Chapter 20

Finally, Willow and Gina could take their leave and go to the club to collect the keyboard. They were greeted by Malcolm, who gave each girl an envelope, with notes in them.

“That was a great show you put on, last night, girls.”

“Even the Bishop mentioned it in the service this morning.”

“We had the Bishop in here, last night?”

“We did, and he told everyone how much he had enjoyed it. Can we have a quick look at the back room, please? We’re thinking about your idea of a Christmas party.”

He showed them the room, and then the storeroom where the house amplifiers were stored.

“It will all need a clean and test before we use anything. If we do long tables, we can fit about two-twenty sitting, with space for dancing. The wedding will have to be limited to two hundred if they want a head table. There is a PA system, which hasn’t been used since COVID started. There are a few volunteers, mainly the ladies from the church, who will be able to get the place tidy and clean.”

Ashley came in while they were unplugging the keyboard. He had a quick talk to Malcolm, and then picked up the keyboard while the girls took the frame and stool. They went to Willow’s home, where Wendy and Maisie were getting a kettle going. Wendy rummaged in her larder and was able to produce lunch for them all while Willow and Gina were putting the keyboard back in the bedroom.

As the shops were still open that afternoon, Wendy and Willow were joined by Gina and Maisie to go and look for things suitable for an organist in the Cathedral. Willow decided that she already had a full skirt for Saturday but went home with a matching skirt and top in white for Sunday, with a wide blue hem on both the top and skirt. She had to have a smile when she saw herself in the shop mirror. At the beginning of the year, white wouldn’t have lasted a half an hour. While it was the only thing that they left with, between them they had all tried on a lot more.

When they got home, they had dinner and Willow went up to her room and listened to some MP3 tracks for a while, before turning on her laptop to research the Cathedral. When she was in bed, she thought about the prospect of playing that wonderful organ next week, in front of a big congregation, until she went to sleep.

On Monday, the DVD and CD were for sale, and the concert was being advertised on posters and the website. The envelope that she had been given had enough to buy the DVD. During lunch, she spoke to Alec about fronting a band for a Christmas party at the club. He said that he would talk to his mother about it but would tell her that it was a school outreach project. She then went to talk to the rest of the band, and they said that they would think about it. Herb wanted to know what sort of music they would play.

“Dance music, slow stuff, carols, pop songs, all sorts. You must have played a lot of it in the past.”

“Does it pay?”

“Of course it will. I don’t know if it would be a lot, though. Perhaps a lot of goodwill.”

Tuesday morning, Willow joined the others in the chapel. A stranger stood as they found seats.

“Good morning. My name is Jack Heinrich. I’m an ordained vicar but have retired due to my health. I was asked by the Bishop to stand in for as long as I felt able. So far, it’s been good. I’m told that Miss Rose will play the organ, today, with Miss Summer next week. So, if you can join me out the front, Miss Rose, we will begin.”

It was so different from how Paul conducted the service, that the relaxation of tense muscles was almost palpable. The Reverend Jack showed his years of service in an easy delivery, non-combative style and, when Willow played the hymn, he was beaming as he brought the short service to an end. As the others started to leave, he stood next to Willow as she turned the organ off.

“The Reverend Russell told me, yesterday, that there were two girls in this year who played well. Your talent, young lady, is the talk of the diocese. I hear that you will be playing at the Cathedral on Sunday. I know several vicars who are planning to attend the Evensong if they don’t hold one themselves. I also heard that you outfoxed the Bishop.”

“Four – nil, Reverend.”

“There are several organists in the area that would buy you a drink because of that. Now, go along to your studies, I’ll see you in the Cathedral.”

Willow caught up with her friends, all saying how nice the new vicar was. That lunch, Alec told her that it was still iffy about being able to sing at the party. At the Junior Orchestra, everything changed. Miss Russell was there, and waited until they were all seated before she spoke.

“Before you start, today, I want to ask for volunteers to play in a dance band at the Stoneleigh Community Club before Christmas. It will be a Saturday evening, and we will have the school coach for transport. It will be classed as an outreach project, raising money for the St. Marys church roof, and will be repeated, in our theatre, for an audience of disadvantaged members of society, in the week after. We already have Gina and Willow on keyboards and vocals. We need drums, bass, guitars, horns, saxophone, woodwind. The usual dance band, limited to about ten. Just google Benny Goodman or Billy Cotton to see what they used. Talk to your parents and let me know by Friday. We’ll schedule a short set of sessions to put it together.”

She nodded to Mister Bamborough on her way out. They continued to work on ‘Carnival of the Animals’, with just the last five movements to do. As the friends had expected, Zara put in a performance with ‘The Swan’ that raised the conductor’s eyebrow.

