Chapter 2

The next morning, his mother was busy writing a list while Bill played the violin in his room. Around mid-morning, her mobile rang, and her husband told her that the two of them had an appointment at the clinic at two that afternoon. She went up to Bill’s room to tell him that she was going to get them sandwiches for lunch as they were going out after that.

They had some time together as she made their lunch and Bill looked at the list that his mother had left on the table.

“Mum, his list has a lot of things on it that I’ve never heard of. What are ‘enhancers’?”

“They’re things that go in a bra to give you a bit of a silhouette. Most teenage girls use them before they start puberty.”

“You want me to wear a bra!!?

“Of course, dear. Every girl wears a bra, sometimes well before she needs to. It won’t take you long to get used to it, although it may change your stance when playing, to cater for the slight changes in body shape and frontal weight.”

“What about these other things, under ‘foundation’? Do I have to learn to lay bricks?”

“Silly Billy. They’re all make-up items. We’ll need to get you a full kit after we’ve been to the salon. Everything depends on what the clinic says this afternoon, but I’m trying to think of everything you might need if Billie-Jean is to become a real person.”

“Thanks, Mum. I do have a lot to learn.”

“If I do your hair and we put a bit of lippy on you, we can take you to the salon and give you a make-over. After that, we can go shopping for some basics, which will then allow us to get you more specialised clothes from the stores in Coventry. There will be a lot of new underwear that you will need to get used to. I had a look at a couple of sights on the web, last night, and there is a place in the city that does special panties that hide your winkle but still lets you pee.”

They ate their lunch and tidied up, then got into the car to head to Gaydon. At the clinic, his mother filled in forms for both of them and then they waited to be called. His mother went in first, while Bill read an old music magazine. When she came out, he was called in. In the doctor’s office, he was asked to strip and put on a hospital gown.

The lady doctor who checked him over was asking questions as she did so. Obviously, his mother had told her that he had gender problems. She looked at all of his scars and exclaimed that he had a good case to sue his previous school about the bullying. In the end, he had to remove his boxers so that she could examine his genitals.

She asked him if he had ever had wet dreams or masturbated, and he had to ask her to explain what she was talking about. Finally, she looked him in the eyes.

“I want you to tell me the truth, Bill. This is very important. Have you ever been kicked or hit in your groin?”

“It was in primary. A couple of bullies had pushed me over and one kicked me there. I was walking strange for a couple of days.”

“Did you tell your parents?”

“No. I didn’t want to worry them. I didn’t want to appear weak in front of my Dad.”

“Right! We’ll draw some bloods and I want you to pee into this beaker. Then you get dressed and I’ll bring your mother back in.”

She took three tubes of blood, and he went behind the screen to pee. Then he washed his hands at the sink and redressed. When his mother was brought back in, they sat in front of the doctor’s desk and his mother took his hand. The doctor ended making some notes and looked up.

“Mrs. Rose, Wendy. From what I’ve seen, you’re in excellent health, and there is nothing wrong with you that we need to worry about. Bill, however, has some very complicated problems that may explain his general appearance. In my examination, I could not find any testicles. Bill has told me that he had been kicked in the groin in primary school. When we have the results of the blood tests, I fully expect that they will show a drastic lack of testosterone. I am going to send him to another area for an MRI on his lower abdomen do determine just how much damage was caused, then we can decide on any other treatment.”

“Does that mean that he has arrested puberty?”

“It means that we may be able to direct his puberty in the direction he wants to go, by hormone treatment. I think it’s too late to make him big enough to play in the front row of a rugby team, but he may be a good jockey if we send him down the male path. He will, however, make a very pleasing lady if we make him into a female.”

His mother pulled out her phone and swiped a couple of times before showing it to the doctor.

“Like this? That was taken yesterday. Somehow, the school brought round a girl’s uniform.”

“Wow! She isn’t going to need much work to pass easily. Are you sure that you’ve never had any desire to dress up, Billy?”

“Never, doctor. I thought that if I was supposed to be inspected in that uniform, everyone would have a good laugh and the woman would take it away and bring back one for a boy.”

“All right. I’ll email this scan request upstairs. If you follow the signs to the radiography department, the receptionist there should be able to give you an appointment time. It will take a few days for us to collate the scans and the test results, so make an appointment with my receptionist for a few days’ time.”

They thanked her for her time and walked out of the office. After making the appointment, they found their way upstairs and found the right desk. The receptionist there looked at her computer and rang the MRI operator. When she had finished the call, she smiled broadly.

“I’ve been told that the MRI will have a short period when you can be fitted in. The area that will be scanned isn’t very big. If you can be back here in an hour, it can be completed before you go home.”

“Is there somewhere that we can sit with a drink?”

“There is, just go towards the back of the clinic and you’ll find a coffee lounge.”

“I must say that this is a big place for such a small population. Well-equipped as well.”

“That’s because we have so many people working at both Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover. Within a couple of miles are as many people as a small town. Both of the big companies support us, and we also take the overflow from Warwick.”

They went back downstairs and found their way to the coffee lounge. When they were sitting, Bill looked at his mother.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about being kicked. I didn’t want to appear weak, so I hid it and carried on.”

“It’s all right, Billy. It was a long time ago. All we have to do now is to sort things out for the future. I was thinking about your records at the school. Somewhere, there must be the paperwork with William John and the note that you’re male. I expect that someone will ring us to ask about that. I have an idea that may help. I can forge a new name on your copy of the birth certificate. The easiest would be to change William to Willow, and the John to Jean.”

“You can do that?”

“Yes. Before you came along, I was working in graphic design. All I need to get is some paper similar to the certificate copy. We have a very good scanner in the computer printer in your dad’s office. I just copy the original, make the changes, and then copy that onto the right paper. It’s how I funded my university days, making IDs for the partygoers.”

“Wow, a real mega-criminal!”

They laughed together, and then she got serious.

“If you take the girl route, it doesn’t end when you finish school. It will be for ever.”

“I know, Mum. I suppose that after a few years, I’ll take it as normal. There are several good women violinists, but I can’t think of any famous women pianists or clarinet players.”

“There’s always Mrs. Mills.”

“Who was that?”

“She was all the rage in the sixties and seventies. Think about the TV show with that Mrs. Bucket singing and you have her down pat.”

“That bad!”

“Yes, it was. She sold lots of records, though. Anyway, I’m wondering what you’ll be doing with music when you go to school. That woman did say that there was an orchestra.”

“I suppose that I’ll have to wait and see how the Willow grows.”

They went back to the waiting room and sat, thinking their own thoughts, until Bill was called in.

“Bill Rose, is it? Take your clothes off and put that paper gown on. Make sure there is no jewellery or anything metal. The machine gets angry if we put metal down the tube.”

When Bill was ready, he was put onto a moving bed and given some headphones. The operator asked him what he would like to hear, and he chose Beethoven. With the opening chords of ‘The Emperor’ in his ears, he was slid into the tube and told not to move a muscle until everything was silent. For a good fifteen minutes, the music was drowned out by loud clicks, whirrs, and other noise. He stopped listening to the music and imagined the sound of the machine as basis of a musical piece.

When it was quiet, again, he was slid out of the tube and helped to stand up.

“That wasn’t too bad, now, was it? We got some good cross sections, and the doctor will be able to tell you what you need to know. Get dressed and enjoy the rest of your day.”

Instead of going directly home, his mother drove them into Warwick. She had looked up printing supplies on her phone and had found a place where she could buy the correct paper. Back at home, she found the birth certificate and then the two of them started preparing the dinner. Over dinner, she told her husband what had happened during the day. After dinner, Bill went up to his room to catch up with the playing that he had missed by going out.

The next morning, he looked on in wonder as his mother scanned the birth certificate.

“It’s a good job they don’t use the old style, that would never let me do this.”

She put the printout on the desk and taped it down, then used a minimal amount of fluid, which she had carefully mixed with concealer from her make-up, to match the slight tinge as she obliterated some letters. When she was happy, they went off for a morning tea as it dried. Back at the desk, she used a very fine piece of sandpaper to make sure that there were no visible edges. The name was now Will J. She had a kit of implements that Bill had never seen before and picked an old-style nib on a stick. She spent a long time writing to match the paperwork before she started adding the letters needed. To Bill, it was like watching an old master painter, and he held his breath with each letter.

When she lifted her head, the paper now had the name ‘Willow Jean Rose’, and the male now had the ‘fe’ in front of it. He clapped and she smiled.

“You know what, Billy. I think that when you’re in school, I may see if I can get a job in graphic design again. That brought back so many good memories.”

They went off and had lunch to allow the ink to be fully dry. Back in the office, she removed the tape and opened the ream of special paper, then scanned the new version. To Bill, after the new one had been printed, it was almost an anti-climax to hold the two certificates. They felt the same, they looked the same. It was just that one was his old self, and the other was for his new self. Both went into the folder with his paperwork, and they tidied up.

The next day was totally different from any day he had known. He was dressed in a pair of his Mum’s older panties, his best-fitting jeans, a pair of lilac socks from his mother’s drawer, and a lilac tee with the picture of a boy band on the front. The outfit was finalised with a pair of the school shoes, and some time that his mother spent on his hair. They went into Coventry to a salon, where they both had appointments.

The rest of the morning was an eye-opener for Bill. He was waxed everywhere but his groin, had a new hairdo, new fingernails, a pair of studs in his ears, while his mother had a make-over of her own. He was sat in front of a mirror while a girl worked on his face, plucking his eyebrows and making notes of what colours worked best for his complexion. When they walked out, both he and his mother had bags with the products that worked best. Bill was now definitely Billie-Jean, looking like a smaller version of his mother.

They went to the car to store their bags, then went into the West Orchard Shopping Centre, parking the car and going in to get some comfort food from the Macca’s there. After that, they went into Peacocks to get some more clothes. The first stop was somewhere that the old Bill would have run from, or else stood looking at the floor. His mother asked the salesgirl to measure his band size, and with that information, they examined the racks of bras. With the nightmare of trying a couple on out of the way, they ended up with six bra and panty sets, as well as an extra dozen panties and a sports bra for the PE lessons, and some nighties and a new dressing gown.

After that, they moved to the teenage section and bought some skirts and tops. Finally, much to Billie’s relief, they stopped at the shoe department. She had started complaining that the school shoes were too tight, so she was properly measured and walked out in properly fitting shoes that looked a bit less ‘sensible’ than the originals. They did buy a couple of pairs of the school shoes to replace the ones which would have to be given back.

They went back to the car, with Billie-Jean now wearing a pink top and a short denim skirt, with pink socks in her new shoes. After the bags were safe in the car, her mother grabbed her hand and took her back into the shops. This time, the object of the hunt was a couple of handbags and some cheap jewellery, followed by getting a good coat for when the weather turned.

Finally, they went outside the shopping centre and her mother took her to the Job Shop, where she looked at the vacancies as her mother gave details to a clerk in regard to her skills and her contact details. Billie-Jean was noting the cards asking for people to join bands, but nobody was advertising places in an orchestra.

Back at home, the usual preparation of dinner was different while wearing a skirt and catching her new nails on things. When her father arrived home, he took one look and grinned.

“Well, who’s my girl?”

“I am, now, Daddy. How do I look?”

“Absolutely beautiful, my sweetness. It didn’t take long to turn you into a stunner. How do you feel?”

“Different, but in a nice way. I’ve spent all day as a girl and have been called love and sweetie a lot. I’m still me, inside, but a happy me. I look like I’ll fit in with the other girls, now, and that makes me feel safer. Mum spent an awful lot on me today.”

“That will be just the start, if I know my wife. No matter how many things you have in your wardrobe, there will always be that one thing that you haven’t got but need. Don’t worry about the money, sweetheart. I’ve got a good job and a good future. You are the most important person in this family, right now. I know that you will be the famous one here, by the time you leave home. Then, I will think of you as I see you now, and smile.”

After dinner, Billie went up to her room to try to play a while, mainly to see how her technique was with the new nails. It wasn’t that bad; the nails even improved her plucking on the violin strings. When it was time for bed, there was a whole new procedure of cleansing before she could put on a nightie for the first time and get into bed. She was laying there, thinking about things, when she realised that there was something missing. For the first time, she knew that she wanted a plush tiger. Not a bunny, not a teddy, not a doll, but a tiger.

