The Mello Code

Hal poured us each another cup of tea before making the next call. I learned a piece of trivial information about the SPK agent turned Watari in the process. She told me that she had preferred coffee before settling in England. Since here, she has turned into a tea drinker. She views it, with a little smile, as \'turning native\', though I did assure that we drink coffee here too. She discussed her tea collection, which far outstrips the usual tea horde of, I\'m assuming, the majority of Britons. She has English Tea, Breakfast Tea, Afternoon Tea, Assan Tea, Darjling Tea, Earl Grey and several others, which she alternates between depending upon the time of day. She even has lemon for the Earl Grey. I didn\'t mention that I\'ve got one box of Fair Trade from the Co-Op and that serves whatever time of day. She appeared too proud of herself to be dissuaded like that.



Our next call was to Lamond, whom we quickly learned was at Linda\'s gallery on a laptop and therefore we got two for the price of one. Hal had warned me that Lamond is becoming increasingly difficult to get hold of, emerging with tenuous excuses that were not convincing Watari, when she could be reached. Hal used the contact now to quickly arrange a meeting with Lamond for later in the week. I was not privy to what the meeting was about.



Matti: Hello Lamond and Linda, thank you both for talking to me.



Lamond: It\'s a pleasure.



Linda: Thank your readers for finding questions for us too. I\'m sure we\'re not as fascinating as Mello and Matt.



Matti: I will do that, but on the contrary, there has been a lot of interest in the pair of you.



Linda: In what way?



Lamond: That\'s nice.



Matti: For a start, I\'ve been asked to ask you how you\'re getting on now and what you\'re up to.



Linda: Oh! Right. I\'m preparing for my showing in the New Year. The exhibition will be launched in my gallery, Zeigeist of Knightsbridge, on January 3rd.



Matti: Excellent, I\'ll be sure to advertise that for you amongst my friends. Is there a theme to the exhibition?



Linda: Yes. It\'s entitled \'Piece of Me\' and it explores the media obsession with celebrity. Also it shows how people, however fanatic about the celebrity, do not really want the person themselves. They want a stylised image of them, often being feed by the viewers\' own needs. The celebrity becomes less a human being and more a clothes horse to hang the perception of others onto.



Matti: That\'s really interesting.



Linda: Take Pete as an example. Lovely man, great friend of mine. You get the fans who see him still as a Libertine. He has to take drugs, get arrested, do more stints in Pentonville, just to keep their respect. You ask them who he is and they\'ll tell you that he\'s a wide boy and there\'s nothing more to him. Then you get the other fans, usually women, who see him as a little boy lost. To them, he\'s just a misguided child, all cute and fluffy. But you want to hear some of the stories that Kate and Carl have told me.



Matti: Sorry, can I just clarify? This is Pete Doherty? He\'s a friend of yours?



Linda: I\'ve painted him.



Matti: Nice. So you\'re saying that all of these people are human beings with the range of human emotion and behaviour in them? Therefore people shouldn\'t departmentalise them into categories that might not be entirely true on their own and are subject to change at any given time?



Linda: Yes.



Matti: Thank you, Linda. I will be sure to pass on that message. Lamond, what are you up to?



Lamond: I\'m helping Linda here with the design. I\'ve done her drapes for her.



Linda: Lamond\'s helping me with the publicity.



Matti: Do either of you ever take cases, as detectives?



Linda: Yes, but that is classified information given out on a need to know basis.



Matti: Ok, thank you. I\'ve been asked to find out if either of you play musical instruments.



Linda: Piano. We both play piano, grade 8. I also play guitar, bass guitar, cello and banjo. You\'ve got a guitar as well, haven\'t you, Lamond?



Lamond: I can pick some tunes out of it. I prefer singing. I could have been a singer.



Linda: You have a nice voice. I should ask around to see if anyone would give you some sessions.



Lamond: Start our own band? *laughs*



Linda: Yeah, let\'s go and be rock stars. I\'ll ask Simon to sign us up.



Lamond: I\'ll make us some costumes. Lots of glitter for the stage.



Linda: Oh, no. The fashion now is for fashionably scruffy. You just want an excuse to be in a diva dress.



Lamond: I rarely need an excuse for that. *both women laugh*



Matti: Thank you, Lamond. I have one more question for Linda. Why did you drew Mello and Near for the Japanese police?



Linda: Oh God! I\'m so sick of this question! Ok, let me turn this around for you. If one of your children had gone missing, wouldn\'t the papers, lamp-posts, milk cartons, all kinds of shit be covered in their picture? Mello walked out of Wammy\'s House at fourteen years old and no-one even informed the police. I had watched Near being taken from the House and I had heard nothing about him since. The only reason I knew that Near was alive was because no-one came to take poor Matt. Those were the circumstances. Then Matt walked out of the House on his 18th birthday and everything was up in the air. Poor Deontic didn\'t know where that left her. Roger turned very quickly into an old man under the stress of it all. Then he changed his tune and suddenly it was as if none of us would succeed Near. In the middle of this pressure, in walked real police officers. Don\'t you think that it felt like the right thing to do to give them information? We were raised to work with the police. They were hunting Kira, which was also our reason to be. I saw no reason not to and a lot to reasons to help them.



