I returned to the store as quickly as I could but I couldn’t find Melody anywhere in the clothes department. There was no evidence of an abandoned trolley full of clothes so I was left a bit perplexed. Where was she?

I began to walk through the main section of the store. As I did so, I scanned the aisles. There was no sign of Melody anywhere until I caught sight of a trolley half full of clothes in the aisle that had the racks of makeup.

I managed a smile as I saw Melody looking at shampoo.

“Your hair is fairly greasy,” I said calmly.

Melody almost jumped out of her skin.

“Sorry,” I said.

She managed a smile.

“Is this ok? I sort of used what was there before,” she said holding up a bottle.

“That’s good. You can take a long shower at the Hotel tonight.”

“You have a shower. I saw it from the cabin.”

"I do but the water I have onboard is limited. I’ll need to fill the tanks when we reach the Marina in Brentford tomorrow. Then you can shower on board. It takes a while but after a bit, you get used to not wasting water”.

That seemed to satisfy her for the time being.

“As you are in this section, perhaps you should choose some makeup?”

Melody didn’t answer.

“We are supposed to be going to the Indian tonight, aren’t we?” I said by way of reminder.

“Oh! I’d forgotten.”

She led the way towards the huge selection of makeup that was on display. I stepped back and let her make some choices. It wasn’t too far out as far as I was concerned apart from the nail varnish.

“That colour of red really isn’t what young women are wearing these days. Those pale colours are what is in fashion if I am any judge.”

Melody went slightly red in the face.
“It is a nice happy colour,” she said as she returned it to the display.

She selected a pale green colour.

“That’s more like it,” I said although I’d never be seen dead wearing that sort of colour. For me, it was either a nice bright red or black.

Thankfully, the assistant at the checkout was wearing almost the same shade of green. I was sure that Melody had noticed this but she didn’t say anything. Her voice would need some work before it would pass but that was for another day.

Melody’s shopping expedition cost me £273.60. There were a few things missing but they could wait for another day. As the items were passed through the checkout, I noticed that she’d been quite sensible with her choices. There was nothing too flamboyant which pleased me no end.

“I didn’t realise that I’d selected so much,” said Melody softly as we crossed the car park on our way back to ‘Roxy’.

“I didn’t put a limit on your spending and you did pretty well with your choices. We can get you some wellies at the Marina tomorrow.”

“Wellies?”

“Yes, Wellies. Some of the canal paths can be pretty boggy and it pays dividends in the long run to have sensible footwear.”

“What’s wrong with these?”

Melody was wearing an old and very down at heel pair of Dr Martins.

“Those have seen better days but they can probably be repaired. We can try to get them done when we get to Oxford or maybe in Reading but the forecast for the week ahead is for quite a bit of rain so having a pair of wellies is pretty well essential.”

Melody didn’t say anything. I wondered if she was thinking of doing a runner.

“If you want to leave then go. I won’t try to hold you back. I do know what it is like to be alone in a strange place at your age but for me, the strange place was one where most of the wildlife would sooner kill you than let you kill them.”

“But you have Roxy and everything?” replied Melody totally ignoring my comment.

“That’s through a lot of luck and finding that I had a talent. Perhaps one day, I’ll tell you all about it. Suffice to say that I was cast adrift by my family when I dropped out of Uni halfway through the first term. My life had been planned by my family and being away from home for the first time, allowed me to see that. They sent me away to ‘make a man of me’. That failed but events allowed me to build my own life.”

“But… didn’t you say that you are going to see your family at Easter?”

“Yes, I am and it only serves one purpose. As I said before, that is to tell me that I’m doing the right thing. If I can rub my Father’s nose in it a bit then all well and good.”

We reached ‘Roxy’ and after unloading the trolley, I got Melody to return it to the car park.

When she returned, it was already close to sunset.

“We need to get going. There is a mooring in Hayes that from the waterways web site is free but I don't like traveling in the dark."

Melody took the hint and cast off the bow line. As I let go, the aft line, she clambered on board.

“Well done. It is a lot easier if there are two people on the boat.”

She managed a smile.

“Why don’t you go below and sort out what you want to wear tonight. The rest can be put in the cabin just past the shower. I’ll clear out the bits of my stuff that are in there tomorrow.”

---

It was almost dark when we tied up at the mooring close to the centre of Hayes. The sun was setting behind the old EMI buildings where so many famous records had been made as well as pioneering work into Body Scanners in the 1970’s. Melody helped with the bow line as I turned Roxy ready for our departure in the morning.

"Grab your things for tonight. The hotel where we are staying is just by that last bridge we went under,” I said as she made the bow line tight.

I went into my cabin and closed the door. I stood still for a few seconds and wondered if I was doing the right thing.

After a few seconds, I decided that I was so I packed a bag with everything that I needed for the evening and the night and joined Melody on the towpath.

After locking the door to the cabin, I said,
“I’m looking forward to a nice shower and then something to eat.”