On Friday morning, she had a shower with a shower cap on, and then dressed. She put a bra on and added the enhancers for the first time, then slid a matching panty up her legs. The whole experience was odd but wasn’t upsetting. There was a new pair of jeans that actually fitted, and she chose a bright red top that had caught her eye yesterday. Red socks and the new shoes and she was ready to face the day. But not until after she had tried to do a little make-up.

A half an hour later, she looked in the bathroom mirror and decided that enough was enough, and that this would have to do. Downstairs, her mother had finished her breakfast, so Billie made herself some toast and poured some orange juice. As she was eating, the phone rang, and her mother answered.

“Yes, this is Mrs. Rose.”

“All right, I’ll bring the proper papers in for you this morning.”

“Will there be anyone in the music area, as my daughter is keen to see what’s there.”

“All right, We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

She hung up and came into the kitchen.

“That was the school. It seems that there is some problem with the paperwork, and they want to view your birth certificate. It’s a good job we keep things safe. As soon as you’ve tidied up, we’ll put what you need in one of the handbags and head to the school. You look lovely, this morning. The make-up is just right for daytime. Your father researched shops that sell the other things you need. There is one which sell gaffs on-line, as well as inners for your bra. We ordered some so they should be delivered tomorrow.”

Billie went up to her room to make her bed and get a black bag from the shopping. Her mother came in and showed her all the things that she needed to carry, including a purse with her money. This was the first part of being a girl that seemed wrong, but when she had put her hand in the jeans pockets, she had found that they were only a couple of inches deep.

They left the house and drove to the school. This was the second day of truly being Billie-Jean. As the scenery passed by, she thought about playing in an orchestra as Willow Rose. It had a nice ring to it.

At the school, they went to the admin area, where the old copy of the birth certificate was produced. Her mother told them that there had, indeed, been a William Rose at the school, and the copies must have been misfiled as both being for W.J. Rose. They tore the old one up and replaced it with a copy of the one that her mother had produced. Everyone was happy, and they were given a map of the school and told that there was a couple of groups in the rehearsal rooms.

As they walked towards the rehearsal rooms, the lady who had brought the uniform over came out of a building. Billie smiled at her, and her mother gave a wave.

“Hello there, Miss Russell. You look worried.”

“I am. We have a concert to see out summer this Saturday night. We had a five-piece metal band to close it, but one of them didn’t turn up for rehearsal today. I’ve just rung his home and he’s got measles, so we won’t see him for weeks. I’ve got to give the others the bad news.”

“Surely you could get a stand-in?”

“Not at such short notice, Billie-Jean. They are going to play covers of some band that I’ve hardly heard of. It’s going to be a short concert.”

They followed her into the music building and then on to a room where four lads with longish hair were sitting and waiting.

“Lads, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad is that Jim has measles and won’t be around for some weeks. The good news is that this is Billie-Jean Rose and her mother. Billie will be starting with us at the beginning of her second year. Billie, meet Geoff, Garry, Grant and Gerry.”

The four all said hello as they were pointed out. Geoff smiled at Billie.

“Welcome to the madhouse, Billie-Jean. The four of us usually play twelve-bar and rock numbers as ‘G-Force’. We were going to play some Deep Purple covers on Saturday night. Jim, who has now let us down, plays the organ. We were supposed to run through the set today.”

“I play keyboard. What songs were you planning to do?”

“We open with ‘Child in Time’, then ‘Woman from Tokyo’, ‘Speed King’, ‘Highway Star’ and finish with ‘Smoke on the Water’. Because we’re covering Deep Purple, we called ourselves ‘Shallow Blue’.”

“So, the ‘Live in Japan’ album.”

“You know it?”

“It’s been something that I’ve played around with as a release of pressure. I have earphones and a keyboard with feed-in from my MP3.”

“How would you like to try out? Our gear is set up in the theatre.”

Billie looked at her mother and Miss Russell. Wendy had a smile, and Miss Russell was almost bursting.

“Come on then, let’s go and see if we can save the show.”

They followed her to the main theatre. It was set up with seats, except for about twenty feet in front of the stage, so some of the audience could dance if they wanted to. Wendy turned to Miss Russell.

“What’s the occasion?”

“The music and drama groups can do an optional summer project which adds to their overall marks. No set subject. Some of the drama people do skits or short plays. The music side do recitals, but we don’t do a full orchestral item, due to the logistics. The show is filmed by the drama group for a DVD which is sold through the school to raise money for equipment.”

Billie had followed the boys up to the stage, where she saw a bank of amps, and a drum set. A portable keyboard was set up to one side, along with a bass guitar. On the other side were two guitars. She knew enough that whoever played them were serious about their instrument, as one was a vintage Rickenbacker, while the other was Fender of a similar age. When she got to the organ, there was all the music on the top.

Geoff looked at her.

“Do you read music?”

“I do, but I’ve also got a weird brain. I remember every song I hear. Classics are a bit harder, as they go on for a long time, but pop music at four to ten minutes is all right.”

They turned everything on, and Billie twiddled on the keyboard, moving some knobs to see if it produced the same sort of sounds that the one at home did. She pressed the middle C key so that the others could tune up. Geoff and Gerry tested the microphones. Grant did some warm-up rolls on the drums and Garry stood beside her with his bass ready to start. He said, quietly.

“This is going to be interesting. Nod to me if you get flustered and I’ll slow things down, if I can. Grant follows my lead.”

Geoff looked at everybody.

“Let’s go!”

It was Billie who opened the set, with the organ playing the only quiet part of ‘Child in Time’. She wondered if her mother would enjoy the performance. Miss Russell looked anxious. She took a quick look at the music as Geoff joined her with the guitar. And then they were off, into the world of Purple, a time well before she was born, but still as powerful as it was in its day, some fifty years before.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 3

Willow was concentrating on the music. She was listening to the others as she played. The songs were a mixture of the album tracks, but with more of the live album content as they moved from ‘Child in Time’ to ‘Woman from Tokyo’. She glanced across to the others, to see Geoff with his eyes shut and mouth open. Gerry had a big grin on his face.

As they moved into ‘Speed King’, she could feel the pressure on her ease, as the others were playing freely. They weren’t the original band, but she thought that they were getting close to it. Geoff was no Ritchie Blackmore, but he was good, fast, and accurate. So was Gerry as they swapped the lead breaks. Geoff was using the Rickenbaker and Gerry was on the Telecaster. She looked the other way to see Garry give her a wink and a grin as he worked hard on his bass. Billie, Garry and Grant were the powerhouse, giving the two guitarists free rein to do even more elaborate things.

As they ended ‘Highway Star’, Gerry reached up and twisted the volume knobs on the amps and then played the first, iconic, notes of ‘Smoke on the Water’. Waiting for her cue to start, Billie looked out to the theatre for the first time, amazed to see about fifty teenagers on the dance floor and a row of seats filled.

As the song thundered to an end, there were cheers and applause. Geoff called out for them to repeat ‘Child in Time’, but “the way we’re playing now!” Billie started the organ introduction, and they did the live version of the song, sounding a lot louder, and a lot more full-bloodied than the first time they had played it. When they finished, she was sweating, and so was everyone else.

The boys took their guitars off and put them on the stands. Billie just stood behind the keyboard, trying to process what had just happened. Grant was sitting on his drum stool, head down and breathing heavily. Garry was the first to make the move. He came over to Billie and gave her a huge hug. Geoff and Gerry followed, and then the three of them helped Grant stand and gave him man hugs.

Miss Russell came up on the stage with bottles of water in her hands, and Billie’s mother followed with more. The five musicians took the water, gratefully, and drank before anyone was able to speak. Geoff and Gerry had shared the vocals, and both needed the water before they were able to talk naturally.

Billie had her mum help her down the steps, while the boys helped Grant down. They sat in the first-row seats and Billie looked up at the stage to see where she had spent over half an hour, playing music that had just been her sideline from the classics in her bedroom. She closed her eyes and wondered what everyone thought of what they had just done. As she started to follow the chatter, she realised that she didn’t have to worry. The teenagers that were still here were full of praise.

Her mother was sitting beside her, and they looked at each other.

“Mum. I’ve played violin and clarinet in front of audiences before, but that was something else again. Although I can play well, just now I realised that I’ve never felt the music inside me. It was if I had Jon Lord in my head, telling me that I was all right.”

“You were more than all right, my daughter. I saw Deep Purple once, and you all just relived that experience. I recorded it all on my phone. It was uncanny how you went from playing as a cover band with the normal album tracks, to being Purple live. You always played the keyboard to headphones, so that was the first time I’ve heard you.”

Miss Russell came to stand in front of them, along with a couple of men.

“Billie-Jean. These gentlemen will be teaching you when you join us. I’ve told them about your results on violin and clarinet, and they’re keen to hear what you can do. Mister Jamieson teaches three girls who should have been playing on Saturday night. Are you free, after a break, if we can get you a violin. It would be nice if they could add their recital to the evening, perhaps to open it. You do read music, I hope.”

“I do but can play without it if I’ve played it before. What do have planned, sir?”

“The girls have been working on the ‘Tchaikovsky Number One’. We planned to do the second movement, the ‘Andante Cantabile’.”

“I’ve played that a few times in my last school.”

“Good. I’ll try to muster the others, although I saw a couple of them dancing. We’ll get you a violin. I suggest that you spend a little while resting, that was some workout that you lot did on stage. If we can meet in the rehearsal room two, in about twenty minutes?”

Billie looked at her mother, who answered for them both.

“We’ll be there.”

He went off to find the girls, the other man held out his hand to Billie.

“Miss Rose. I’m Howard Bamborough, the head of the music side of the school. Miss Russell has told me that you will be transferring to us at the beginning of your second year. I have to tell you that what you have just done was well above a thirteen-year-old. I teach guitar, and you’ve just pushed young Geoff into an area which I’ve long thought him capable of but was despairing of actually seeing. Both he and Gerry lifted a couple of notches. I welcome you to Blue Coat, and I wonder if you will inspire others. I’ll be around to sit in on the quartet.”

He nodded to her mother and went off to speak to the boys in the band.

“If that’s the sort of impression you’re going to make, my girl, it’s going to be an interesting few years.”

“I’ve always tried to disappear before, but now I feel free to express myself. A lot still depends on the doctor next week.”

She looked around and saw a group of girls looking her way. She gave them a smile and they came over, an older one in front.

“Hello. I’m Abbie and we’re from the school orchestra. Miss Russell just told us that you will be joining us next year, and we all think that it’s awesome!”

Billie stood.

“Hello Abbie; girls. I’m Willow Jean Rose, and the girls from my last school called me Billie-Jean. Miss Russell has told me that I’ll have a seat in the orchestra, but I don’t know what I’ll be playing.”

“You play other instruments?”

“Yes. I play violin and clarinet and some piano. The organ stuff was something that I’ve been playing about with on my keyboard at home. We’ve just moved to a house where we can have our piano, so I’ve been using an electric one which can double as an organ. That was the first time I’ve played without headphones.”

“That’s even more awesome. It sounded like you’ve been playing in a band for years. I’ve never heard the G-Force sound so good.”

One by one, all the girls gave her a hug and told her their names. She knew that it would take some weeks before she remembered them all. They went off and Geoff came over.

“Billie, that was something else again. Can you play like that again on Saturday night?”

She looked at her mother, who smiled broadly.

“If Miss Russell can swing a couple of tickets for me and my husband, she’ll be here.”

Miss Russell put her thumb up and said that they would be at the door. After that, they were shown the school canteen, which was open for hot pies and drinks. While they were there, they had several visitors telling her that she was a great organist.

They were sitting with a cup of tea. Billie looked around the room, realising that she’ll be having many lunches here. She wondered if there were tables that never allowed strangers. Her mother saw her looking.

“Penny for them.”

“This will become a place of new experiences, Mum. This room has the opportunity to be a place of hell to be avoided, as was the lunchroom in Bristol, or a place of companionship and joy. From the girls I met, this morning, I hope it will be the latter.”

