Westpoint Tales

by Kiwi

Entangled Tales - 70 - Daniel

Crispian came back and they gathered around him expectantly.

"Well, people. We've got good news and bad news. The good news is that they've got plenty of rooms. The bad news is that they're all doubles, that's all they've got left. I've taken six rooms. They've all got queen-sized beds, so you'll have to double up. I'm taking the odd one and I'm sleeping alone. You can all sort out who's sleeping with whom."

He held out the room keys. Jonathan took them and grinned. "That's simple enough. Peter and Sandie, Jay and Shelley, Lucas and Kadie."

Peter took one of the keys. "Get real, Iceman. Jay and I will be in our room. C'mon, Big Guy."

Jay stuck his tongue out, and followed after Peter.

"Yeah, Jonathan, get real." Shelley agreed. "C'mon Lucas, come and check out our room."

Jonathan, still grinning, said, "Okay then. Justin and I have our room. That leaves Daniel and Sandie and Kadie gets John."

"I don't think so," Sandie said. "Kadie and I can share. Daniel, you'll have to sleep with your cousin."

"That's not a problem. We share a room at home anyway." Daniel took the last key. "But, Crispian, I'll have to pay you back – I didn't bring enough money for a hotel room."

"Don't worry about it, Guitar-man. We're putting it down as a business expense anyway – all part of the cost of searching for our singer."

They all went up to check out their rooms which were all adjacent and up on the 4^th floor. Then they met again to go for a walk and find somewhere to eat.

They wandered down around the water-front, passed the cafes, through the ferry building and across to the foot of Queen Street. In the sunshine, outside the Britomart Shopping Centre, they were delighted to see a busker.

He was an older guy, dressed in a shabby brown coat, playing a guitar and singing their song – North'n West Coast Sun. He wasn't very good, but they all lined up to drop a few coins in his battered old guitar-case. It was just a thrill to be so far away from home and hear someone singing their song.

They had a light meal in a café up in a side street, causing an instant crowd in the small shop when the 11 of them walked in. Then they gleefully rushed across to a small video-game arcade. Crispian and Justin stood back watching as the others all found games to play.

"You're not going to play then?"

"No, Lordship. I'm no good at games; I just lose everytime – gets boring."

"There's some old pin-ball machines down there. We could try one of them if you'd like."

"Pin-ball? No thanks. I really suck at pin-ball; I've got no hand to eye co-ordination."

"Ah well. If you don't mind, Justin, I think I'll go and have a couple of beers in the pub next-door. You'll watch the children for me, won't you?"

"Sure. But I wouldn't call them children if I was you – you might finish up swimming down in the harbour."

"You know what I mean. I don't really think that they're children, but, as the only old guy here, it'd be me that their parents would blame if anything happened to them."

"Nothing's going to happen and you're not so old, Lordship. Go and enjoy a drink."

Crispian left to go to the bar, but he was soon back, spluttering indignantly.

"They wouldn't serve me! I'm fifty-two years old and they wouldn't believe that I was eighteen. I showed the guy my passport photo and he laughed at me – said that it must have been my granddad's!"

Justin looked hard at him and said, "Have you looked at yourself lately? I mean really looked? There's mirrors on the back wall there. Go have a good look."

Crispian went to the mirrored wall and stood staring at his reflection. "Wow. I really have changed, haven't I? It's your skin repair and the hair removal – I took my beard off. I do, I look like a kid – apart from the old hair of course."

Justin nodded. "Even that doesn't look too bad. Lot's of blonds have thin hair. You just need to get it restyled. Get a younger haircut and you'll be a boy again."

"Well, I won't be a boy, I'm still the same old person on the inside, but I certainly do look like one."

"Is that a problem? Apart from getting kicked out of bars, I mean."

"A problem? No, I don't think so. It's absolutely fantastic, Superboy. I'll have to get into training though and get my fitness level up a bit."

"Get a haircut, Lordship, and then we'll get some more photos for advertising the R&R system. You're a real success story."

"I will get my hair done, but not here. I'll wait until we get back home and see what Mrs. Richards can do."

The whole group suddenly decided that they'd had enough of that and they started walking again. Back in Queen Street, climbing up the hill, Jonathan pointed to the bus pulling up ahead of them.

