Positively Patsy Part 11

Talk about coincidence! That will be something to speak to Ruby about. When I hung up I said “Joanne, how about we go and visit the nursing home then go and see Peter about getting a car?” We freshened up and took the sports car to the nursing home.

When we walked in Kay greeted us both with a hug and kiss. “Hello, you two, it’s so great to see you again after that long tour. Ruby will be so happy to see you. You were fabulous in New Orleans; the show was an absolute blast, much more energy than my days with Alice.” We went into Rubys’ room and she was sitting up in an easy chair so, after giving her a hug and kiss we pulled up a couple of other chairs and sat chatting. We talked about the tour and then I told her about Greg’s house which was called ‘Reece Manor’ She said, “Patsy, Rod would always say that he was a distant member of a noble family from England but no-one would believe much of what he said, anyway. He was a past-master of BS as befitting a pirate radio jock.”

We chatted some more and then went to the day room where the ‘support crew’ welcomed us. We had to sit for a while and relate some of the tour highlights. Roger was there and said that the finale of the last show was one of the most amazing things he had witnessed in all of his days with bands; “I could hardly see through the viewfinder, I was crying so much.” I told them about the plans for ‘Reece Manor’ and the founding of the ‘Angels of Joy’ charity. Roger said that he had two books in production, one on the formation of the new ‘Amazon’ and one on the tour. He expected them to do well and said that he would donate a quarter of the profit to the charity. I gave him a big hug and thanked him. He told me that the documentary that Chris was producing was being put to the TV channels and could be shown in the lead up to Christmas.

When we left there we went to K Beat and got in to see Alice. I asked her about the house and she told me that one of the papers I had signed a couple of years ago was the lease for it so it was my official address. The payments had been taken from my income, along with management fees and provision for tax. I asked about the sports car and she said that it was my company car and owned by K Beat, the same as the sedan that Joanne drove. I told her about ‘Reece Manor’ and she said that it would be a good idea to maintain the house in Nashville as it gave me a stable address for the government and state agencies. I would be able to live in the UK for six months or more of the year and not have to pay UK tax unless I did work there. I said that I had done a photo shoot after the tour but that I thought it was as a favour for Maxine.

She said that she was closing the Patsy Office for the moment and moving Ma to another band that was ready to go out into the world. I was to keep the media guy for myself from the other office. She told me that Jake and the band had started working on a blues album now he had an authentic sound. I told her we may want them to record with us in Geneva in the New Year on an album of ballads and blues. She told me that I certainly do not let the grass grow under my feet. When we left her we went to see Ma and Lucy, giving them both hugs I congratulated Lucy on her elevation to the fashion industry and wished her well in New York. Ma was very pleased for her but admitted to being a small-town girl and would hang around Nashville. She told me that the two tours had been the highlights of her life and that she now needed the rest. We checked the inner office and saw that Jake and the band were sharing the two desks that used to be Nina and Lorraine’s. The media guy had been moved into our outer office which was now named the ‘Amazon’ Office.

We checked out from reception and drove over to Peters’ car saleroom. When we pulled up a bouncy blonde asked if she could help and I asked to see Peter. When we were shown to his office he got up and gave us both hugs. He asked what he could do for us and I said that I was about to buy my very first car. He asked about the sports car and I told him that it was a company car. He asked what I wanted and I told him I wanted a medium size SUV with all the bells and whistles. He wondered why and I told him that I was going to be a bit more independent from K Beat in the future and wanted something that would go anywhere, in any weather. I also wanted a vehicle that provided more security than a soft top.

We went out into the lot and he showed me what he recommended and I took it for a drive. It was certainly different; being up high was a real buzz as you could see over all of the other cars. Getting back I said I would have one, picked the colours and got an invoice to take to my bank. Joanne said she wanted a test drive and I waited until she came back and said she wanted one too. Peter said that the sale would go down to the lass that greeted us and said that both vehicles would be ready in two days. We gave him our names and the house address to put on the paperwork.

Leaving there we went to our bank where, a long time ago, we opened up our accounts. Walking in a young chap asked if he could help and I asked for the manager. He told us that the manager did not see normal account customers and assured us that he would be able to deal with anything we needed. I told him to call the manager and tell him that Miss Meyers and Miss Swift wanted to see him. He huffed a bit but made the call. When he put the phone down he didn’t even have time to say anything before the manager came out of his office and welcomed us warmly. “Back to your menial activities, vassal” he told the lad with a smile.