“I’m sure it will be, as long as you keep embracing the girl that you’ve become, the future has no dark clouds.”

When Miss Russell came to their table, they followed her to rehearsal room two. There, they saw that Mister Bamborough and Mister Jamieson were there, along with three girls. The Music Head took charge.

“Girls, this is Willow Jean Rose. Barbara and Dianne saw her performance in the pop band, this morning. That’s something that Zara has to look forward to on Saturday night. Mister Jamieson has his own violin for her to use. We can give you fifteen minutes to warm up and get to know each other, then you can show us what you’ve come up with.”

He turned to the others.

“We can give these girls some time to find out if they have a piece to play. Girls, if it doesn’t work out, you’re no further back than you were before. You’ll get some marks for giving it a try.”

The adults left the room, no doubt to quiz Willow’s mother. Willow went and picked up the violin and bow.

“It’s good to meet you all. How about we chat after we’ve nailed this piece. It runs for about six and a half minutes, so we’ve got time to do it twice. OK?”

The other girls grinned and took their places at the music stands. Zara sat at the cello and counted down the time and they started playing. The other three had been playing it a lot, and Billie could hear it. The music was almost mournful but had hints of a Russian folk song. They were all smiling when they finished, and Zara counted them down for a second run-through.

Barbara played violin, and Dianne played a viola. As Willow watched them play, she decided that they must be sisters. Zara seemed to be older. Once again, Willow was feeling the music spring from within her. When they finished, they had a few minutes to talk. Willow found that Dianne was going to be second year with her. Barbara was going to be starting third, and Zara would be in the fourth year. The girl that she was standing in for was a neighbour to Jim and had gone down with measles a week earlier. All were in the orchestra. Barbara laughed.

“Di and I are also in the singing group. We get to go on for the second act, before the drama people do their thing. We may be able to open the show now.”

“What do the singing group do?”

“It is part of the choir when there is a big service in the school chapel. For the show, we’re doing ‘In Dulci Jubilo’, the Pearsall version, all four verses.”

“That’s funny. That’s the last thing I sang with my friends before we left school, last term. We didn’t have a singing group; it was just some of the girls from the orchestra who would get together in the playground to let off steam.”

“One thing is that we have to wear the same dresses as them, so we could leave the stage and then come back again. They are a royal blue.”

Zara had her phone out and showed Willow the picture.

“I saw something like that in Peacock’s the other day.”

“That’s where they came from. Will you be able to get your own before the show?”

“That’s what stage mothers are for!”

The four of them were giggling when the door opened, and the adults came in.

“You seem to be happy, girls? Do you have something for us to listen to?”

“Yes, sir. I think that it will be satisfactory.”

“Right, Zara. We’ll go to the wall and wait for you to surprise us.”

They took their places and Zara counted them in. When they finished, there was a few moments of silence before Miss Russell announced that it looked like it was going to be a big show after all. Mister Bamborough agreed. Zara looked at Miss Russell.

“Miss. We’ve just found out that Willow sings acapella. Do you mind if we try a bit of the Saturday part. If she’s leaving the stage with us, she’ll be able to join the choir later.”

Mister Jamieson laughed.

“If you grab her for the singing group, she’s not going to get much rest during the evening. Let’s hear the four of you, then.”

Willow gave him back the violin and then stood with the other three. Zara counted them in, and they sang the first verse of ‘In Dulci Jubilo’. The three girls let Willow sing the repeat of the last line on her own. As the sound of ‘Alpha es et O’ faded, Miss Russell turned to Mrs. Rose.

“It looks like I’ll only need to save two tickets for you. Your daughter will be on stage for most of the evening.” They all laughed. Willow batted her eyes at her mother.

“Mummy Mum. I’ll need a new dress. Zara will show you the picture. They’re in Peacocks.”

As they were leaving, Geoff saw them and ran over.

“Willow, we were thinking about the show. If we get asked for an encore, have you any idea what we can do?”

“If we do ‘Lazy’ I can do the intro without trying to destroy the organ.”

“That’s great! Gerry wanted to do that. I’ll leave all the guitar to him, and I’ll bring my mouth organ. Most of it can be improvised. We’ll see you Saturday evening.”

He rushed away and Zara, who was near them, giggled.

“Not even in school and you’re already on speaking terms with the most eligible boy in the fourth year to come.”

“All I know is that he’s a great guitarist and I’ll be on stage with the four Gees in the second half.”

Miss Russell, walking behind them, snorted.

“My dear girl, the Shallow Blues are the second half.”

They went into the city and to the shopping centre again. In Peacocks, Willow tried on one of the blue dresses. After that, she needed some shoes, finding a pair with a two-inch heel that she could walk in.

That evening, after dinner, she went to her room to listen to ‘Lazy’ and figure out what she was going to play for the intro. With Purple, Jon Lord had altered his organ to play discord notes, similar to the way that Keith Emerson had done. She needed to be flashy enough to sound right.

…………………………………………..

Downstairs, her mother downloaded the rehearsals to a USB and turned on the TV.

“Billie and I needed to go to the school today to sort out the mix-up with her name on the admin paperwork. While we were there, we were hijacked by Miss Russell, the woman who had brought that uniform around. She introduced us to four lads who are in a band. Their fifth member has gone down with measles. Miss Russell also told me that a girl who was to play in a quartet had gone down with measles a few weeks earlier.”

“So, you have an evil look in your lovely eyes.”

“Do you remember that you took me to a Deep Purple concert, after that you made me a woman, your woman.”

“I remember it well; the band was fantastic. And so were you, my darling.”

“Well. These lads were short of an organist. I had heard Billie singing but there had been no sounds of instruments coming from her room. Today, I found out that she had piggy-backed her MP3 player into the keyboard feed and has been playing along to Purple for some weeks, as a way to blow of the pressure that she’s been feeling.”

“And you’re going to tell me that you captured her on stage?”

“Yep. If you want the full experience, we can plug in our headphones and watch our daughter light up a stage. I hope I was steady enough.”

She took the remote and chose the USB feed and they sat and watched the full program, including the quartet and the acapella performances. Then, he wanted to see it again as they cuddled on the settee. When that had finished, they kissed.

“There’s something about those songs that turn me on. What say we go upstairs and repeat that night.”

…………………………………

The next morning was Saturday. To Willow, the week had raced by. On Monday, he had been a sad boy, and now she was a popular girl. Next week would tell if it was all going to be better, but, even if they decided that Bill was the best way to go, she wanted to remain as Billie-Jean. Or, better still, Willow Rose.

She showered and dressed in a skirt and top and went down for breakfast. In the kitchen, her mother was humming as she organised some eggs and bacon, while her father was sitting at the table with a silly grin on his face as he watched his wife. As Willow walked in, his smile broadened, and he got up and hugged her.

“Your mother showed me the recording she made of you yesterday. You, my darling daughter, are out of this world. I bet that someone told you that you had too much talent for a thirteen-year-old.”

“That was the Head of the music school. He told me that he had been teaching the two guitarists and that I had pushed them onto another level. I thought that they were both good, but hadn’t seen them play before, so who am I to comment. I just hope that we can recreate it tonight.”

“You’re playing again tonight?”

“Yes. It’s the concert night. Mum has organised tickets for the two of you with Miss Russell. Didn’t she tell you?”

“No. That’s one thing that was cunningly missed.”

Her mother put a plate in his place.

“Just think, my love. You can listen to your daughter play Purple again. It might just keep you awake tonight.”

“What about the other thing you played?”

“I will be part of the quartet to open the show, then we leave the stage. When the stage is cleared, I come back with the other three girls and the singing group, and we do an acapella piece. Then, the rest of the first half is for the drama students. After the break, I’ll be part of Shallow Blue and we take the show to the end. And you, darling Daddy, have a seat in the audience. I don’t know what they will be serving in the break but be sure to save a drink for me. Can you get me a bottle of water for me to take on stage. It was hot yesterday, but tonight there’ll be spotlights, I expect.”

“So, what time are we getting there?”

“Miss Russell said that we should arrive about six-thirty for a seven start. There will be us young ones and they don’t want it to go too late.”

“That means that I get to take my two beautiful ladies out for dinner for about five-thirty. I’d better book somewhere.”

His wife picked up her phone.

“I did research yesterday. There’s a Miller and Carter steakhouse west of the main road into the city. It will be about fifteen minutes from there to the school.”

He looked at the details on the phone and smiled.

“Just what I’ll need, my darling, steak for my strength. Can you book a place for three for tonight, please?”

Willow grinned as her mother went off to make the call. She was starting to understand the plays between men and women, and how to please a man into doing exactly what you wanted him to do. After breakfast, she helped her mother with the housework until a courier arrived with a package. Her mother carried it to her room, and they opened it.

Inside, there was three pairs of odd-looking underpants and a box with false breasts that could be stuck on. She undressed and, between them, they figured out how to put the pants on while putting her small winkle so that she could pee while sitting down. Then, her mother got her to lie on her bed while she attached the breasts. After some minutes, she was able to stand up and feel the weight of the breasts pulling on her skin. This time, when she put a bra on, it was there for a reason. With panties on over the gaff, she looked more female than before, and had a look at herself in the bathroom mirror.

“This is amazing, Mum. I do look more like a girl than I did. These breasts aren’t much bigger than those fillers we got, but they have a life of their own.”

“They do that, my daughter. When you grow your own, you’ll find that they have sensations that you wouldn’t believe. Wear the blue top and the denim skirt today. Before we go out, I’ll help you get dressed and do your make-up as an artiste on stage. We’ll need to start to get ready at about four, which will allow me some time once we have you ready for your adoring fans. We’ll have sandwiches for lunch, seeing that we’re going out for dinner. You can spend the day working through your performances.”

The rest of the day had Willow working through violin exercises and getting used to the breasts, before wiping the violin over and making sure she had everything needed in the case. Then, she looked up the four verses of the carol and sang it several times to get it into her brain. After lunch, she listened to “Lazy’ again, playing her own version over the top of the original.

At four, her mother got her to shower, which was odd with the breasts on. She was powdered and dressed in the gaff, with a new bra and pantie set, in blue. Her mother opened a new pack of tights in her size and showed her how to put them on, then she put on the blue dress and the shoes. She had to go and look at herself in the big mirror to prove to herself that she looked good. Her mother went off to get herself ready, leaving Willow to walk about in the new shoes and practice sitting and standing without flashing her panties. The dress was knee-length, the same as the other girls, and she knew that, tonight, she had to look lady-like for the first part of the show.

Her father came downstairs, looking dapper in his suit.

“Go upstairs, poppet. It’s time for the face painting.”

Upstairs, her mother looked really good, and had already made up her face. Sitting Willow at her vanity, she made her up in an evening style, then swapped the studs for pearl drops and a pearl necklace.

“My mother gave me these when I was your age. They look good on you and they’re yours now. Hold still while I spritz you with this perfume, then go and get your coat in case it gets cool tonight. Don’t forget the violin.”

They took the company car and found the steakhouse and had a good dinner. Afterwards, she found that a compact toothbrush had been put in her bag as she joined her mother to freshen up. At the school, her father parked the car and they walked towards the theatre. Miss Russell was on the door and gave her parents the tickets. Zara was close by and took charge of Willow, taking her to the dressing rooms.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 4

Backstage was organised chaos. The theatre had been built with this kind of event in mind, so there were individual rooms for the different acts, with make-up mirrors and sinks. They joined Dianne and Barbara in their room, and the four of them went next door to the singing group. Willow was introduced around, and the leader told her that if she didn’t fit the rest of them to just mime. Zara insisted that Willow was perfect.

Willow was finding it odd to be wearing the same dress as ten other girls, and wondered if her parents would be able to pick her out. It didn’t seem like very long at all before they went back to their own room to take the violins and viola out of the cases and tune up. The cello was already on stage beside the music stands.

A couple of minutes before seven, the four girls were in place as Mister Bamborough came out on stage and welcomed everyone to the concert. By the applause he got, it sounded like a full house. He announced that the first act was the Blue Coat Baroque Quartet and the curtains opened. There was some applause and then Zara counted them in.

