Dave's Anatomy: My History As a Writer, #50: "Bambukos"

Nostalgia is everybody's oyster. We all love to open it up and taste it and will go to considerable expense to get it. We got to old places:  the school where so many memories lodge; the old neighborhood and the house in which we grew up; or, remembering an old girlfriend like the narrator of the song Del Shannon wrote for Peter and Gordon,"I go to places we used to go / But I know she'll never show." Nostalgia claims all of us, but being nostalgic has to do with being human. We remember and we compare the past with the future. We learn about ourselves by looking at what we were in a certain place at a certain time and comparing that with what we are now and how, in the same place once more, we fit or don't fit into what we were back then.

My story "Bambukos" is just about this. It was the first story about my ongoing character, Sossity Chandler, I had written in a long time, and it related to the experience of going back to where you had once been and reliving memories. Years earlier, when Sossity drove from town to town playing one night stands, barely making enough money to get by, despairing that success had eluded her for so many years, she pulls in a rust-belt town in Ohio to play a gig for $100.00 at a downtown bar called Bambukos.

Things are bad. The heartbreaking tragedy of the last decade of the Twentieth Century had affected the town:  industry had moved out, people had left, storefronts were boarded up, and the town seemed to be dying. Sossity pulls in and goes into the bar. She meets the owner, who gives her a free meal and tells her a little bit about how bad things are there. And he hits on her—a thing she is so used to that she doesn't get angry (it's all in a day's work, she thinks). When she goes out to start her car, it won't start. The owner of the bar, Howard Jodry calls a customer out who says it sounds like her alternator is gone and says it will probably cost her $200.00. Sossity almost cries. She can't afford a car repair payment. She has the money, on her but the expense will clean her out and she does not like to be without at least a little cash to fall back on.

She plays the show and, as often occurs, something magic happens. She wants to begin with a rousing number, but one look at the crowd tells her the people in the town are hurting because of the economic downturn. They seem weary and hopeless. Rather than her usual rollicking opening piece, she performs the old Dire Straits song, "Why Worry?" It hits home. People appreciate it. Couples hold hands and snuggle up. Some people weep. She goes on to gear the show to meet the emotional needs of the crowd. Even though they are strapped for money, they give tips and ask Jodry if Sossity can play another show tomorrow tonight. She agrees. Jodry also tells her that he has arranged for her car to be towed and fixed by a man who looked at it, who "drinks a bit" and owes him money. He offers to pay for the repairs. This exchange takes place: 

I don’t think I want to you do that, Howard. I’ve got the money. I’ll settle up.” 

"I’m throwing it in as bonus—part of your pay for playing. You really hit it with my   crowd—a lot of my regulars—and we’re looking for an even bigger crowd tonight. People stayed and they bought drinks and even more people will be here tomorrow. So I’m making money off of this.” 

“I think you know why I don’t want you doing me a lot of expensive favors.”

“You think I’ll expect you to return them?” 

"Something like that.” 

"That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

“Exactly? What do you have in mind?”

He tells her she is pretty and he would like to sleep with her, but assures her that is not part of the packet. Sossity plays the second show. The place is packed to capacity and the result is the same. People thank her and say her singing comforted them and gave them hope. She makes more tips. Her car is fixed. In the end, because he is open and attractive, she does end up staying with Jodry. Then she goes back on the road.

Sossity thinks about this twelve years later as she, now a superstar, prepares to play a gig in the city, which has recovered economically. She asks  if there is still a bar in town called Bambukos. There is,  but it's not a bar, it's one of the most exclusive nightclubs in the area. She goes to visit and finds a casino-like, opulent. building. And Howard Jodry still owns it. She also gets an email that a group of people who remember her performance from 12 years ago would like to see her at Bambukos.

Sossity Chandler

The people thank her and tell her she gave them hope and a gleam of happiness when they were so down and out. And they have had a guitar made for her. She enjoys talking and visiting with them. The only one who seemed uncomfortable is Jodry. She later finds out he is running for mayor and is afraid of her talking about their one-time liaison. He is also remarried and doesn't want his new wife find out he and Sossity were sexually intimate so many years ago. She smiles and agrees not to tell. And, for the assembled crowd, she once again does "Why Worry?"

The story touches on how the past shapes the present, but the present reinterprets and clarifies the past.  It also is about the magic music can give. People listen to music for entertainment, but also for hope, for comfort, for assurance there is beauty and justice—at least a little bit—in life and the music's charm it is an expression of this. And of magic.

"Bambukos: was published by Amarillo Bay and is still available on line. Read it here. I say this too much, but it is a very good story and worth the read. An early story, it still has the power of a new writer exploring.

Le Cafe de la Mort tells the story of Angela, who is the Angel of Death, anguished over her role as the one who killed the firstborn of Egypt. And she is in love with a mortal. When she is confined to Gehenna for violating angelic law only her mortal boyfriend can free her. It's formidable task. Get a copy for some great reading.

I would love to hear your comments.

For more titles, see my Writer's Page.