On Wednesday, the two friends had to field lots of questions about the proposed party, telling everyone the sort of songs that they would be playing, as well as several carols that the orchestra already knew. Wednesday, at Senior Orchestra, they moved on with the ‘Organ Symphony’. When they were packing up, Mister Jamieson came over to Willow.

“I’ve been told that you will be playing the organ in the Cathedral on Sunday and going in on Saturday afternoon to try it. I’ve had a talk with the others, and we’ll be bringing the choir in. I’ll write out a variation of your sheet music for us to try, which will give the choir three verses of the lyrics. I’m keen to try those multiplier units through their PA to test the effect. It will be good to see what the Bishop thinks. If I were you, I’d see if I could get something from the ‘Seven Improvisations’ in. That will go a long way in getting a positive decision for next year.”

“No pressure then, sir.”

“Not for you, Willow. There are a lot of people keen to make this work. Just do what you usually do, and everything will be all right.”

Willow was quiet on the way home. Gina asked her what was wrong.

“Nothing wrong, Gina. I’m just trying to remember the fourth movement to the ‘Organ Symphony’ and figure out how we’re going to fit three verses of the pop song in, you know, the words from a record of the day. Mister Jamieson has told me that the choir are coming to the Cathedral on Saturday so that we can test it out in front of the Bishop.”

“Mum! Can we go to the Cathedral Saturday?”

“Of course we can, dear. I’m not missing a chance to hear Willow on that organ.”

When they dropped her off, Willow went in and hugged her mother.

“What was that for, darling?”

“That was just pure happiness, Mum. On Saturday, when we’re at the Cathedral, Mister Jamieson will bring a revised music sheet for me to play part of the ‘Organ Symphony’, along with the choir. I can hear it in my mind. It will be fantastic!”

That evening, she listened to the fourth movement and made some variations of her own, playing through her headphones. She thought that it would be interesting to see if it was similar to what she was given.

Thursday and Friday dragged, until they got to the music lesson. Both Yamahas were set up in the classroom. Mister Jamieson got Willow and Gina to sit at them.

“Today, we are continuing with The Blues. Much of it is made up of repeating your woes, complaining about your situation, or telling the world about your true love. If you will lead us off, Willow, with a typical blues refrain, I want you, Gina, to add typical sounds. The rest of you, when I point to you, you will sing me a few lines. By now, a lot of you have seen the DVD of the concert, even if you didn’t attend it on the day.”

Willow grinned and played a typical blues into, then started singing.

“I’m here in this class, playing on these old keys.”
“I’m here in this class, playing on these damn keys.”
“If I could be anywhere else.”
“I’d be out in my boat, sailing on the high seas.”

The class were all smiling and now had the idea of what they had to do. When each one was pointed at, there weren’t very many who couldn’t think of a line. There were a lot of smiles, as some juicy gossip was aired in song. Gina was pointed at as she was adding her extra accompaniment.

“I’m here with my friend, who is quite a freak.”
“I’m here with my friend, the musical freak.”
“But if I tell her that fact.”
“She would just give me cheek.”

It took over half an hour to let everyone have a go, and those who had baulked put their hands up to add their lines, now that they’d had a chance to think of something. When they had run out of steam, Mister Jamieson clapped for a few seconds.

“Well done, class. You have just passed the first barrier of truly understanding the blues. We will all forget the gossip. Just joking. What these girls played can be played on guitar, harmonica, piano, organ, and a lot of other instruments. The thing is that you don’t need electric power to play blues, you just need something to say. For the rest of this lesson, I want each of you to write a verse, one that we haven’t heard before, about good looking girls and sexy boys. We will pick ten of the best, then Willow and Gina will play the music while we sing them with as much pain and suffering as we can muster.”

He motioned for the two of them to continue with the music, to give the others the cadence they should be working with. A half an hour later, there was the ten best verses written on the blackboard. Mister Jamieson went to the back of the room, took out his phone to record the result, then nodded to the girls to start playing. When they had worked through the ten verses, with much giggling, he called out.

“Do it again, with pain and suffering. Tomorrow, you have to work in the cane field for fifteen hours.”

When they had finished, he walked to the front of the class and clapped the students.

“Well done, class. That captures what the blues is all about. Next lesson, we will look at the first part of the DVD again and discuss how the blues has developed into entertainment. Now, off you go.”

As the class filed out, he went over to the friends.

“That was truly awesome, you two. What you produced was perfect. It made the rest of the class grasp what I was aiming for. Thank you. I’ll see you, tomorrow, Willow. Now, just let me get the new music from my bag and you’re free to go.”

He gave Willow the sheet music and she put it in her bag. The girls strolled out to wait for Wendy.