As she played, Willow could look out at the packed theatre. She had expected that it would be mainly parents but noticed several well-dressed couples in the first couple of rows. Up the back, and to each side, she saw cameras on tripods recording them. She concentrated on her playing and smiled, with the others, as they took their bows to polite applause.

The curtains closed and they took the instruments back to the cases. Some schoolboys cleared the stage, taking the cello and the music stands away. The stage filled with girls in blue dresses as Mister Bamborough was back on stage. He announced that the next act was the Blue Dress Girls Choir, and that they would be singing a well-known carol. The curtains opened and Willow was, once again in front of the audience, singing. This time, though, it was in a larger group of girls, at one end next to Dianne, as the leader had lined them up by size. She modulated her voice to fit the others and they worked through the four verses.

When they finished, there was strong applause and the leader said to bow. As the applause carried on, they bowed a second time and then the curtains closed. The leader patted her on the shoulder.

“That was good, young lady. I expect you at choir practice when term starts. Zara will make sure you get the schedule. We do a lot of carol singing around Christmas, at hospitals and aged-care homes.”

They all went down to the rooms, where the girls made sure that their instruments were properly packed away and put where they could be picked up later. The four of them were standing by the door when the four Gees came down, three carrying their guitar cases. Willow said hello.

“Hello, there Billie-Jean. You look stunning tonight. That’s just the right colour, as you can tell by our shirts.”

They were wearing royal blue shirts with black trousers.

“We’ve finished with this room. There’s just our instruments to be picked up.”

“All right, we’ll use it now. We caught your act tonight, very good, all of you. Why don’t you introduce the other girls?”

“Girls, this is Geoff on lead, Gerry on lead and rhythm, Garry on bass and Grant on drums. Boys, these are Barbara and Dianne, who I think are sisters. Dianne is in my year. And this is Zara, who will be in fourth year with you guys.”

“Zara. I’ve gazed at you from afar, in some of the classes. But I’ve never plucked up the courage to speak to you.”

“You can talk to me now, Geoff. I would like that.”

They all chatted together as the boys took the guitars out and tuned. When the final skit of the first half ended, they all went up to the stage as the audience were leaving for the canteen. They helped to roll the amps and keyboard into place and set up the drum kit. With it all switched on, they tested the guitars and organ quietly, and then went to the canteen to catch up with their relatives. Willow noticed that Geoff and Zara seemed to be hitting it off. She knew that it was a fact of life that a boy could be in class with a pretty girl and never have the courage, or the opportunity, to make contact. Barbara and Dianne, she could see, were both happy to be helping out and around the older boys.

At the canteen, she found her parents talking with Mister Bamborough. Her parents both hugged her, and he shook her hand and commented on how crisp the quartet sounded. Her mother handed her a plastic bottle and she took a few sips. Dianne and Barbara brought their parents over to say hello. Willow was thanked for standing in so that their daughters could get the points that the performance earned.

It was far too soon when a chime rang out and the audience started to trickle back to the theatre. The boys came over, said hello to her parents and the five of them headed towards the stage, Zara giving Geoff a little wave as they left. On stage, they took their positions and set the amps. Miss Russell asked them if they could tone it down a bit for the first few songs. When she left them, Garry chuckled.

“We get that a lot. ‘Love the music, lads, but play it quiet.’ When we get out into the world as G-Force, we’ll play as loud as we want.”

Mister Bamborough was on the other side of the curtain, again thanking the audience for coming along. Willow stood behind the organ and listened for her cue.

“Tonight, you have seen a girl play violin and sing with the choir. That girl is Willow Rose, and only stepped up to fill in yesterday. She will be starting second year with us after a move from Bristol. Now, you will see her filling in again for a member of the band who is sick. Here she is with ‘Shallow Blue’ to play songs from Deep Purple!”

As the curtains opened, she started the opening notes of ‘Child in Time’. She looked over at Garry as he came in and he grinned and gave her a wink. Of course, the amps hadn’t been turned down, and the song grew in stature and body as it moved on. Geoff was the singer on this and didn’t have the vocal range to get the sounds of the original but was strong enough.

They worked through the set, with the open space filled with gyrating teens. Willow could see some of the dignitaries looking like they had sucked lemons, but nearly everyone else was smiling or singing along. When the final crescendo of ‘Smoke’ faded, there was thunderous applause and calls for more. They took their bows, but the applause didn’t die down. Geoff put his guitar on its stand and went to his microphone, waving for a bit of hush.

“Ladies and gentlemen, school friends all. This performance was a one-off that our friend Jim thought of. He was to have played the organ but has contracted measles. Yesterday, we thought that it was all over, until Miss Russell breezed in with the answer to our dreams. Tonight, you have witnessed only the second time the five of us have played this set. As an encore, we are going to play another Purple number called ‘Lazy’. I can tell you that we have never played it before, so give a hand to Billie-Jean as she gets it going!”

Willow started the long intro to applause. The song was mainly a vehicle for the guitar and organ, with the bass coming in and the drummer going off on tangents. About two-thirds into it, Geoff came up to the microphone and sang, then played his mouth organ. When you dissect the piece, it’s mainly a procession of solos, blended with the whole band at times. Gerry was amazing on the Telecaster. Ten minutes after starting, they ended on a high to more applause. This time, after a couple of bows, the curtains closed, and the show was over. For Willow, it was almost as if she was a balloon and the air had been let out.

Garry was, once more, the first to hug her, followed by the others. Grant was able to stand, and they all had a group hug as the stage filled with well-wishers, Zara going up to Geoff and giving him a hug that made him have a silly grin. Willow was hugged by Dianne and Barbara, as well as most of the singing group. Eventually, they were told to head for the canteen, where all the performers were to be given a thank you from Mister Bamborough. Willow picked up her violin case on the way and sat with her parents as he thanked everyone for their performances and said that everyone would get maximum marks.

After more hugs and kisses, Willow and her parents were back in the car and going home. Everyone was quiet until they were on the motorway, then her mother looked back at her.

“How are you, sweetie? That was some night for you.”

“Like I’m a punctured balloon, Mum. I’ve had a wonderful time, but now it’s all over.”

Her father chuckled.

“Not all over, Willow, but just beginning. When you go to that school, you’ll already be a hero in a lot of kids eyes. Did you get asked to join the girls’ choir?”

“Zara will be getting me the rehearsal schedule. I was told to expect to be visiting hospitals and aged care homes at Christmas.”

“Well, it is a Church of England school, so I expect that community work is a big part of school life. I’m sure that they will be working to help you continue your academic life as well. It’s just that you could be busier than you’ve ever been before.”

“At least I’ll have Dianne in my year, and Barbara in the year above. I expect that Zara will be doing senior things.”

Her mother laughed.

“Including going out with that Geoff. They seemed like a nice couple.”

“That only started before we opened the second half. She’s been keen on him for a while, and he admired her during their last year but never managed to speak to her. We were all down in our room when the boys came in, and I introduced them.”

“Not only a talented musician, but a matchmaker as well!”

“Mum!!!!!”

It was quieter as they got off the motorway and into Stoneleigh Village. When the car stopped, Willow was asleep. Her father unbuckled her and picked her up while his wife took the violin case and opened the front door. He took her to her room and laid her on her bed.

“Let her lie, sweetheart. I’ll get ready for bed and come back to undress her and get her ready for bed.”

Now in her nightie and gown, her mother gently woke the sleeping girl to get her undressed, cleansed, and into her nightwear. Willow went through the motions like a zombie and was fast asleep again as the covers were pulled up. Her mother gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead.

“Sleep well, my wonderful daughter. You don’t know it, but tonight you’ve woken the tiger in your father.”

The sleeping girl murmured, “Tiger.”

Her mother closed the door quietly and went towards her own bed and her husband, who clearly displayed what she was expecting to be an enjoyable hour. She giggled to herself. He was a Deep Purple fan from way back, and it turned him on like nothing else.

………………………………………….

Back in Coventry, a group of teachers were in a deep discussion. Howard Bamborough was leading the talk.

“Willow Rose is going to be one of our best pupils. We have to do everything we can to help her fulfil her true potential. What do you think, Miss Russell?”

“She certainly stepped up like a trouper, but it did take a lot out of her. I could see her deflating after the show had finished. We will need to structure her studies to give her space to grow.”

Mister Jamieson cleared his throat.

“I insist that she keeps playing the violin. She has a natural talent and it lifted both Barbara and Dianne tonight.”

The Head smiled.

“She lifted more than those. I had heard the boys when Jim was on the organ. That was insipid compared to what we heard tonight. I’ve never heard Geoff and Gerry play so well before. If they take that into the school year, they’ll both be heading for an ‘A’ in music studies. Grant was much freer than I’ve heard him, as well. What did Yvonne say to you, Miss Russell?”

“She wants Willow in the choir and to be part of the Christmas and Easter celebrations. With all that, I expect that Willow will have to play violin in the orchestra, although we do have a full house in the strings.”

“What about putting her into the woodwind. She does have skills on the clarinet. We just haven’t heard her play that yet.”

“We can do that as a trial. The problem is that we’ve never had a girl who was so multi-talented. The organ was, I think, a one-off. Her mother told me that Willow would play a small keyboard, at home, to release pressure, and I expect that she’ll continue. I wonder if she’ll be allowed to play the chapel organ. I doubt that she’s ever tried a multi-keyboard organ and would have trouble with the foot pedals.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll talk to the organist to set up a trial run for her one afternoon. She does read music, but it’s uncanny how she can play something that she’s just listened to. That encore they played showed her improvisation for all to see. I heard a lot of snippets of classic Bach in there.”

“I do know, Howard, that the girl is pure gold. She has the potential to give the Blue Coat a lot of good publicity. We had a reporter from the local paper here tonight. He left with a smile on his face and a story to write. We have to have a meeting with all her teachers and put in a plan to keep her safe and well until we send her on to university.”

……………………………………………

In a hotel, where Geoff and his parents had gone with Zara and her parents, the two were dancing to a DJ. Both sets of parents were talking about the sudden friendship between the teens and getting to know each other. For the teens, it was if a shutter between them had been lifted. He was, in her eyes, the best catch in her year. She was, in his eyes, the prettiest girl in school and had seemed untouchable to him until Willow had introduced them to each other.

The DJ moved to a set of slower songs, and they held each other close as they danced, and then shared the first, tentative, kiss, before a second that seemed to last for eternity for both of them.

…………………………………….

In his home office, the reporter from the Coventry Observer sat in front of his keyboard trying to think of a good opening line for his report on the school show. It had turned out to be nothing like any school show he had ever been to before. The second half had him recalling concerts that he had been to in his younger days. Now, as a senior citizen, he was relegated to social events and fluff pieces. He started typing.

‘There was smoke on the water at the Blue Coat School on Saturday evening……’

………………………………………….

It was well into Sunday morning when Willow woke with a full bladder. She wandered into the bathroom and sat to relieve herself. Washing her hands, she looked into the mirror and smiled at the girl looking back. Last night, she had met more people, and made more friends, than she had ever known before.

Back in her room, she put a gown on and went downstairs. Her mother was wiping the breakfast dishes and smiled when she walked in.

“Good morning, darling. I hope you had a wonderful sleep. You certainly deserved it. You were exhausted when we came home.”

“Morning, Mummy. Thanks for getting me undressed, I could hardly stand. That really took it out of me. I felt like the world had stopped after the show finished and wondered about the ‘what now’.”

Her mother put a bowl of muesli in front of her, along with a carton of milk.

“That’s why a lot of pop stars fall prey to drink and drugs. Being on stage gets you high, and they try to maintain the feeling with substances. I doubt that you’ll ever be asked to do something so intense in future. I expect that the school will structure your studies in an even way. I saw the look of concern on Mister Jamieson’s face when you came into the canteen after the show. I can’t see you playing Purple with those lads again. I gather that it was a one-off project. Maybe, next summer, you could be on stage emulating Chrissy McVie in a Fleetwood Mac cover band.”

“That would be nice. We’ll need to find a Stevie Nicks, though. We could call the band ‘Blue Mac.’”