Matti: Thank you for the clarification, Linda. Thank you both for talking to me today.



I do have to say that Linda was a lot more intimidating than I thought she would be. I think that I expected her to be fair less bitter and a little more light-hearted than she really was. I realise that growing up in those circumstances makes or breaks a person, but even so, her public persona had always seemed a little friendlier to me. Lamond, whose personality I\'d assumed to be stronger, seemed over-shadowed by her friend. They both spoke with that same Estuary accent that I now took to mean that they aren\'t native Britons, though Lamond\'s voice quivered quite a lot, even when she was joking.



Hal was confident that the next conference would be with two people too. She called Chrissie simply because C comes before S in the alphabet, though she stated beforehand that this call would almost certainly include Salvo too. Chrissie did answer. The distortion on her microphone spilled a cacophony of noise, which sounded like feedback, through our speakers. Hal rushed to lower the volume, but Chrissie must have realised what was happening, because suddenly her voice became normal and the background noise became music and a baby crying.



Hal: Is this a good time, Chrissie?



Chrissie: Yes, fine. Sorry about that, I didn\'t realise that the switch was down. One moment please.



Hal: Ok.



Chrissie\'s voice sounded more distant, as she called out, "I\'m turning this racket down! It\'s woken the baby and Hal and I can\'t hear ourselves think." There was obviously some response, but the microphone didn\'t pick it up. We did discern the baby quietening under a series of bass hushes. "Century, you\'ll survive for thirty seconds in the shower without music." The said music was abruptly stopped. I feel like I\'ve failed in my duty to everyone, because I couldn\'t work out who it was.



Chrissie: Apologies for that. We\'ve only just walked in.



Hal: Not a problem. I\'ll hand you over to Matti, who is sitting right here with me.



Matti: Chrissie, thank you for talking to me. The big question for you and Salvo is, have you had the baby?



Chrissie: Indeed I have. Unfortunately for me, I have another male in the house demanding attention.



Matti: On behalf of everyone here, congratulations. Are we able to have a name?



Chrissie: Unfortunately not. We\'d rather not compromise our security. He\'s a fine, healthy, little man. Born 8lbs 9ozs with all his fingers and toes intact. One moment please. You are dripping water all over the carpet! Why can\'t you get dried off in the bathroom like normal people? Hurry up and get dressed, you were on the list to be asked questions. Go!



Salvo: *laughs* That must sound well on the other end of the line.



Chrissie: I don\'t care. I nearly went arse over tit yesterday on the puddles of water that he left on the kitchen floor. What if I\'d been holding the baby? Eh? Apologies again. Go on.



Matti: Thank you for that. We were wondering what you and Salvo are up to these days.



Chrissie: I\'m busy with my law practice. Salvo is building quite a name for himself as a detective. There are people on Watari asking for him personally now.



Matti: That\'s really impressive.



Chrissie: I\'m proud of him. *laughs* He\'s gone all embarrassed now. I should put webcam on. He\'s walking up and down with the baby, looking cute.



Salvo: Me or Tiddler?



Chrissie: I\'ll leave it to you to work out. Ok, Hal, Matti, you can call the baby, Tiddler. That obviously isn\'t his real name.



Matti: That will do for us, thank you, Chrissie. Could I ask you both if you play any musical instruments? I understand that you both play the piano.



Chrissie: Really? How do you know that?



Matti: Sorry, Luigi told me that every Wammy\'s House, erm, student learned the piano to grade 8.



Chrissie: Ah. Yes, all three of us play it, though I haven\'t been on it for years. Century plays quite often. Otherwise, no, I don\'t play any instruments.



Matti: Did you learn any others at Wammy\'s House?



Chrissie: I had a flute once, but I gave that away. I think Lamond had that. Really though, the men are the musical ones in this house.



Matti: Salvo, do you play an instrument?



Salvo: Piano, saxophone, trumpet, alto-sax, bassoon, little bit of tuba, harp, harpiscord.



Chrissie: I rest my case. A lot of instruments make their way into this house and very rarely leave again. Technically the harp isn\'t yours though, is it, Sal?



Salvo: It is now. *laughs* We bought it for Century, but he got bored after a week.



Despite the fact that Century was patently there in the background, I didn\'t speak to him until later. My impressions of Chrissie and Salvo then. The most startling thing about the pair of them is Salvo\'s voice. It booms. He speaks reasonably quietly, but it\'s so deep that you imagine oceans crashing into caves. Both of them spoke in that same received pronunciation, Estuary accent that I was now seeing as a true mark of Wammy\'s House. Chrissie has a brisk manner, but it just makes her sound capable. You feel like you could place your life into Chrissie\'s hands and she would look after it. Very charismatic lady. I honestly couldn\'t imagine her ever being cowed by Mello, despite the stories.