Ushering us into the office he said that the lad was the son of a branch manager of another branch and was a bit too much full of himself. He asked what he could do for us and we showed him the invoices to the car showroom that needed to be paid. When he called up our account details he gave a bit of a whistle and said “I knew you girls were doing well but this is amazing. You are close to being our biggest customers. I told him that Nina would be not far behind but Lorraine will probably overtake us when her film career took off. I asked him about an account for a charity that we would fund next week and he gave us the paperwork that needed to be filled in to placate the IRS.

When he asked what the seed money was I said it would be fifteen million and then there would be payments from the sales of Roger’s books and our CD’s. He called another chap into the office and introduced him as Mister Bruce. He told Mister Bruce that he was to be our personal banking contact and would be available twenty four seven for us. We were given a handful of Mister Bruce’s business cards and found out his Christian name was also Bruce. The manager told us that Bruce had been to our last gig in Nashville before the tour and couldn’t stop talking about it for days. Bruce was turning bright red so we told him that we just normal girls with unusual jobs so stop being embarrassed. Before he left he checked our accounts himself and said “Wow; that is impressive. I can see why you need a personal account manager. Whatever you need, just call.” He walked us out to the car and waved us off. Not wanting to cook tonight we went to Mario’s for dinner. He greeted us warmly and put us in a booth where we were a bit out of sight. We had a good meal and went back to the house and bed.

In the morning we tidied up the house and did the laundry. I spent some time in the studio and got my head straight regarding the various songs I had on the go and rolling around in my brain. I made a list with four columns – Patsy, Joanne, Peggy, Riordan – and started listing the various songs that would suit the different voices that I already had and then listed the ones that could be adapted to each voice that were not completed. In the end I had a dozen for me, ten for Joanne, six each for Riordan and Peggy. I had the feeling that those two may want to recycle some old standards anyway so I was not bothered by a shortfall. We had a quiet weekend and the following week joined Peggy and Riordan in New York to sign the paperwork for the charity.

Part 12

When we gathered in Simon’s office we were joined by a couple of legal types. They had drawn up a constitution for the charity which we all had to read through and sign a paper saying that we would abide by it. Then we processed to banking paperwork that I had been given with all the correct names. I rang Bruce and told him that I was emailing him a copy of the constitution and the banking paperwork and asked that he could ring me back with an account number when the account was open. We then discussed the likely use of ‘Reece Manor’ and it was agreed that Mary, who from this meeting was my PA, should come back to Nashville with Joanne, Peggy and me and then go back to England with Peggy to look at the equestrian facility. I asked Peggy if her father was good with us doing this stuff early and she said that he was happy that the Manor was starting to look lived in.

Mary’s first task was to see what was needed to bring it back to life and the second was to investigate the things we needed to do in order to operate it and keep horses there. We would need some kind of certification. I asked Peggy if we could set up bedrooms that would be for our use only so we could use the house for a base in England and she said she would sort that out. My phone rang and it was Bruce who gave me the account number. I instructed him to transfer five million from my normal account into it and then passed the phone to Joanne who identified herself and asked the same. We gave Riordan the account details so she could transfer from her bank in New York. We also got the account details for Mary and I instructed Bruce to set up a regular salary payment into that account monthly and put Mary on the verify her details. Bruce said he would send me a transaction card in the name of the charity. With all that sorted we went and had lunch.

Later in the day we flew back to Nashville and went to the house. Joanne and I had cleared Lorraine’s room and put her stuff in the storeroom alongside Nina’s so we told Peggy that this would be her room here. Mary already had some clothes hanging in Nina’s old room so we were back to five again. I rustled up a light meal as we had eaten on the plane and we retired. Next morning there was a call from Peter saying that our cars were ready so we got Mary to drive us in the sedan to pick them up. After getting a run-down on all the features, Joanne and I drove back to the house with Mary behind us. After lunch we took Peggy into K Beat and she signed as an artist with the usual contract. We then needed to go to our bank for her to open up an account where her US earnings could be deposited. Our friend Bruce was pleased to see us and she had an account opened within minutes and was told there would be account and credit cards sent to her. We suggested that they go to the Nashville house.

