Bromford's Ark - Part 26 - 12:24 a.m.

Apartment 1 - First Floor - left hand side … and we walk all night.

'Sorry, we are Amanda and Adam Ant. We don't want to be a pain in the ass.'

The door to apartment 1 opens and the tiniest of the tenants and apartment owners enter the stairwell right before Kylie's magic spell reveals the truth. They hurry to seek shelter with the biggest of them all, Wanda and Waldo Whale from apartment 23.

'I KNEW IT!' the llama shouts out louder than ever. 'And everybody likes a good enumeration!

Zebras, yaks, xerus', whales, vultures, urchins, tigers, sheep, racoons, quails, pandas, owls, newts, moles, llamas…'

'Three of them', Nigel adds.

'Three of them', the llama agrees. 'Kangaroos, jaguars, iguanas, hares, giraffes, fish, elephants, dingos, camels, bears and ants…'

'A pair of each and three llamas', Nigel adds.

'This is a freaking ark! This is Bromford's Ark, not his story arc. Where is your wooden ship, Bromford? And where is the Flood?'

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

I wake up with a start.

The llama is lying on my chest. We are half sitting, half lying on the leather couch in the living room of the penthouse on the rooftop of the apartment house in 666 Whitaker Lane in Bromford, the friendly town by the bay and seaside.

On the flat screen television I can see the bright coloured pictures of one of these movies from the 1950s or 1960s with Christian religious content.

The long sword-and-sandal-film-night, comes to my mind, all epics, starting with Ben Hur and Spartacus followed by The Ten Commandments.

Right now, there is a rerun of a movie about Noah and his ark on screen. Two animals of each kind enter the big wooden ship across a brought gangway, side by side, all in pairs.

'I knew it', the animal murmurs in its sleep.

I look at my watch. It is half past twelve, after midnight. Tonight is Holy Night.

'Merry Christmas, animal,' I whisper and close my eyes to go back to sleep.

"Star Of Bromford"

Ain't it hard
When you wake up
In the morning
And you find out
That those other days
Are gone?
All you have
Is memories of happiness
Lingerin' on

All your dreams
And your lovers
Won't protect you
They're only passing
Through you in the end
They'll leave
You stripped of all
That they can get to
And wait for you
To come back again

Yet still a light is shining
From that lamp on down the hall
Maybe the star of Bromford
Wasn't a star at all