Chapter 12

That was where Wendy found her sitting, some ten minutes later.

“Getting some quiet time in, love?”

“That and some thinking, Mum. Are you ready to go yet?”

“Just about. Your Dad will be here a while until Malcolm takes over.”

She looked around the room.

“Malcolm was very happy about the crowd. The biggest one-day takings in history, except for a big reception. He was talking about making the future events a book-first affair, with an upper limit and a cut-off time to turn up. He was amazed at how many ate in the front room and went in for a dance.”

“I saw some dancing in the corridor.”

“He has offered us a free lunch when he arrives, so the two of us should go home, freshen up, and change into something casual.”

She held her hand out to Willow, who took it and stood, a smile appearing on her face. They strolled home in the wintery light and went into the house. When they were sitting at the kitchen table with a steaming mug in front of each of them, Willow put the sheet of paper on the table.

“Peter gave me this last night, Mum. It’s the statement of earnings in the twelve days since we signed the contract. He did suggest that I was sitting down when I looked at it.”

Wendy looked at the figures.

“OK. Income from twenty-seven thousand odd album downloads, was over two hundred and seventy thousand. Costs to produce album was six thousand, Marcus Waddington’s expenses for admin, studio hire, and transport was five thousand. I see a note that the DVD downloads are starting next week, with the actual discs available a few days later, cost of supply to be reported later. That leaves two-hundred and fifty-nine thousand with your share being sixty-four thousand seven fifty. That’s wonderful. Each of the others will be over the moon with that!”

“It doesn’t include poster sales, as I think that the poster is free to album buyers. When they have laminated posters there will be a charge. If you look lower, there is four thousand off the top for Peter’s costs, admin, and IT services, and six thousand to the school. Then he’s taken another three thousand as his five percent.”

“That still leaves you with sixty thousand in the first two weeks. That’s pretty good, and you haven’t even been interviewed yet. What about the Hikers and other stuff?”

“Turn over to the next page. The Cathedral paid me a hundred for my services last week, and the Hikers income has been another six thousand, less the five percent. I would be interested to see what the Uni Fund account stands at now that that income has been diverted.”

Wendy went to fetch the laptop from the office, called up the account and turned the screen so that Willow could see it.

“Wow! Over eighty-seven thousand after the things we bought. That’s awesome.”

“What’s awesome is you and the band. There wasn’t a person in the club who didn’t have a good time last night. It may lead to a few more sales in the next few days, but the main thing is that you’re here and we need to make sure that you’re totally healthy. I’ll ring the Head from work, tomorrow, to let her know that you’ll be away for a couple of weeks which can’t be avoided.”

“Tell her to check with the school nurse who took the urine sample. She spoke to the doctor in a foreign language which you learn in medical school. The only part that I caught was UTI.”

“That stands for Urinary Tract Infection, which is common among women who get a bug in the outlet. Some men can get it by sitting on a dirty toilet. I expect that the doctor will give your father a script to get filled on Monday if there’s traces of that. A week of anti-biotics before the operation can only help.”

They tidied up and walked back to the club, where Malcolm greeted Willow with a bear-hug.

“Willow and Wendy. Because of your talents, we had over two hundred and fifty in the back room, an all-time record, and served two-hundred and eighty meals. Now, what do you want to eat? I’ll get Ashley out from behind the bar to sit with you.”

“It seems busier than the usual Sunday.”

“You bet. Bringing them over from the church means that some stay to eat.”

They had a good meal, with some coming over to tell Willow how much they enjoyed the previous evening. They were eating dessert when her phone chirped. She took it to the back room to answer. It was Brent, to tell her that both he, and his parents, were shocked at what they had earned since they had signed.

“My Dad thought that it was all a joke until your dad offered to buy a drum kit. He thinks that he should be paying it back now.”

“Tell him to get you signed on with an accountant. There has to be more to come.”

“I’ll work on that. Dad’s going to take me into Birmingham next Saturday so I can get one of those drum machines that we played with at school. When I was looking at it, there’s so much more that you can do with it.”

“If you get one, get one for me, please. I’ll pay you for it.”

“No way I’m asking you for money, Willow, not after what you’ve done for me.”

“I may not be in school that week, so you can give it to Gina or Jacob to bring home. See you on Monday.”

She was heading back to her melting ice cream when the phone chirped again.

“Good morning, Jacob. How are you this lovely morning?”

“Stunned, Willow. I looked at that paper that we were given last night. I was staggered, and so was Dad when I showed him.”

“Yeah, Brent was just on the phone. I’ll say the same that I said to him. Get to see an accountant, I’m sure that your dad uses one for the farm accounts. You will be able to buy your own Martin now.”

“Later, maybe. First, I need a practise amp for home, so I can use my effects box. Have you heard from Gina?”

