That evening the members of Professor O’Flaherty’s Trio were seated at a table by the stage with Paddy when we were joined by the last person in the world I’d ever expected to see at a musical event – Aunt Joan.
She sat down heavily and gripped her handbag firmly in both hands as if she expected it to be snatched away at any moment. And yet she had travelled to Ireland for me.
During a gap between numbers, I leaned over. ‘Er – Auntie – thanks.’
‘What for, Gene?’
‘For coming here ... I know you didn’t want to ... er ... it must have interfered with your spring cleaning.’
Wesley grinned, but Moan seemed to be struggling to say something. ‘Well ... it can wait ... I suppose,’ she managed. Wesley winked at me. I grinned. I was going to start again with Moan.
And perhaps I wasn’t the only one to be starting afresh. As the Calumets started to play ‘Take The A Train’, I felt my chair begin to shake. The floor seemed to be moving. As the music grew faster so the shaking increased. I looked down and saw the cause – Moan’s feet were tapping to the music.
‘Still writing your diary?’ Red asked me next morning at breakfast.
‘Yeah. Still teaching yourself German?’
‘Ya. Ich lerne gerne,’ replied Red and moved off, talking in what I guess was German.
I’d said I was still writing my diary, but later that day when I had time to write, I realised I had a choice to make. I now had three books – the original diaries A and B and the new Diary B. Which should I write in? Eventually I picked up the new book.
DIARY B
This could just as easily be Diary A, because, for the first time since I began, what I’m meant to think and what I do think are the same!
Here, Mrs Walmsley, wherever you are, are my innermost thoughts, if you’re still interested, which I doubt, now that Cherokee and Moan have decided to be my joint guardians. And thank you, by the way, for agreeing to this. I suppose it will mean filling out a whole load of official forms!
It was great to have Cousin Wesley and my aunt in the audience last night. Having the family united made Cherokee feel good too, I could tell. He played even better than usual and I felt proud when the audience cheered and yelled at the end of the concert!
At least my aunt’s first night away from Zig Zag Road was a memorable one. She and Wesley are now on their way back home. Wes wasn’t looking forward to the plane journey. He told me Moan had driven the cabin crew close to madness on the way to Dublin by asking questions about whether the plane was safe, like: ‘Are you sure you’ve closed all the windows?’
‘Why don’t you take her home by ferry?’ I’d suggested. It was like the conversations Red and I had about transporting his double bass.
‘No fear,’ Wes had replied. ‘If the plane crashes, I can’t do anything about it, but if the ferry sinks, I’ll have to try to save her from drowning!’
I’ve also, Mrs Walmsley, worked out what ‘peer group bonding’ is. It’s liking people of your own age. Well, I like some, and I know now that Wesley’s been a good friend to me. We had a conversation after the concert that made me think.
I’d said how his waistcoat would look good on stage. He’d replied, ‘Thanks. So you like it now then?’
The word ‘now’ reminded me of some of the jibes I’d written in Diary B.
I started apologising. Luckily he’s easy to apologise to. He laughed and said, ‘Don’t worry. You should read what I wrote about you in my diary. Not that it’s as interesting as yours. Ever thought about being a writer?’
I didn’t answer. There’s two bits to that question and I’m trying to work out whether he meant both of them. The first is obvious. (1) Wes, who’s clever, thinks my writing is good enough for me to do it for a living. That’s the good news.
Here’s the bad: (2) He doesn’t take it for granted that I’m going to be a musician. Aren’t I good enough? I can’t imagine not being part of the musical world. If anyone was born to be part of it, it’s me, but perhaps I’m not meant to be a performer. I’m not as single-minded as Cherokee, I know that ...
I’m renaming this Diary C, since it’s no longer the diary Mrs Walmsley forced me to write, nor the one I wrote secretly. If this goes on, I shall probably get through the alphabet!
What will Diary Z be like? I’ll imagine an extract:
DIARY Z
(Dry and hotter than the Sahara,
thanks to global warming)
I am here at Zig Zag Road, now tottering on the edge of a cliff. Returning to visit Aunt Joan is a great idea when I want a perfectly ironed shirt. Not that we jazz critics are noted for our sharp dressing! My Aunt Joan is a useful person to check my reviews with too. If she can understand them, then so can any reader! She’s learnt a lot about music since the bad old days.
Her cooking hasn’t improved though. Fortunately I can now afford to take her out to a restaurant. Sometimes Wesley, now better known as ‘Professor Lank Crawford’, the world famous jazz clarinetist, comes along too. He took our grandfather’s surname – Crawford, when he became a full-time clarinetist. However famous he gets, he knows he’ll never shake off being introduced as, ‘Professor Lank Crawford, grandson of the greatest saxophonist of them all – Cherokee Crawford!’
He doesn’t mind. He says he never plays a note without thinking of Cherokee. And I never write a word without thinking of him either.
About the Author
CREINA MANSFIELD has a Master’s degree in novel writing from Manchester University. She likes both dogs and cats, and fosters kittens in her spare time. She has written My Nasty Neighbours, a tale of warring parents and teenagers who come up with a unique solution to their problem, and its sequel My Nutty Neighbours. Her other books include It Wasn’t Me, Fairchild, and Snip Snip!, a story for younger readers in which a little obsession with scissors leads to interesting situations.
Copyright
This eBook edition first published 2012 by The O’Brien Press Ltd,
12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, Ireland
Tel: +353 1 4923333; Fax: +353 1 4922777
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.obrien.ie
First published 1994
eBook ISBN: 978-1-84717-473-4
Copyright for text © Creina Mansfield
Copyright for type setting, editing, layout, design © The O’Brien Press Ltd.
UNAUTHORISED COPYING IS ILLEGAL
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or my any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, visual or audio, or mounted on any network servers, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Carrying out any unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. For permission to copy any part of this publication contact The O’Brien Press Ltd at [email protected].
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Mansfield, Creina
Cherokee
1.Jazz musicians -Juvenile fiction 2.Grandparent and child -Juvenile fiction
3.Children’s stories
I. Title
823.9’140[J]
The O’Brien Press receives assistance from
Editing, typsetting, layout, design: The O’Brien Press Ltd.
Cherokee Page 7
