There are some days in the middle of winter that are perfectly described using a single word. That word is ‘Dreich’. It is a Scottish word that means one or more of the following, ‘Bleak, miserable, dismal, cheerless and dreary.' If you add a biting wind that comes from straight from the Arctic ocean and you get the idea about just how it was that day.

If I’d have had any say in the matter, I’d have been in a pub with a big log fire, some good food and more than a few pints of good beer. But I didn’t have any say in what I had to do that day.

I was at the helm of my narrowboat 'Roxy' and heading west out of London. I'd been moored at various places in the City since the previous October. You can legally moor up for up to two weeks at a time without paying mooring fees. A good number of people live all year round like that. I'd hoped to have stayed until the warmer weather but as they say, the best-laid plans and all that.

Roxy had sprung a leak over the time I’d been in London and needed to receive some TLC plus a few upgrades. Roxy is also my home for most of the year. While it wasn’t serious it could get that way if left unattended so, I’d booked her into the boatyard in Oxford for a refit starting in three weeks. London to Oxford is not that far as the crow flies but by water, it is getting on for double the distance. A lot of the trip is also against the flow of the River Thames which cuts your speed down quite a bit. The day was set to be cold but sunny so I’d made an early start on my journey.

---

I’d made good time and had just passed the back of Wormwood Scrubs Prison when I heard a commotion behind me.

I turned around to see five young men all wearing black hoodies and bandana's and riding BMX bikes chasing a single man along the towpath. It looked like that they were going to win the race when I saw one of them pull a large knife from his belt. I guessed that they were out for blood. I could not let that happen.

I quickly assessed the situation and realised that if I could get the man being pursued onto my boat, I could take us over to the far side of the can and hopefully out of their reach.

I throttled back and took Roxy close to the bank as I dared. The man looked terrified.

“Jump on board,” I shouted.

The man didn’t need a second invite. He leapt aboard and in doing so, almost knocked me off the other side. I quickly regained my composure and got Roxy going again. I put the tiller hard over and slowly she came close to the far bank of the canal.

Those in pursuit were not happy. They started mouthing off at both of us. They threatened to kill both of us ‘Paedo’s and make an example of us in the process. What they had in mind for us was not very nice at all. As a follow-up to the verbals, they started lobbing whatever came to hand at Roxy and the two of us.

A narrowboat is not a swift vessel at the best of times and there are speed limits on the canal but for once, I opened her right up in the vain hope that we could escape. The gang were easily able to outpace us but I carried on nevertheless with Roxy hugging the far side of the canal as much as possible.

We approached a rail bridge. A sign on the side of it said ‘Mitre Road Junction’. One of the gang went up onto the railway bridge and started to relieve himself right onto Roxy as we passed underneath.

“Duck into the cabin,” I said ushering the young man down the steps and into my living quarters.

I had waterproofs on but even so, I really didn’t want to get his urine on me even if I was wearing fully waterproof clothes. Thankfully, he’d shot his load just before I passed under him.

Once we were out the other side of the bridge, I fully expected to see them chasing us but they stopped at the bridge and continued to hurl insults at us until we could hear them no more.

I breathed a sigh of relief and throttled back until we were travelling with legal limits once again.

Five minutes later, I slowed right down and came into the bank. There was no sign of the hoodie-wearing thugs and I decided that it was time for a temporary halt whereas the song goes, 'I could review the situation'.

“Why? Why have you stopped?” asked my guest with a lot of urgency in their voice.

“Those thugs didn’t follow us beyond the railway bridge and I need a brew it is pretty cold standing up there for hour after hour.”

“Brew?”

“Tea. Far too early for booze but it is never too early for some tea.”

He relaxed as I leapt off ‘Roxy’ and tied her up to a gatepost on the other side of the towpath. Then after going back on board my boat, I went down into the cabin.

My guest was very nervous. He backed away from me.

“There is no need to be afraid of me. If you want to get off there is the door.”

I moved away from the steps that led out of the cabin. He didn’t move.

“I’m Ray. Ray Curtis and this is my home, the narrowboat Roxy,” I said as a way of welcoming him. I filled the kettle and put it on to boil. I use a small gas stove for all my cooking.

My guest said nothing but carried on watching me prepare the cups for two teas.

“Milk? Sugar?”

“Just milk please.”

From the few words he’d said, I guessed that he was from Suffolk. He sounded just like my second cousin Frank who came from Stowmarket.

The kettle came to the boil and I poured us large mugs of tea. He just wrapped his hands around the mug. He was not dressed for this weather and his hands were quite grimy. I wondered when was the last time he’d had a decent wash let alone a shower or a bath.