As they sat, they could hear the sound of the bells from the church in the Village.

“Mum. It’s never mattered before. What religion are we? At Clifton, I just went along with the others whenever there were prayers and stuff. I enjoyed the singing. Blue Coat is a Church of England school, after all. I expect that they’ll have more to do with God than I’m used to.”

“Well, we’re nominally C of E. That’s what I put on the application to get you accepted. Not that we’re churchgoers, though. We were too busy studying, then creating our careers, and then the family and family home. What do you think about you getting dressed and we walk to wherever those bells are ringing. In a village like this, it has to be an old building.”

Willow went and had a quick shower and dressed in a dark skirt and royal blue top that matched the dress she had worn the night before. They walked to the road junction and looked at the road sign. Willow had to giggle.

“This is Vicarage Road, so I guess that we aren’t far away.”

They walked along the road towards the sound of the bells, which stopped as they came to Church Lane.

“They certainly signpost the way, Mum.”

When they arrived at the church, they both stopped and looked at it. The church was, indeed, old, possibly thirteenth century. A small crowd were outside the door, talking to a priest. When they had all left, he looked their way.

“Good morning, strangers! Have you come to see our beautiful church. The service is over and it’s empty now. Don’t be worried, I won’t spray you with holy water.”

They both liked the way the man talked, so strolled towards him. As they got close, his eyes went wide.

“Truly a miracle! Last night I was at the Blue Coat show and asked God to send me an organist as good as the girl in the band. And here you are, in the flesh. Come on in, I’ll put the kettle on, and you can tell me how you appeared on our porch like an angel sent as the answer to my prayers.”

They followed him into the church and were awed by the beauty of the building. The priest told them to look around while he got the kettle on. They looked at all the plaques that told about famous people who had worshipped there, including a Lord Mayor of London and a State Premier in Australia.

They sat in small tea-room, and he came in with a tray with tea, milk, sugar and biscuits.

“Now, let’s get comfortable and you can tell me how you came walking by.”

“Well, I’m Wendy Rose, and this is my daughter Willow. We moved into a house on Walkers Orchard Estate a few weeks ago, after our move from Bristol. My husband, Ashley, has a new job with Aston Martin.”

“And how was it that this lovely girl was attacking that organ last night? It’s very quick work to be part of a band in Coventry within a few weeks.”

“We had to go to the school on Friday, and Miss Russell showed us the Music School, and introduced us to the boys in the band. They were about to scrub their act because their organist had gone down with measles. Willow said that she knew the songs they were going to play, and the result was what you saw last night. She also played violin in the first act.”

“That mournful piece. It’s very Russian. I went there some years ago and attended one of their churches. That piece was said to have brought tears to Lenin’s eyes because it reminded him of the old days in his home village. What do you think of our organ, Willow?”

“I haven’t seen it, sir.”

“Stand up, look into the church and look up.”

“Wow! That’s a genuine pipe organ. How do you generate the air?”

“We have gone electric for the pumps, so it can be ready to play in minutes. That was part of an upgrading we had some years ago. The bells are recorded, with big speakers in the tower, and programmed by a computer. Do you want to try it?”

“Yes, please. Do you have any sheet music? I’ve never played a double keyboard or used the foot pedals.”

“Excuse us, Wendy. I’ll steal Willow from you and hear the organ. I haven’t heard it for a few years now, not since our last organist died.”

He led Willow up to the upper level, uncovered the keyboard and turned the fans on. She looked at the sheet music while the pressure built up. She found one of those pieces that are usually played to the congregation before weddings and funerals. He nodded that it was ready to go, so she pressed each key on both keyboards and then stood so that she could get the feel of the bass pedals. She looked at him with joy on her face, then started to play the piece, the music thundering out of the pipes above her.

The priest closed his eyes and thanked God that he could hear the instrument again, after years of silence. As the piece ended, Willow doodled with pieces of classical music that she had added to ‘Lazy’, remembering that most of the old masters had written for the church of their day. As she played, people began to come in and listen. She lost track of time as she was lost in a world of her own, but then remembered that they needed to be home to get lunch for her father. She ended the piece she was playing and sat there as the sound slowly reverberated around the church.

When the applause started, she turned around to see a dozen women clapping. The priest turned the fans off and they went back to the main part of the church, where another lady was comforting her mother. Willow could see that her mother had been crying. As Willow went to her, her mother almost crushed the life out of her with a hug.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 5

“Are you all right, Mum?”

“More than all right, by precious daughter. When you were playing, it reminded me of my wedding day. Where did you learn to play one of those organs?”

“Right here, right now, Mum. Basically, it’s just a more complicated version of what I played last night, but the music is a lot simpler, which allowed me to learn what it does. There’s a lot of buttons and knobs that make changes to the sound, but I didn’t want to touch anything.”

The priest was talking to the other ladies. He turned and introduced them to the Roses. One was his wife, while the others were ladies who cleaned the church and arranged flowers and catered for special occasions. They all lived with walking distance of the church, with a couple of the younger ones close to the Rose residence. It only took a few minutes before the Roses were welcomed as part of the community. They sat in the pews and were told all the things about the Village that they had never been told by the real estate agent.

The priest was nudged by his wife.

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t introduced myself, mainly because my name is on the board at the entrance. I’m Reverend Robert Russell, vicar of this parish and sometimes I take the odd service at the Blue Coat. Miss Russell, Hilda, is my sister and I believe that you would have met her. It was that connection that saw us attend the show. It was by far the best show of that type that we’ve seen.”

Before they went home, Willow was asked to go to the church and look at the music for the service next Sunday. The priest was keen to celebrate the organ sounding over the congregation again. They arranged for her to be there on Monday afternoon, with Tuesday pencilled in as well.

They went home in a far different mood than when they left. They had lunch with her father, who had been working in the back garden. He was told that they were all going to church on Sunday mornings, with Willow being the organist and that they had met the women who maintained the church and organised all the celebrations. He wasn’t keen but went along with things, once it had been explained that the vicar was Miss Russell’s brother and that attending the church would be better for them all.

That afternoon, Willow was in her room, downloading some of the more popular church pieces from her laptop and feeding the recordings into her headphones as she tried to emulate the notes on her keyboard. She found a sound that was close to the pipe organ. Some of the pieces were able to be played on a single set of keys, while others used a second set or the bass pedals. Now, having played the pipe organ, she was able to remember where she could fit them in. The thought of playing such a magnificent instrument made her very excited.

Monday morning was the appointment at the clinic. Willow could hardly eat her breakfast for the butterflies in her tummy. She was in a skirt and top this time and looked every inch a girl. When they arrived at the clinic, they were surprised to find her father in the waiting room.

“The doctor left a message for me to come over. She said that whatever we would be discussing needed both parents on hand.”

When they were called in, the doctor stood and shook hands with the parents and then looked at Willow with a smile on her face.

“Well, young lady. When you decide to come out, you certainly do it in style!”

She picked up the latest issue of the Coventry Observer and showed them an article that took up half a page. There was a photo of the band on stage, Saturday night, with Willow prominent in her blue dress, hair flying, as she played the organ. The sub-headline was ‘Talented teen steals the show at the Blue Coat School concert.’ Willow looked at the doctor.

“Oops”

“Oops isn’t strong enough. Last time I saw you, you were William with a problem. I was weighing up which way I was going to break the news to you all, this morning, and then I saw this and it makes everything so much easier. Sit down, and I’ll tell you what is about to happen and why.”

They sat and waited as she went back behind her desk and switched on a screen behind her.

‘We did a lot of tests and took blood the last time you were here. The bloods showed that you are normal in every way – for a teenage girl. There was minimal testosterone and a high level of oestrogens, not quite the level that one normally finds in a girl your age, but at least ten times more than you find in a boy.”

She pressed a button on her computer and the screen lit up, showing a number of cross-sections of Willow’s groin.

“This is the best picture to illustrate the reason.”

She picked up a pointer and put it to the picture.

“Here are your testicles, and they are still fully inside your body. Here is the reason why. When you were kicked, it damaged both the canals that the testicles descend through. They have been stuck well beyond the normal deployment time. They are very small, and that dark patch shows that they are starting to rot. Where they would have settled, your scrotum, the skin has never created the usual sac, which is why you’re still quite smooth there.”

Her father looked at the picture.

“What do you suggest? It seems to me that the testicles have to be removed as soon as possible.”

“Exactly. My colleagues have had a conference, and we want you to sign the paperwork that will allow us to operate. The procedure, for now, is purely to save your daughter any problems should they turn cancerous. It will be keyhole surgery, where there will be two tiny incisions and the offending tissue removed. The holes will be glued closed so there will be no need to take any stitches out. Willow will be able to go home after a couple of days.”

“What about the penis?”

“She is far too young for corrective surgery of that complexity. What we can do is use the same surgical glue to attach the penis in the ‘tucked’ position. That will need to be renewed every three months. It will mean that she can wear normal panties and look like a girl without need of a gaff. She will have to sit to pee like any other girl and will have to wipe herself after.”

“What about the hormone balance?”

“She will not need blockers, and we can start her on a low dose to build the oestrogen levels, as long as the three of you agree.”

She looked at Willow.

“What do you think? You’re the one who can say yes or no.”

“When can we do this?”

“The team would like it done as soon as possible. If you come back Wednesday afternoon, we can admit you and do the operation then. You won’t be put under. It’s a happy jab and a local. You won’t feel a thing. We’ll keep you in until Friday, but you shouldn’t do anything strenuous for a week. I believe that you start school a week later.”

Willow looked at her parents, seeing the worry in their eyes.

“Can we do this? It will solve so many problems. It’s the answer to why I am the way I am, and I will be able to live a normal life.”

Her mother reached out and took her hand.

“Of course, we say yes, sweetheart. I have come to appreciate you as a clever daughter in this past week. It will give you time to recover for the church on Sunday.”

The doctor had the paperwork at hand, and they signed.

“If you bring Willow in at four, we’ll admit her under her new name and change our records. You will be able to pick her up on Friday, about eleven. She can wear the clothes that she arrived in and will just need nightwear and a gown. We provide the slippers and toiletries. She will have a large strip on her groin. I suggest that you leave this on for a week, then carefully peel it off. It will have a hole for the urine, and we will shave her there so there shouldn’t be any problem with it pulling out any hairs.”

They thanked the doctor and went out to the reception area. Before he went back to work, her father hugged her.

“I’ll come in to see you during my break Thursday, sweetheart.”

“Thank you, Daddy.”

With her mother holding her hand, Willow was led back to the car. She was quiet on the way home, thinking about how she had arrived at this point. She felt no anger at the boy who had kicked her, and only a little towards Tony Horton. She realised that he was only acting on what he saw before him, and that he had been seeing a sissy. She started to think about what she would need for the next few days and decided that the main thing would be her MP3 player and headphones.

Her mother looked over to her.

“Do you still have that cheap phone we got you when you started high school?”

“No Mum. That went into the drain in the middle of the playground, along with my original maths book.”

“Oh! It was not expensive and a pay as you go plan. That’s why you’ve never brought it to me to be topped up. With all your new friends, I think it would be time for another one, with it added to our plan. I can’t see you being on it all day, seeing that it would take some time off of your music.”

They detoured into Warwick and found the telco that was the family provider. When they carried on for home, Willow was checking out her new phone. It wasn’t top of the range, but did allow her to send and receive texts, look on Google, take pictures, record sounds, and store her MP3 data. This one would not end up in a drain, she knew, because she hadn’t met anyone yet who hated her enough to do such a deed.

There was, she thought, grimly, still time for that, however remote it seemed now.

Her mother looked at her.

“Why the grim face?”

“Just wondering when the rainbow ends, and I come face to face with some bucket of excrement who doesn’t like me. I just remembered how I lost my other phone, and it wasn’t a good time.”

“You’re a different person now. You’ll see, there will be nothing but positive vibes for you.”

“I hope you’re right, Mum. That would be really good.”

“After today, honey, you will be a girl, and boys don’t bully girls. Only girls bully girls.”

