The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 5)

Please click here for The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 4)

“Oooh, what a great aeroplane. This A380 First Suite is awesome,” said Martin. “It’s like a huge private jet with lots of passengers. I’ll go to sleep now so that I can start working once we reach London,” he added with a big smile. About 21 hours later, the plane landed safely at the London’s Heathrow Airport. It was a great flight and everybody had a good rest after their adventure on the way to the Melbourne Airport. “I’ll go and discuss about our show at the Royal Albert Hall with the press,” said Martin and he added, “Paul, I’ll take the tube to London and I’ll meet you at your house later,”

Paul drove his friends to his home where his old Uncle Jack was waiting for them. Uncle Jack was their band manager and he had been working on their latest concert as soon as he received Paul’s call from Australia. “I’d say that the best date for the concert should be on the 2nd of July, perhaps,” said Paul’s uncle looking at his diary. “I had a meeting with my old friend who is the manager of the Royal Albert Hall and he suggested the date,” he added. “Then we only have about 2 months to go,”said Paul. He called Martin, “Marty, the concert will be on the 2nd of July at 21:00”.

After his meetings, Martin met them at Paul’s house. “Pretty cosy in here, Paul,” said Martin. “I’ve always like your home. It is really comfortable, with soft sofas and tasty hot drinks”. It was a very beautiful house indeed, and it is not far from London.

The next day they were very busy getting ready for the concert. Paul took out his purple glittering trousers with a matching jacket and a white shirt. Martin pulled out his blue shirt with white sleeves while Eve put out her long and glittering pink dress from her bag. Lin took out her beautiful red dress carefully out her bag while Peter searched for his shining black jacket and black trousers from his bag. They put on their clothes and started practicing. They practiced very hard and wanted to give their best for the concert.

A few days before the concert, the Caltex petrol station cashier arrived safely in England. Paul invited him to his house and to watch their rehearsals. He also invited his old friends, Jalil and Kamal to the concert. They arrived in London after a 10 hours flight from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

A day before the concert, they went to Gordon Ramsay restaurant for a tasty breakfast and off they went to the Royal Albert Hall for their rehearsals. There were fans waiting for them outside the hall and they were very happy to see them. The tickets were already sold out and lots of their fans were sad because there was no more tickets left.

Everybody was very excited about the concert, especially their special guest, the Caltex petrol station cashier from Australia. He sat happily at the VIP seats together with Jalil and Kamal. The Astolf Band’s fans were very excited to see Paul Tonnel, Martin Flangs, Eve Sara, Lin Bastain and Peter Hard singing together again in their glittering, colourful and shining shirts, jackets and dresses. They sang and sang, danced and danced happily as they used to do years before. The crowds were cheering, “More, more!” every time they finished their songs. The fans were all shouting loudly with excitement and Paul’s uncle kept saying, “Bravo! Bravo!” until the end of the concert. It was a marvelous night! Some of their fans even fainted because they were too excited watching the band on stage!

The Caltex petrol station cashier was so proud and happy to be able to watch the concert, he was a good man who liked to help others and never thought to be able to watch a concert by the Astolf Band in London. Paul Tonnel, Martin Flangs, Eve Sara, Lin Bastain and Peter Hard were good friends and they were always nice to their fans and everybody they met. They were very happy to sing together and to see their fans again.

~~ The End ~~

The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 4)

Please click here for, The Astolf Band (Part 3)

After a wonderful barbecue, they all went inside for some tea. Peter asked Paul, “What’s your plan for tomorrow?” Paul answered, “Since everyone is here, we’d better go back to England and start working for our concert. There would be a lot of things to do. We’ll first must make an announcement through the media, then we’ll have to plan for our concert”. “Okay,” said Peter “I’ll go upstairs and book my flight online. Paul shouted at Peter, “Don’t forget that we’ll be flying on the 1:00 am Qantas flight.

Very early the next morning, Martin woke up to a big roar. He went to the window and looked outside. “It is raining!” shouted Martin. He took his umbrella and ran outside. “Woo-hoooo!” shouted Martin excitedly, singing in the rain. Peter, who was in the kitchen, slicing the delicious, freshly made cheese for breakfast wondered what Martin was doing outside. Peter walked out and the happy Martin shouted excitedly, “Ooh! What a wonderful rain! I’ve been waiting to sing in the rain for so long.”

Peter pulled him inside and told him that a storm is coming. Martin had been very busy travelling to the big cities that he really missed singing in the rain like he used to do when ever the Astolf Band members were together in the countryside. “Storm?” asked Martin. He switched on the television to watch the news.