I considered inviting him to take a shower but I didn't have enough water on board at the moment. Water, water everywhere and nary a drop to drink. All of us who lived on the canals had said that to ourselves many times.

“What do I call you?” I asked.

He didn’t answer.

“It does not have to be your real name. Many of us on the water use assumed names for a variety of reasons. Ray Curtis is not my real name but it is the name that others who live on the canal know me by.”

He looked at me suspiciously. I guessed that he was around sixteen or seventeen. Most of the young people living on the streets seem to be that sort of age.

“Melody. I’m Melody.”

The fact that he was using a female name didn’t shock me. I could see the remains of some red and black nail varnish on his left hand.

“Welcome aboard Roxy, Melody.”

She looked at me as if to say… ‘didn’t you hear what I just said?’

"Melody is such a nice name. I don't think that I have ever met another Melody before."

"Don't it matter that I'm a man and… Well… Like… Melody is a female name?"

“It does not matter at all Melody.”

“Bollocks! I’m a tranny. Most people throw a mega wobbly when they hear that.”

I smiled back at her.

“Have I thrown a wobbly as you put it? No, I haven’t. I learned a long time ago to take people as I see them.”

“Yeah right!”

“I’m being serious. As I said, a lot of people who live on the canals of Britain use fake names. Bargees have done that since the start of the canal age in the late eighteenth century. I know of two people who call themselves Dawn and George. Dawn is like you a male to female transsexual. George is female to male. They are now in their fifties and have been together for around thirty years. No one really knows and what is more important, no one really cares. They travel around the canals doing odd jobs for the other canal folk. George is a wizard at fixing things like toasters and the like. Dawn makes furniture and other stuff. They rock up at a mooring for a week to ten days at a time and then move on. There are many others like them living on the ‘cut’.”

Melody didn’t say much so I changed the subject.

“I’m heading for a mooring just to the east of Hayes tonight. There is a huge Tesco’s right alongside the canal. If you want, we can get you some clothes.”

“I don’t have any money and I’m not taking any from you!” replied Melody very forcibly.

I tried hard but failed to suppress a small laugh.

“Everyone thinks that just because I’m on the streets I’m fair game. You buy me a meal and expect me you suck your dick in return,” countered Melody.

“The last thing I was thinking about was having you suck my dick as you so eloquently put it. How about you work for your keep. Do some housework, help with the locks and such like. In return, I’ll provide you with a place to sleep, food and some decent clothing. If we buy you some clothes today and then you decide to leg it with them, then that’s my loss. What do you say?”

Melody didn’t answer me so I tried another tack.

"Why not buy something sensible but nice then wear it tonight and we can go out for an Indian tonight. There is a great place near the canal in the middle of Hayes. I don't mean look like a tart or a prossie. Just a slightly dowdy young woman. That is just the sort of person that people don't notice."

I paused for a few seconds.

“How about it eh?”

There was still no reaction.

“I’ll even spring for a hotel room for tonight. There will be plenty of hot water.”

“One room?”

“Each.”

Slowly she began to smile.

"Perhaps you aren't like all the rest. People promise the earth but there is only want one thing that they want at the end. of the day"

“I’m not like that at all.”

“That’s what they all say.”

I sighed.

“Then let me prove it to you tonight?”

“I don’t do blow jobs!”

“So, you have said and the last thing I am looking for is any form of sexual contact.”

Her look said to me ‘prove it’.

I stood up.
“This sitting around talking won’t get us to Tesco’s let alone to the Hotel at a decent time.”

I left her sitting in the small cabin and went up on deck. After releasing the mooring, I climbed back on board and started the engine. We were underway again.

---

After about ten minutes, Melody poked her head out of the cabin. I moved to one side and she came up to join me.

“Where are we?”

“Look to your left and up.”
“That’s the North Circular Road. We are just over an hour from Hayes at this rate.”

“We were going faster before?”

“We were but that was strictly for emergencies. We are limited to four miles an hour on the canal. A bit faster on some rivers like parts of the Thames.”

Melody sighed. Her stomach rumbled.

“When was the last time you had a decent meal?”

“Two or three days ago. Sausage and Chips from a mobile van.”

“Why don’t you go below and fix us both a cheese sandwich. There is bread in the cupboard next to the kettle and cheese in the fridge. There is some pickle there as well. That should tide us over until later.”

Melody didn’t move.

“Why? Why are you doing this?”

I smiled.
“What? Being nice to someone in need?”

“Yeah. Why?”

I resisted shrugging my shoulders.

“I guess that it is because I could have done with someone helping me when I was your age. I didn’t and I left home much like you. Ten years later, here I am, a wanderer with no fixed abode but in general I’m pretty happy. Happy to be alive.”

