Chapter 9

On the way home she told her mother about her day, telling her that she had played enough hymns to fill a church. She gave herself a break from her room after dinner, going outside and walking from the house to the end of the road and back until the light was fading. It felt good to move after being sat at the keyboard all day.

As she walked, she thought about the things that Reg had said. She had a sudden attack of nerves, wondering when she would be found out as a weak and useless boy, as she had been accused of at Clifton. She stood by the front porch, closed her eyes and took deep breaths. She told herself that she was better than that, and counted off all the good things that had happened after she wore the uniform skirt for the first time.

Berating herself for the moment of weakness, she went inside and up to bed, cuddling Tiger and telling him that she had no fears. She slept well, with a dream that had her playing a huge organ, with pipes that disappeared into the distance. She was playing the Babe tune, and hundreds of girls, in blue dresses, were singing. The organ was thundering, and she woke, suddenly, as another peal of thunder sounded after her bedroom was lit from the lightning.

She got out of bed and looked out the window, with Tiger under her arm, and watched the lightning for a while. She realised that the thunder sounded a lot like power chords and wondered if this was what prompted the composers to write such magnificent music. After a while, she told Tiger that they’d seen enough and they went back to bed, with the blanket pulled up around her ears.

On Friday, she was up at the early time, as usual, and told her mother that she would be going over to the church to see what hymns they would be doing on Sunday. When the house was quiet, she went up to her room and cleaned it, rearranged her clothes in the wardrobe, and made sure that the blue dress was good for Monday.

After ten, she walked to the church, avoiding the puddles from last night’s rain. Inside, she found Edie polishing the brass rails. Up at the organ, she wiped the keyboards and the surrounds. She turned the fans on and sat there for an hour, trying all the stops that she hadn’t touched before, with the overlay that had been found, and making a note of what difference they made. She heard talking and saw that there were a few women doing odd jobs in various places.

She smiled to herself, set a few stops, and played the ‘Toccata and Fugue’ right through. It sounded more authentic on a pipe organ, and she also realised that her playing was considerably better than when she had last sat in this seat. At the end, there was applause and Edie called for her to come down for a cup of tea and some cake.

It was then that she properly met the ‘church ladies’ as well as a few who lived nearby and had been drawn into the church by the sound of the organ. They sat in the little room with tables and chairs, and she had to explain how she ended up as the church organist.

“Actually, I only came over to see what hymns we’re doing on Sunday, and to tell Reverend Russell that I’ve been told that I’ll be playing the school organ for assembly on Monday.”

“Is Reg Edwards sick?”

“No. I was with him all day yesterday, and he had me playing for the choir. He told me that I was going to be on the stage, and he would sit with the other teachers, for a change.”

“That would be a first. We will be at the assembly as my husband leads the short service. It’s a favour to his sister and allows the school to just have a Theology student as the house priest. He’s just there to provide some spiritual guidance if needed and takes the weekly services. Paul is a nice enough lad, but very driven; you’ll meet him next week.”

Edie went to the vicarage and came out with the list of hymns and showed Willow the cupboard where the sheet music was kept. Back on the organ stool, she worked through the three that had been chosen, hearing some of the women singing along as she played. It was one thing to play pop music, but playing sing-along music was very fulfilling. It made her realise where she had found the stamina to play for six hours yesterday. There were so many things that fell into place as she played the hymns, and she finished the set with a smile on her face and peace in her heart.

When she had tidied the organ area, she went back down into the church. Outside, she couldn’t make up her mind what she wanted to do, go home, get lunch and play music, or something else. She saw a girl, about her age, sitting on a bench, reading a book. She went over to her.

“Hello, I remember your face. You were at the Blue Coat the day I was roped in to play Purple. Weren’t you with that girl Abbie?”

The other girl smiled and blushed.

“I can’t believe that you remember that! I was sure that you would forget everything after that performance on the stage. You were magnificent! Yes, we had all gone in to talk about our next year with the orchestra. There are two of them, the Junior and the Senior. I play piano in the Junior. My name is Gina.”

Willow went and sat next to Gina.

“Well, hello again. I’ve been told that I’ll be playing clarinet in the orchestra this year. I had thought that I may play violin, but all the seats are taken.”

“I saw you play at the Summer Concert. You really are amazing.”

“Not amazing, Gina, I just multi-task well.”

“I was sitting out here, listening to you play the pipe organ. I wish that I had a chance to play the organ, but our cottage doesn’t even have room for a piano.”

“I know how you feel. Where we lived in Bristol was what they call ‘character’ and you could hardly swing a plush cat. My bed still has cardboard under two legs to make it sit evenly. We have a piano at home. It had been in storage for some years. It came from my father’s home; his grandfather had it to play sing-along in the local pub. I may have gained his genes; they certainly missed my father.”