On the way home, Willow looked at the music and hummed the tune, seeing where he had added several lines that allowed the choir to sing. It was almost identical to what she had played to herself the night before. That’s when she realised that she should actually take the time to write things down, instead of just committing it to memory. That evening, she wrote out the tunes and lyrics to her three songs, adding other instrumentation as well.

Saturday morning, her father had booked her into the clinic for a check-up. She was woken early, had a quick breakfast, and they were on the road before eight. He dropped her off and then carried on to office for a few hours.

In the clinic, she had to undress completely and wear the hospital gown. The false breasts and the glue holding the penis in place was given the solvent treatment, and her own budding breasts were revealed. Her chest was thoroughly cleaned, as was her groin, and then the rebuilding started.

The new breasts were hollowed out slightly, to allow her own more room to grow, and then they changed how her groin looked. After it being well shaved, they gave her a local anaesthetic and pulled folds of skin over the penis to create a more female-looking groin, glueing the folds to look like a vagina, and leaving a gap in the bottom for urine to be passed. A nurse held her hand and explained what they were doing.

“Because you never developed a proper scrotum, we have to stretch skin from either side. You may feel that it is tight, after the local wears off, and you shouldn’t do any hard exercise for a week. We could stitch the skin together, but then we would need you here for several days. If this doesn’t work, we may have to resort to that over the next school holidays.”

By the time her father came back to take her home, she had practised passing water and shown how to properly clean up. They had also taken blood and given her another hormone injection. When she redressed, the panties fitted much better.

At home, they sat in the kitchen for lunch. The front doorbell rang, and her father went to answer, putting his head back into the kitchen.

“It’s Joe from work. He’s got a ladder in his van and he’s going to help me fit the cameras this afternoon.”

Wendy and Willow went to dress for the afternoon at the Cathedral, and then left, seeing Joe up a ladder with Ashley rummaging in his toolbox for something.

“Looks like we’ll have the cameras up when we get home.”

“It’s all for nothing, Mum. Paul has been sent to a ministry in Africa.”

“That’s good, but we won’t tell your father. This helps him to feel as if he’s protecting us. Mind you, it could all come in handy when you’re famous and we get fans come to see where you live.”

“Yeah, and when I’m being dropped off by boys. At least this will give the neighbours something to talk about. I saw a few curtains twitching as we left our road.”

When they arrived at the Cathedral, they parked next to a coach with the school signage on. As they entered, they both just stood and looked, in awe, at the magnificent interior. Gina was already there, and rushed over to Willow and gave her a hug.

“Isn’t this just fantastic. Look at that lovely organ. The place is huge!”

“Calm down, friend, by the time we get to the concert, we’ll be used to it. The place is truly magnificent, though.”

Mr Jamieson came over, shook Wendy’s hand and took Willow over to the choir girls. He explained what he wanted to do, and Willow hummed the organ part so that they could be certain of where they came in.

As they were doing that, the Bishop came over and waited until they had finished.

“Good afternoon, Willow. Come with me, there’s a few people that you should meet.”

He took her and introduced her to his Dean, his organist, and a man from the BBC, here to get some idea of what the proposed concert would be like before he committed an outside broadcast van.

The Bishop asked the organist to take Willow up to the organ and show her the ropes.

“Get used to the instrument, Willow. Play something to let the Beeb know that you’re worth coming to see. Then run through the service for Sunday, you’ll find it a little different to what you’re used to, this being a High Church service.”

Willow beckoned Mister Jamieson over.

“I’ve been told to get used to the organ and then play something for that man over there. He’s from the BBC and here to see if we’re worth his trouble. I’ll play the last movement of the ‘Seven Improvisations’, and then what you gave me, so have the choir ready to sing their part at the right time.”

“Right, I’ll get them miked up and tested. You’ll be doing the service afterward?”

“Yes. You don’t have to hang around, if you don’t want to.”

“Don’t be silly. The girls would kill me if I told them to leave. They brought their hymn books with them.”

As Willow went to follow the organist, she saw Vicar Jack come in with a few others wearing clerical collars. She gave him a wave and he smiled back. There were a lot of people in the building, some cleaning, some sightseeing, some sitting in pews with their heads down. That strengthened her resolve.

At the organ, she was shown some of the stops that were unique to this instrument. She asked for, and was shown, how to add a trumpet sound to a second keyboard. This organ had four keyboards and a full set of bass pedals. It was almost too much to take in. There was a bunch of sheet music and was told that this was for the service, and she would be shown what to play as they trialled it.

“I’ve never played something with so many sets of keys.”

“It takes years to be able to use the power of this instrument properly. At your age, I’m surprised that you’ve even been invited to play. I’ll just set it up, so you use only the first two rows. Now, young lady, I’ve been told that you’re a pretty good player. Impress me!”

