​

 

 

 

 

Sammy

- 1-

 

Sammy led the committee.  He was in charge. Sammy was in charge because people wanted him to be.  That is what trust dictates.  Sammy was a natural leader and all the neighbourhood knew that.  Of course, this realisation did not come overnight.  Sammy had been a resident in the same house, in the same street for many years.

 

Sammy was now retired but he used the skills he had achieved in his career to help the community.  And now, of all times, the community needed to work together; work together in celebration.  There are not always times when people can celebrate – one family has a christening, another a funeral.  This year however, everyone had something to celebrate.  A thing that would unite all of them.

 

The street held a diversity of characters.  Some neighbours had lived there for years, in the same houses that their parents, grandparents had lived.  Some neighbours had recently arrived; arrived with their refurbishments and modern appliances.  These were the neighbours who no longer had coal sheds at the back.  Even the old timers did not have outdoor toilets anymore.  The world, as always, was changing and so was the street. 

 

When there is a neighbourhood there are petty differences, squabbles and face to face confrontation.  Proximity breeds contempt.  They had to put aside all differences and unite – and only one person could achieve this, the one person in the street that everyone looked up to, everyone admired, but more importantly, everyone liked.

 

His name was Sammy.

 

*

**

 

It was to be a street party.  A celebration.  It was to be a special event.  A unification.

 

There was so much to organise – tea, cakes, juices, cordials, music, costumes and bunting – lots and lots of bunting.  Every house was to be adorned.  The union flag to be flying.

 

Bunting.

 

It was 1977.

 

It was the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.

 

The nation would celebrate.  Everyone, in every street throughout the land, in every city, every village and every hamlet.   And so, would everyone in Leicester.  And so, would everyone in Laburnum Close, in Birch Street – everyone on the whole Tree estate in Leicester.  And so, would everyone in Oak Drive - Sammy’s Street. 

 

Sammy was the man everyone turned to.

 

It wasn’t just the fact that Sammy was a local councillor and former mayor that made him the man he was.  It was his inert qualities that led to him achieving these positions.  Few people in life do not need to prove themselves.  Neighbours never questioned Sammy.  He had nothing to prove.

 

To the ones with the refurbishments and modern appliances it was what they had always known of him, his reputation preceded him.

 

To the ones with the coal sheds he was the one to whom they could not always return the gaze although Sammy always looked them in the eye.  Proud.  They were not always proud of their actions.

 

*

**

 

Tilly threw up after eating too much candyfloss.  Her pink, party dress was spoiled and, after a quick change, she emerged with leggings and a t-shirt.  She was much more comfortable so she ran around more eagerly.  She ran and ran.  She threw up again. Tilly was the only child at the party that was wearing pyjamas.  Tilly couldn’t care less and, by that time, nobody else did either.  By that time everyone was too relaxed, or too drunk to care.

 

So, the party was a success when everyone eventually went home.

 

The neighbours all went to their respective homes, content after a happy day; a day of unification.

 

The neighbours all went to their homes and so did Sammy – to the home he had lived in for 41 years since he had arrived.

 

Sammy had always admired the royals and there were pictures of the Queen throughout his house; not just for this special occasion.

 

Sammy was proud – proud of his damaged house.

 

*

**

 

Sammy

- 2 -

​

 

It was as if they hadn’t even stepped through the door when it started.

 

Sammy was 23.  He had recently arrived in Britain.

 

Great Britain.

 

It wasn’t so great an arrival.

 

The family had delayed the move until Sammy had finished his studies so it meant that they could not afford the house that their cousin had arranged for them.  So, they inhabited a house – but it was a house that was suffice for their needs.  So, it became their home.

 

Oak Drive.

 

It was the house that Sammy still lived in; the house he had lived in for 41 years.  His parents and sister had passed.  Sammy was now the sole occupant.

 

*

**

 

It was a damaged house.  Sammy left it deliberately so – so he could remember the damage and the damage it had caused.

 

To him – and to his family.

 

*

**

 

Sammy worked hard - long hours.  It was expected of him and what he expected of himself.  He knew the expectations.  Junior doctors knew their place.

 

*

**

 

Sammy’s family had been there two days when the first message came.  Good wishes?

 

Wishing that they would go home.

 

After that the messages got more aggressive.  The message was simple:

 

Go home.

 

But Sammy and his family were already home.

 

In Oak Drive.

 

*

**

​

Sammy became a fully trained doctor.  Dedication and caring for people were his traits. Sammy cared for his family.  His job and life were all about caring and he developed skills he would use in later life.  The NHS, his employer strived to give something back.  Sammy only cared about giving.

 

The shop his father ran with his cousin was ticking over reasonably.  Then supermarkets came.  Then the abuse came.

 

A brick, a broken window, a repaired window.

 

Another brick, another broken window, another repaired window.

 

Another brick, another broken window, another repaired window.

 

And so, it continued …

 

*

**

​

One evening there was a delivery through their letterbox.

 

It was shit.

 

They thought it could not get any worse.

 

It did.

 

The next delivery was petrol.

 

*

**

​

No-one was hurt.  No-one was damaged.

 

Everyone was damaged – Sammy, his parents and his sister.

 

But mainly the hallway.

 

Sammy’s father refused to have it repaired.  It was a reminder.

 

When his parents and his sister passed Sammy was the sole occupant.  He too left the burn marks in the hallway.  He too did not replace the scorched carpet.  It was a perverse memorial to his father and to what had transpired.  When people visited, they went to speak, to comment on the state of the house – but they did not.

 

Some things are better left unsaid, because some things speak for themselves.

 

So, it was never spoken of.

​

*

**

​

Sammy

- 3 -

​

 

Gilbert was in a stupor.  He had watched the coronation on television in 1952.  He was considered an old man then and now he was the oldest resident in Oak Drive.  So, he was always made a fuss of.  Gilbert loved the attention.  He always had – on a day like today, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, he felt like the King of the Road.  Everyone fussed and fretted over him.  Age commands respect.  That is what society tells us and so the residents acted accordingly; they fussed and fretted over Gilbert.  However, it was a thin veneer – they could not really respect him.

 

Gilbert was of the generation that believed age earned respect without doing anything to earn it, accept keep alive.  Therefore, Gilbert believed what he said mattered and should be listened to – no matter what he said.

 

So, the neighbours listened, but listening is not agreeing.  Gilbert could not see the difference.  Gilbert believed that a man of age was entitled to his opinions.  He was.  It was just that Gilbert’s opinions were not that of others and respect has to be mutual.  Gilbert did not respect the views of others.  Elders did not have to respect youth.  In his mind.  Gilbert just assumed that he had a right to air his views – even if they were not right.

 

So, people did not respect Gilbert, they tolerated him; they fussed and fretted.  Deep down he knew it.  Deep down Gilbert resented it and deep down he resented the one they did respect.

 

Sammy.

 

*

**

 

Gilbert was in a stupor – a drunken one.  It was the end of the day.  A silver day celebrating the Queen and celebrating being British.

 

Everyone was tired but still joyous as the trestle tables were dismounted.

 

Martin and Sally, who were the most recent residents to move into Oak Drive, helped out.  Martin proposed one more toast – to the Queen and to Sammy for organising such a wonderful day.

 

Everyone cheered.

 

Except one.

 

Gilbert.

 

“Fuck off you Paki”

 

Nobody fussed or fretted after that.

 

*

**

 

Sammy

- 4 -

​

 

Samir Khan was not from Pakistan.  He was from India.  His name was given with love.

 

It meant Entertaining Companion.

 

*

**

 

Sammy had achieved much in his life.

 

From Paki to Pillar …

​

​