Eve woke up after a lightning struck the ground a thundering thunder roared outside her bedroom. It was very dark. “Blackout?” asked Paul who was using his laptop. He turned it off and went down stairs. Lin was walking out from her room when the lights suddenly went off. She went downstairs and asked, “Is it a blackout or somebody had switched off the electricity?” Martin answered, “A blackout!” while buttering the bread. “Ooh. That smells so good,” said Lin, walking to the dinning table. “Really tasty, you must try it,” said Paul while eating his bread. Peter said, “Home-made butter;  my home-made butter. And also the freshly home-made bread”.

The bad storm was almost gone when they walked out to the car to go to the airport. Martin sat beside the driver seat and asked Peter,”Are you sure that we can catch our flight?” Peter answered, “I hope so”. After they’ve travelled about 6 kilometres, they realised that they were almost out of fuel. Peter stop by at the Caltex petrol station to refill the petrol and soon they were on the way to the airport.

Soon as the car was moving towards the Melbourne Airport, the car suddenly shook. “What’s wrong with the car?” asked Lin. “I think it must be the tyre!” said Peter. “We must have hit something sharp!” They went out to check the tyres. “Wild kangaroos!” shouted Martin. “They are coming our way, run!” They ran and ran and ran until they reached a petrol station nearby. The three wild kangaroos were still behind them. The cashier of the mart at the station saw the kangaroos chasing the friends. The cashier was also a cowboy who was very good at using the lasso.

He took out his lasso with a 10 metre rope, and lassoed the wild kangaroos one by one until he caught all of the kangaroos. They were amazed to see how the cashier lassoed the kangaroos, it was like watching a cowboy film. They thanked him and Martin asked him if he could help them to fix the tyre. “Of course!” said the cashier. They led him to the car and the cashier helped them to replace the tyre. “Thanks! We have something for you for helping us,” said Paul giving the cashier a fifty dollar note, “We would like to invite you to our concert in London. I’ll be sending a ticket for you to go to our concert, together with a plane ticket to London.”

They drove off to the airport  hoping that they would not miss their flight. “We are not very far from the airport now,” said Paul. As they were running inside the Melbourne Airport, they heard an announcement saying that their flight to London was delayed. “Good,” said Peter, “We are very lucky that the flight was delayed, if not we might have missed our flight.” At 3:30 pm, when they boarded the plane to London.

To be continued …

Please click here for The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 5)

The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 3)

Please click here for; The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 2)

“Mmm … Tasty!”  said Martin licking his lips. He put down his tea cup and looked at Lin saying, “The tea is very tasty, Lin”. Lin answered, “Thank you, Marty. So all of you are going to Australia tomorrow morning, right? Can I come along?” “That is a very good idea,” said Eve. She put down her tea cup and said, “You are right, Marty. The tea is very tasty.” Lin went up from her chair and said, “All of you can sleep here tonight. I’ll cook dinner for all of us.” “Lin, do you have the ticket yet?” asked Eve. “No, I’d better book my ticket now,” answered Lin going to her computer to book her ticket.

Early the next morning, the four friends were ready to go to the airport. Lin said to her friends, “We’d better get going. I think it is time to go to the airport.” “Yes! Time to go to Australia to meet our old friend, Peter Hard,” added Paul, smiling happily. Soon, they were in a taxi, on the way to the San Pablo Airport. They rushed inside the airport and checked in their bags. “Vuelo a Australia está listo para despegar!” Lin looked at her friends excitedly and said, “That is our flight to Australia, let’s go!” Soon they were on the aeroplane to Australia to meet their friend.

On the lands of Australia, they rented a car and drove from the airport, past an orchard by a hill, and green fields full of cows. “It is beautiful in Australia,” said Eve. Later they reached Peter Hard’s house. Paul knocked the door and after a while, Peter opened it. Paul asked Peter, “Will you join us to re ….” But before Paul could finish his question, Peter laughed loudly and hugging Paul, Peter said, “Ha ha ha! My old friends. It is really good to see all of you again.”  

Paul was stunned.  The serious Peter was acting so weirdly that made him nervous. Paul cleared his throat and continued his sentence “… vive the Astolf Band?” Peter pulled Paul inside while saying, “Of Course! I love the idea. In fact I really miss the band members. And it is so good to see my old dear friends again.” Peter looked at his friends and said, “This is a big house and I have enough rooms for everybody. You can go apple picking in my orchard while I get things ready for a barbecue dinner tonight.  By the way, there are a few pear trees in the backyard and a few cherry trees near the garage. Bring some big baskets so that we can enjoy lots of the sweet, juicy fruits tonight.”

