An auto-fictography by Billy Marshall Stoneking
An excerpt

Welcome Back to the Magic Kingdom

Coming out of the transit corridor into the crowded, smoke-filled baggage
collection area at Los Angeles International Airport, Chris took one look at
all the black faces and in his best, loudest and blackest American
accent exclaimed: “Awright! Can you dig it!”

Three hundred pairs of eyes snapped to attention, focused on one blond eleven-
year-old and his speechless father.

“Say what!?”

I clapped my hand over Chris’ mouth. “not here,” I said, squeezing the words
between clenched teeth. “Not here!”

Chris and Annie and I used to entertain one another some eveings when we were
living in Papunya by bunging on silly voices and pretending to be
other people. We made it up as we went along. Baby voices, black voices,
hillbillies, Englishmen, whatever, improvising little dramas – the
sort of thing families do when there’s no radio, tv, video or computer.
Chris thought it was great fun, especially when he got to play the part of
the father.

...............................

Sometimes we’d assume completely different characters, such as Mexican bandits,
or southern rednecks, but the one Chris liked best – the one that
all the Aboriginal people in Papunya loved hearing – was my impression
of a black American voice. “A cool cat,” as the Aboriginal boys
called it.

“We want cool cat, we want cool cat,” they’d chant, bunched up outside the
screen door, peering into the air-conditioned darkness, waiting expectantly
for me to burst into jive talk.

Chris liked it so much he could imitate everything I said, and by the time we
arrived in America was speaking fluent cool cat, as were most of the
Aboriginal kids in Papunya.

Paul Bruno Tjampitjinpa used to wear sunglasses and snap his fingers as he
shuffled round the settlement, “Hey man,” he’d say, peering at me over the rims
of his imitation Ray-Bans, “Dig me!”



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