‘Calypso Summers’ Jared Thomas Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Humanities Discipline of English University of Adelaide September 2010 Dedication For the Nukunu and all Indigenous people in our quest to reclaim and maintain culture. May we continue to speak our truths, define our identities, imagine and create our future. 2 Calypso Summers Calypso was drenched in sweat and feeling absolutely devastated as he walked home from work. It was obvious that Australia was going to beat the West Indies in the test match he had followed for days. Australia only needed to make a couple of runs with a few overs remaining. Once he heard of the West Indies defeat, Calypso turned off his transistor radio, zipped it away securely in his bag and walked down Lexington Road, sloping toward his street. As commentator Richie Benaud announced, “That‟s it folks, the Australians have won this test match in very impressive style,” Calypso struck the branch of a giant Norfolk Island pine that marked Adelaide‟s coastline. With his muscular dark brown limbs and mass of messy black dreadlocks Calypso was often mistaken for a West Indian. When the West Indian cricketers visited Adelaide, many people stopped to ask him if he were with the team. Today he was wearing red Adidas running shorts with the three stripes down the side, a pair of sneakers, a chest hugging Bonds tank top and his faithful old faded blue terry-toweling hat with its top cut out and his dreads poking through. Shane, one of the neighborhood kids, was sitting out the front of his mother‟s yard and made his way to the gate as soon as he saw Calypso. „Hey Calypso, I‟ve got some good gear man.‟ Shane was a stringy seventeen year old boy with white shaggy hair and pale freckled skin. He tried to look tough in his desert boots, faded tight blue jeans and a loose black tank top. „Yeah, so what?‟ said Calypso. „Oh man, don‟t you want to get wasted?‟ „No Shane.‟ 3 „Come on man, have a smoke, see what you think!‟ „Na Shane, I‟m right,‟ answered Calypso as he sped up the walk to his flat. Shane jumped his mother‟s small picket fence in pursuit of Calypso. „Come on Calypso, just have a little smoke?‟ Calypso turned around and stopped in his tracks. „I don‟t smoke ganja no more, Shane. I told you that already. Leave I alone.‟ „Oh Calypso, what type of dreadlock Rasta don‟t smoke grass?‟ „I, I guess,‟ Calypso responded. „Oh man, you‟ve lost it Calypso, you‟re a fake,‟ Shane said with disgust as he made his way back to his mother‟s doorstep. Although Calypso hadn‟t smoked weed for many months, its musky scent wafted from his flat as he turned his key. As usual Calypso‟s cousin Run was trying to smoke away his worries. Calypso entered his flat, welcoming the satisfaction that being home brought after a hot day at work. He liked the way he‟d set things up there. A huge Bob Marley poster on the wall that could be seen as soon as you entered the living room, a yellow color television, a VCR player, new wall paper in the kitchen area, two green bean bags, a coffee table, and his favorite piece of furniture, the cane lounge with bamboo print cushions. He threw his backpack on his couch, opened the second floor living room window and made his way to Run‟s room. 4 Calypso gave a gentle knock on Run‟s door. When there was no answer he waited a moment and then entered. Run was lying on his mattress on the floor, flat on his back, wearing only tight faded blue jeans. His hands were folded beneath his messy knots of black hair that was also beginning to dread like Calypso‟s. Run and Calypso looked like brothers but Calypso was a couple of inches taller, thinner and darker. And although Run was a couple of years younger than Calypso, Run looked older with small scars across his forehead and cheek and a stocky build. Run also had very intense cat like green eyes that constantly made him look angry or suspicious, even when he smiled. Calypso‟s brown eyes spotted the water bong beside Run, the water inside blacker than Run‟s own dark colored skin. „You right, cuz?‟ asked Calypso. Run didn‟t answer, he just stared at the ceiling. „Come on, you got to pick yourself up.