“No. She’ll be just finishing the stint in the Cathedral. If she didn’t take the envelope with her, she’ll probably look at it when she gets home. Look, my ice cream is becoming a flavoured puddle in the dish. Talk to you at tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you, too. See you in the morning.”

She went back to finish her meal.

“What was that, sweetheart?”

“Just Brent, and then Jacob, ringing about our paperwork.”

Ashley looked up.

“What paperwork, sweetie?”

“Peter gave us all a statement of earnings last night. Mine is on the kitchen table for you to have a look at. I think that I need to be on an accountant’s books, and a lawyer so that I can have an official name change after the operation. There has to be tax problems coming our way, so I will need a bank account which can have a small regular deposit from Peter put in.”

“I’ll give Peter a call from work, tomorrow. We have a guy that does our tax, so I’ll call him. What sort of money are we talking about?”

Wendy smiled and put her hand on her husband’s arm.

“With the Uni Fund and what Peter is holding at the moment, about a hundred and fifty thousand.”

Ashley took a quick gulp of his drink.

“You’re dead right, Willow. I’ll make the calls tomorrow. If they need to see you, we can organise an evening appointment before you go to the clinic. This is all happening in a bit of a rush, isn’t it?”

“Can’t disagree with you there, Dad.”

Back at home, Ashley had a look at the paperwork and went to his office to photocopy it for the accountant. Then he called up the bank account and printed off the movements since the day that Willow recorded the overdub for Rick. Then, he found the contract with Peter and took a copy of that, before logging on to the band website and printing off the opening page. The accountant could look at it to see, for himself, the offerings, prices, and download numbers. He went back into the kitchen.

“What else will I need?”

“Probably the medical report from my original diagnosis, plus one after the operation to confirm that I’m female. We will need something like that for the name and gender change, not to mention a new passport application.”

“That will be a job for later. I have enough for now. I’ll ask around the office to see if there are good financial and legal guys locally. Several of guys in the office have had problems in the past. Anything else.”

“Only that when you order the shed, you make it big enough to fit a small recording studio in.”

Willow spent the afternoon at the keyboard, her notepad on the key cover of the upright, working on songs of her own. When she had a basic tune, she wrote the notation, something that she had always though was too much work. The family had a light tea, followed by the front doorbell ringing. Ashley opened it to find Maisie and Gina standing there.

Gina rushed past him to grab Willow in a hug that almost turned her blue.

“Hello, friend. How was the Cathedral?”

Gina giggled.

“You were right about the autograph hunters. I had to be rescued by security. The Bishop thought that it was a huge joke. I don’t know what he’s got up his sleeve next week. Anyway, I’m here to talk money, Willow. Enough money to take me to university.”

“Me too. As it says in the song, we’ve only just begun. Dad’s going to ring and get an appointment with an accountant. Seeing that we’re almost sisters, how about he takes Maisie along. Jacob’s dad will have one for the farm business, and Brent’s dad probably has one for his bricklaying business.”

“Accountants at our age. That’s weird. By the way, when is your birthday?”

“May twentieth.”

“No way! I’m the twenty-second! We can have a joint birthday party, I expect that by that time, we’ll have enough friends to fill the club. It’ll be a blast! Actually, it will be my very first party with invites. What about you, I bet that you’ve had a few parties, yourself.”

“Believe it or not, my friend, this will be my first as well. I was a bit of a loner before. It took coming here to bring me out of myself.”

“I find that hard to believe!”

“It’s true. I was always getting bullied. It was meeting you that helped me more than you can know. That and the school being so good for musicians. Look, I need to show you something before you invite me to a pool party.”

She took Gina’s hand and led her up to her room. She shut the door and loosened her skirt waist, then pulled her blouse out from the skirt. She stood with her back to Gina.

“Lift the blouse, friend.”

Gina lifted the blouse and gasped.

“You’re… you’ve got scars all over your back!”

“They go all the way round, friend. I had all-inclusive bullies at my last school.”

“Did you report them?”

“No. My parents didn’t even know until we got here, and Mum saw them. Nobody at the school knows, except you. They have started to fade, and my doctor told me that I’ll be able to wear a backless dress, sometime, as long as I have someone to apply concealer.”

“Some are more faded than others.”

“The last ones happened in the last week of the third term, last year.”

She tucked herself in and readjusted the waistband. The girls went back downstairs where the adults were discussing investments. They all sat in the kitchen for a while, talking about what was now happening. The girls were less worried about things than the parents. When the visitors were leaving, they both gave Willow hugs. Maisie just said, ‘Thank you for everything’ and Gina whispered, ‘See you tomorrow, true friend. We have a real party to plan.’