“You have a piano, here?”

“Yes, but it needs tuning from years of sitting with a cover over it. I haven’t even checked it to see what it needs.”

“There’s a retired piano tuner that lives in the village. Maybe he can bring it to life. I was waiting for my mother. I was getting bored sitting at home. She is taking me into Coventry this afternoon to shop for new things for school after we have lunch.”

“I spent an afternoon with Miss Russell getting a huge bundle of things this week. Can I come with you?”

“I’ll go and tell Mum to expect a guest on the trip. What are you doing for lunch?”

“How about you come with me. I’ll make us something and we can check out the piano. Then we can walk over to your house.”

Gina’s eyes lit up.

“That will be fantastic! I’ll go and check with Mum.”

She went off, leaving Willow with a grin on her face. Gina may be a fan at the moment, but Willow needed as many close friends as she could get, especially orchestra members.

Gina came back.

“Mum said it was all right and to be home by one to go to town.”

Together, the girls walked to Walkers Orchard, with Gina showing Willow a pathway across the field that cut off a lot of distance. It came out opposite the end of her road. In the house, they looked at what was available and made lunch, talking as they did so. Willow opened up the upright in the sitting room, and they played all the keys, finding that it wasn’t so bad as she had thought.

“These old things were built to stay in tune in a pub, so I should have realised that there would only be a couple of keys out of tune. Show me what you can play, Gina, while I get a drink. Soda water?”

Gina nodded and sat on the stool and started playing an etude. As far as Willow could tell, the only wrong sounds were the fault of the piano.

“Wow! You are good. If you want, when we get this properly tuned, you can come over and practise. I have a small keyboard in my room that I’ve been using before we came here.”

“Can I see?”

They finished their sandwiches and Willow took Gina up to her room, thankful that her mother had girlified it. Gina squealed when she saw it.

“This is fantastic, twice as big as my room in the cottage. I see that you made a start on proper decorations. Let me guess, the curtains were here when you arrived. What do you call the tiger?”

“That’s Tiger. Yes, we’ve been so busy that I’ve been a bit slow decorating. We had the rest of the house to put into some order, and I didn’t do much with mine. Are there stores in Coventry where I can get things?”

“There are. I’ll ask Mum if we can visit them after the other shopping. We had better get back to my place.”

“Just a second while I change from this full skirt to something better. I wear it for playing the pipe organ as it allows me room to stretch my legs for the bass pedals.”

She took an internal grip on her feelings as she took the skirt off and found her shorter denim one. She was going to have to get used to changing in front of other girls in the near future. By the look on Gina’s face when she turned around, she wondered if it may have been the wrong move.

Willow locked the house and they walked, arm in arm, to Gina’s house. On the way, she called her mother to tell her what was happening. Her mother told her to get dropped off at her workplace and she would bring her home, as Friday was a shorter day at the office,

“Mum just said that I was to be dropped off at her workplace, in Seven Stars Park. It’s just around the corner from the school. Will that be alright?”

“I’m sure it will. Are you going to be at the after-school sessions?”

“I expect I will, with the orchestra. I have been asked to join the choir, but I spent all yesterday playing organ for them in the chapel.”

“What about Mister Edwards?”

“He was there, singing along. He has a lovely baritone. I was told that I’ll be playing the organ at assembly on Monday.”

Gina stopped in her tracks, jolting Willow.

“Your first day in school and you’ll be up on the stage playing the organ! That’s wild!”

They carried on to her house and had a cup of tea before they went off to Coventry. The afternoon was a whirlwind of shopping for Gina, with the assistant being very helpful, seeing that Miss Russell had personally brought this other girl to the shop on Monday. They moved on to a teenage clothing shop that Willow hadn’t been to, and she bought herself another skirt and a couple of warmer tops for the coming winter.

There was a section in the store that sold accessories that appealed to teenage girls, and Willow bought a couple of posters and another plush toy, this one a Shaun the Sheep. Gina’s mother told her that she usually picked up Gina after the orchestra sessions, so would be able to take Willow home. Willow thanked her and said that her mother would confirm the arrangements on Sunday, after church. When she was dropped off, outside the warehouse, Gina said that she would call her in the morning to tell her what the piano tuner said.

Willow carried her bags into the office, where she was told to go through to the graphics department, after the receptionist told her that she had been at the concert because her father was one of the benefactors of the school and it was where she had been taught. Willow told her that her hair was unmistakable and that she already knew that, from seeing her dance.

“I could see a few, in the first few rows, looking like they had sucked lemons. It was a bit funny, with everyone else having a good time.”

“Well, it was a lot different from any other concert we’ve been to. They’re usually just classics and a bit boring. I hope that you and the boys liven up future ones.”

