Joe ain’t so into th’ people as he pretends.’

The Shacktown men began to mutter angrily.

Then the room fell silent as the swing doors banged and two soldiers in the lord’s colours came into the bar and provided a focus for the rising hostility in the bar. One of Madame Lou’s girls broke the tension slightly when, feet apart and hands on hips, she planted herself in front of the soldiers.

‘Lookee, the brave solja boys ’ave come to protect us po’ folks!’

The crowd guffawed but continued to edge forward, surrounding the two men in black surcoats. Harry Krishna pushed to the front, waving his arms.

‘Hold it! Hold it! These boys are okay, it’s Luther an’ Mose, come in here alla time. Let’s hear wha’ they gotta say.’

The crowd fell silent and Luther scanned the still hostile faces.

‘We ain’t s’posed to rightly be here, but we split from the Gate detail to tell yous what happened. It’s about Joe Starkweather.’

A murmur ran through the crowd.

‘We heard you was waitin’ for him to come here an’ we came t’ tell you, well, he ain’t a-comin’.’

There were gasps and shouts of ‘Tol’ yer!’ and ‘Copout!’ from the Shacktown men but Luther raised his hands and carried on.

‘Lissen, yous got it wrong, it ain’t Joe’s fault he ain’t here. The lord had him arrested. He’s locked in the palace under guard.’

Confusion reigned as everyone tried to talk at once. The big Shacktowner yelled:

‘Lissen, it’s a con, Starkweather ain’t been busted.’

The crowd shouted him down and, finding no support even from his partners, he then kept quiet. Luther started to look edgy.

‘Lissen yous guys, me an’ Mose gotta get on back to th’ Gate, but we ain’t kiddin’. The lord’s got Starkweather locked up inna palace.’

They turned to leave but Frankie Lee stopped them.

‘What the fug’s Valentine busted Joe for? He’s about the only guy who could save the city. He gotta be insane.’

Luther looked round grimly.

‘Sure he’s insane. Joe wanted to organise you folks t’ fight

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.