“Oh, thank you. I’ll be looking over my shoulder to see if I can spot any ‘mean girls’ in school. How do I identify them? Well; they will be popular, pretty, grade ‘A’ students, have lots of girlfriends, as well as boys lusting after them. That means that I may have to watch out for my reflection.”

They both laughed and Willow felt a lot better. In the afternoon, she wore a full skirt to allow her leg room and held her mother’s hand as they walked to the church. Reverend Russell was sweeping the porch as they arrived.

“A very good afternoon to you, ladies. Come on in and I’ll fire up old Betsy. I sorted out some sheet music for you to look at, Willow. I’ve also thought about Sunday’s service and have pulled out the sheet music for the four hymns. They will be the main content of the service, but you can choose the before and after pieces, quiet and thoughtful ones, please. When you’re settled, I need to go off and visit one of our parishioners. I should be an hour or so.”

He waited until she had seen where things were and then left. Her mother spent some time taking pictures in the church while Willow looked at the hymn sheets. There was the list with the order. She looked down and called to her mother.

“Mum!”

“Yes, dear.”

“Can you add these numbers to the board on the wall?”

Her mother found the box of numbers under the board. Willow called out the numbers in the order she had been given, and her mother set them up on the board. While she was doing that, the vicar’s wife came in and helped.

“Now. I’m going to play the music for those hymns. I doubt that I’ll be able to hear you, but I will see you with this mirror. If I’ve gone off course, just wave a lot and I’ll stop. I’ll doodle while you get yourself sorted, so wave when you’re ready to sing. This will help me get used to using the mirror.”

She lowered the stool until she was happy with the height and started playing the quiet piece that she had learned the evening before. She was getting used to looking in the mirror while playing when she saw the raised hand. She stopped and started playing the intro to the hymn that sets the cadence. She quietened her playing as they began singing and she realised, for the first time, what a lovely singing voice her mother had.

They worked through the four hymns, and she went back down to take a sip of water that they had brought. The vicar’s wife, that her mother was calling Edie, told her that she would be getting some of the helpers together on Tuesday, so they could rehearse the service. She explained that Willow would have to follow her husband’s movements as she played the opening music, and time it to stop when he had reached the altar and turned to face the congregation. At the end, she would start again as he made his first step towards the porch. On Sunday, the bells would be only ringing before the beginning of the service, and then after vicar was outside, with them ringing as she played the quiet piece for the congregation to leave. Willow realised that this was going to be far more complicated than she had first thought. Edie told her that the speakers were directed away from the tower, so they were a lot quieter inside the church.

Willow went back up, tidied the sheets and turned the fans off, coming back with Edie giving her a hug and telling her that she had made her husband very happy. So happy, that he had called his sister and invited her to attend the service on Sunday.

Walking home, Willow held her mother’s arm.

“You have a wonderful voice, Mum. You should sing more often.”

“Surely you jest!”

“No jest, Mum. I could hear you from where I sat, even above the organ. You do realise, don’t you, that you’ll need a church dress by Sunday, and I will need something with a full skirt, suitable for the lady organist.”

“You really are a daughter. Of course we’ll get something. I’ll ask Edie where the best places are, and we’ll get something Wednesday morning, we have to be at the clinic in the late afternoon.”

“Don’t remind me! Since we were there, I’ve been totally Willow and I love it. By the way, I remember you saying something about a tiger when you tucked me in on Saturday night.”

“I thought that you were asleep! You did say ‘Tiger’ in your sleep. Is it something special?”

“It’s just that I looked around my room and there was nothing in it that suggested ‘girl’. If I invited other girls around, it would look very bland. I’ll need your input of things to jazz it up a bit, but I had thought that a small plush tiger would be a good touch. We can get some Blue Tack and put up a couple of band pictures for a start.”

“Good thinking, Willow. Better to think of things like that than have to explain the austerity later. I should look out for girly sheets and pillowcases as well.”

That afternoon, the house phone rang while Willow was cleaning her room and checking for spaces on the walls for pictures. She heard her mother answer it.

“Yes, this is Mrs. Rose.”

“Yes, I did leave my details with you.”

“Hold on while I get a pencil. Got it. Can you repeat the address again?”

“Thank you for that. I’ll be at the Seven Stars Estate tomorrow afternoon at one.”

Willow went downstairs as her mother stood with a grin on her face.

“What’s up, Mum?”

“I have an interview tomorrow afternoon. It appears that a marketing company that has a graphic arts section wants to see me about a job. The good news is that it’s very close to the school. I wondered about the speed of the appointment, but the lady told me that the client had asked for me to go in before they set up anymore. I wonder why?”

“Did you have a reputation that precedes you? Perhaps the guy was one of your customers when you forged IDs?”

“Very funny, young lady. We’ll both find out because we need to shop after I’ve seen him. You’ll have to wait in reception while I’m interviewed.”

On Tuesday, they walked over to the church, finding a good dozen ladies and Reverend Russell waiting for them. He took Willow into the church.

“Listen carefully, Willow. You will be at the organ, playing as the church fills, and I come in through the door below you. I will have a couple of church wardens with me on Sunday. Keep playing as I walk along the aisle and get to the small table that we use as a normal altar. We only use the High Altar for weddings, funerals and special occasions. As I get close to it, you will bring the music to an end. Got it so far?”

“Yes, sir. Clear as a bell.”

“I will then lead the congregation in prayer. Today will be very short. Then I go up the stairs to the pulpit and give the reading. You will be able to hear me clearly when I say which hymn we will sing. That’s when you play the intro. If there is a disturbance, hold off on the main part until things are settled. As the service proceeds, I will call the number of the hymns. When they are singing the last hymn, I come back down and give the last prayer. When you hear amen, you wait a few seconds and then start the quiet piece as I leave the church to stand by the main door. The bells will also be ringing. When the church has emptied, you can close things down and come out as well. Today we will just do snippets of the prayers but will sing all the hymns. Now, up you go, and we’ll see if we can nail it first time.”

He went towards the door and Willow went up to the organ and turned on the fans. When everything was ready, she started playing. As she did so, the ladies slowly came into the church, picked up a hymn book and took their places in the pews. Willow saw that they all had a pew of their own, with her mother sitting with Edie. When she played, she wondered if that, and the doors to the pews, was something left over from earlier centuries, when families had their own pews. The ladies settled themselves and then rose as one.

In the mirror, she saw the vicar walk up the aisle, towards the table. She really had to concentrate as he drew close, and she allowed the music to taper off. He knelt at the cross, then stood and turned.

“Thank you for coming along today. We are here, this day, to thank the Lord for sending us an angel to play for us.”

He then turned and climbed the steps to the pulpit. In a strong voice, he announced the first hymn. Willow could see the books being opened and played the intro, waited a few seconds and started the hymn, hearing the congregation sing. It made her wonder what it would be like, leading the singing in a bigger hall.

When the last notes died away, the vicar smiled.

“For Willow’s benefit, this is where I try to send everyone to sleep. Our second hymn is…”

As the last hymn was being sung, he left the pulpit and returned to the altar. As the notes faded, he asked that the congregation spend a few moments in silent prayer. After that he turned and started walking towards the main door and Willow started the quiet piece that she liked. She carried on until the church was empty and then let the organ fade. She tidied up, turned off the fans and went down to leave the building, walking outside to be hugged by everyone, many with tears running down their cheeks.

Reverend Russell also hugged her.

“Nailed it in one. You truly are a gem, Willow. That was perfect. There are a few here that have never heard the organ, and, as you can see, it has a profound effect on people. Can I depend on you to be with us at just before eight-thirty on Sunday?”

“Yes, Reverend Russell, you can. I can’t wait to hear what it sounds like with more people in the church.”

“Bless you, child, it will be wonderful, I know it.”

It took half an hour before she and her mother could prise themselves away from the other ladies, all in praise of Willow for bringing the organ to life. She began to realise that it had been a very moving experience for most of them, something that had brightened their day.

Back at home, Willow changed into her denim skirt and hung the fuller one away. They had sandwiches and then got in the car, arriving at the address a quarter of an hour before the appointment. When they went into reception, her mother gave her name and the girl asked if it was Willow with her. Her mother said it was and the girl asked them to sit while she went to let her boss know that they were there. When she had gone and they had sat, Willow whispered.

“Mum, that girl was among the dancers on Saturday night. I thought her blond hair with the blue streaks was fantastic.”

The girl came back and asked them to follow her. They were both ushered into a large office where a man was standing to welcome them.

“Mrs. Rose, thank you for coming. And you brought your talented daughter. I’m Graham Martin and I was at the concert on Saturday night. I was dazzled, along with everyone else, with the talent and sheer exuberance that she gave out. When I saw the list of names of the few people that the agency had sent me, I wondered if the Mrs. Rose was her mother so just had to see you first. If you sit over there, Willow, I’ll talk to your mother about the job.”

Willow watched as they spoke about what the job entailed, and her mother showed him her certificates and a reference from the last place she had worked. He looked at that, carefully.

“This is dated some years ago. How are you with current techniques?”

“I subscribe to the trade magazine and have kept up with the new equipment. My husband is a design engineer with Aston Martin, and we have a near-new computer. I have downloaded some of the new programs and played around with them.”

“Excellent. Can you come back on Thursday and spend some time with our graphics team. If you can convince them that you know your stuff, we can start you on Monday. We’ll work out the contract details then.”

“Thank you, sir. What time do you open?”

“The warehouse is open around the clock during the week, but the graphics usually turn up at around nine.”

“I’ll be here at nine on Thursday.”

He showed them out and they got in the car.

“Willow, my sweet daughter, your talents have another notch on the handle. You’re now also an influencer. For that, we’re going to get a couple of good church outfits. Edie has given me the name of the best place and to drop her name when we’re there. I think that we are now finding out that it doesn’t matter what you know, it’s who you know that counts.”

They went into the Coventry city to an address that had been entered into the GPS. They went into the shop and dropped Edie’s name and why they were there. They were shown an array of outfits, with Willow walking out with two full skirts and a range of tops that would go with them, allowing her to look different within a budget. Her mother had chosen a dress and a skirt suit that would be good for working in as well as for church.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

There are five completed books of this story, with a total of 114 chapters. I figure that if I post them every few days, it will take the rest of this year to complete. Hoping that you all stay with it.
Marianne

Chapter 6

Willow spent Wednesday morning playing her keyboard and trying not to think about what lay before her. The first big step in moving on from William, through the Billie-Jean period, and into being Willow. She decided that she would be Willow Rose from now on. She skipped lunch, as ordered, and then walked over to the church, to just stand there and look at the organ, thinking about being up there, with it, on Sunday, after the operation.

When they arrived at the clinic, the admission was quick, and Willow was shown a bed where she could put her small overnight bag. The nurses allowed her to get hugged by her mother and she was left on her own. She was helped to strip and was given a hospital gown to wear. She was given an injection. When she was told to get onto the trolley, she really didn’t care what was happening.

In the operating theatre, the surgeon said hello to her, and they put an oxygen mask on her face and rigged up a barrier so she couldn’t see what was happening. She felt a small prick somewhere near her groin, then decided that it was time to have a nap.

She woke in the bed of the room where she had put her bag. She looked at the ceiling for a while and then moved. A buzzer sounded and a nurse came in.

“You’re awake, sweetie. That’s good. The doctor will be doing her round soon. Is there anything you want?”

“A drink, please.”

One was given to her in a safety bottle that she could suck at. She was trying to figure out what was different in her when the doctor came in.

“Good evening, Willow. I can tell you that everything went as planned. The nurse will give you something to help you sleep, although I’ve been told that you dozed off before the operation. If you need to go to the toilet, ring for the nurse, as you might be a bit rubbery in the leg department. Sweet dreams and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After a little while, the nurse brought in a tray with some food on it, cranking the bed into a position where she could eat. There was a water glass with a small container with two pills. She took the pills and then asked if she could go to the toilet. The nurse helped her stand and go to the toilet. When she had washed her hands, the nurse took the gown and gave her the nightie she had brought in the bag.

“That’s better, sweetie. I’ll take that nasty old gown away. Let’s get you into bed and comfortable. Those pills don’t take long to work.”