In the graphics department, she was introduced to her mother’s colleagues, and they laminated her posters for her. On the way home, she told her mother about her morning and the arrangement that had been suggested.

“That sounds wonderful. It saves me going back into the city. Was that Gina one of the girls that you met on the first visit?”

“She was, Mum. With that Abbie. She plays piano and we tried out ours this morning. There’s a retired tuner in the village and Gina is going to talk to him. The upright only needs a little tweaking.”

“How do the two of you get on?”

“She’s very friendly and I’m happy that she lives close. I’m not sure about her motives, though.”

“Oh? Tell me more.”

“I’ve realised, in the last couple of weeks, how fine the line is between fandom, friendship, and infatuation. I saw a look on her face that I’ve only seen once before, and that was between two lesbians at Clifton.”

“When was that?”

“When I was changing out of my organ-playing skirt and into this one.”

“The thing is, Willow, that you never had a real friend as a boy. There wasn’t another boy you played with. From what you’ve told me, your only friends were girls. At your age, and being so new to the world of girls, you haven’t discovered what you really like. Did you feel ashamed, or disgusted?”

“No, Mum. Just wary. You’re right. All of my relationships with boys is being on the end of taunts and violence. Perhaps, when the hormones kick in, I might think differently, but at the moment I just want friendship, not anything emotional.”

“Even friendship can be emotional, my daughter, just wait and see how you react when one of your friends breaks up with her boyfriend. It happens a lot in your teens.”

“Out, damn hormones! Never sully me with your devious chemicals!”

“Seriously, you just be yourself unless she does something silly, like kiss you on the lips. Girls hug, air kiss, and sometimes kiss cheeks, but the lips are serious. If that happens, you have two choices. You can kiss back and enjoy it, or you pull away and tell her that you swing the other way but value her friendship.”

“It’s odd that I already know so many girls, and a few boys, and a few teachers; yet I haven’t even started school yet. I played through Sunday’s hymns today, and it calmed me. Not the words, but the tunes and the cadence. I expect that some were designed to put the worshippers into a trance so that when the plate comes around, they empty their pockets.”

“You’re too young to be so cynical, my girl! The tunes are that way to make the worshippers obey all orders and not make trouble. I’ve read that the popular version of the bible had hundreds of references to the warlords, dictators and oppressors changed to say ‘King’. With the general population quiet, it saved a lot of his money for troops, giving the overall power to the preachers.”

“Who’s the cynical one now, Mum.”

When they arrived home, Willow changed the previous posters for the new ones, and added Shaun to the bed.

“And so, ‘the Tiger shall lay down with the Lamb’. Be good, you two, I don’t want to have to clean up tufts of wool.”

She helped her mother make dinner and they were almost ready when her father came home. Willow was asked about her day and gave the potted version; some things that were discussed with her mother not being suitable for her father. She went up to her room, after everything was tidied up, and listened to some music from the internet, following it on her keyboard.

Saturday morning was cool but dry, and Willow told her parents that she intended to go for a walk as part of a new fitness regime. She had her jeans on with a thick coat, and followed the pathway back to the church, and then around the village before getting home again. When she got home, her mother said that Gina had called, and would be coming around with the piano tuner.

Willow had put her coat away and was sitting at the piano when she saw a car pull up. She went to the front door to see Gina and her mother help an older man out of the car. He had a small case with him. Gina’s mother introduced him as Ernie Basildon. He held his hand out to Willow.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rose. I was at the service last Sunday and admired the playing. Now, let me look at this piano of yours.”

Willow ushered them in and called her mother to meet the guests. Ernie took the front of the upright off to show the strings, then played each note, slowly, so he could hear the complete sound. Gina and Willow watched him, both listening carefully as he worked. They both could hear the changes he made. He took a little over a half an hour to fix the tune, then put the cover back on.

“All right, girls. Let’s hear you play.”

Willow told Gina to go first, and she sat at the piano to play the etude that she had played yesterday. It sounded good, but not as good as it would have done on a baby grand. Ernie heard it, too.

“I would take a bet that this was made in the early part of the twentieth century, purely as a pub piano.”

“You’re right, Mister Basildon. That’s what my grandfather used to use it for.”

She replaced Gina at the seat, thinking about the music that she had listened to, last night. She looked at Ernie and grinned as she played ‘Roll out the Barrel’, followed by others in the same vein and finishing with ‘Auld Lang Syne’. When she finished, the room was full. Her father laughed.

“Let me guess, you’ve been listening to songs on your computer again.”

“I remembered something that Mum had told me and started out by listening to Mrs. Mills, and then to a set called ‘Favourite Pub Songs’. I looked up some of them and they go back to the previous century and to music halls and vaudeville.”

