#kaulo

For a moment, you just stood there, taking the atmosphere in. The road was a kaleidoscope of sights, smells and sounds. Fresh lavender mingled with the earthy smell of mushrooms and the pungent smell of fish tried to rival them both. You usually liked the vibrant energy, but today it made you anxious. The people moved around like ants, but you became invisible in a crowd. Just for a moment.

But then you noticed a woman looking at you. Or better put, you felt her eyes on you: no casual observation, but something warmer and more knowing. She sat on the steps of one of the vardo’s, the wagons that the Romani lived in, the Romani who had decided to settle in places like Portobello Road. She just looked at you, and she kept looking at you. Even when you looked down, embarrassed, she kept on looking, searching, calculating, speculating. “Lost?” she asked you suddenly, when you were just daring to hope she’d left. “No.” You turned on your heel and walked in the other direction. But still, you couldn’t get her out of your head: that piercing stare, the long dark hair, her casual manner in which she’d been sitting on those vardo steps. You looked back, a part of you hoping she’d followed you. But she hadn’t. Shaking your head, you decided to get on with the business at hand. Because what had really brought you to Portobello Road wasn’t beautiful women, but a new coat. For work, you had to look presentable, smart and fancy even, and so you needed a coat to match. The other girls bought their clothes at one of the pristine fashion houses, but you couldn’t afford to, yet. So here you were, looking for a fur coat that would make you look expensive, but was in fact cheap. How very telling.

“Fresh fruit!” one of the vendors called out. He zoned in on you and tried to push some of his apples into your hands, “Apples? Almost as pretty as the lady?” You shook your head and offered him a polite smile, before trying to get away as quickly as you could. Maybe you were lost: all around you were fishmongers, as far as the eye could see. But there she was again. Out of nowhere, she’d popped up again and suddenly she walked alongside you. “Still not lost, little bird?” she inquired casually. You couldn’t place her accent.

You’d never been one for talking a lot. People often saw you as shy, quiet even, unremarkable, which was funny considering your line of work. This time you wanted to talk, to say something clever or interesting, but no words came to you. So, you stopped walking and turned to face her instead. “If you’re looking for clothes, you need to be on the other side,” she said, as she also turned to you, her hands still buried deep into the pockets of her long coat. Her manner was so confident, and a mysterious air hung about her. You could almost taste it. “Maybe I’m not looking for clothes,” you tried. Because somehow you were embarrassed by the fur coat plan now. Embarrassed of what that coat was meant to be, what it represented and, most of all, embarrassed of the fact that this woman could see right through you.

It was like she could read your mind, “Don’t be ashamed of whatever it is you’re looking for. And maybe I can help you.” With that, she took your hand and started tracing some of the lines in your palm.

“No…” you pulled back your palm and suddenly, you had to laugh nervously. You had no idea why you laughed though, but as you did, so did the strange woman. Some of the tension in the air broke at once. “Come on!” she encouraged you with a smile, “Let me tell you your future!” God, she was beautiful. You quickly looked down again, “But I don’t believe in all that…” She didn’t break eye contact and her eyes narrowed as her smile faded, “Perhaps not. But you believe in something, little bird. I can see it in your eyes.” You blushed. And she continued, “And sometimes a little guidance can help us find what we’re looking for.” She carefully took your hand again, “Come, let me look.” With a finger she traced your palm. You had to keep yourself from not giggling. When she noticed, she looked up at your face with an almost mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

Then she proceeded, “This is your heartline, see? It runs deep, all the way across, but there are no breaks. You’ve really never been in love then?” She looked up to check and you were certain you’d now gone completely crimson.

With a slight smirk, she followed another invisible marking on your hand, “This is your headline. It’s curved, look. That means you’re creative. But it’s also broken, which means you go through a lot of mental strain.” When you saw the concern in her eyes, all you wanted to do was leave. She said carefully, “And your lifeline, it’s interrupted…” You hadn’t signed up for this. “Wait,” the fortuneteller said softly, as she sensed you pulling away. “I’m not done. Trust me.” And you let her lull you once again into a perhaps false sense of safety, “Now we come to the most important one: your fate line. Here it is… very faint… no stable career, you could go anywhere? Free as a little bird,” she added, with an almost forced lightness in her voice. You shook your head, trying to banish the dark thoughts her fortune telling had evoked, and tried to mimic her lightness, “Are you done?”

