The Last Taboo

by Bali Rai

  Gary told Raji to shut up, only to get a mouthful of racist abuse, which he didn’t take too kindly to. He span Raji round in one movement and then bundled him out of the door. Raji’s head hit the door and the doorframe on the way out, something that Gary made sure of. When he came back in he was fuming and he turned to Pally, who shook his head and then made a quick exit.

  ‘Thanks, Patrick,’ I said, as I calmed down.

  Patrick gave me a dirty look. ‘Thanks? I should kick your fuckin’ teet’ out a yer head …’

  ‘But,’ said Dean, ‘they started it.’

  ‘I don’t care. You’re all barred,’ Gary told him.

  ‘But that ain’t—’ I began.

  ‘Until you can keep your shit to yourselves, you ain’t welcome here,’ Gary said to me.

  ‘And the next time we hear that kalah shit,’ warned Patrick, ‘this place is getting shut down. We ain’t here to get abused.’

  ‘But that ain’t us …’ said Dean.

  ‘I couldn’t give a raas,’ replied Patrick, as Mr Turban finally began to stir.

  Patrick looked at him, then turned to the youth worker who’d been knocked out and was now swaying on his feet. ‘This the one that smacked you, Kev?’ he asked.

  Kev nodded. Patrick looked down, spat and then kicked Mr Turban in the head. He went down again.

  ‘Best call the police then,’ Patrick told Kev.

  SIMRAN

  PAULA WALKED ME to Tyrone’s house and when he opened the door she told him what had happened. He shook his head as we sat in his parents’ living room.

  ‘Wait till I see them two,’ he said angrily.

  ‘Forget about it,’ Paula told him. ‘They’re just stupid.’

  ‘You OK?’ he asked me.

  I shook my head. ‘No,’ I told him. ‘It’s not just this. I’m getting shit from my family too.’

  ‘What – from your parents?’ he asked. ‘I thought they were OK with it?’

  ‘Not them – but from my uncles and cousins. And then there’s all those people at school.’

  I’d told him about David’s run-in with Pally and about all the abuse I’d had from the Desi Posse. He’d reacted badly at first but in the end I’d calmed him down. Now he was getting angry all over again.

  ‘I’m gonna have to deal with them,’ he told us.

  ‘It’s just the same shit, over and over again,’ I said. ‘Why can’t they just leave us alone?’

  Paula sighed. ‘You knew it would be hard,’ she told us both.

  ‘Why did we?’ asked Tyrone.

  ‘Oh come on, Ty. Did you really think it was going to be like a normal relationship?’

  ‘Yeah – I did,’ he replied. ‘I don’t get why it’s a big deal …’

  ‘Then you’re naïve,’ she said. ‘Some people are just too prejudiced to let it go.’

  ‘You sound like my mum,’ I told her, realizing that we’d had this conversation already.

  She smiled. ‘And your mum is right, as usual. It’s not your fault – it’s just the way some people are … How many black/Asian couples you ever seen?’

  I shrugged. ‘I saw one in the supermarket,’ I replied, although Paula already knew that.

  ‘How many others?’ she insisted.

  ‘Not many,’ admitted Tyrone.

  ‘Exactly. It’s like breaking new ground,’ she told us. ‘There’s bound to be problems.’

  ‘But should we just forget about it then?’ I asked, as Tyrone gave me a worried glance. ‘Just let the idiots win?’

  ‘No – you should stick to your guns,’ Paula replied.

  ‘Despite all the shit?’

  ‘Yeah – if you two really want to be together – if it’s not just some passing thing …’

  When she said that I thought about my dad and how angry I’d got when he’d said the same thing. That was when I realized that I’d been wrong to judge him so quickly. I turned to Tyrone and smiled at him.

  ‘Well?’ I asked. ‘Do you really want to be with me?’

  ‘Yes,’ he told me. ‘What about you?’

  I smiled again. ‘You know I do …’ I went over and gave him a kiss and then sat in his lap.

  ‘In that case’ – Paula grinned – ‘you need to be honest and realize that things will happen that piss you off.’

  ‘OK,’ I said, nestling my head against Tyrone’s chest.

  ‘Although I still can’t understand why you’d want to go out with Ty,’ added Paula. ‘He’s always been a little shit …’

  ‘At least I never set fire to my own hair,’ he replied.