To Be Continued …

Please click here for, The Astolf Band (Part 4)

The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 2)

*Please click here for The Astolf Band (Part 1)

After the cup of tea, Martin invited Paul and Eve to spend the night at his home. They had an early night because the next morning, they were going to Spain to meet Lin Bastain.

The three friends woke up very early the next morning. They all rushed into Martin’s car. And “Vrroooom!” went the car. The car speeded down the road, they turn left and right and at last they reached the Berlin Schönefeld Airport.

Martin parked his car and they rushed to the departure area, checked in their bags and soon they heard, “Achtung! Flug nach Spanien wird bald fahren!”. “That is our flight to Spain, let’s go!”, said Martin rushing to the departure gate.

In the aeroplane after they buckled their seat belts,  Martin put on the headphone to listen to the music while Paul went to sleep.  Eve looked outside watching the birds flying over the buildings around the airport.

A few hours later, their plane landed safely in Spain. Paul, Eve and Marty took a taxi and they drove past the woods to Lin’s house. At last they reached Lin’s house. Martin went to the small house and knocked the door. The door opened and Martin saw Lin at the door holding a newspaper.

Lin was speechless to see her friends. Martin said, “Oh! Hello Lin”, and he pulled Paul and pushed him to the front door. Paul asked, “Hello Lin, would you like to join us to revive the Astolf Band?” Lin looked at them and said, “Did you came all the way to Spain just for that?” She smiled and said, “Of course, if you all will come inside and have tea with me.”

To be continued…

*Please click here for The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim (Part 3)

The Astolf Band, A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim

After a very successful performance in London, Paul Tonnel had a very nice rest in his home. He was sipping his tea and listening to the music when started to think about the old Astolf Band.

Paul Tonnel was the singer and guitarist of the Astolf Band that used to be a very popular band in the 1980s. Suddenly he thought it would be nice if he could re-group and revive the band as it was in the old times. He went to his computer and searched for the addresses of the original members of the band, Paul Tonnel, Martin Flangs, Eve Sara, Lin Bastain and Peter Hard.

He wanted to contact them and to ask them if they want to revive the band. He read the list and then he realised that they all lived far away from each other. He slid his chair to his other computer and used the internet to book a flight to Germany to meet Martin Flangs. Then he went to his bed and went to sleep.

“RRR-IIII-NGGG,” went the alarm clock. Paul ran to his bathroom and brushed his teeth and started to think what would the others think about the his idea. Than he put it out of his mind and ran to his car.

He drove to the Heathrow Airport. He parked his car and waited for his flight. But an hour later, the flight was delayed for another half an hour. While he waited, he took out his hand phone to book another flight to Spain and later to Australia. Pulling his bag to the departure hall, he saw another Astolf Band member, Eve Sara chased by her fans.

He ran after her and asked her if she would like to revive the Astolf Band. Eve whispered, “I have never thought about it but I will if you help me to get out of this crowd”. So, to get Eve away from the crowd, Paul made a 15 minutes show for the very excited fans. After it was over, he only had just enough time to catch his flight.

He found out that Eve was also going to Germany and they ran together to catch the plane. They were almost late but they reached there before the departure gate was closed. Their fans followed them and later went to look out for their plane and waving as they watched the plane flew high up to the sky.

It Germany, the plane went down safely and when Paul’s phone received the signals from satellite, he called Martin. “Marty, I will reach your house at around 9:00 pm tonight. Bye,” said Paul while rushing to get out of the airport and to get to Martin’s house.

At 9:00 pm sharp, Martin heard a car in front of his house. Martin said to himself, “Das sollte Paul,” which means that should be Paul and rushed to open the door. He rushed outside and almost said, “Willkommen Sie alten Freund”. He lived in Germany for more than 2 years now that he almost speak German to his English friend. He quickly change to English, “Welcome my old friend”.

Paul asked Martin about his idea to revive the Astolf Band. Martin thought for a moment and asked, “Would you like a cup of tea?” Eve said, “Yes please, of course” while going inside the house. Paul shook his head and asked again, “Marty, would you like to revive the Astolf Band?”. Martin smiled and answered, “Sure!”.

To be continued…

*Please click here for The Astolf Band (Part 2)