Gina’s mum said that it reminded her of Saturday nights at the club. Ernie nodded.

“Exactly, lass. There is a similar piano there. We used to have Saturday night sing-alongs once a month until our pianist died from COVID. I could play a lot of the material until the arthritis hit my fingers. I have an idea. I’ll talk to the manager, this afternoon, and you can all come along tonight. If Willow plays some tunes, I’m sure that he’ll provide a free meal.”

Her mother laughed.

“My teenage girl playing a pub on Saturday and then the church on Sunday. If I hadn’t heard her with my own ears, I would never have believed it.”

“I’ll give you a call this afternoon, if you give me your number. The organ music has lifted the souls in the village already; playing in the club will lift the sinners as well. It’s a win-win, and I won’t even charge you for my time, as Malcolm will give me a free dinner as well. What about it, Willow?”

“I’m good, Mister Basildon. I’ll just have to listen to some more so that I’m not repeating myself. If I can use the computer in your office, Dad, I will be able to print some sheet music so that Gina can play, I’m sure that she can sight-read.”

Gina’s mother laughed.

“That’ll be something different, a Saturday night at the club. I haven’t been to one of those in years.”

With the idea agreed, she left, with Ernie, leaving Gina with the Roses, who had promised to feed her. For the rest of the morning, Willow searched the internet for the sheet music for pub songs. They also included typical lyrics, which made both girls blush. They had a dozen for Gina to play, and she went to the sitting room to try them out, while Willow found a few more that she hadn’t found and added them to her MP3 files. She would listen to them and try them out on her keyboard this afternoon.

Her mother came in and sat with her, as they could hear the piano playing.

“You really are something else again, my daughter. You have made Gina very happy, shown her something else that she had never seen, and have opened up another link between us and the Village. It also means that you won’t be hogging the limelight. I saw that she looks up to you, so I think that her infatuation will turn to respect.”

Gina was getting freer with the pub songs, the more she played them, and they stopped for lunch.

“Thank you for welcoming me into your home, Mister and Mrs. Rose. When I first heard Willow play the organ, I thought that she was a young-looking sixteen-year-old. When I found out that we’re almost the same age, it floored me.”

“You’re welcome here, any time, Gina. I believe that you’ll be around quite regularly to play the piano. As Willow has found, it’s good to listen to something before you need to play it at school. You’re a talented pianist, and you’ll do well. Never think that you’re in competition with Willow. She’s a freak with her ability to remember music. She could sit at that piano and play you something that she only heard a couple of times a few years ago.”

“I still have problems with longer pieces, Mum. I need the music for bigger classical pieces, although I did play the ‘Toccata and Fugue’ on the church organ from memory yesterday.”

In the afternoon, Gina repeated the tunes she would be playing, and Willow went up to her bedroom and played her keyboard to the MP3 files. She heard the phone ring, and her mother came in to tell her that they would be going to the club at six, for the meal, and that Gina had gone home to get ready.

Willow had a shower and dressed for Saturday night out. She had a good skirt with a silky blouse and her new shoes with a small heel over tights. Her mother and father were smartly dressed as well. If anything, the Roses looked good.

They walked to the club, just down the road and opposite Church Lane. Ernie was already there and helped them fill out the paperwork to become members. The manager was dubious with the sing-along plan but was willing to give it a trial run. Gina turned up with her mother, both in going-out clothes. They found a table for six and Ernie joined them. The club filled up with the locals, mainly older men, but a few wives. The Roses were a subject of some talk, until it had been circulated that the daughter was the new church organist, and they were related to the original Leighs.

When the meals had been eaten, the barman called out for order. In a surprised silence, he announced that the piano will be heard tonight. When Gina went and sat at it, Willow could see that many thought that it would be a classical recital, seeing that nobody had ever heard her play anything else. The mood lightened as she started playing pub music, with someone starting to sing, followed by the others.

Willow watched as Gina began to blossom, being the centre of attention for the first time in her life and realising that she was actually entertaining her neighbours. She played the dozen songs that she knew, and there was applause and a bit of banter as she stood up. Wendy looked over at her mother and saw the pride on her face.

Willow walked over to the piano and some wag called out that it was hymn time. She grinned at the room and turned her attention to the keyboard. Once again, she was in entertainment heaven. She played until ten, ending with ‘Auld Lang Syne’, followed by ‘We’ll meet Again’, which had some of the older members in tears. Both girls were feted and there were many hugs and cheek kisses given and received. Willow and Gina hugged and air-kissed before they all left the club to go their own way home. As they strolled towards their home, her father laughed that after the first drink he hadn’t put a hand in his pocket.

Marianne Gregory © 2025