On Monday morning, Willow half-filled the container, sealed it and wrote her details in the sticker. She put in the zip-lock bag and gave it to her father. On the way to school, the teens were quiet, especially after hearing themselves on morning radio.

As they entered every class, they got a cheer, but treated the lessons with the attention they deserved, much to the relief of the teachers. In the lunchroom, they were joined by Roy and the others, to talk about the set that they had played. Herb was almost hyper and couldn’t wait to be in the recording studio.

“No rush, Herb. We have to allow the first album to have its time in the sun before we record again. I expect that we’ll be in the studio in the last week of the month, or the first weeks of next month. We have two weeks before the terms to get together and rehearse. We should keep it away from the school. I expect that we can use the club; it has everything we need. When I did the overdub for Rick, he had a recording unit that sat in the sweet spot in the church and only needed the one microphone. Jacob can see his sister and find out where we can get one for ourselves. We can club together to buy it.”

“That sounds good. I was thinking that we could use a rehearsal room, but I see your reasoning. I was wondering how Jacob would fit in with an acoustic, but he sounded great. My parents were there to see me, and they agree that I’m one of the lucky ones to be part of Summer Rose.”

“Thank you, Herb. You’re where you deserve to be. We’ll see what they think if we get on the box for interviews. I’m expecting that the four of us will be first, and then the rest of you when we have another song out. Do any of you write?”

“Victor had a few songs that we’ve played around with.”

“Look, bring them along, or better still email the rest of us with recordings, and well see if we can put together an album of our own material. That’s the sure sign of a mature band.”

“Will do, Willow.”

Things got back to normal in the afternoon. The band had their nine minutes of fame. Everyone had agreed that the dance on Saturday had been awesome, and all of the band members were awesome. There were even a few early bird CDs for them to sign, which allowed them to inspect the product for the first time.

When Ashley got home on Monday, he had some news and a small box with a pop-out tray of pills.

“Willow, the sample that the nurse took showed a bug in your water. These pills have to be taken, one a day after dinner. There are seven, the last taken on Sunday. After that one, you have to fast. Just water until you get out of the operating theatre. The blood didn’t show any abnormal signs except a raised level of white cells, which the doctor says is usual if you have an infection. I take you in on Monday morning, and she thinks I should be able to bring you home on Friday afternoon. I take you in on the following Friday for them to look you over and remove the stitches. They’ll send you home in a taxi.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’ll speak to the Head.”

“I rang her as well and explained the situation as we want her to hear it. She may talk to you this week, but she promised that she will email any course notes for you to keep up. She said that it will be mainly revision and you will be going back for exams.”

“I know. It doesn’t seem real that I’ve been going to that school for two terms. By the way, Gina has her birthday two days after mine, and we were wondering if we could have a big party at the club?”

“Will you want it on one of the days, the day in the middle, or wait to the Saturday?”

“We’ll discuss it and let you know. A weekday would be better, though, won’t it?”

“Certainly, if the Saturday is a sing-along or a dance. Were you thinking of playing?”

“Actually, I was thinking of getting the G-Force to play. Gina and I can ask Peter for a discount, I’m sure.”

On Tuesday, it was Willow’s turn to play for chapel. The orchestra session was more of ‘Bolero’ and the Grieg, with Mister Bamborough telling them that they were likely to be in a recording studio in the new term, and that they would bookend the two pieces with Willow and Gina playing one of the Beethoven ‘Organ Sonatas’ each. Before she left, she told him that she would be missing the next two sessions for medical reasons, so he could concentrate on Gina, as she already knew all four of the sonatas.

“I know, Reg told me. I would have you play both, but I hear that Gina is fast catching up. I heard her at Evensong on Sunday, and it could have been the regular organist up there.”

The rest of the week was fairly normal. Willow had a session with her Village Choir on Wednesday evening, telling them that she wouldn’t be able to look after them the following week. Ashley and Maisie went to see an accountant that had been recommended, coming home to say that things would be set up by the time Willow was home again.

At school, the lessons were starting to take on the revision feel. Thursday, she sought out Mister Jamieson and told him that she would miss the drumming class on the following Friday. He gave her the course notes in advance.

On the way home on the Friday, she and Gina sorted out the order of organ playing. Willow was in the Cathedral on Sunday, and Gina in the church. Gina was in the Cathedral the following Sunday, and Willow hoped that she would be good enough to play the church. Gina would play the chapel for two weeks, with Willow taking the last week of term. Willow said that she hoped she would be able to play for the sing-along on the Saturday after she got home but would let Gina know if she couldn’t. Wendy was going to continue the usual school run while Willow was in hospital.

With everything sorted out, Willow just had to get through Saturday and her turn at the Cathedral on Sunday. Her keyboard was back in her room, and she had spent a lot of her evenings writing and recording the tracks. She now had twelve songs, including the three that they had already played. Most of the later songs were from her imagination about things that an older girl may live through, taken from films or stories she had read.

