The Joiners.
by
Angharad.

At fourteen years of age, the puberty fairy, had yet to visit Cary Carpenter. His voice was on the lower edge of treble and he liked to sing, mostly to himself, but he also liked to sing along with tracks on the hi-fi or radio. He liked music as did his Mum and sister, Tara. His dad didn't seem as interested but then, his dad was an architect and seemed to spend more time with his computer or renovating the house, than he did with his family. However, the family livid reasonably well, in a an old Georgian farmhouse which still had a few acres of ground around it on the outskirts of a large town in middle England.

The house's legacy of outbuildings and stables, left over from its days as an active farmhouse meant that storage wasn't a problem and while Tara had once had a pony, the outbuildings were now home to various bicycles and Tara's moped, their dad's model train layout, and bits of the house which were either in the process of renovation or awaiting disposal. It also held Cary's drum set, though he hadn't played it much lately.

The town was only a couple of miles away, but the Carpenter parents felt it was a more healthy environment to raise their offspring in the countryside, but not remote countryside and the children as they grew up were able to cycle or walk to see their friends, usually wearing the most up to date visibility aids, including not just fluorescent jackets but also flashing ones, and while their friends thought they were outlandish verging on bizarre, but after Tara was nearly killed by a white van man, the children decided it was better to be alive and laughed at than dead and cried over.

Tara was sixteen nearly seventeen and like most young women was into clothes and boys, she was like her mum, a bean pole with breasts and her long thick hair and pretty face brought her plenty of the attention from testosterone fuelled adolescents to keep her happy.

Cary, like his sister, was a shorter bean pole, but without the boobs, and he too had thick, dark brown hair which both his parents also had. He also kept it longer than was the current trend, but just because he liked it longer or disliked the pudding basin cuts which seemed to be the vogue. It reminded him of soldiers from the Anglo-French wars in the sixteenth century. The hair fashion was changing a little, but for boys that meant it was shaved on the sides and back with just a patch on the top left longer. It was like something from the First World War and he despised it as much as he did the other styles. His was centrally parted and reached his collar almost to his shoulders. Thankfully, despite his delicate features and long hair, no one thought him effeminate and he managed to survive so far in school, by being patronised by older boys who were trying to date his sister or those who had, so the bullies and thugs were kept away.

He rode his bike to school, a clunker his dad had built for him from an old frame he got from the rubbish tip and some wheels he had in the shed. Essentially it was a hybrid, with touring wheels and MTB gearing, which meant Cary could ride up any of the local hills with moderate ease and he enjoyed riding his bike with a couple of his friends at weekends.

It was during one such weekend that our story begins. Cary had ridden to Colm Copperthwaite's though the unforecast rain meant they didn't actually do their proposed ride. Instead they sat about with Colm's sister Macey, who had just acquired a karaoke machine. Having set it up in the garage, which was more like the kid's den as the car was never in it, they began to play with it. It was quite a large machine which purported to carry thousands of tracks of songs from the 1950s up to the present. That sounded like a challenge to the teens so they sampled all sorts of stuff, much of which they'd never heard before.

Then, Macey called up a Carpenter's track. "Here, this one's for you, Cary, seeing as your name is Carpenter."

"Oh don't encourage him, his mother has all their albums even though Karen Carpenter was dead before she was born. He's always humming or singing their stuff." Colm, wasn't as enthusiastic as his sister and Cary now felt embarrassed and didn't want to participate any more.

"Come on, Cary, let's hear your take on Rainy Days and Mondays," urged Macey.

"I think I'd better be getting back," said Cary just as the heavens opened and the sound of rain on the garage roof even drowned out the karaoke machine. "Perhaps I'll wait a few," he added nodding at the rain lashing against the window.

The rain eased, at least insofar as not drowning out the machine and Macey coaxed him again to sing along with the Carpenter's track. Deciding the easiest way to shut her up was to sing with the machine which showed the song lyrics as the music played. He knew the music and pretty well most of the words as it was one of his mother's favourites and a big hit for the Carpenters back years before.
He closed his eyes as soon as the music began and he sang into the microphone soon concentrating on the song and forgetting his self-conscious shyness. He was lost in the song until it finished and on opening his eyes saw his friend his sister staring at him with their mouths wide open.

"Now you see why I didn't want to sing it," he felt himself growing redder and hotter by the moment."

"What?" said Macey, "that was brilliant, it was almost like Karen Carpenter was here singing it herself."

"I'm not sure if that was a compliment or..." said an even redder Cary, aware that being likened to a woman pop singer did little for his sense of masculinity.

"It was really good, honest," assured Macey and behind her Colm was nodding enthusiastically. "Try another one, please," said Macey and Cary couldn't refuse the look in her eyes as he'd always had a soft spot for Colm's older sister, who was a classmate of his sister.

"Just one more then," said Cary still blushing and feeling like he was standing in a Turkish bath.

The machine began the music for, We've only just begun, once again Cary closed his eyes and by the second bar was into the music and his memory of hearing it so many times as his mother played it quite often. Once he stopped trying to avoid sounding like Karen Carpenter and just sing it as he had so often before when he accompanied her in his bedroom as his mum played the track rather loudly in the kitchen as she did the ironing.