Once back at the house I showed Peggy the list of songs that I had made and she told me that she had listened to all of the CD’s we had bought and there were about six that she really wanted to sing. She was amazed that someone had not mined the wealth of material there was from that time as most of the songs were timeless. Before dinner Alice rang and said she wanted me in the office for a short time in the morning to tidy up Patricks’ estate so we made a time to meet. Seeing that we needed to keep moving on the charity we all decided that we needed to get back to England so that Mary and Joanne could see the house. We made bookings to leave Nashville tomorrow afternoon and stay overnight in Boston before going directly to London.

So that’s how it worked out. I took my new SUV to K Beat and met with Alice. The lawyer had completed all of the paperwork and there was a cheque for me as the designated beneficiary. I took it to the bank and had Bruce put it into my account. Then it was back to the house for lunch and then we tidied up, got our luggage together and called a taxi to take us to the airport. We had a good hotel in Boston overnight and then took a plane to London, arriving late in the afternoon. Peggy had booked a limo to take us to ‘Reece Manor’ and it was twilight by the time we arrived but light enough to see that the place certainly looked more cared for now.

Peggy showed us to our rooms and we unpacked and freshened up before going down to the dining room. Greg was there and greeted us warmly, giving everyone a hug. He seemed a lot better for the present. We had the usual good dinner; the cook was secure in her job! I asked him if he had known of the original name of the house and he said that there had been no mention of it in any of the paperwork he had seen when he bought it. I wondered how much of the interior was still original and he said that the house as we see it today was mainly built in the 1780’s but there were parts of the kitchen and some other downstairs rooms that retained their walls from the original house. He said that he had been told by one of the locals that the first house was mainly built in about 1600 to 1620 so had a bit of history about it. He suggested that as tomorrow was Sunday, I should go to church as they often had records on the early owners.

So it was that Joanne, Peggy and I went to church. Mary wanted to inspect the stables and Greg volunteered to show her around. We went with our cook and her daughter in the Mercedes with Peggy driving. When we pulled up there were a few odd looks, especially when our cook got out of the car. In the church we sat near the back and admired the architecture and, after a pleasant service with none of the fire and brimstone that I was used to in the US, we went out of the main door to shake the vicar’s hand. When he took my hand he looked me in the face and said “I have seen you before.” I told him that I was a singer in a band and part-time model and he said “No, no, it is somewhere else. It will come to me.” We stood around and chatted to the ladies of the village who were keen to meet the ‘new’ people and, as we were about to go, the vicar came over and said “I have got it; I have a picture of you on the wall of the manse!” I said there were a lot of pictures of me on walls but that was the first time I heard I was in a manse. He said “No, you don’t understand, this was painted in the early 1600’s.”

He invited us all to the manse for a cup of tea and to see this painting. I was intrigued, our cook and her daughter were beside themselves to be invited into the manse and it was an interested party that walked across the road to an imposing house. Peggy, ever the forward one, commented on how grand the manse was for such a small parish and the vicar said that she was correct; it was part of the legacy of the people in the pictures we would see. In the drawing room we were shown two pictures, side by side. The lady did look a bit like me but it was the man that caught my eye. He was the spitting image of the man in the photo beside Rubys’ bed in the nursing home. I said “What do you think, Joanne; is this or is it not Randy Rodrick Reece.” The vicar stood stock still and then took me by the hand. “Young Lady” he said slowly “you know the people in the pictures?” I told him that I had no idea who they were but the man was the spitting image of my uncle Rod who may, or may not, have been my father.

He then said “These two people are the Lord and Lady of the Manor between 1620 and 1660. His name was Richard Forsyth Reece and he was a sailor. No, not just any sailor; he sailed with Drake in the privateer days between 1572 and 1574 when Drake was, in essence, a government licenced pirate.” I laughed at that and told him that Randy Rod was a DJ in a pirate radio station in Nashville called Double RRRRRRR! He went on “After that he sailed with Drake to circumnavigate the world between 1577 and 1580. He came here and bought the land where the current ‘Reece Manor’ stands and built the original house in about 1600.” I told him that it was Peggy’s father who lived there now and that we were going to turn it into music; cooking and riding school for disadvantaged children.

Marianne G 2020