Ending of Book One

Christmas day, it was just Willow and her grandmother who walked to the church, arm in arm with their breath steaming. Willow played to a church full of joyful villagers, singing the carols as she played them. Afterwards, there was a lot of hugging, kissing and love being spread around. Willow was happy that she was fully accepted by the villagers, but more so by her grandmother’s joy at being with her.

Christmas night, Willow was in her bed, in a new nightie and cuddling her bed friends. She wished the two of them a happy Christmas, and dozed off to sleep, wondering what the new year and new term would bring. It couldn’t be any busier than the last one, now, could it?

Chapter 1

Willow Jean Rose had a quiet week between Christmas and New Year. She played her violin and clarinet for her grandparents, happy that they loved her as much as her own parents did. The showing of the concert on Christmas Eve had resulted in a lot of messages on her phone. The only downer of the period was the rather cheap Christmas card from her father’s family which had greetings ‘To you and your family’.

They had all eaten too much, and she took her grandmother on walks along her favourite paths to get exercise. Sundays in church were now going to be a regular thing and the notice board now had Willow Rose and Gina Summer sign written as the church organists. She had received a postcard from Gina, showing a sunny beach with bikini clad beauties playing volleyball. With ‘Wish you were here’ as part of the message.

With New Years Eve being in the week, the club manager had reacted quickly to the rousing success of the Christmas Party. He had contacted a friend who was a DJ to host a New Year’s Eve party and had letter-dropped the village. Willow and her family went along, all in party dress, and joined in with the festivities. Malcolm had supplied a lot of party food, and nobody went hungry.

Willow was nibbling a cheese stick when a boy, about her age, asked her if she wanted to dance. She smiled and he led her out next to the stage where several couples were dancing.

They were gyrating slowly, and he told her that his name was Jacob.

“I know. You’re at the Blue Coat, and in some of the classes I’m in.”

“You noticed me?”

“Of course, I look at everyone and recognise faces. It’s names I have a problem with. You sit next to Roy, who played in our band.”

“Wow! I’m flattered that the Wonderful Willow knows so much.”

“Wonderful Willow?”

“That’s what some of the guys and the girls call you. It fits, doesn’t it?”

She touched a finger to her thumb, on both hands, and brought them up to her face, like spectacles.

“So, should I get a mask, a cape, and a plastic outfit with ‘WW’ on the front?”

Jacob laughed.

“That would be silly.”

“About as silly as calling me Wonderful Willow. I’m just a normal person in a good school and trying hard to get enough results to go to university.”

“How many normal people get to be featured in a Christmas Eve broadcast?”

“Well, there were about forty of us from the school. Just about everyone was shown as they were playing. OK, so I played the organ as a soloist. Next time, it may be Gina playing the piano, or Zara on her cello. None of us are trying to stand out; we’re just trying to be the best player of our instruments that we can be. You have no idea how much I was taught in the week before we did that concert, and how many hours we all put in. I haven’t seen you in the orchestra rehearsals, do you play anything? If you know Roy, there must be some guitar in your life.”

He grinned and looked her in the eyes.

“Willow, there I was, thinking that you could be an ice queen, yet you’re nothing like the person that the rabble think you are. Yes, I do play guitar, and Roy and I had the same teacher a few years ago. I play at home, because I’m afraid that I would be laughed at. I play classics and folk songs, mainly, but do stray into modern pop. I was at both the pop concerts you played in, and I enjoyed them, but they were far too loud for me.”

“Do you live nearby? I haven’t seen you in the club before?”

“We have a farm, between the Village and the main motorway to the city. My parents have to look after the farm, so we don’t get out much.”

“Gina and I do a sing-along, here. It’s once a month at the moment, with the next one being towards the end of January. Why don’t you get someone to bring you and your guitar and see if you like playing. The crowd is very forgiving, they even clapped when I sang three songs that I had written, which, when I come to think about it, were sort of Joan Baez.”

He was quiet for a few moments as they continued to dance. Then he smiled.

“Look, my parents are here, on a night out that is the first in a long time. When I mentioned that I knew you, while we were watching the broadcast, they didn’t believe me. Can I introduce you to them?”

“Sure, Jacob. Why not.”

They left the dance floor, and he took her to a table where a couple were sitting, smiles on their faces. To Willow, they looked too old to be his parents, but that could be their long days in the fields.

“Mum, Dad. This Is Willow Rose. She was the organist in that TV show. Willow, these are my parents, Rosalie and Wilhelm Epstein.”

“Hello, Rosalie and Wilhelm. I’m glad to see you here, tonight. I was just telling Jacob that we have a sing-along here once a month. It’s very friendly and a lot of fun. I’ve asked him if he could bring his guitar along and sing for us.”