Willow started by playing some Bach church music to warm her fingers, savouring the tones of the pipes. She tapered that off and then played the Seventh movement from the Improvisations from memory, adding some extra that this organ could provide. When she finished, there was a smattering of applause.

“Looks like you brought some fans.”

“It’s some of the school choir. We’re planning a Saint-Saens concert, and there’s one more thing we need to try before we do the service.”

She grinned and hit the keys with the opening part of the final movement, playing it as well as she ever had. When she reached the point that the choir was going to sing, she trusted that they were ready, breathing a sigh of relief as they sung.

“If I had words to make a day for you.”
“I’d sing you a morning golden and new.”
“I would make this day last for all time.”
“Give you a night deep in moonshine.”

She continued with the linking section, thinking that it had sounded good through the PA system, if a little light. When she got to the next place that the choir sung, they had switched the input to three times the number, which made her smile and the organist grin. At the third time, the choir was now six times stronger, and the words thundered around the Cathedral, and she added the trumpet fanfare in the between bits of the third verse. Willow played the final part of what they had planned and then sat back.

The organist slapped her back.

“That was absolutely fantastic. And all from memory!”

There was applause from the body of the Cathedral, and then they started with the service.

“All right, Willow. This service is a lot more complicated than you’re used to. For one thing, being High C of E, it’s similar to a Catholic Mass. You play the accompanying music during his entry and exit, and there will be a tolling bell, tomorrow. The rest of it is pretty much what you usually do. Entry music and exit music, and hymns. Now, if your choir is still miked, this is going to be interesting. I’ll give you a sheet with all the points and the approximate timing when we leave. Now, the hymns. I hear you can play them from memory. This, I want to hear.”

He said a number, and Willow played the intro. She had already seen the numbers on a board in the body of the Cathedral and hoped that the girls were ready. She needn’t have worried, as the sound of the singing came out through the PA. It swelled as the general public found hymn books and joined in. They did the four hymns in full, with the final one sounding, to her, as if the place was full.

When the sound of the last one faded, she stood and the organist hugged her, and spoke in her ear.

“Four-nil, again. They told me about you, but I found it hard to believe. I heard that the Bishop vowed never to pull that trick again. I’ll buy you a soft drink for that!”

They went down to the body of the Cathedral, where a number of people wanted to hug her and tell her how great she was. The man from the BBC shook her hand.

“I was ready to commit as you played that first piece. When you and the choir let loose, that was when I was totally ready to film the concert. With a full orchestra, it will be as good as the Proms.”

When Gina hugged her, she had tears in her eyes.

“It was so wonderful, friend. I could see us below you, in the orchestra, soaking up the atmosphere. It’s going to be mega awesome!”

The organist came over and shook Wendy’s hand.

“Your daughter is almost too good to believe! She will be a star, whatever she does. I’m sure that she could take my seat when I retire, if she wants. I’m already looking forward to being in the audience for the concert. I’ll keep an eye out for other events that the school is doing. I believe that there’s a pop concert coming up, soon.”

Gina giggled.

“Blue One and Blue Two, sir. Blues in the first half, Moody Blues for the second. That’s when you can see Willow and me on keyboards. It’s a bit different from what she just played.”

“I’ll see if I can get a couple of seats. It would be a good night out.”

He then took Willow to one side, arranged a drink for her, and went through the service again to make sure that she played the right thing at the right time. Then he had a list of items that she would have to play at Evensong, which is mainly one hymn after another, and some choral pieces with the Cathedral choir. Her gave her the full list of items that were planned and then said.

“I’m told that the Bishop gave the choirmaster a call after your choir sung. He has called them in to try out those vocal devices with the choral pieces that’s on the list. Can you hang around and play for them?”

The school choir had taken the mics off and Mister Jamieson had been asked to loan them to the Cathedral choir. They were never going to leave if they had a chance to hear semi-professionals singing. Mister Jamieson was thinking that it would be good points to the school if they had introduced the Cathedral to some new technology. Then smiled as he imagined the Bishop in full six voices with a sermon.

“Something tickle your fancy?”

“Hello, Reverend Jack. I just thought of the Bishop using those multipliers.”

“Don’t be too sure that he hasn’t thought of that himself. I was looking carefully as young Miss Rose played those hymns. She never looked once at the sheet music, so it was four-nil to her again.”

“Four-nil? What’s that about?”

“The Bishop took the service at Stoneleigh, last Sunday. He has a habit of calling out the wrong hymn number. I’m told that he did it four times that day, and she was playing the intro as soon as he spoke. He did promise to never do it again. She played for us on Tuesday morning, the first time I’d heard her. She is something that comes along once in a blue moon.”

“We know. She’s the reason we’re planning this concert. She helped Gina blossom, and now Gina will be playing the Grieg as a soloist. The two of them have lifted the orchestra.”

Marianne Gregory © 2025