Thursday 31 March 2016

The Backward Chronicle 5

no way!


"Hang on… you don’t KNOW if the marriage was annulled?
No.
Does she?
She said she has forgotten.
There MUST be a record somewhere.
My mum put everything in storage and we lost it in the floods.
Does she live on the Island?
No she has a campsite by the lake.
Have you stayed there?
She hit me with the telephone.
The telephone?
Three times.
Does she know about the house?
Mum told her.
Why?
She likes causing trouble."

Finished the Crème Catalan, rang my finger around the bowl.

"Hang on who’s your mum – her or her?
She’s my mum. She’s only my step mum.
Only if the marriage hasn’t been annulled. What about your brother? Is he still married to the woman in Germany?
I’m not sure.
Wait, he’s your half brother – is she HIS mum?
No.
Who’s his dad?
The milkman.
The milkman?
Jimmy.
You know his name?
Yep, we spent Christmas together once."

Finished the salmon.

"When did your brother find out?
Last week.
How did he react?
He said his mum and dad must have really loved me to keep it a secret and pretend.
His not-dad?
My dad.
So, ok, you have rights to the songs, what about her?
No.
How come?
He left it all to me.
And your half brothers?
That was me.
So who owns the house?
It might be ours, but there’s about twelve of us.
Might?
There’s a court case.
How’s it going?
We proved we owned a piece of land under the brewery.
But not the Brewary?
No.
Are they still brewing?
Yes, think so. My real name is Whatsalitz.
What?"

Finish the Patatas Bravas, run my finder around THAT bowl too.

"Yes. When my great granddad came here they asked him his name and he said Paul.
Ok.
Then they asked him what his first name was and he said Paul- his English wasn’t English at the time. So they registered him as Paul Paul.
Your name’s not Paul.
No my Grandmother married a non-Paul.
How did you find out there was a house?
The owners want us to own it so that they can do it up.
That didn’t make sense. Who owns it, the government?
They won’t do it up.
So the people who live in it want someone to do it up, hang on … who lives in it?
Someone else. They rent it.
From the Government?
From a lawyer.
Who’s the lawyer?
Our cousin. He wants it done up so he can charge more rent.
There’s rent? How many years?
Seventy years.
You could get a cut of that.

We owe money already. For the translations."


ab/49

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