On Saturday afternoon, she sent the files to each of the three others, as well as all twelve of the basic files to Herb, Victor and Roy. To those, she had a message that the others had already played the first three as a quartet, but to add their ideas to turn everything into an electric offering. Then, Wendy took her into Coventry to run through the content for the Sunday services.

Ashley was on duty in the club on Saturday, as Malcolm had the idea that there would be more than usual coming along. Wendy and Willow walked there to have dinner and found about fifty diners there already. More came in while they ate, with some having to sit in the back room. Malcolm offered her cash in hand if she would play something, so Willow finished her meal and went to the stage. She pulled out the Yamaha and set it up, adding one of the Marshalls.

The other diners were transferring their meals to other tables in the back room as she was doing this, so, when she sat at the keyboard, alone on the stage, there were about seventy people in front of her. She had plugged a microphone into one of the amp inputs.

“Good evening, folks. This isn’t one of our normal Saturday evening shows, so I’ll have to apologise if it isn’t up to the standard that you’ve come to expect from the Stoneleigh Club. I’m Willow Rose, part of Summer Rose. I’ll play you the songs you may have been hearing on the radio, then I have a few new ones that may become our next album. I hope that you enjoy them, and the dance floor is there to be used.”

She had set the Yamaha to the piano and started her first solo performance on stage. This was pure improvisation and bravado. She worked through all the Carpenters material and then took a break. She was a few songs in when Maisie and Gina came in and ordered dinners. Gina grinned and gave her a thumbs up as the performance continued.

In the break, she went over to them, and the girls hugged.

“That was awesome, friend. Even pared down to just the piano, you nail it! How come you’re up there?”

“Malcolm asked me. I think that some of the people here are on their first visit. He wanted them to have something to talk about when they leave. I’m going to do some of the easier dance tunes after, then I think I’ll do all of the ‘Journey’ set. Did you get the files?”

“I did. I haven’t had a chance to work with them yet, so it will be good to hear them live. Did you send them to the others?”

“Yes. I also sent the whole set to the electric section. If they come up with anything good, it may be a good second album for the band. Not as heavy as the ‘Kansas’ but all original material. That’s what sets a band up as a force to be reckoned with. The feedback, tonight, will be interesting. You’ll have a fortnight without me around to kick it around.”

After her comfort break and a glass of water, she told her father that if Malcolm put together an envelope, to take it for her. Back on stage, she set the Yamaha to organ and started playing some of the dance numbers that were easy enough to sing and play at the same time. She was gratified when some couples came out to dance. After an hour of these, she announced that she was ending the evening with a set of songs from a possible album called ‘Journey’ and comments would be appreciated.

“You, tonight, are the first to hear this set. I hope that the ladies among you can relate to the story of a child becoming a teenage girl and then growing to be a woman.”

She sang all twelve songs, live for the first time. There was some dancing, some smiling, some of the women going to their bags for tissues, including Wendy. The first five were all from Willow’s own experiences, shared by most of the females in the room. The rest were from her imagination, which seemed to resonate with the older women there. At the last song, she sat, head bowed, then stood and nodded her head to the audience, who were applauding her. She turned the keyboard and amp off, then left the stage to be hugged by Gina and Wendy, then by most of the women present, and some of the men.

She sat with her mother, Maisie and Gina, and had a lemonade. Gina told her that the album was going to be a hit, even if it was only bought by the female half of the population. She had recorded the performance on her phone and would play it to the others when they met. She said that she would organise an after-school session to show it to them.

That night, as the Rose family walked home, her father was quiet for a while.

“What’s up, Dad? It looked like a good night for the club.”

“That’s the thing, you clever girl. People will be coming along expecting to be entertained. You can’t carry it on your shoulders.”

“I don’t have to, Dad. You do have the phone number of a grateful manager, don’t you? I bet that he has a stable full of bands who would be happy to play here. It could become part of the live music scene. I don’t mean rock bands, but there would be a lot of older folks who appreciate a meal and a dance on Saturday evenings. If we have to move the sing-alongs to another night, then so be it. We could have a link to book for meals on the website. I’d be talking to Peter, if I were you.”

“I once thought that you were just a good musician, but you’ve become a good teacher, a good organiser, and a good businesswoman. That’s a great idea which I’ll discuss with Malcolm and the other board members. Tonight, we had enough paying customers to cover band hire, and a full house would turn a good profit, as last Saturday proved. While you’re in bed next week, things may be changing outside, as well as with you. That last set brought tears to my eyes; it was so sweet.”

“You and every woman in the room, my husband. That set tugged at the heartstrings like nothing I’ve heard lately.”

Marianne Gregory © 2025