  ‘Oh yeah,’ I said, remembering when Paula had put too much hairspray on and then leaned over the cooker to light a gas ring with a match.

  ‘That ain’t funny, you know,’ she said seriously. ‘I could have been badly hurt …’

  ‘Instead of just badly stupid?’ teased Tyrone.

  ‘Fuck off, you ugly knob!’ replied Paula, pushing her braids back on her head.

  RAJI AND SUKY MANN

  Two weeks later …

  Saturday 9 p.m.

  SUKY NUDGED HIS cousin Raji as the girl they were eyeing up leaned forward and gave them a good view of her cleavage.

  ‘Dem tings is like footballs,’ laughed Raji.

  ‘She’s fit – that’s all I know,’ said Suky, as the student sat back, saw him looking at her and looked away.

  ‘That’s the good thing about this place,’ said Raji. ‘Them student bitches are always in here.’

  ‘Dutty too,’ added Suky. ‘One time me and Manj pulled three of ’em.’

  Raji raised an eyebrow. ‘Three?’ he asked, impressed.

  ‘Yeah, bro,’ lied Suky. ‘We had a party that night …’

  ‘Fuck off!’

  ‘Serious …’

  They were sitting in the conservatory of The Horse, passing another Saturday night by getting drunk. Suky looked at the girl again. She was kissing some gorah knob now.

  ‘Why them girls always pick the ugliest men?’ he asked Raji.

  ‘Who knows?’ replied Raji. ‘He’s a white boy, innit –that’s all them gal look for.’

  Suky shook his head. ‘That’s ’cos they ain’t tried no Desi, you get me?’ he said.

  ‘An’ wit’ your ugly face, they ain’t goin’ to neither,’ laughed Raji.

  Suky told his cousin to get lost and turned to look out of the window. As soon as he saw them he turned to his cousin.

  ‘Bro – we got company,’ he said quickly.

  Raji turned to see who his cousin was on about and noticed Tyrone, Dean and David walking past the pub.

  ‘They’s walkin’ by,’ he told Suky.

  ‘Let’s see,’ replied Suky.

  They waited a few moments and then Suky walked round to the main part of the pub and stood in the doorway between it and the conservatory. Dean and David were chatting to some girls by the bar. Tyrone was getting drinks. Suky went back to his cousin.

  ‘They’re round the other side,’ he told Raji.

  ‘You wanna go round there – see what a gwaan?’ asked Raji.

  Suky shook his head. ‘Nah – we gotta be cleverer than that,’ he told him. ‘Let’s go outside and wait in the car …’

  ‘What we gonna do in the car?’

  Suky grinned. ‘Trust me,’ he said, finishing his bottle of Holsten Pils and getting up. He eyed the white girl one more time but she gave him a dirty look and turned away.

  ‘Fucking goreeh slag,’ he muttered, heading out of the conservatory exit into the car park.

  DAVID

  Saturday 10.30 p.m.

  I WATCHED DEAN do his best to try and pull the girls we were talking to. They weren’t having it though. One of them kept on telling Dean that although she thought he was cute, she didn’t go out with babies.

  ‘How you know I’m too young?’ he asked, still grinning.

  ‘I can just tell,’ said the girl. ‘I can see it in your face.’

  ‘I’m n
ineteen,’ he lied to her.

  ‘Yeah and I’m the Queen,’ she replied, shaking her head.

  ‘Well, at least buy us a drink,’ he asked.

  ‘See – now I know you ain’t a man,’ she told him, turning away to her friend.

  Dean looked at me and Tyrone. ‘You could have backed me up,’ he said to us.

  ‘And look as stupid as you?’ I asked. ‘Forget that.’

  ‘You did a good enough job on yer own,’ said Tyrone. ‘They was well impressed – no really, they was …’

  ‘My own cousin.’ Dean grinned. ‘Et tu Brute …’

  ‘What?’ I asked.

  ‘It’s from Julius Caesar,’ Tyrone told me.

  ‘Yeah – that clears it all up,’ I said.

  Dean laughed. ‘Thick bastard! You should read more.’

  ‘And turn into you?’ I asked. ‘Maybe not.’

  ‘Could be worse,’ he said, shrugging. ‘You could turn into you.’

  I told him to fuck off and looked around the pub, wondering whether our dads were in. They had gone out for the night too.

  ‘You reckon the old boys are in here?’ I asked Dean.