Willow slept until the early hours, waking with a bladder problem. She sat up in bed and swivelled with her legs ready to take her weight. That’s when she pressed the button. A few minutes later, another nurse came in.

“Toilet time, missy. Here, let me take your weight for a bit.”

When she had finished, she was able to stand and move on her own.

“Thank you, nurse. I think that I’m good now.”

“Let’s put your gown on. We’re starting the morning rituals. I’ll be back to take your vitals. Why don’t you take a few steps outside the room, a few up, a few back, until you feel normal. You have been in bed for a long time, but we want you to start acting normally. You’ll probably be screaming to leave before lunch, but we need you in place for another day.”

When the nurse had gone, Willow shuffled around the room, then peeked out of the door. Keeping close to the wall, she did as suggested and walked up and back until she wasn’t stooped. Back in the room, she felt around her groin, finding the cover that had been put there. She realised that she had been going to the toilet and wiping in the same fashion that she had been doing when wearing the gaff.

She sat in the chair next to the bed, turning on her phone and listening to her MP3 files. The nurse came in and took the vitals, noting them on a clipboard. A few minutes later, breakfast arrived. She didn’t care what they had served, she just devoured it all. Feeling a lot better, she went back to her phone and listened to the downloads of organ music that she imagined playing, seeing the keyboards in her mind.

The morning went slowly, until her father came in.

“How are you feeling, Willow?”

“Ready to find a motorbike and leap over the outer fence.”

“That’s one of the problems of being in hospital, my darling. The next thing is that you’ll realise that they serve rubbish food.”

“Breakfast was OK. I ate it all but never really looked at what it was. Never mind, only another three meals to go. I wonder how Mum is doing at that job trial.”

“She said that she would ring you this afternoon. I’ll call her and let her know that you’re feeling normal. She is excited at the idea of working again. She gave up work when you came along, but I know that she missed the friendship of the workplace. Just imagine if you had to stop playing music for over ten years.”

“That, dear Daddy, is something I could never imagine. Without music, I would just shrivel away. Mummy cried at the church on Monday. She said that the organ music reminded her of her wedding day.”

“Don’t be surprised if you see tears in my eyes on Sunday. Our wedding day was magical for both of us. We could hardly wait to be together every day, and every night. We still feel the same about each other. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you meet your soulmate.”

He stayed with her another five minutes and then had to head back to his office. Willow sat, quietly, for some time afterwards. In the last week, her parents had evolved into human beings, almost friends. She had spoken with her father more than the ten years before. She had been taught girly things by her mother. Even sitting still while her face was being made up was like close communication. She had shared things with her mother that would have been impossible to even mention in the past.

Her reverie was interrupted by the doctor walking in.

“Good morning, Willow. Let me look at the clipboard and then we can talk. Your vitals are all good. How do you feel? How is it to urinate?”

“I feel good, doctor. I had a little walk this morning and going to the toilet is the same as it was when I wore a gaff. I’m getting a bit bored, just sitting here.”

“That’s to be expected, a busy girl like you should be champing at the bit. Just another twenty-four hours and we let you go. We have to make sure that there are no complications, no sudden fever or sharp pains where they operated. Just think of it as writing a pop song; it never works perfectly the first time. You always have to let it evolve.”

“I suppose you’re right. I can imagine what I’ll be playing on Sunday. That will pass the time.”

“What’s happening Sunday? I hope it’s not a gig with that band, you’re not up for standing and grooving for an hour or more.”

“It’s a lot more dignified than that. I’m playing the church organ at St. Marys in Stoneleigh. Somehow, I got roped in again. The Reverend Russell is over the moon to hear it. They haven’t had an organist for a few years.”

“You do get around. I might come along to hear you. That article in the paper made you sound like some child prodigy.”

“As long as it’s good publicity for the school. I haven’t even had my first day there and I’ve met more of the other students than I knew in Bristol. Mind you, there are a few from there that I don’t miss.”

“Yes, the guys in the operating theatre commented on your scars. It must have been horrible.”

“It’s in the past. I have another life to live, thanks to you. Have you any idea when I can get the big operation done?”

“If you react as expected to the hormones, I expect that by the time you’re sixteen, you’ll have natural breasts and can pass all the tests to let you transition. It’s a big move, Willow, and you need to be totally happy with your life when it gets to that time. Anyway, must run, more patients to see. I’ll come in tomorrow to sign you off.”

………………………………………..

As Willow listened to her music, an office in Coventry was the scene of two men with the Observer on the table. Artie Hamilton and Zac Martin were promoters of music festivals. Artie was trying to win an argument,

“I tell you, Zac. These kids could be the next big thing!”

“But they’re just kids, Artie! Those boys aren’t even sixteen yet, and the girl looks younger. We’re not in the game of throwing kids to the wolves. They may have been as good as this article says, but they may be better in a few years. They have school to finish. Let’s let them know that we want to sign them, but there’s no way they will be allowed to play in the festival for a year or two. The paper says that the performance was a summer project. They may never play Purple again.”

“We’re in the box seat to make a fortune! We still have to make contact and let them know that we’re able to put them into the public arena. We can only hope that they want to be stars. I’ll agree with you, this time, but we need to talk to the school.”

…………………………………………..

At the Seven Stars industrial park, Wendy Rose was happily working on a computer, creating a page of a supermarket brochure. The design manager had given her the proofs that morning and told her that she could go home when she finished it. He knew that others would take up to ten hours to get something suitable.

…………………………………………

It was later in the afternoon, and Willow had left much of her lunch, when her phone rang.

“Willow Rose speaking.”

“Willow, I’ve got the job! I had to produce a page for one of those supermarket things that they add to the newspapers. I did it in a time that the boss said was amazing! I start on Monday.”

“Great news, Mum. Dad popped in today and I’m moving about. I had a walk to the nurses station and back, a few times. The doctor told me that I’ll be signed off after she sees me, tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there around ten to bring you home. At the moment, I’m heading for my bank to have a debit card in your name added to my account. It will let you get extra things for school without needing me around. I don’t know how we’ll get you into the city to buy the rest of the things you need, but, knowing you, my angel, something will save the day. If Miss Russell comes to the church on Sunday, I might ask her if she knows someone who can take you.”

“Don’t you start calling me an angel, Mum, or I might sprout wings and buzz around.”

They spoke some more and, when Willow closed her eyes, she imagined flying around the house with a duster in her hand. The nurse came in to take her vitals.

“It’s good to see you smiling, Willow. Something you thought of?”

“I was just on the phone to Mum. She implied that I was an angel, and I just had the picture of me flying around the house with a feather duster, doing all the high places.”

“Dusting and vacuuming are the bane of us girls. It’s like brushing your teeth every day, only not so nice when it comes to taste. Put your arm out so I can put this blood pressure sleeve on it.”

By the time that Willow went to sleep that night, she had been forced to stop and relax, as there was nothing that she could do to change things. It made her realise what she was now heading for as a girl at school, and what was going to be expected of her in later life. She may be talented, but was a boy no longer, not that she ever was one. The future was one where she would need to be twice as good as the men around her to even get recognition. She had her mother’s genes when hard work was needed, so that was a help. The fact that it was her mother’s genes made her think that she should have been born female in the first place, and the years of being William was just training in being stoic.

Her dreams, that night, were a jumble of projections into some strange future. At one time, she was in front of an orchestra in a long dress and playing the violin, then she was singing in front of a rock band. For a while, she was playing a keyboard, sometimes a piano concerto, then some Purple or Mac, or in a big church, playing one of the hymns which blended into the toccata and fugue that everybody could hum the opening bars. Before she woke up, she was playing her clarinet on the edge of a roaring waterfall. She woke with the sound of the breakfast trolley coming around and the need to pee.

After breakfast and the taking of the vitals, she was allowed to dress, leaving he gaff in the bag. She was happy that she had worn a skirt, as jeans would have been too tight in her groin for the moment. Her mother came in just after ten, and the doctor wasn’t far behind her. With a list of do’s and don’ts to follow for the following week, she breathed in the open air as they left the clinic and walked towards the car.

“You look like you’ve just finished five years in jail, honey. It couldn’t have been that bad.”

“It was all right, really, Mum. It’s just that it gave me a lot of spare time to think about life. What they did to me has given me my direction. Up to now, I’ve been wearing these clothes as a disguise, but now, they’re expected of me.”

“You do make a cute girl, honey. That really helps. Nobody at the school have ever thought that you were anything else. I saw the doctor before I came in to you. She gave me the name of a specialist to take you to in a year or so, as well as a script for your pills. They did give you an injection of hormones to start your own body working. When we get home, I want you to relax for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Sunday will be early enough for you to walk to the church.”

“I’ve thought of a couple of Bach pieces that I can use for the before and after music. I suppose that I’ll be expected to play every Sunday. That won’t be too bad, if I can go in on a Saturday and get used to all the things that the organ can do. It’s a bit liking having a supercomputer and just using it as an adding machine at the moment. I had never realised how much wonderful music you can make with something that’s been gathering dust for years.”

“The Reverend has been busy this week. We had a letter drop yesterday, inviting all and sundry to the ‘Organ Celebration’ service. There’s also a package for you from the school. I expect that it’s your information about lessons. You will have to study normal things and the music is added if you want to go to university.”

“Could I? Go to university? I know that both you and Dad went to Cambridge. Has anyone else in the family gone?”

“Your Aunt Millicent went to Cambridge before your Dad started. She’s working in America as a lawyer. One of your father’s uncles has been living there for a while. I believe that there is an extended family there, but we’ve never had the time to follow it up.”

“I remember one time we went to see my grandparents in Oxford. Great-Grandfather was funny, kept telling me to calm down or else he would hobble me like a steer.”

“Your father’s family are all a bit weird.”

When they arrived at home, Willow was putting her nightie in the wash basket. Her mother smiled.

“Go and put the other things in your room, Willow. Tell me what you think when you come back down.”

Willow went to her room and opened the door. Her mother heard the squeal and grinned. Willow stood in the doorway and looked at her room. From the girl musician posters to the lilac sheets and pillows, to the new vanity and the plush tiger sitting on her bed, just begging for her to cuddle it. She dropped the bag on her bed and ran downstairs to hug her mother.

“Thank you Mummy. It’s fantastic!”

“I’m glad you like it, sweetheart. We can change it or add to it as you want, but it will allow you to invite friends home.”

They sat at the kitchen table and opened the package from the school. It contained her curriculum for the school year. She was going to be studying the usual subjects that she had already taken exams for at Clifton. There were a couple of options with Social Science, Technology, History and Politics. She was in the KS3 stream, with three hours study of music every two weeks.

There was a note from Miss Russell to tell her that they would like her to go to the school in the week before the first day, to catch up on the first-year subjects so that she wouldn’t be behind. The first year had performed ‘Joseph and the Amazing Dreamcoat’, been introduced to staff notation, studied rhythm with performing an eight-beat composition, studied Indian and Chinese music, instruments of an orchestra and played with technology.

Much of it was part of her previous studies or things she had played around with in private. The second year was going to be interesting, with lessons on pop music, the blues, music for a computer game, drumming and drum programming, remixing and Gamelan. It was all designed to expand the children’s minds.

There was a long list of after-school activities, with choirs, orchestras, guitar, drumming, folk, gospel, and jazz groups. There was also a list of standard clothing for both girls and boys, much of what was required wasn’t yet in her wardrobe.

“What are we going to do about these clothes, Mum, if you’re at work?”

“The vicar said that he was inviting his sister on Sunday. We can ask her if there are any volunteers to take you to the shop that supplies it all. The address is on the bottom of the list. Here, this is the card that I organised for you. The bank was able to press it while I waited. It is a debit card linked to the family account. Don’t lose it, use it wisely, and bring me all the receipts. I’ll take you to school and then go into work. I finish at five, so you may have to wait for me. Miss Russell may want to use that time with those first-year subjects. I’m sure they have all the instruments in the school, so you won’t have to take your own.”

After dinner, Willow went up to her room to play the keyboard, have a shower, and dive into bed to cuddle her tiger.