Once again his friends were astounded by his ability to almost perfectly mimic Karen Carpenter's voice. They made him sing another and while he was doing so, Macey's mother popped her head into the garage and stood equally surprised that it was Cary who was signing, .

As he opened his eyes at the end of the song, he was shocked to hear the three of his audience clapping loudly. "Goodness, Cary, I thought they were playing some old CDs, you sounded just like Karen Carpenter."

Cary blushed even more furiously.

"Don't be embarrassed, my boy, it was lovely. Oh, your mum phoned, the road is flooded outside your house so she suggested you stay for lunch with us - if you want to, that is?"

"Thanks, Mrs Copperthwaite."

"Okay, I'm doing cottage pie which is busy browning in the oven as we talk. How about another song?"

"Yeah okay, it's Colm's turn," he said still bright pink.

"No, do us another Carpenter's track, please." Mrs Copperthwaite almost insisted and Colm was happy to dip out his voice was breaking and sounded like a red deer stag in full rut bellowing out a hoarse grinding sound. "What about, Goodbye to love?"

Reluctantly and very embarrassed he began the song and continued after it when the machine went on to I won't last a day without you really getting into the song and its variations of tempo and key. This time when he finished no one said anything except to go to eat the cottage pie, which was a favourite of his.

It started again during the meal. "I'm not trying to embarrass you, Cary, but you really do capture all the qualities of Karen Carpenter's voice, which was pretty unique. It's really lovely to listen to, if your voice wasn't likely to break you could probably earn some money doing a tribute act."

"Hey, that's a great idea, Mum," said Colm who was always short of money.

"Oh yeah, I'd look a right turnip on stage singing like a woman."

"Not if you were dressed like a woman, you wouldn't," said Macey.

"You're right, I wouldn't, because I won't."

"Don't you want some extra money, then?"

"Sure, but not doing a drag act." Cary was now feeling slightly aggrieved by his hosts.

"I wasn't thinking of doing a drag act, but a genuine tribute thing, where no one would need to know you're a boy."

"In case it frightens Simon Cowell, you mean?"

"No, I just thought we could put together a set of music, polish it up a bit and see if the local pubs would be interested."

"What for a packet of pork scratchings and a shandy? No thanks."

"No, I reckon we could earn quite a bit, a couple of hundred per gig, maybe."

"No way, I don't think I'm that good and I doubt I could ever pretend to be a girl on stage, not that I want to either."

"What if it meant you get that new iPhone you wanted?" Colm tried a more subtle persuasion.

"Not at that price, you want to do it, you can wear the dress and I'll pretend I'm Richard Carpenter at the piano."

"He was fair haired and besides you play the drums not the piano, which I do, I'm also blond if you'd noticed."

"She played the drums," added Mrs Copperthwaite, smiling at the coincidence.

"Who?" said both boys.

"Karen Carpenter, she was quite a competent drummer but she gave it up to concentrate on the vocals. So sad she had so much talent and died so young. So you could play drums as well as sing."

"Anorexia wasn't it?" asked Macey.

"Heart attack brought on by anorexia," confirmed her mother, "very sad."

"So, me dressing up as a girl and singing her songs would be disrespectful, wouldn't it? and I probably don't play the drums that well either." Cary thought he'd found his escape.

"Actually, I'm sure if you sang them like you did earlier and attempted to look like a woman, not a parody, she'd probably be quite flattered, especially as your voice is so much like hers. Plus you wouldn't have to play the drums, she didn't very often once they were famous." Mrs Copperthwaite gave her opinion before collecting up the dirty plates. As she was about to take the dishes out to the kitchen, Cary thanked her for his lunch and she smiled her response. "You said you know the songs because your mother likes them?"

"Yeah, it's all her fault, why?"

"Why don't you get her opinion?"

"I doubt she'll be very impressed with my singing and Tara is always telling me to shut up."

"Why don't you record it on your phone, Macey and send it to Mrs Carpenter and see what she thinks?"

"Great idea, Mum, let's go and do that." So once again Cary was taken out to the garage and they even let him rehearse a song before they recorded it on the promise he wouldn't sabotage the recorded version.

He stuck to his word and they recorded him singing For all we know which was chosen by Macey. After they sent it by Whatsapp, she rang back and told them that once she'd stopped watching it and just listened, she thought it sounded a lot like Karen Carpenter. She also told Cary the flooding was receding and he shouldn't leave it too late to come home as there was more rain forecast.

He escaped home during the mid afternoon and vowed to himself never to sing another Carpenter's song as long as he lived. What he hadn't bargained on was that Macey had phoned Tara and briefly discussed the idea of the tribute band and them all making some money. Tara also liked the idea of seeing her younger brother in a dress as a challenge. She knew he'd resist but Macey and she were intent on seeing how they could make it work as they could both use the extra money and they were going to get together to see how they could get Cary to cooperate and then to see how they could build an act that people would want to see. It would need some thought, but it wasn't impossible, nothing is impossible if you want it badly enough, or so they say. Tara was going to find out.