“Go to your goddamn room, you witch.” said Sheila’s dad, in a stern voice, sick of his daughter’s liking towards “satanic” music.
Sheila dragged herself to her room, sick and tired of the same routine. She was a free-spirited girl, a crime to be one in the age and place we lived in.
Welcome to the 1980s, an era marred with the US and the Soviets fighting again, Walkman , Watergate, Iran and the greatest era of music, as Sheila would say it.
Sheila belonged to a middle-class Italian Catholic family, where the father is the typical working-class man, working several odd jobs throughout the year, where the mother is a pious god-fearing woman who takes care of the children. Sheila also had a maternal uncle, who usually stays aloof from the family, because he had disobeyed his father, and pursued his dream of being a musician, but failed miserably, only to become a manager of various punk bands.
Oh wait, you must be thinking who I am, my name is Melissa, I am her best friend, after her music collection and uncle who she has never met. I fulfil the stereotype of the unpopular best friend of a popular friend, but I never really cared.
Sheila loved music, it was her safe space, she owned a Walkman gifted to her by me, on her birthday last year. Out of the money she saved, after taking a summer job at McDonalds, she brought her first cassette of the single Sheena is a Punk rocker. In the span of 2 minutes and 50 seconds, and within the 5 dollars she had saved, she found her purpose of life, she wanted to be a punk rocker
“I am tired of my parents not being able to understand what I want in life, I want to sing, I want to accept who I am, and I don’t want to live like a dumb maiden. I want to achieve everything that my mum couldn’t.”
“I don’t think your mother would like that, leave alone your dad.”
A thought strikes Sheila, she stops midway. I notice the look on her face, that look always gets us in trouble.
“Don’t you dare think tha-“
“Too late. I am finding my long last uncle.”
As much as I was against this, I had to give in. If I don’t help her, who will?
Sheila would go through her mother’s old photos, trying to figure out what her uncle looked like, what went wrong. She comes across a photo of her mother’s delivery day, she sees her uncle, father and grandmother in one photo. The face of her uncle sends her back in time, to a relatively bad day, her 5th birthday.
“Look what I have got for my favourite niece.” Said her uncle mark, handing Sheila a big box of dolls.
Sheila’s dad pushed him against the wall and holds him by his collar.
“If I see your degenerate ass around my daughter one more time, I swear to god I’ll chop your Head off”
Sheila is reminded of a sense of discomfort thinking of this incident, a beautiful birthday ruined by her father, toxic, controlling blue collar worker who would shatter anything that would disagree with him, whether it was the thought of Sheila’s mother working as a nurse in the local hospital or the fact that her Uncle was a manager of “ungodly men making ungodly music”, or that Sheila doesn’t want to be the traditional housewife
“Your uncle’s some big shot in New York. He manages a lot of punk bands, I read about him just now.”
“No way!”
Sheila is amazed by what she just heard about him. I gave her the magazine where he was featured, and she couldn’t believe her eyes when she got to know that her uncle managed her favourite band, The Ramones.
Sheila went into deep thought, and that goddamn look came once again.
“Now what?”
“Well, we can travel to his studio tomorrow, we can bunk our school tomorrow.”
“You’ll get me into trouble one day.”
Sheila giggled; she could see her lifelong wish to reunite with her uncle come true. And me? I was just happy with her happiness.
We reached the studio where his uncle worked,
Mark is a young, well dressed fellow whose failures as a musician made him the successful manager he is. He yearns for a sense of belonging, often missing his elder sister and his niece.
“Excuse me sir, someone is here to meet you.” Said his secretary
“Send them in.”
Mark’s mind was in 100 different places, he was looking up and down his itinerary and as soon as he hears footsteps, looks up and freezes.
“Sheila?”
“Hello, Uncle Mark.”
Sheila and Mark run towards each other and embrace each other.
“What will you have little one, treats on me.” Said Mark, as the cool uncle who everyone loves became alive once again.
“No uncle, I am fine.”
“My beautiful niece is here to meet me after 13 years, and I do not do anything. I would be ashamed as an uncle.”
Mark asks his secretary for getting all of us something to eat. I never knew “something to eat meant” 3 pizzas, a bucket of fried chicken, and 2 large cokes.
Over lunch, Sheila told everything about what’s going on, and what she wants to be in life. She told her about her abusive dad, how her mother is the buffer of everything wrong in her family, average grades, boys.
“Hey kiddo, I know your father isn’t the greatest man there is, but he can’t govern you forever. You’ll have to take some decisions on your own, and always remember, Uncle Mark is here for you.”
Mark saw the dejected look on Sheila’s face and went into deep thought.
“Kiddo, you like the Ramones right?”
“Yes, why?”
“Would you like to attend one of their shows.”
“Oh my god , yes.”
With this excitement, she returns home. She is content, and at peace, for the first time in her life.
She enters her house, with a smile on her face, only to see her dad, sitting in his vest after a long day at work.
“Hey sweety, how was school”
“Great”
“Great, she says. Then why in god’s name did your school call us today?”
Sheila remains silent.
“ANSWER!”
“I went to meet Uncle Mark.”
Sheila’s mother came out rushing from the kitchen.
“Mark? How is he?”
“He’s great, he misses you a lot though.”
Her father’s face turns red in rage and proceeds to take her belt out of his jeans.
“DON’T YOU DARE, STRIKE MY BABY AGAIN YOU MONSTER!” screamed Sheila’s mother at the top of his voice.
“You have been torturing my baby and me since the day she was born. Stop it, otherwise you would have to see the worse of everything, I swear it by god!”
Sheila’s mother turns towards Sheila, holding her hand softly.
“You do what you want to do, don’t let anyone control you. Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at.”
The drama in her house became a court room one soon, but that didn’t matter for Sheila, all her mind was at attending the concert.
On the day of the concert, she arrived an hour before the concert started, and by the time everything was set, she could feel she was in a dream. A dream so true, that she did not want to get out of it.
The Ramones played their set energetically, and it was almost time for them to wrap up. Last song, that meant it had to be the best of the set.
“Alright boys and girls, last song of the evening. Who wants to rock and rock roll the hell outta Nixon tonight?” Screamed Joey Ramone, the bard of Punk rock.
Joey chooses Sheila. This was where everything changed.
Sheila decides to play Sheena is a punk rocker, Joey smiles and shakes her hand. Mark spoke to Joey before the concert.
‘Your uncle told me to pretend you are a Ramone.” Whispered Joey
“Pretend? I am a goddamn Ramone.”
Joey smiles, and gets hold of the mic.
“THIS SONG IS CALLED SHEILA IS A PUNK ROCKER!!!!!!!!!”
I know what you are thinking, I didn’t make an error here. The song intended to play was Sheena is a punk rocker, but Sheila sang it with her name. If it weren’t for the great Joey Ramone to share the stage with her, she would have been the Joey Ramone. In the midst of the chaotic concert, where you could see adrenaline-driven performances, a universe was made in that small room, which imploded in the greatness that the era was.
Welcome to the 1980s, an era marred with the US and the Soviets fighting again, Walkman , Watergate, Iran and Sheila being a punk rocker.
Melissa puts her pen down, and closes the draft of story. She is now a famous lawyer, fighting crime in the Southern District of New York’s District Attorney’s office, although she reads quite often about her best friend, missing her every day. Both started their new lives in New York, but one stayed and the other never stopped.
Written by
- Aryan ( Junior Editor, RGNUL Cosmos)
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