Call Me Back Again

CHAPTER 9

Much of the participants were far less obvious, though. Over there was a group of emergency workers gathered around an Ambulance Rapid Response car, clad in their respective uniforms. If the Fire Brigade and the Police had brought cars too, he couldn't see them. He half expected they'd be there somewhere.

Close to them were a few footballers. Or, at least John thought they were. The men were wearing the exact same things Everton and LFC players would wear during a match, but he didn't care for football so he had no idea if any of them actually played at either club. Not very far from the Causer family were people in all kinds of traditional costumes from all over the world. Some were easy to identify: China, Russia, Finland, Japan, India, Holland, Mexico, Spain... But the group was too large to see them all, and John hadn't a clue which countries some of them were representing. He might have tried if his attention hadn't been drawn to something else. "Paul, look! I think that's our ride over there."

It was almost disappointing to discover the car wasn't a pink Cadillac. Paul would have put money on that if someone had started a betting pool. Good thing that never happened, then, because the car next to which Dorothy was talking to a man with bright ginger hair (who was the embodiment of the Edwardian Teddy Boy in his Elephant's Trunk and DA, waistcoat, drainies, and long drape jacket) was a turquoise 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible.

Sat on the boot, with their feet on the backseat, were the girls they'd been told about. Just like him and John, they were dressed in style too. One had her hair up in victory rolls, which went very well with the black halter top and the red skirt she had on - complete with petticoats, of course - whilst the other was sporting a Marilyn Monroe kind of hairstyle with big flowers on one side. Instead of a skirt or dress, she had a yellow, off-the-shoulder top on, and black pedal pushers. Apparently, Dorothy had just said something funny, because all of them were breaking down in peals of laughter.

"Care to let us in on the joke? I'm always up for a laugh," John jested as they joined the small group. So far, it looked like a fun bunch of people.

"There you are, I thought you'd done a runner," Dorothy grinned, motioning for them to come nearer. "Everyone, these are John and Paul. They've agreed to replace Andy and Leonard. Lads, these lovely young ladies are Jen and Val, and this over here is my husband, Victor. He'll be your chauffeur this evening."

They'd barely finished introducing themselves when there was some movement within the masses. Apparently, the parade was about to start. Paul reckoned it was about time to do away with the sunglasses, if only because it was bloody difficult to use eye drops whilst wearing specs, but also because the sun was setting. The skin around his eyes felt a lot better now, and he didn't get any odd looks, so he supposed it looked fairly normal, too. If only his eyes would stop feeling so scratchy...

"Alright, Paul? Eyes still bothering you, are they?"

"Just a bit, John. No permanent damage done, mate. Stop worrying about it," he shrugged, grateful for the subject to be dropped when Victor started the engine. Most of the other vehicles they'd seen were already moving, and the few that weren't were supposed to be somewhere behind them, so Paul waited for John to take his place, and then squeezed himself into the remaining space, on the far left side.

Thank fuck for big American cars, he thought as he moved a bit closer to John. Anything smaller wouldn't have accommodated the four of them and even now he was a bit scared he might fall off. John seemed to be thinking the same because he wrapped his left arm tightly around Paul's waist. When it was their turn to go, Dorothy handed one end of John's oversized rainbow flag to Paul, and the other to Jen who sat at the far right, so it'd billow behind them. Feeling giddy with excitement, and more than a little nervous, Paul nudged his knee into John's. "Here we go then, eh? No going back now!"