  ‘Nah – they were going to go into town.’

  Tyrone shook his head. ‘Best call out the army then,’ he said.

  ‘There’s some old-time reggae dance on,’ Dean told us. ‘Mum’s well pissed off because they didn’t take her.’

  ‘Yeah, but she’s gone out with my mum,’ I pointed out.

  ‘They’ll probably end up at the same place,’ laughed Tyrone.

  ‘No doubt,’ said Dean. ‘Getting drunk and arguin’ …’

  ‘That’s why Simmy couldn’t come out,’ said Tyrone.

  ‘Yeah – she got babysittin’ duty – Lisa and Paula are round there.’

  Dean laughed. ‘Paula’s seein’ a lot of your sister nowadays,’ he said.

  ‘Like someone else I know,’ I replied, winking at Tyrone.

  ‘Yeah, yeah – take the piss,’ replied Tyrone.

  ‘I wasn’t doin’ that,’ I said. ‘And anyway – I thought you were supposed to go round and see her tonight?’

  ‘Yeah – I’m goin’ in a minute. She wanted Jay to go to bed first,’ he said.

  I shook my head. ‘You ain’t got a hope in hell,’ I told him. ‘Whenever my parents go out he stays up as long as he can.’

  ‘I’ll bribe him,’ Tyrone suggested.

  ‘Yeah and what about Paula and Lisa?’ asked Dean.

  ‘Them too,’ he said.

  ‘Although I know someone else who could bribe that Lisa many times as he wanted, you get me?’ added Dean, with a wink.

  ‘Fuck off!’ I said, knowing that he was talking about me.

  ‘She don’t give me them sweet smiles like she gives you,’ said Dean. ‘Girl is in love wit’ you, bro.’

  I shook my head and finished my drink.

  ‘Another one?’ asked Dean.

  ‘Yeah …’ I said.

  ‘What about you, Ty?’

  Tyrone shook his head. ‘Nah – I’m gone,’ he told us.

  ‘You’d better be too,’ I said. ‘Otherwise my sister is gonna kill you.’

  Tyrone grinned and told us to behave ourselves.

  ‘I’m tryin’, bro,’ replied Dean. ‘I just gotta find the right gal to behave myself with.’

  SUKY AND RAJI MANN

  Saturday 11.10 p.m.

  ‘TAKE A RIGHT here,’ Raji told his cousin.

  Suky looked at Raji in disgust. ‘I grew up round here,’ he said. ‘Like I don’t know my way around …’

  ‘Just sayin’,’ explained Raji.

  Suky drove slowly down the street, avoiding a pothole that was so deep it went all the way down to the old cobbled surface. At the end of the road he turned left and pulled up.

  ‘He should be passing by here any minute,’ said Raji. ‘Ain’t no other way he can go …’

  Suky nodded and put the car into neutral, pulled the handbrake up and released the clutch. ‘Best we wait then,’ he replied.

  Ten minutes later they saw him walking past, eating a kebab as he went.

  ‘Look at that fuckin’ monkey dropping his food everywhere,’ laughed Raji.

  ‘What do you expect, bro?’ asked Suky.

  ‘Let me go get him,’ said Raji.

  Suky shook his head. ‘Not on the main road – you wanna get done?’

  They waited another few minutes and then set off again, shadowing him like he was prey. Which he was.

  Five minutes later Suky saw him turn up another side street.

  ‘This is the one,’ he told Raji. ‘You ready?’

  Raji laughed. ‘This time I am,’ he said.

  ‘Got the t’ing?’

  ‘Yeah …’

  Suky nodded. ‘Wait until I pull up and then be quick.’

  ‘No worries …’

  TYRONE

  Saturday 11.35 p.m.

  TYRONE HEARD THE car tyres screeching as he stuffed the last bit of his doner kebab into his mouth. It all happened so quickly he couldn’t even turn round. Something cracked against the right side of his head and sent him flying. He dropped his kebab, hit a parked car and slid to the ground. Sweat had already broken out on his forehead, cold and nauseating. He looked at his attacker, saw him lift the baseball bat and bring it down against his shoulder. And then another strike to his face. The pain made him puke up large chunks of doner meat. He tried to get up but the pain was unbearable. His attacker called him a load of names and then got into the car, which sped away.

