Metete En El Carro, Chamo!*

Tags

Caracas, cascaras, Cedula Id card, cowbell post, De Sousa, disambiguation, Eguie Castrillo, hip-hop, jam blocks, Maiquetia airport, One Direction, Sabian cymbal, Salsa, snare drum, Stars and Stripes, timbales, timpani, Tito Puente, Tower of David, windsurfer

(* get in the car, my friend!)

The secretary at Bunbury, Quincunx and Quatrefoil had typed a label

and was sticking it on an envelope.  It read:

Hugo de Sousa

19 Chavez Road

Ciudad Zamora…

As her brother was a keen windsurfer, she had read some

of his magazines and thought she recognised the name.

However, she rationalised that it must be a case for

disambiguation.  De Sousa was a fairly common name.  There

was a Portuguese footballer so-named and a bandmaster who

had written The Stars and Stripes and so, this must be yet another

of the tribe.

But, Dear Reader, you remember who Hugo is, don’t you?

Yes, he is/was the blood nephew of Great-Aunt Augusta,

whereas Gus was only an adopted nephew.

Snod had supplied the address, glad that Hugo had sent him

new contact details after his eviction from The Tower of David,

some months previously.  The squatter had been able to rescue

his timbales, cowbell post and other percussive instruments,

without any of them sustaining damage.  He would put the tools

of his trade in storage, as Mr Poskett had written to assure

him that the school had plenty of timpani and snare drums.

Hugo was to receive the largest portion from Great Aunt Augusta’s

will. Gus had paved the way for him to come over to St Birinus’ in order

to take up a temporary teaching post.  The school would sponsor him,

but Gus would stand guarantor.  Virginia, from the School Office, had

spent quite a bit of time researching work visas, restrictive foreign

exchange currency controls and Cedula ID cards.  She was becoming

familiar with the girl on the end of the phone at The British Embassy,

Caracas. She received advice to the effect that Hugo should not take

more than 10,000 dollars out of the country, unless he declared it to

customs officials.  He would need to remain calm as his flights may be

cancelled at short notice, or the price might increase rapidly.  He should

pay for his flights in pounds sterling- the school would help with this-

and he should be discreet lest someone find out that he was going to

inherit some money.  Kidnapping was a serious hazard.  An armoured

car was the recommended transportation to Maiquetia Airport.

Until 1983, a child born to a British mother and a foreign father outside

the UK, had no claim to British citizenship.  But, if Hugo registered and

paid £540, things might be arranged, eventually.  Actually, the

extortionate admin. fee had been abolished, as of 2010, Virginia was

told subsequently.  She now understood it to be £80.

The Willoughby twins, Castor and Pollux, were becoming excited.  They

had been listening to Eguie Castrillo and Tito Puente, when most of the

rest of the class had been listening to One Direction.  A new percussion

teacher was good news.  They were keen to learn some Salsa, whereas

the other boys thought that was something to pour over salad.  They

unwrapped their hickory timbale sticks, took out their mambo bells,

Sabian cymbals and cascaras and plagued their parents for jam blocks

and mounted tambourines.

Hugo and hip-hop were going to receive a wonderful welcome.

The Ring- and nothing but the Ring!

Tags

chavista, Daza, El Nino, fusion music, Jungian Archetype, Rudy Regaldo, signet ring, timbales, Tower of David, Venezuela, wyvern

Floor 29

The Tower of David

Caracas

Venezuela

Dear Augustus,

I send you this ring on the deathbed instruction of our mother, Berenice

Snodbury, who sadly passed away just before Christmas.

Yes, I use the possessive ‘our’ because we are half brothers.

Do not be shocked.  I want nothing from you, but only seek to honour

a dying woman’s request.

Berenice had spoken to me of her guilt at leaving you behind at St Birinus’

boarding school at so tender an age.  She had no future in the relationship

with your father and so she followed her dreams and disappeared to

Venezuela, knowing that her sister, Augusta, was looking after your welfare.

She lived a full life here and was happy with my father, a fusion musician

and chavista called Vasco de Sousa, who sadly died in 2012.

I too am musical and teach drums and timbales and make music in the style of

the baseball infielder, Rudy Regalado, but, as you may be aware, the economy

has not been kind to us in recent years and I was forced to move in to the

Tower, under the protection of a so-called born-again Christian, El Nino.  The

Torre is a symbol of all our broken dreams.  As Daza said: God got rid of those

he wanted to get rid of and left those He wanted to leave.

So, there is very little likelihood that we shall be able to meet, dear brother.

The ring is of importance to you alone and the crest should give you a clue as

to your parentage.  Wear it with pride, dear brother, and be assured that you

were never forgotten.  I can only hope that the school still knows of your

whereabouts.

Hugo De Sousa.

The Wyvern!  Snod was affected by the symbol as if it was a Jungian

archetype.

He remembered visiting a gentleman, taken by that shadowy figure who was

his mother.  The man used to place him onto his knee and gave him chocolate,

when Gus was little more than a toddler.  He used to go on a train and then

his mother took a taxi to a grand country house on an estate.

He must Google ‘Wyvern‘ to see what he could discover.

A half brother in Venezuela!  He supposed that the letter writer must be

genuine, or he would never have sent him the ring.  Or would he?

Perhaps this was an international scam.

He should visit Aunt Augusta.  She must know something about this.  And,

though he felt little emotion at the announcement of the death of his mother,

he felt that his aged relative should be appraised of her sister’s demise,

though, as far as he knew, Augusta thought Berenice had died decades ago!