‟ Run had been down in the dumps for months because his girlfriend, Kelly, had left him for a parking inspector. She told Run that she liked a man in uniform and kicked him out of her house and life just like that. Run had taken it pretty badly. Calypso knew what it felt like to be depressed, still often finding himself miserable from Bob Marley‟s death several years earlier. So he had let Run move into his place out of sympathy and because he thought some company might cheer him up. Now Calypso was getting sick of always having to lift his spirits. Calypso picked up a book that Run had taken from his room to see what he was reading. It was his treasured copy of Kevin Gilbert‟s „Because a Whiteman Will Never Do It‟. Before he turned a page he spotted two dirty coffee cups and a plate with grease and a half eaten sausage stuck to it. Agitated, he gathered the dirty dishes. 5 „Run, I know it‟s been hard to deal with but you‟ve been down for too long cuz. You know, you‟ve just got to get out a bit, do the things that you used to do. Sooner or later man, another girl is gonna come your way and you‟ll kick yourself for wasting time.‟ Run sat up and looked at Calypso in confusion. „Calypso, what the hell you talking about?‟ „Kelly mahn,‟ he said in his best Jamaican accent to diffuse the seriousness of the conversation. „I know you‟re stressed out about her cuz but you‟ve got to move on.‟ „I‟m not worried about Kelly…well I am, but that‟s not what‟s worrying me right now! Haven‟t you heard Calypso, the West Indies lost the test… mahn!‟ Calypso sighed, slapped Run on the shoulder and said, „I know cuz, the Australians got lucky but our brothers will conquer.‟ Both of them stared down at the carpet in disappointment. „You know cuz,‟ laughed Calypso, „I thought you were just down about Kelly again.‟ „Well why shouldn‟t I be?‟ Run bit back in protest. „Cause you and „er finished ages ago bruz.‟ „So?‟ said Run. „Well you‟re only nineteen you‟ve got your whole life to live.‟ 6 „I ain‟t got shit. I ain‟t got no woman, I ain‟t got nothing,‟ Run sulked. „You‟ve got to go out and get what you want Run.‟ „Like what Calypso?‟ „Well, while you‟re on the subject cuz, for a start, I reckon you could get a job.‟ „What for?‟ „You‟ve been staying here for the last six months and you haven‟t paid me a cent of rent, Run. We‟ve got electricity, phone bills, the whole lot owing and you haven‟t said you‟re gunna pay shit.‟ „Well you‟re the rich one Calypso, you like working so much.‟ „You could help out.‟ „Oh piss off Calypso, you‟re the only blackfella that I know with… you‟ve got a video machine and all!‟ „You know that girl I was seeing ages ago left that with me, she didn‟t want to pick it up, she didn‟t want to see my sorry arse no more.‟ „Well, you‟ve even got color T.V.! And just cause you‟ve got a job you think that everyone else can get one.‟ „Well you can find a job, just start looking.‟ „Why, so you can take my money? What you need my money for?‟ 7 Calypso considered Run‟s question for a moment. „Well cuz,‟ said Calypso, „I‟m a young fella and young fellas are supposed to be looking for their woman right?… And when I find my woman, I want to treat her right.‟ „Why you need money for a woman Calypso? Your idea of treating a woman right is a day at the cricket and fish and chips on the beach, a rich fella like you can afford that, easily.‟ „Yeah, but this time I might want to treat my woman fine.‟ Run propped himself up into a cross legged sitting position and asked Calypso, „How would you treat your woman fine?‟ Calypso had to think about it, he‟d never give it much thought before. „Come on, what would you do?‟ Run asked again. Calypso let his mind wander to the dream he‟d held since he‟d first seen an image of the P&O Fair Star upon the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. „I‟d take my woman on a cruise, he finally declared.‟ „A cruise? But you ain‟t even got no car, bruz!‟ „Na, not that type of cruise Run, I‟d take my woman on a cruise to Jamaica, like on the Love Boat, mahn.‟ „Love Boat,‟ Run repeated, laughing at the suggestion. „Love boat! You‟ve lost it Calypso.‟ 8 „Nah, I‟m for real. True as God that‟s what I‟m going to do,‟ Calypso said as he turned to leave Run‟s room.