“You would let our boy sing, here, in public?”

“Of course. My friend Gina, and I, play piano and organ. We started out just singing drinking songs, but the last time we sang a number of singable modern pop songs. I believe that this room will get a lot more use, now that it’s been cleaned up after years of being closed. We had a dance band from the school here for a Christmas party. Roy, Victor, Herbie, and Brent were in it. I’m sure that there will be something said when we start next term.”

“Does it finish late? We need to be up early to see to the stock.”

“We do the drinking songs until about ten but get the other songs in during the seven to eight period, so Jacob could be taken home then.”

“You’re a very pleasant girl, for a TV star.”

“No star here, Mrs. Epstein. Just another player in the school orchestra. I also play the organ in the church across the road.”

“We’re not that religious, Willow. Our families escaped Germany before the war. They were orthodox Jews, but the faith has left the family with subsequent generations.”

“My own family aren’t committed Christians, but we do find it soothing to sing the hymns. I like being up with the organ, so I can listen without someone watching to see if my lips are moving.”

His mother looked at Willow hard, and then laughed.

“You are so much different to the woman who played that organ. I can’t believe that you are so open. What about the Blue Coat? It is, after all, a church school.”

“You know that they accept all that are prepared to do the work, and to be good students. If they didn’t accept me, would they accept Jacob from a Jewish background? My mother wrote that we were C of E in the application and hadn’t stepped inside a church since her marriage. Yet, here we are, Jacob and me in some of the same classes.”

“Are you sure that you’re thirteen?”

“Mister Epstein, you are not the first to ask that question. I have been able to become a person who can perform in public because of the school. It gives me strength beyond my years. If I was allowed to bet, I’d give you twenty to one that you might see Jacob on TV next year. There’s one thing we don’t have in the orchestra, and that’s a good player of acoustic guitar, in the classical style.”

“How could he join?”

“All he needs to do is impress Mister Bamborough with his skills. He’s the one who leads the guitar group, but so far, the only ones from that group that I’ve heard want to play electric pop. The Junior Orchestra meet on Tuesday, after school. If Jacob comes along, he can ask to join. At the moment, we’ll be rehearsing a group of Saint-Saens compositions for another concert at the Cathedral in May, but there will be end of term shows where he can shine.”

“We will talk about it when we get home. Now, you young ones, it’s not long to midnight, so you had better be dancing.”

They went back to the dance floor, just as the DJ started playing slow numbers. Jacob put one arm around Willow, and she put her hand on his shoulder, with their other hands entwined. Willow was reminded of dancing with Alec. This partner wasn’t Alec, but was handsome in a way, with curly hair, a nice smile, and danced well. When it came to the countdown, there was a big screen set up on the stage, and they watched as the hands hit midnight and Big Ben started chiming. It wasn’t hard for Jacob to kiss her, and she didn’t find it hard to reciprocate.

“Happy New Year, Willow.”

“Happy New Year, Jacob. May it bring all the things we wish for.”

“It already has, Willow. It already has.”

The party didn’t last much longer. Jacob squeezed her hand as his parents came to collect him, and she walked home with her parents and grandparents. As she was ready to sleep, she contemplated on how much different this New Year was. It was the fact that it was the first time she had been out at a party for one thing. The year had to be good. It had started with a kiss.

Her grandparents were leaving on the next day, so it was a mixture of joy that they had been with them, and sadness that they were going. After breakfast, they loaded up their car, everyone hugged and kissed, and then they were gone. To Willow, the house now seemed a little empty. She had really bonded with her grandmother in a way that had been impossible before. Her grandfather treated her like a grandchild, but didn’t have a lot in common with her, so conversation was on general subjects, but genial. She had the nagging feeling that he was holding something back, which she wondered could be female intuition that had been injected along with the other hormones.

…………………………………………

The women were tidying up the spare bedroom when the doorbell rang. Ashley answered it to find a policeman on the doorstep.

‘I’m sorry to bother you on New Years day, sir, but your neighbours at the end of the road were robbed while they were at a party in the local club last night. Did you see anything unusual during the evening?”

“We were at the same party until nearly one, officer. If it’s any help, I do have cameras.”

“You would be one of the few in the village, then. Can I come in and look at the recording?”

Ashley led him into his office, where he turned the computer on and called up the camera at the front of the house, taking the vision backwards until it showed something, then back further until they could see a van enter the road, turn around and park outside a house. Two men got out and went inside, with them coming out several times to put things in the van. They came out and got in to drive away. The policeman asked Ashley to reverse the scene again, and then got him to stop the vision and print the picture at several stages of the robbery. The last was when the van left. When it had arrived, the lights had been out, but as it pulled away, the driver had put the lights on, fully illuminating the rear number plate. The policeman took the pictures and gave Ashley an email address to send the original file to.