We were told that Century would call us back in five minutes. It was more like three quarters of an hour, during which time Hal spoke to me of her plans for Wammy\'s House. The blueprint is largely the constitution that we already know about, though she also revealed that she is slowly but surely speaking to all of the alumni and teasing out of them information for more subtle changes. For example, Deontic told her that the decor of Wammy\'s House made it feel like an institution. Hal has involved the children in redesigning the look of each room. Their art classes currently consist of groups of young geniuses working out how to use space and colour to create rooms that are friendly to live and learn in. She has also been encouraging the alumni to return for visits, both to help them consider the house as a sanctuary and to let the children know that they won\'t be abandoned at eighteen. Though the idea is for them all to see each other as family, it also has the extended effect of consolidating ties between the alumni and the Watari Network. That venture has met with limited success. While Deontic, Lamond and Linda are frequent visitors to Wammy\'s House, and Mello and Matt are infrequent, none of the others have returned since the meeting to rewrite the resolution of the House.



Eventually, a large C appeared on the laptop in front of us. I managed not to shriek at the sudden noise, nor the thrill of having a letter indirectly call me, while Hal responded to it. Century is one of the few Wammy\'s House alumni to not speak with Roger\'s accent. Though he was orphaned, and moved to the House, at eight years old, he still speaks as if he never left the Llŷn Peninsula of North-West Wales. The youngest of the fourth generation of the Wammy\'s House intake, he was still only seventeen at the time of our discussion and therefore should have been still living at the House.



Matti: Prynhawn da, Century. Sut wyt ti?



Century: ...



Matti: Mae dw...



Century: Nac! Da iawn, diolch. Ichi?



Matti: Iawn, diolch. Century, thank you for talking to us today. My first question for you involves the comment that you made in the Welsh language, to Salvo, during the meeting at Wammy\'s House. I have been asked for a translation.



Century: I can\'t remember what I said.



Chrissie: (background) This should be interesting.



Matti: I believe that you said: Cymraeg fi dim gwerth rhech dafad? Cer i grafu, twll tin.



Century: *laughs*



Salvo: (background) When did he say it to me? The meeting? What had I said?



Matti: I believe it was in the context of whether or not Century spoke English before he entered Wammy\'s House. Would you care to translate that Century?



Century: Rydych i siarad Cymraeg...



Matti: I\'m not being asked the question.



Century: *laughs* I said, \'the Welsh language has no worth? Fuck off, you arsehole.\'



Matti: Diolch, Century. I had two questions, from different people, which seem to me to link together. One asked how you are continuing your education, as you don\'t live in Wammy\'s House? The other asked how you\'re getting on and what you\'re up to these days?



Century: No comment.



Chrissie: *slight bustling sound and her voice sounded louder, as if she was now beside Century* Hello, it\'s Chrissie again. Item 7 of the Resolution states quite clearly that all wards of Watari must be raised in a way that is satisfactory to Watari, the Board and the child, regardless of their current location. As Century is a ward of Watari, his activities and education are still subject to the items in the rest of the Resolution, though overseen by myself and Salvo, on behalf of Watari. I can confirm that his welfare is paramount and that his education continues unhindered.



Hal: *sigh*



Matti: So yourself and Salvo are teaching him?



Chrissie: His education continues unabated within the framework of Resolution, with particular reference to item 25.



I did try to gain more information, but it was very clear that the situation of Century is a bit of a political hot potato within the Watari Network. I figured that this is a minefield best left to much finer minds than mine and, to be frank, I didn\'t want to take on three geniuses, with Hal looking scary next to me. Apologies if this didn\'t quite answer either of the questions submitted. I am guessing that once he is eighteen years old, the question could be asked again with far better results.



Matti: O\'r gorau, diolch, Century. May I ask if you play any instruments?



Century: Piano and guitar.



Matti: Regularly? I understand from Luigi that you all had to learn to play piano. Chrissie has stated that you play it quite often still. How about the guitar?



Century: *laughs* That\'s a lot of people giving information out about me. Yes, I do play piano most days. Guitar less. What? *laughs* Ach! Salvo is holding up my harp. I have a harp.



Matti: I\'m assuming that you don\'t play that very often.



Century: Not really. I did try, but it hurts your fingers. *live harp music sounds in the background* Salvo is playing you a tune, can you hear him?



Salvo\'s harp playing sounded very smooth. He was certainly more proficient in using the instrument than I had imagined from its casual mention earlier on. As for Century, at the risk of sounding like a stuck record, my impression of him was of a very likeable person too. In fact, I didn\'t instantly dislike any of the Wammy\'s. Many of them did not convey their personalities very well and there was a tendency towards professionalism with all of them. I did feel, though, that Chrissie, Salvo and Century\'s home was reasonably relaxed. They certainly appeared comfortable in each other\'s company and I wondered silently if that meant that they had side-stepped some of the psychological and emotional problems, which seem to have beset many of their peers.



End of part two. More to come when I\'ve transcribed the interviews!