Melody smiled at me in the almost total darkness. A few lights twinkled from the nearby streets but otherwise, the canal was a ribbon of blackness that into stretched into the distance.

I used a torch to help guide us to the set of steps that allowed us to reach the road that went up and over the railway line. The sound of trains passing just a few yards away was very evident. I hoped that our rooms would be well soundproofed.

The check-in at the hotel was very easy. I'd paid for the rooms when I'd booked them on my phone. I just showed my driving license and credit card and it was done. The address on the license was well out of date but living onboard a home that moved meant that keeping it updated was a hopeless task.

Our rooms on the third floor were next door to each other.

“Lets’ meet at seven and then we can go out for dinner. The Restaurant is less than a hundred yards away,” I suggested to Melody as she stood at the door to her room.

“I hope that I don’t fall asleep before then,” she said trying to stifle a yawn.

I grinned.
“Please try to stay awake until after we have eaten.”

Melody grinned back at me.

---

When I was safely behind the door to my room, I wondered once again if I was doing the right thing. Part of me wanted to run for the hills and part of me wanted to help Melody. The other part of me had decided to stick its head in the sand and have nothing more to say on the matter.

Once again, I decided to go with the flow and help Melody. It would also be nice to have some company on board Roxy. I’d never had to share her with anyone else so I’d have to make some changes to the way I lived in order to accommodate her but I was sure that I’d manage given time.

After sorting out everything for the evening, I went into the shower. I could hear Melody making full use of the clean water through the fairly thin walls. I decided to wait until she had finished before I had my shower so I prepared my clothes for the evening.

At dead-on seven, opened the door to my room. The corridor outside was empty. I couldn't hear anything coming from her room so I tapped lightly on the door. I heard her say, 'coming' from inside. I took a deep breath.

The door opened and as soon as Melody saw me, she shrieked and retreated into her room.

I walked in and closed the door behind me.

“But…” she pointed at me.
“But…”

“Yes Melody, I’m like you.”

I looked down at my small breasts. They were clearly visible through the pale yellow top that I was wearing along with a black maxi skirt.
“These are real. I’ve been on hormones for nearly a year.”

Melody sank down onto her bed and the tears started to flow. I sat next to her and gave her a handkerchief from my coat pocket.

“But you said that your name was Ray!”

I smiled.

“I said that ‘Ray Curtis’ was the name that I used. It is my name until we get to Reading and I can meet with my Solicitor. Then, I’m going to change it to Lauren Hall. Actually, Lauren Savannah Hall.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I thought that you would do a runner if I told you that I was like you. Now you can see it for yourself.”

I decided to change the subject.

“You look very nice. That top suits you.”

"Really? Isn't it a bit dressy?"

I chuckled.
“Going out for dinner is a time to get a little bit dressy don’t you think?”

Then I added.
“Your makeup is a bit heavy but I’m sure that it will improve in time.”

Melody managed a smile.

“But… you said that you had quit university almost at the start?”

“You are wondering how I got here?”

“Yes. It makes no sense.”

“Then it is a perfect thing to discuss over dinner don’t you think?”

Melody sighed.

“I suppose so.”

I stood up and helped her into her coat. Then we left the hotel and headed for the restaurant.

---

Once I’d ordered for both of us and our drinks had been delivered, I began my tale.

“My father was not amused when he found out that I’d quit Uni after less than a month. The atmosphere of the place just made me want to throw up. It wasn’t for me at all. After a huge row at home, he sent me off like some 18th Century convict to my Uncle Fraser’s farm in Australia. His parting words were, ‘don’t come back until you have seen sense and become a man’. You are going to run the business as I planned all along'. I didn't have anything else to do so I went. It was more a case of getting away from him and the smirking of my younger brother David. He’s a real slimy person. I would not trust him as far as I’d throw him. He dobbed me into dad more than once when we were growing up. He also had this knack of making it appear that I was the one doing wrong when it was always him. The only time he ever got into trouble was after he’d accused me of taking three hundred quid from my Aunt Caroline when she’d given me the money to pay for a new set of tyres for her car. Caroline came over and tore dad off a strip. I was still the criminal in his eyes. I was really glad to get away for a while at least.”

“Uncle Fraser is Dad’s younger brother. He was just like my dad in that he had the careers of his three sons all mapped out. Their farm is over two hundred square kilometres in size. He was going to split it up between the three of them. It soon became evident that all of them disliked me and the fact that I'd been imposed on his family meant that I was given all the really nasty, smelly, and horrible jobs to do. I managed to last until a week before Christmas. Then a bull decided that I was fair game as I was apparently getting in between him and the cows. I ended up in the hospital, with three broken ribs and a concussion."

“You poor thing.”

I smiled.
"When no one from the farm came to see me until the day I was due to be discharged it was clear that they wanted me gone. Stew, one of the three sons came to pick me up for which I was grateful until just after we'd left the hospital, we were stopped at some traffic lights when Stew said, ‘You got lucky. We don’t want you here so why not piss off home?”
He even reached over and opened the passenger door of his pickup. I pulled it closed but I got the message loud and clear.”

