“Mum…its me, Dix.”
“Dixie baby….why haven’t you called before now, your father and I have been worried sick. You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady. Your father wants to speak to you.”-Dixie held the phone away from her ear, wincing as her Mother rattled off a few more, things, that she really didn’t want to know.”Aunt Clarice had to go to hospital last week, and your father and I have been taking care of your Uncle, and helping out with their kids. Now, your father called the Art School in Paris, and they told us that you never showed. Your father has been frantic trying to get a hold of you. If you are wasting our money on French clothes and fancy food, instead of doing your studies, like we agreed…wait…here is your father.”Dixie braced herself, and then looked to the sky, praying someone would send down a lightning bolt, and destroy her then and there, rather than have to deal with Father. She could hear the heavy footsteps on the floor boards of the old pub and her mother begging him to go easy. He snatched the phone from his wife, and bellowed down the phone.”DIXIE CHIX…YOUR MOTHER AND I HAVE BEEN WORRIED SICK. THE HEAD OF THE SCHOOL WE SENT YOU TO IN PARIS SAID YOU NEVER ARRIVED. WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? WE DIDN’T PAY FOR THIS TRIP TO FRANCE AND YOUR ART CAREER, ONLY TO HAVE YOU TAKE OFF. YOU ARE TO GO TO THE NEAREST EMBASSY AND GET A FLIGHT HOME….DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!”
You could tell in his voice, that he was deadly serious. Dixie trembled as she held the phone, trying to get a word in between his rants. As passers by, could actually hear the loud shouting on the phone as she held it, Dixie cowered, and bowed her head, leaning it against the telephone booth. She reached up and drew a love heart with her finger nail, as her father continued to rage.
“WE THOUGHT THIS WAS BEST FOR YOU, AFTER THAT CAR ACCIDENT. THOUGHT GETTING YOU TO GO STUDY OVERSEAS WOULD BE GOOD THERAPY, BUT DAMN GIRL, YOU CAN’T EVEN TURN UP FOR CLASSES? YOU SHOULD SEE YOUR POOR MOTHER, WASTING AWAY HERE, WAITING FOR YOU TO CALL. DID YOU CALL? NO, YOU JUST SKYLARKING OVER THERE, LIKE YOU DID WITH YOU AND THOSE FRIENDS OF YOURS. IT COULD HAVE BEEN YOU IN THAT CAR!! YOU HAVE A LIFE, AND YOUR THROWING IT AWAY. SO NOW YOU CAN COME HOME, AND WORK FOR US, AND RUN THE PUB, CAUSE I AM GETTING TOO DAMN OLD!”
Something inside of Dixie snapped, as her father spoke of the car accident, in which five of her friends died. They were all heading to a party, when they stopped to get food and fill up fuel at the service station. Dixie had gone to the toilets, but when she came back out, the car had left without her. She was running after the car, seeing it head up the street, when suddenly it went through a red light, and was ploughed through by a garbage truck. It was suppose to be the night of her life. It was the end of school. Five young people, five close friends, including Dixie’s boyfriend….Travis. How could they forget her? Was it the alcohol that made them drive off, without realising where Dixie was?…..She seemed older, then…but she had just turned seventeen….Travis was an older boy….It was going to be her first time…
“NOOOOOOO!” Dixie ran for the car, she could see them, Travis had gone head first through the front of the windscreen, his body lifeless on the road. Her three girlfriends, in the back, and her boyfriend’s best mate, John in the front……all dead. Sirens could be heard, people running past her, nearly knocking her over, as she just became a witness, in this tragedy.
The policeman who questioned her, kept on speaking words, but she could no longer understand, all was blur, as the news crews arrived, and the fire brigade placed plastic tarps over the car and the body on the road.
“You’re so lucky, Dixie. You could have been in that car.” -Her mother had said, coming to get her from the scene. The days after, the funerals, the weeks, the months, the years. All passed by so fast, and Dixie couldn’t seem to let go of that night. Her only solace came from her art. Walls covered in drawings, sketches, of the people she lost that night. Her mother showed one to a friend, who owned a gallery, and it was suggested, Dixie go to Paris, and learn from the Masters. Her parents, just wanted her to snap out of it. They wanted their daughter back. If this would help her….then they were willing to pay. And they did.
But it was suppose to be…the night of her life. Her dreams rarely let her escape, what she left behind. Tattered and torn at the edges. From drawing, to turning her body into a canvas. Forever haunted, it seemed, by that one night, in her life…..
It was a party night, it was the end of school
He’s head was feelin’ light, the first time
She seemed much older then, she had turned seventeen
And she knew some older men, the first time
Come said the boy, let’s go down to the sand
Let’s do what we wanna do, let me be a man for you
Oh-woh-woh-oh, oh-woh-woh-oh
Oh-woh-woh-oh, oh-woh-woh
And she said
Well I’ve been waitin’ for a long time
And you’ve changed a lot
Up till now it’s been the wrong time
To know whether to come here or not
Oh, now come with me boy, just take my hand
I’ll let you see what you wanna see
Come on, be a man for me
Hoh-oh-oh, we’ve both been waitin’ for a long time
We’ve both changed a lot
Up till now it seemed the wrong time
To know whether to come here or not
Oh, but come said the boy, let’s go down on the sand
Let’s do what we wanna do, let me be a man for you
Just say come with me boy, just take my hand
I’ll let you see what you wanna see
Come on be my man for me
Oh-woh-woh-oh, oh-woh-woh-oh
Oh-woh-woh-oh, oh-woh-woh
It was a party night (oh-woh-woh-oh)
It was the end of school (oh-woh-woh-oh)
Dixie’s father was still screaming down on the phone, demanding she come home, with Dixie’s head spinning. Screams….screams. Dixie squeezed her eyes tight, as she remembered each of her friends, in particular Travis, her first crush…his last time with her, he promised that he would be her first. She promised she would be his forever….Tears welled in her eyes, and she finally blurted into the phone.
“I’m never coming back.”
You could see the young Australian walking away from the phone booth, the receiver hanging, her father still screaming, as her mother fought for the phone on the other side of the world. Had they just lost their daughter forever?
