Bromford Below - Part 14

 

»They dug deep... and what they found scared them. They wised up eventually, moved onto bigger and better things, left the underground town to rot. They delved too greedily and too deep. And you know what they awoke in the darkness, Bromford Bibble.«

Hands are pulling me, two hands grabbing one of my hands each. They are pulling my arms, heaving my body as a whole into Waggon 11 of our underground train.

Next thing I feel is Kylie hugging me, pressing her mouth against my ear.

»I thought, we'd lost you«, she whispers. »What was that out there?«

»You humans build cities underground with sub-levels under sub-levels like towers growing into the deep. But never forget, this is our realm. This is my realm! Keep out and return to the surface!«

»Bromford, can you hear me?«

I nod, pressing Kylie into my arms now.

»Alma? Where is my coffee?«

A grey-blonde and slender figure in a baggy beige pantsuit is standing in the middle of Waggon 11, smoking a long cigarette and looking at us with heavy eyes.

Devine, comes to my mind, a real diva. It is that former movie-star I have met in Apartment 14 in late autumn 2010. But she looks way younger now, just like on one of her movie posters.

»We do not have coffee here, Madam«, says her house-keeper Alma who seems to have slept on a row of plastic seats. At least she had lain there.

»I know«, the famous M.D. says and puts out her cigarette. »And I know who's fault this is.«

She is now pointing her index finger at me.

»Your fault, Bromford Bibble. It is all your fault.«

I am rubbing my eyes. I am beginning to feel very tired.

»What is my fault?« I ask. »What have I done?«

»You brought us here for your silly search. You brought us here from the past. Some of us already slept and rested in peace. But now we have to walk this never stopping train. And we have to face the darkness all over again.«

Her index finger is touching my chest now, pointing and poking.

»Do you know what we are, Bromford Bibble?« M.D. asks with her smoky voice. »Do you know your Dickens? We are your own personal Ghosts of Christmas Past, Bromford Bibble. But we never had the time to learn how to teach you your own personal lessons. We cannot teach you how to become a better person in present times.«

Kylie now stands up by my side.

»Hey«, she says. »Stop that. Bromford is no hard-hearted Ebenezer Scrooge. He does not need your lessons how to lead a better life.«

M.D. is laughing and coughing and coughing and laughing at the same time.

»There you have your Ghost of Christmas Present, Bromford Bibble. And she knows her Charles Dickens, but maybe only the Muppets version.«

And knowing Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol as well I ask, »And where is my own personal Ghost of Christmas Future?«

»There is no Ghost of Christmas Future, Bromford Bibble, because there is no future«, M.D. says. »There are only the ends of this underground train. And they come nearer from both sides.«

She is starting to whistle a little melody.

»Come on, Alma. Time to leave. Time to meet our new masters.«

And singing she walks to the door at the end of the train.

🎶

See what the boys in the backroom will have,
And tell them I′m having the same.
Go see what the boys in the backroom will have,
And give them the poison they name.
And when I die, don't spend my money
On flowers and my picture in a frame.
Just see what the boys in the backroom will have,
And tell them I sighed,
And tell them I cried,
And tell them I died of the same.
🎵

🎄🎄🎄🕯🎄🎅
🎄🎄🎄🎄🕯🎄

🎄🎄

'Bromford Cats'

Bromford Cats, play clean as country water
Bromford Cats, play wild as mountain dew
Bromford Cats, been playin′ since they's babies
Bromford Cats, get work before they′re two

Well, there's thirteen hundred and fifty two
Guitar pickers in Bromford
And they can pick more notes than the number of ants
On a Tennessee anthill
Yeah, there's thirteen hundred and fifty two
Guitar cases in Bromford
And any one that unpacks ′is guitar could play
Twice as better than I will


Yeah, I was just thirteen, you might say I was a
Musical proverbial knee-high
When I heard a couple new-sounding tunes on the tubes
And they blasted me sky-high
And the record man said every one is a Yellow Sun
Record from Bromford
And up North there ain′t nobody buys them
And I said, "But I will"

And it was
Bromford Cats, play clean as country water
Bromford Cats, play wild as mountain dew
Bromford Cats, been playin' since they′s babies
Bromford Cats, get work before they're two

Well, there′s sixteen thousand eight hundred 'n′ twenty one
Mothers from Bromford
All their friends play music, and they ain't uptight
If one of the kids will
Because it's custom made for any mother′s son
To be a guitar picker in Bromford
And I sure am glad I got a chance to say a word about
The music and the mothers from Bromford

Bromford Cats, play clean as country water
Bromford Cats, play wild as mountain dew
Bromford Cats, been playin′ since they's babies
Bromford Cats, get work before they′re two

Pick it