  He used one hand to get out his mobile and another to hold the side of his head. The pain was sharp still and a throbbing had started too. He pushed the dial button when he got to Dean’s number and put the phone to his ear, as the sweating got worse. There was no reply. He lay back on the ground now, looking up at a lamppost, wondering who else to call. Then the light above his head began to sway and blur. He closed his eyes and sucked in air …

  The hands lifted him from the ground and put him on something solid that moved. He felt himself being lifted again, this time along with whatever he was lying on. Then a door slammed shut, followed by another. He tried to move his hands but couldn’t. Something was securing them. He heard a voice above his head to his right.

  ‘Stay awake, Tyrone … stay awake …’

  He struggled to do what the voice wanted, opening and closing his eyes until finally he couldn’t open them again. Then he felt everything go blank, including the pain …

  DAVID

  Sunday 3.55 a.m.

  I SCRABBLED AROUND on my bedside table, trying to find my phone. For a moment I thought that I’d been dreaming about it buzzing, only it wasn’t a dream. I didn’t know who was calling me at four in the morning and I didn’t care. They were going to get a serious load of abuse. But when I answered the phone any thoughts of swearing at the caller disappeared. It was Dean and he sounded desperate.

  ‘They got Tyrone,’ he shouted.

  ‘Huh?’

  I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I was still half asleep.

  ‘They bust him up bad—’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Them Desi bastards!’

  ‘Dean – hold on a minute …’

  I sat up and tried to pay more attention.

  ‘This is it now!’ he shouted. ‘All bets off this time. Them fucking Pak— I mean Asians gonna pay …’

  I didn’t get angry at the way Dean had nearly called Tyrone’s attackers Pakis. I knew he was fuming. I would have been the same myself. But how did he know that it was the Desi Posse who attacked his cousin? I asked him.

  ‘He told me—’

  ‘Have the police spoken to him?’ I asked.

  ‘Yeah – but he didn’t tell them shit,’ admitted Dean.

  ‘Where are you?’ I asked.

  ‘The hospital.’

  ‘Is he gonna be OK?’

  ‘Yeah, but he looks terrible – they did him with a baseball bat. Mashed
up his head and shoulder. Cracked his cheekbone.’

  ‘Shit …’

  ‘He wants you to tell Simran,’ Dean said.

  ‘Yeah – she was fuming last night when he didn’t show – said he weren’t answering his phone. I know why now.’

  ‘Just wake her and tell her,’ insisted Dean. ‘My old man is here too – he says he’ll come get her.’

  ‘OK – I’ll call you back in ten minutes,’ I told him.

  I jumped out of bed and went to tell my sister. She answered on the fifth knock and when I went in she looked well pissed off.

  ‘What the hell do you want?’ she moaned.

  ‘It’s Tyrone – he’s in hospital,’ I said.

  If I hadn’t been so tired I probably would have tried to tell her gently but I didn’t. She looked at me in horror and then sat up.

  ‘What … how?’ she stammered.

  Our voices must have woken my dad because the next thing I knew he was in the room asking us what was happening. When I told him he shook his head and told me to call Dean back.

  ‘I’ll go with her,’ he said.

  ‘But you’re probably still pissed from your night out,’ I warned.

  ‘I’m fine and this isn’t the time,’ he snapped, going back into his room to get dressed.

  Simran got out of bed and told me to let her get dressed too.

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ I said.

  She nodded. There were tears running down her face and I gave her a hug.

  ‘He’ll be OK,’ I told her, getting angry myself.

  SIMRAN

  Sunday 4 p.m.

  THE NURSE CHANGED Tyrone’s drip, telling me that I should go home and rest, just like they do on telly. I yawned. ‘I’m OK,’ I replied.

  She smiled at me. ‘He won’t come to for a while – the painkillers will make him very sleepy. By the time he wakes up it’ll be night.’

  ‘I’ll stay a bit longer,’ I said.

  Tyrone’s parents were due back around five p.m. and I wanted to be there when they arrived. I looked at Tyrone’s face, swollen all down one side, with two huge gashes in it. His right cheek was so swollen that it stuck out almost as much as his nose. I wanted to wake him up and kiss him, tell him that I was there, but I couldn’t. He was in a bad way and needed to rest. So instead, I sat where I was and wondered whether our relationship was worth this. It had brought us nothing but grief since it started. Was it really worth nearly dying for something that so many people thought was wrong?