It was Saturday afternoon when the doorbell rang, and the neighbours were standing there with a bottle of wine which they gave to Ashley.

“This is to thank you for having that camera. When we saw you put it up, we wondered about your sanity, but you really helped us get most of our property back. The robbers were our son and a friend of his who was the van owner. Our son has been away from home for a while and had got in with some bad people. He had offered our things as payment of his drug debt.”

“We’re glad we could help. We put up the cameras because someone had threatened our daughter.”

“Willow the wonderful organist! She has brought so much pleasure to the village. How could anybody want to harm her?”

“It was someone from her school, not the village. Thank you for the wine.”

They left and Ashley watched them walk back to their house. The wine didn’t put a dent in the cost of the security system, but it had paid for itself in good deeds.

………………………………………….

Gina was home Sunday morning and met Willow outside the church after the service. She was tanned and looked very healthy. They sat on the bench for a little while, catching up on what each of them had been doing, until Willow’s phone beeped that there was a message. She looked at it and giggled.

“It says, ‘bring blue dress, you’re playing for assembly’ and is signed from Miss Russell.”

“Oh, joy. School starts in the morning. I wonder what days we will need to stay back for the orchestra. Home five minutes and the holiday seem like it was last year.”

“But it was last year!”

Willow went home to make sure the dress was still suitable to wear on the stage. She was going to have to get her mother to take it into a dry cleaners. Her school uniform was all ready to go, including a new sweater that her grandmother had bought her for Christmas. Among her presents had been a diary, which she opened and pencilled all the things that were likely to happen in the coming year.

Monday morning, they picked up Gina and headed for the school, the dress in a bag and hanging on the handrail. At the school, they both headed for the big lockers and Willow changed into the dress. When they walked into the theatre, they saw both Yamahas on the stage. Reg Edwards was there and called them over.

“Gina, we want you to play for the hymn this morning. I know it’s a late call and you don’t have a blue dress yet. We want you both to play the ‘Wild Donkeys’ movement of the ‘Carnival of the Animals’; the sheet music is on the Yamahas, and one will be needed to be reset to the piano output after the hymn. Willow, the Head wants you to play the encore piece that you played in the Cathedral, the ‘Allegro’ from the ‘Seven Improvisations’.”

“That’s all right, sir. Will we have the choir girls with us?”

“Yes, and they’ll be using the multipliers. This assembly will be a bit longer than usual, but a lot has happened since the beginning of the first term. Now, can you improvise the entry music, and then the Reverend Jack will take the service. The Head will come out and invite you, Willow, to play that ‘Allegro’ that wowed them in the Cathedral. It will allow her to talk about the upcoming concert. Then she will ask you to play the dual piano piece. You will also have to expect her to talk about the Christmas dance. She enjoyed herself so much that she wants you all to do it again, here in the theatre, one evening later in the year for the students and parents.”

The friends nodded, then went to sit at the keyboards, making sure that both were set as organs, and Willow started with some Bach, then nodded to Gina to take it over. They swapped as the hall filled with students and teachers. Willow was playing when she saw Reverend Jack out of the corner of her eye and ended the playing.

He walked to the microphone and welcomed everyone to the new year and the new term, then gave a reading, followed by a short service to pray for success with all things that the school was going to do, followed by the Lord’s Prayer. He called out that they would now sing the hymn, and Gina, already in organ mode, played the intro. The choir was in fine voice and Willow, now in full view, mouthed the words, as it was one that she had played a number of times.

When that ended, the Head came on the stage, smiling at the two girls as she walked towards the microphone.

“I would like to add to the welcome that Reverend Jack said. This coming year is likely to be one that will go into the history books. Last term, a clerical error had us with more merchandise than we could need, but the two pop bands that had been recorded put on a concert to help us clear the stock. Not only did it clear the stock, but we had to order more items as we had run out before the concert. Or, should I say, concerts, as we filled this theatre on two nights. If those two bands would please stand, I want to applaud their addition to the school’s standing.”

The Gees, and Alec, Brent, with his friends, stood, while Willow and Gina stood on the stage, all blushing as the entire school applauded them.

“That led us into the last few weeks of the year, which had our combined orchestras and the choir performing at the Coventry Cathedral. It was shown on the TV during Christmas Eve, and we have received a lot of messages of praise. On the two nights of those performances, Willow Rose played an encore piece, which she will play for us now.”

Willow played the ‘Allegro’, and heard that it was going through a multiplier, sounding much stronger than a portable Yamaha by being tripled. There was applause when she finished.