I swallowed hard.
“I found out from talking to one of the hands that Stew had moved the bull into the paddock where I’d be working. They wanted me gone in any way possible.”

Melody was all ears.

"I knew then that I had to get out of there ASAP. I said nothing to anyone at the farm but that night, I packed my things and in the early hours, I crept out of the house and borrowed Stew's pickup. I drove into town and parked it right outside the Police Station. I stopped an Officer as he was entering the Station and gave him the keys."

“Didn’t they arrest you?”

“I’d only borrowed it and I was family and the officer had seen me driving it the day before my accident with the bull. After I’d explained to the officer what I was doing, he accepted my explanation and let me go. I walked across the street to the bus station where there was a bus going to Sydney a few hours later. That was Christmas eve.”

“What did you do then?”

“I managed to find a hotel room in a not very desirable part of Sydney for Christmas and New Year but I knew that I had to do something before my money ran out. A couple of days later, I found myself at the main railway station and saw that there was a train going right across the continent. That seemed to be about as far away as I could get so I booked my tickets. The first leg was to Adelaide and after a week or so of doing odd jobs, I continued towards Perth. Something made me get off in Kalgoorlie which is the centre of the Australian Gold Fields. It was hot. No, make that really hot. Forty Degrees was a cool day but I just felt this attraction to the place, I signed on with a three-man team and went prospecting as soon as the season opened at the end of January.”

“Did you find Gold?”

“We did. My share was just about enough to get me home but I learned enough from the others plus my ‘A’ level geology that there was a lot more gold close to this lease but the others were not interested in going looking for at that time so I returned to town with them and spent some of the gold on a small car, a metal detector and a tent and stuff plus a few weeks supply of food and water. Then I went back into the bush specifically, a hundred and ten miles from Kalgoorlie where I started looking on the next-door lease to the very one we’d been on. This lease was not owned by anyone which meant that it is called ‘Government Land’. As long as you paid your fee and were registered as a gold miner, you could prospect it freely. After three days of almost nothing, I hit pay-dirt. I was right on the border with the lease that my former partners owned. I found six nuggets that were worth over thirty thousand Aussie Dollars. I nearly quit right then but as I had supplies for a few more days, I carried on. By the time the week was up, I’d found a lot more gold. I almost fainted when the Assay Office told me that I had over three hundred and sixty thousand Aussie Dollars in gold sitting on the counter in front of me. Talk about beginner's luck! I put most of it in the bank and went on a bender. I woke up three days later broke and also no longer a virgin. I sold the car and my kit and headed for Perth. I made a deal with another prospector to sell him the location of my strike. That paid for my flight home."

“What about your Uncle?”

I laughed.

“He’d not said anything to my father. I found out a few years ago that he’d torn a strip of Stew for letting the cat out of the bag about what they were doing to me. Anyway, I returned back to the UK.”

“What happened then? Did you go home?”

I shook my head.
“I was done with them. Due to a piece of luck, I had a window seat on the flight and when came into land at Heathrow, I saw all these boats on the canal and realised that was where I could look for somewhere to live that was pretty anonymous. Sort of there but not there if you get my drift. I took the bus from the airport to Woking and after checking into a Hotel. I bought myself a tent, a rucksack, and a folding bicycle I was ready to go. I started riding along the canals and rivers. At night, I'd usually find somewhere to pitch the tent or about once a week in a hotel much like we are doing tonight. I'd enjoy a bit of luxury, get my laundry done, and the like. After nearly two years riding and walking the canals, I ended up at a boatyard near Coventry where I saw Roxy for sale. That was nearly five years ago. I’ve been going up and down the canals ever since.”

Melody went silent as our food arrived.

Her eyes bulged from her head as she saw the quantity but almost all of it was consumed before the end of the evening. I let Melody take the lions share.

As we walked the short distance back to the Hotel she asked.

“What do you live off? That money from the gold can’t have lasted until now? Roxy must have cost a packet.”

“That’s a very astute observation Melody. The answer can wait for another day. I think it is time for both of us to get some sleep. We are only going as far as Brentford tomorrow. However, there are from memory twelve locks to go through before we hit the River Thames. We’ll stay until the next morning when the tide will be coming in and will make our passage through the tidal section of the river a lot easier. Going with the tidal flow is a lot easier than going against it.”

Melody looked disappointed but accepted my decision.

When we reached our rooms, I said,
"Sleep well. I won't mind it at all if you decide not to come with me tomorrow. I'm aiming to cast off at first light which is around half-past seven. Breakfast at the Tesco’s where we went shopping earlier before we start hitting the locks. The Café opens at eight.”

She didn’t commit one way or the other but simply said with a smile on her face,
“Goodnight and thanks for everything.”

[to be continued]