“Well, that depends. What did you think of your future, hmm?” “I think it’s all bullshit,” you laughed, before you could stop yourself. She opened her mouth in mock offence and exclaimed, “In that case, I am done too! With your palm,” she let go of it. “But not with you. My name is Kaulo.”

She locked eyes with you and you tried not to drown in those grey eyes. Now shy again and uncertain of what to do, you started fiddling with your scarf. And as you looked down, you noticed the tattoos on her hands. And you suddenly felt the absolute and overwhelming impulse to touch those hands, to have those hands touch you, to find some kind of excuse like palm reading or whatever it was that would allow you to touch this woman’s hands. But nothing came.

“Alright,” Kaulo smiled, taking a step back and obviously retreating, “I’ll let you get on with finding that fur coat.” But you didn’t want her to go. “So, is this what you do?” you asked, almost brave, “You just flirt with random women on the streets?” “No. Only the pretty ones like you.”

You didn’t believe her, but yet you drank in the compliment like a woman parched.

Kaulo smiled softly, “Come and find me again tomorrow.” It wasn’t a question, but still you nodded in agreement. Then she finally walked away and left you floating there, in the middle of the street.

And you thought to yourself: shit. I am in trouble.

*****

Masterlist

Ghosts = Tommy is haunted by the ghost of Ruby and what happened to Arthur...

Tommy's fate = As most of us expected, the immortal man isn't so immortal. I absolutely love Tommy, but it was simply his time to go and I'm glad that he's finally resting cause his character has been traumatised to hell. I'm glad that he got to go on his own terms tho.

Ada's fate = I was absolutely shocked cause I didn't expect it. I would have never thought that she'd die. And in that manner? My god... It's genuinely upsetting cause she managed to get out from the "darkness" of the Peaky Blinders just to get pulled back in and die cause of it. Heartbreaking.

Arthur's absence = I expected for him to die, knowing that Paul Anderson wouldn't be in the movie due to his drug/alcohol problems. But, once again, the manner of his death is what shocked me. Yet another tragedy of the Shelby family🥲

Duke and Tommy = I didn't feel much emotionally when it came to these two, simply because I don't care for Duke. Their storyline would've been much more meaningful & emotional if Duke was introduced way earlier or if the storyline was given to Charlie/Finn (already established characters and close with Tommy) instead.

Duke's character = Not a fan of Barry Keoghan and I wasn't persuaded by what made him so "cruel." He did kinda grow on me in the 2nd half of the movie tho...

Charlie = We find out that he has no contact with Tommy and it makes Tommy's death even more heartbreaking, knowing that he never got to say goodbye to his baby💔If I heard correctly, I think he was in Africa/America? (Someone in the audience started talking🙄) I think he was in the scene of Tommy's funeral cause an actor was named for Charles' appearance in the credits.

Kaulo = One night of spiritual sex apparently fixes Tommy right up. Ew.

The following characters do not appear and are not mentioned at all: Alfie, Lizzie, Mosley, Linda, Finn.

Soundtrack = Perfection. 10/10.

DETAILS OF DEATHS:

Tommy = Faces Beckett (who is in a car) head on and getting ready to shoot. Beckett shoots him twice before Tommy gets a shot. Tommy remains standing and wants to let the car smash into him but Duke throws him out of the way at the last second. Despite this, Tommy's bleeding out and asks Duke to kill him, which he does.

Ada = Beckett orders Duke to kill her. Duke follows her and tries to do it, but can't. Beckett ends up finding them and shooting her in the head (Duke tries to warn her).

Arthur = Tommy strangled him in a drunken rage in 1938. He is haunted by this throughout the full movie.

Now, a lot of my PB followers are here for the Tommy x Grace content, so this is what was in the movie:

No dreams or ghosts of Grace.

Big portrait in his room seems to be Grace, but I can't be sure as they didn't focus on it at all.

Tommy asks Kaulo to read his palm at one point. She looks at one of his lines and mentions him having his heart broken twice. I saw this as a reference to Greta & Grace.

As Tommy is bleeding out, there are flashes of his life in the space of like 3 seconds. Pretty sure that the majority of them were Grace scenes.

Tommy has a gypsy funeral and narrates a bit of this. He's content to join and rest with his family. As he narrates this, the camera focuses on this picture of Grace with Charlie and then we see a bit of this picture of Grace alone: