A group of young men who decided in the early 1980’s to try and make an impact. And that too for one night only.
You can follow the lives of: The Sultans of Soul here, exclusively on AIM.

by Ravi Mangat
Writer

[Earlier chapters: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14]

Ramesh knocked at Jas’ door. It was a few seconds before it was answered by Maria. Maria rolled her eyes at him. “What do you want to hear? She’s not here. She doesn’t want to talk to you. She doesn’t want to see you”.

“Just one minute…please”, pleaded Ramesh.

“She’s not here”.

Ramesh sighed. “Okay, can you tell her that it was Sanjay. He must have set me up and sent the girl round to try and break us up.

Maria contemplated this for a moment. “But Jas doesn’t want Sanjay either”.

“Yeah but he wants her back. It’s the only reasonable explanation”.

“That and the fact you could be lying”.

“Will you please tell her?”

“When she comes back”, Maria said closing the door.

Ramesh made his way downstairs and outside where the rest of the guys were waiting.

“Well”, asked Raj.

“Her room-mate says she isn’t there…but I tried to tell her”, said Ramesh.

“So…do you want to try plan B?” asked Bernie.

Ramesh nodded.

A few seconds later, Raj, Ramesh, Ashok and Bernie were standing on the pavement outside the flat. They looked up at Jas’s window. Bernie started clicking his fingers and then the others joined in unison. Bernie opened up his vocal chords and started on a rendition of ‘Maybe So, Maybe No’. The others chimed in harmony while doing a few simple dance motions. Bernie’s voice was magnificent, rising like a cry from the street. A couple of windows opened and from one of them, an elderly black woman looked out. She smiled and nodded her head at the tune.

The guys carried on their rendition. From the other window a man peered out and told them to shut up. The old lady looked at him and said, “Leave them alone Herbert…I haven’t heard a tune like this in years”. She looked down on Bernie and smiled. “And I ain’t seen a man like that in a while either”.

As the song came to an end, Maria opened the window. “I told you she isn’t here”.

Ramesh looked disappointed. “Well, where is she”.

Maria smiled and pointed to the front door. Jas opened it and smiled.

The guys gave each other high-fives and Ramesh walked slowly over to Jas.

For the next few nights, the guys worked religiously on their routines. With Bernie’s lead vocals and the Sultans crisp harmonising, they were almost perfect. Perfection was reached when the guys went through their dance routine, step perfect…whilst blindfolded.
Bernie looked on proudly like a father.

Malkit sat at home alone. He looked out over the empty street. Tomorrow was the night of the contest.

Sanjay surveyed the bottom of his pint glass. He looked up with a menace in his eyes. Tomorrow was the night of the contest.

Ashok placed a sealed envelope in a post-box. Tomorrow was the night of the contest.

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This serial is fictional and any similarity with existing groups or individuals is unintentional.
Ravi Mangat is contactable on: rav38man@yahoo.co.uk