I let out a small laugh.
"Now it is my chance to help someone in need. I shudder to think what that gang would have done to you had the gotten hold of you. They didn't and it is time for you to get your life together if you want to that is? If you don't and want to head off on your own again, just say the word and I'll stop. Or you can wait until you have some clothes and a full stomach and then disappear or, you can come with me until you finally decide what it is that you want to do with your life. If that is going back on the streets then fine.”

Melody just shrugged her shoulders.

“Give it a try. There will be some hard work. Locks are a fact of life to us when we are on the move. The advantage is that every few weeks, I move on apart from Easter.”

“What happens at Easter?”

I sighed.

“Easter is when I’m summoned to my Father’s home. He’ll rant and rave at me and how I’ve wasted my life when I could be more like my brother David who is running the family firm. To be honest, the prospect of being tied to a desk is one of the main reasons why I left home a week after my eighteenth birthday."

“If it is that bad why do you go?”

“A bit of masochism I suppose. I love seeing him rant and try to get me to stop being a wastrel. Besides, the whole thing just makes me appreciate my life such as it is, is even more worth living. Call it a reality check if you like. Maybe one day, I'll just say yes and give up this life but at the moment I'm pretty happy with my lot and see no reason to change one little bit.”

Melody disappeared below and soon returned with a cheese sandwich for each of us. The bread was doorstep sized but it didn’t matter very much. I’d get some more bread very soon. She’d just cut the bread and put large bits of cheese between them.

“Oh well…” I thought.
“She has a lot to learn but we all had to start somewhere.”

Melody wolfed the sandwich down. On the other hand, I nibbled at mine. She'd finished hers before I had got even halfway through mine. I handed what was left to her.

She smiled, nodded her head and took it.

“Another brew I think?” I suggested when she’d finished eating.

This time she responded with a bigger smile before disappearing below. Perhaps she was starting to trust me just a little.

---

Melody didn’t say much for the rest of our journey to Hayes. It was clear that she was deep in thought but was very much keeping them to herself. I tried to put myself in her place. I’d have bitten the hand off someone like me if they’d have helped me like I was trying to help her but I wasn’t her and she was right to tread softly especially if the bruises on her wrists were anything to go by. Someone had been a bit rough with her in recent days.

‘Memo to self. Don’t mention the bruises!’. There were fresh ones on both her arms. I’d seen them despite her attempts to conceal them.

---

I moored Roxy close to the Supermarket and after getting Melody to at least wash her face and hand and run a brush through her hair, we set off towards the store.

“Take a trolley for yourself,” I suggested as we walked towards the building.

“I don’t have any money?”

I smiled.
“I’ll pay for whatever you get. Don’t forget to include a bag of some sort to put your things in.”

“Aren’t you afraid that I’ll do a runner the first chance I get?”

I shrugged my shoulders.
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take. Someone very much like me showed faith in me when I wasn’t much older than you. He took a chance just like I’m doing right now and it worked out ok. If you quit then that’s a risk I’m willing to take. It is all down to what you feel is best for you.”

Melody didn’t say anything but I saw a slight nod of the head.

“Shall we go in?”

“Ok,” replied Melody quietly.

As we pushed our trolley’s into the store, I said,
“Get yourself a coat. What you have on is nowhere near good enough for this sort of weather. If it is waterproof then that’s even better.”

“Are you sure? It will not be cheap?”

“Plastic pays the bills on days like today so don’t worry about the cost. Get what you need.”

As Melody headed towards the clothing section of the store, I wondered if I should have added, ‘but don’t go overboard’ but it was too late for that. Instead, I concentrated on not forgetting what groceries I needed and remembering that I was not shopping for one for the time being.

I’d found everything I needed after a little under half an hour so I went in search of Melody.

I found her in the lingerie section. She was holding a nightdress as if it was the last one on the planet. I saw that her eyes were red. The redness around her eyes told me that she'd been crying. I could not decide if they were tears of joy or sadness.

“That will look good on you,” I said quietly.

Melody almost jumped out of her skin.

“Sorry,” I said.

"That's all right. It is a bit overwhelming… All this choice. I wondered what this day would feel like and nothing could have prepared me for what it really is like to live as a woman."

I was about to say something but stopped myself just in time.

"It looks like you are going to be for some time. I'll go and pay for these groceries and then I'll be back to help… if you want me to that is. I have some frozen items that need to be put away sooner rather than later."

Melody didn’t answer but I saw the signs of concern on her face.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to do a runner. I can’t go very fast in Roxy now can I eh?”

It took her a second or so to realise what I’d said. Then she smiled.

[to be continued]
[Authors Note]
The term 'Cut' is the name for a canal. It was coined by the navvies who literally 'cut' their way through the countryside to build the canals across the UK in the 18th and 19th Centuries.