“Thank you, Miss Rose. In May, the orchestras will be back in the Cathedral, playing a Saint-Saens concert. That will also be filmed by the BBC, as a live broadcast, so you’ll have to set your recording machines. I have been told that official BBC DVDs of both shows will be available in the shops, with us getting some to sell in the school. In the next concert, the orchestra will be playing the ‘Carnival of the Animals’, and, as we have the two pianists on stage with us, I’m asking them if they’ll play a very short piece, called ‘Wild Donkeys’.”

The girls, now with the piano setting, played the humorous thirty seconds of the piece, with a lot of smiles from their audience.

“There was one last show that the school was involved in. It wasn’t advertised through the school website, so a lot of you will be hearing about it for the first time. Some of the pop band that you have applauded, plus volunteers from our orchestra, spent four hours only, putting together music to dance to. The event was held in the Stoneleigh Village Community Club, with proceeds going to the Church Roof Fund. That church is led by our own Reverend Russell, and has two church organists, both being behind me on the stage. That Dinner Dance was very successful, with a number of the staff attending. It was repeated here, in the last week before Christmas, for some students and invited guests. We intend to ask the dance band to recreate the performance here, in the theatre, as a student dinner dance. It will have to be held over two nights if everyone wants to come.”

She paused for a moment.

“I suppose I have to talk about other things that are happening.”

She spent five minutes talking about academic and drama items, then wound up and walked back to where the Reverend Jack was standing.

“Play them out, girls.”

Willow and Gina switched to organ mode and played Bach as the students filed out, then turned the keyboards off and followed the choir to the lockers, where Willow changed back into her school uniform. They walked to their first class, where they were given a cheer as they entered. After that, it was back to normal, with the first item of class being envelopes given to every student with their exam results. Some read them immediately, others just put them in their bags for later. They were told that the reports had already been posted and were likely to be in their letter boxes that day.

At lunch, their table had several visitors coming to say how much they enjoyed the music in the morning, and some wondered if they could set the Head’s speech to music and get her to sing it. Jacob came over and told Willow that his parents had encouraged him to see if he could be in the orchestra. Willow stood and picked up her bag.

“See you lot at the first lesson, this afternoon. There’s something that Jacob and I need to do.”

She led Jacob out of the lunchroom, over to the music area and knocked on Mister Bamborough’s office door. When he called to enter, she pulled Jacob in with her.

“Mister Bamborough, Jacob Epstein learned to play guitar with Roy when they were younger. He plays acoustic and has been dithering about playing in public. I told him that the only way to find out if he’s good enough would come and see you.”

The teacher smiled and then looked at Jacob, who was looking as if he wanted to be somewhere else.

“Jacob. What guitar do you play?”

“I have a couple, sir. An old Yamaha and a Karrera that I got for my birthday last year.”

“See those guitar cases by the wall?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Those were purchased because of the money that Willow and her bands have made for the school. Geoff chose them and they were delivered today. They have not been played. How would you like to open one of the cases and play me something. Whatever you feel happy with.”

Jacob went and opened one of the cases, gave a little cry of surprise and lifted the guitar out of the case.

“This is a brand-new Martin, sir. It’s magnificent. Even if you kick me out, just holding it has made my day.”

“Take a seat, make sure it’s in tune, and play me something.”

Jacob went and sat down, the guitar resting on his legs. It was in tune, and he played a few chords to check the feel of the fretboard. Willow was holding her breath as he looked at her, smiled, and played something that she had heard before, on a classic station. When he finished, he wasn’t about to let go of the best instrument he had ever played.

“Do you play lighter music, folk, maybe?”

Jacob nodded and played a tune, then sung an old Peter, Paul, and Mary number.

The bells started sounding for the start of the afternoon lessons, and he, reluctantly, wiped the fretboard and put the guitar back in its case. Mister Bamborough stood and shook his hand.

“Jacob. If you want to play in the orchestra, you will be welcomed. You don’t need to bring your own guitar, as that one will have your name on it. The first orchestra is tomorrow afternoon. There won’t be anything for you for a week or two, but I promise that we’ll start working on something for you. By that time, you’ll know everyone and feel settled as part of the group. You get to help out and be part of what we do. Thank you, Willow, for finding another star in our midst. Now, you two, run along and learn something.”

As they went back to the other part of the school, he asked Willow how she got home after the later afternoons.

“Gina’s mother picks us up. We can see if she can drop you off at home on the way. Other times, my mother picks us up when she finishes work.”

Jacob spent the afternoon wondering why he hadn’t tried to join the music side before. It was going to open his life, he knew, and all because he had gained the courage to ask Willow Rose if she wanted to dance. A Martin was something he had only ever seen on the television, and playing one showed him why they were played by the stars.

Marianne Gregory © 2025