"Hey, it's going to K. Road. Let's go and check out the red-light district."

All the way up the hill, Crispian, sitting next to Jonathan, was getting more and more uptight. "I don't like this, Jonathan. I really don't like this."

"Chill out, Lordship. We're all together. What's the worst that can happen?"

"I don't know and I don't want to find out either."

Justin leant forward in the seat behind them. "Stop worrying. Nothing's going to happen, and if it does, we've got enough fire power here to take on an army – from stroppy little John Peters all the way up to the Iceman himself."

They piled off the bus at the bottom of the infamous K. Road. Before they went any further, Crispian insisted on calling them all around and talking to the group.

"Listen up people. I don't want to sound like a prissy old school-marm, but I really don't like this. There are some bad people out there. You're all wide-eyed country kids out in the big city, and you're all nice-looking, attractive kids too.

If anything happens to any of you, your parents are going to shoot me. So please, for my sake if not your own, be careful, stay together, watch out for each other and don't anyone go wandering off on their own. All right?"

There were mutters and nods of agreement all around, then Jonathan grinned.

"No probs, Lordship. This is our home, Justin and I were born here, or conceived around here anyway."

"It's not your home, Jonathan. You're a small-town country kid like everyone else. Look at those guys over there." (He indicated the group of homeless and derelicts hanging around the small cemetery at the side of the road.) "They were all kids once, something happened to them."

Justin agreed. "Crispian's right. We've all heard about Tony, he was robbed and beaten and maybe even raped by some low-life like that lot."

He hugged Daniel who was standing staring at the derelicts. "It's okay, Guitar-man. He's not there now. Tones won't get caught like that again – he's a survivor."

"I know. Thanks Superboy. Tones is tougher than he looks, but if I ever get my hands on the scum who did that to him – I'll kill them, seriously!"

"You'll have plenty of help, Daniel. Just leave some for me, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks. You're my hero, Superboy. Let's go and see the red-light district – get it over with."

They walked in a group, up and down K. Road a couple of times – it wasn't far. It was bright, colourful, a bit sleazy in places, but all a bit tame really. It was a let-down after Crispian's warnings.

There were lots of characters out on the street, everything from drag queens and chains and leather boys to witches and tu-tued fairies. There were obvious hookers, of both sexes, and a few who it was hard to tell which sex they were. They were all totally outnumbered by the tourists gawking at them.

Even so, Crispian was relieved when they were all back on a bus and heading for the café district of Ponsonby Road.

Peter was laughing. "You should have worn your boots and leathers, Sandie. That would've given them something to get excited about."

"Shut up, cheeky little shit. You and your boyfriend could've shown them something too."

Jay stuck his tongue out at her. "You leave my Elf alone, Sandie Evans."

They had drinks and another snack in a café, sitting at the tables outside in the cool night air. Kadie sighed. "This is so cool. We're all trendy now. We should do this in Westpoint, put some tables out in front of the Do Duck Inn."

"Don't think so, Kadie," Lucas said. "Number one, the locals would laugh at us and number two, what are you going to do on the 360 nights a year that it's raining?"

"We could use umbrellas and wear raincoats."

"Oh nice! Really trendy that would be."

On another bus, they went back down to the Britomart centre and then caught a ferry for the short trip across to Devonport and back, just to see the lights of the city from out on the water.

At 11 o'clock, a reasonable hour to be going to bed, they walked back to their hotel. Walking into the lobby, Justin whispered to Daniel.

"You can stop looking now. Wherever he is, Tony's probably sleeping by now."

"I have been looking," he agreed. "Oh Justin, you just don't know what it's like. Where the hell is he?"

"I don't know what it's like, but I can imagine. Stop worrying, that won't get you anywhere."

"I'll never stop looking, Superboy. Never!"

Waiting for the elevators, Crispian spoke up again. "Try to get some sleep, Children."

"Children? Who are you calling children – Boy?"

"You lot. We'll go and talk to a radio station in the morning and maybe the TV too. Breakfast is at 7.30 in the dining-room there and anyone not out of bed by then gets thrown out."

The elevators arrived and opened and they all went off to their rooms.