On Saturday, she was told to relax and rest so that she was ready for Sunday. Next morning, they were all up early, had breakfast and then made ready to go out. Willow wore the new skirt and a powder-blue top. Her mother did a quick make-up job on her and checked that she had everything in her handbag that she may need. They walked to the church, with the bells commencing as they strolled on Church Lane. As they were early, there weren’t many there, mainly the staunch supporters on the church. They were warmly welcomed, and Willow left them to set up the organ, turning on the fans.

She looked out to the body of the church, now bedecked with flowers, and double-checked that the hymns were the same that she had played, and in the same order. She sat and took some deep breaths to steady her, then began to play the Bach piece that she was beginning to love with this organ.

She glanced in the mirror as the church started filling. She saw Miss Russell come in with Mister Bamborough. Her parents sat with Edie and, by nine, there was a group standing below her. The congregation rose and she could see the vicar, resplendent in his full regalia, walk away from her, with a similarly dressed church warden on each side. She tapered the music off as they arrived at the altar. After that, the service followed what had happened on Tuesday, but with the prayers and the sermon filling the periods between the hymns.

As the service drew to an end, the vicar came down from the pulpit and knelt at the altar after asking for the congregation to take some time in personal prayer. When he stood and faced the congregation, he smiled.

“Ladies and gentlemen, parishioners and guests. Today is the first service in a good five years when we have heard the organ. I won’t ask for applause, but I thank our organist from the bottom of my heart. I’ll greet you all, outside, but for now, play us out, Willow.”

Willow started playing the final music as the bells pealed and the vicar left the church, with a lot of people looking up at the organ before they went outside. She listened to the bells and timed her final chords for when she expected them to finish the peal. It was pure luck when the notes faded in unison. When she got back onto ground level, with the fans off and the papers tidy, she was greeted by her parents, who both hugged her. As predicted, her father had moist eyes. They went outside, where there were a lot of people milling around and waiting to thank her for the experience. As things quietened down, her father asked the vicar if he could have a closer look at the memorials inside.

“This church is your church. Feel free to explore. Come back if you want to see more. Your family is truly welcome here.”

Ashley went back in and started to look at all the memorials with a nagging thought. He was looking at the one for Gilbert Henry Chandos Leigh when a man stood by him.

“Silly bugger fell off a cliff. That’s what happens when you don’t follow the family traditions and go into politics or the military. I’m Rupert Leigh, and these folks are my ancestors, once removed.”

“Ashley Rose. It was my daughter playing the organ today.”

“Ah, you must be very proud of her. You were looking very thoughtful just before. Is there something that worries you?”

“Not a worry, but my family, on my mother’s side, had an ancestor who was married to a Leigh. I remember being at my grandfather’s knee and him showing me a photo of a painting. He told me that his father, or it could have been his grandfather, used to visit his sister at a grand house. Oddly, he had a full set of cowboy clothes for an adult, as well as a set that fitted me. We would sometimes dress up and go in local parades.”

“Do you know the sister’s name?”

“She was Marie, and her brother was Alec Campbell.”

“Do you remember the picture of her husband. Was he in military uniform, with a sword and a big star on his chest?

He got his phone out and swiped it a few times before showing the picture to Ashley.

“Like this?”

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 7

Ashley looked at the picture and then had to put his hand on the nearest support.

“That’s the picture. Why have you got it?”

“Before you start hyperventilating, let’s sit in down and I’ll tell you who he is.”

They went and sat in a pew and Rupert laid out the family history, as he knew it.

“That man was Francis Dudley Leigh, the third Baron Leigh. He was born in eighteen fifty-five and died in nineteen thirty-eight. He was a direct descendant of the Leighs that are venerated in this church. He married twice, and Marie Campbell was his second wife. The only thing we knew about her was that she was American, as was his first wife. They married in October nineteen twenty-three and she died in nineteen forty-eight. There were no children from either marriage.”

“That fits. My great-great grandfather was born about nineteen-oh-five. My great grandfather in nineteen thirty, so may well have visited his aunt as a young boy. He married and their daughter became my grandmother Bates. Her daughter is my mother, who married Bill Rose. So, what happens when there are no offspring?”

“I’ll get to that. First, Francis Dudley Leigh, the third baron, was a very successful man with a distinguished military career in the Eleventh Hussars. That regiment was originally the personal bodyguard of Charles the First, and closely linked to royalty for many years after that. He ended his military service as the Colonel of the Warwickshire Yeomanry and was given that star on his chest in nineteen twenty-two. That represents the Knighthood of Grace of the Order of St. John. When he died, the Fourth Baron was my own grandfather, Rupert William Dudley Leigh, a long-lived man who died in nineteen seventy-nine aged seventy-one.”

“Wow! That’s some real history. I always thought that there was an American connection. My grandmother’s two brothers are in America, and so is my aunt Millicent.”

“Look, Ashley. The original of that painting is hanging in the Stoneleigh Abbey, in the other part of the village. If you and your family follow me, I’ll get you in so that you can see it.”

“We only live around the corner, so we walked over this morning.”

“Even better. You come with me, and I’ll bring you home again. I expect that it might take a while to explain things to your family.”

They walked outside and joined his wife and Willow, who were talking to Miss Russell. They waited until Miss Russell gave Willow a hug and headed off for lunch with her brother in the vicarage.

“Dear, I would like to introduce you to Rupert Leigh. Rupert, this is my wife Wendy and my daughter Willow.”

“Pleased to meet you ladies. Ashley and I have just had a very interesting conversation. It seems that he has a connection to this church and the Leighs buried here that he has only just learned about. If you’re free to go, please join me in my car and I’ll take you to Stoneleigh Abbey, the ancestral home of the good folk in the church. It’s been run as a charitable trust since nineteen ninety and is open to the public. We will look at a painting that Ashley had only ever seen a photo of, and we’ll try to explain a very odd coincidence.”

They went to his Bentley and got in, the two ladies in great comfort in the rear seat. Willow had an almost unstoppable urge to do the royal wave as they passed people. It didn’t help that many of the people they passed were waving to her when they saw who was in the car.

The Abbey was the other side of the main village, a couple of miles away. It did start out as a monastery, but it had been somewhat altered over the years, and was now an enormous Georgian mansion. Rupert spoke to the lady on the door and then guided them to a short corridor which had a few paintings. He stopped in front of one.

“Is this the picture?”

Ashley could hardly speak, with his eyes getting moist for the second time that morning.

“It is, exactly as I remembered it, only much better in colour.”

Wendy couldn’t contain herself.

“What’s this about, darling?”

“The short story is that this man was the third Baron Leigh, and he was married to the sister of my great-great grandfather. When he died, the title went to one of Rupert’s ancestors”

Rupert gave a little more information.

“The original Baronet Leigh was given the title by Charles the First, for accommodating the King when Warwick wouldn’t allow him entry to the town, during the Civil War. The title was changed in sixteen forty-three when Baronet Thomas Leigh changed it to be Baron Leigh. When the sixth Baron, Edward Leigh, died in seventeen eighty-six, the title lapsed.”

“The title returned in eighteen thirty-nine with Chandos Leigh, the new first Baron. When he died, William Henry Leigh became the second Baron Leigh, followed by the gentleman in the picture, Francis Dudley Leigh. As I said before, the title then went to his cousin, Rupert William Dudley Leigh, then to his son, John Piers Leigh until his death in two thousand and three. My father, Christopher Leigh, is the sixth Baron and no, he never appeared in horror movies.”

“Do I have to call you sir, sir?”

“No, Willow. You can call me Rupert. Why don’t we go to the dining room, I might be able to get the cooks to rustle up lunch for us. Then I’ll show you around. I used to come here as a toddler.”

All they could get was pie and chips, so found a table to eat at. Rupert told them the rest of the story, while Ashley was still trying to take it all in.

“When my father dies, I’ll become the seventh Baron of the new line. This house was home to the Leigh family until the nineteen sixties, when the then Baron launched a charitable trust after a nasty fire. They lived here, on and off, until nineteen ninety. It was restored from a pretty shocking state with help from the Lottery Fund. The Leigh family now calls Adlestrop Park Estate, near Moreton-in-Marsh, in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, our home. It’s more easily called Fern Farm.”

Willow was fascinated by this cosmic shift of her family history.

“Rupert, Dad’s link is only by marriage. That means that he doesn’t have any official place in the family history, doesn’t it?”

“Correct, Willow. What today has done is to give my family a chance to fill in the gaps with Marie’s family line. With his information, we can find out more about the American connection. It also allows me to invite you all to visit the family and stay with us one weekend. My father will insist, once I tell him what I’ve learned.”

“This house seems very popular with visitors. It’s lovely.”

“That’s because one of the cousins, way back, was Cassandra Leigh, and she married Reverend Austen. They had spent some time here with their daughters, Cassandra and Jane. You know, the writer Jane Austen.”

“So, she may have used her memories of being here as the locations for her stories?”

“It’s quite possible. Her parents lived in a modest vicarage, so she had to get the grand houses from somewhere.”

They exchanged contact details and Willow was able to add Baron-to-be Rupert to her phone list. He gave them a tour of the house that included some ‘No Entry’ places. The chapel was almost identical to the church, with the doors on the pews. The biggest difference was that the organ pipes were brightly polished. Rupert took them home and they all had a hug before he drove away in the Bentley, with a few of the gardening neighbours looking on. In the house, they all went to change into something comfortable, and Willow sat on her bed to tell Tiger the news.

Back downstairs, she found her parents in the kitchen with a teapot on the table.

“Get yourself a cup, honey, and come and sit with us. That was some morning!”

“It certainly was. My brain is almost overflowing.”

“I was just about to tell your father about your next week. It sounded like you’ll be busy.”

“Yes. It was good of Miss Russell to offer to take me to the clothing store. That should make it a quick visit. There will be other teachers there, Dad, to take me and a couple of other new students through a catch-up of the first-year lessons. I have already done some of it at Clifton, but the Indian and Chinese music sounds like fun. What about you, Dad? Do you feel different?”

“I’m not sure, sweetheart. It does surprise me that we are so closely linked to this village and the church. I expect that we’ll all be going on Sundays, when the reverend hears about it, and not just to hear you play. I’m going to have to organise a visit to my parents and find out where the photo album is. Perhaps they may know where the cowboy outfits are. I never had a chance to put on the adult outfit.”

“I’m sure that you’ll look like Wyatt Earp, Dad.”

“More like Rowdy Yates. Yeeha!”

Willow giggled.

“The people, this morning, were very pleased to hear the organ playing. I’m going to have to ask the vicar if I can have some clear time on it to learn the other settings. Miss Russell said that there was a smaller, modern, version in the school chapel that she’ll get their organist to show me how to play. She also told me that I was going to try out with my clarinet in one of the orchestras, they have a full set on violin. Oh! She also said that there would be some of the first-year exams for me to take, next week. Nothing marked, but just to find out where I stand.”

“Then you’ll be ready to jump in with both feet and won’t have to do any remedial study.”

Later, that afternoon, the doorbell rang, and Willow went to open it. Reverend Russell and Edie stood there, with Edie holding some flowers.

“Hello, Willow. We thought that we would take a walk and come and see how you were after this morning, and to bring you some flowers as a thank you.”

“Come on in. Thank you for the flowers, I’ll find a vase to put them in. Nobody has ever given me flowers before.”

“I’m sure that this won’t be the last time.”

Willow called her mother and led the Russells into the sitting room. Her mother took over while Willow found a vase, snipped the stems and put the flowers into water. She carried it into the sitting room where she put it in pride of place on the mantlepiece. Her mother had opened the drinks cabinet, and the visitors were sipping a sherry.

“Go and find your father, honey, and ask him to join us. Bring yourself a soft drink when you come back.”

Wendy and the visitors spoke about the success of the service that morning. Wendy had the idea that there was something else that they were waiting to ask. When Willow returned with her father, they all sat and talked some more, until Edie asked the question that was on her mind.

“I saw you leaving with Rupert Leigh in his car. Do you know him?”

Ashley smiled.

“Not before this morning when he spoke to me while I was looking at one of the memorials. It turns out that way back in my family, my great-great grandfather was the brother of Marie, the wife of the Third Baron Leigh. Rupert took us to the Abbey to look at the original of a painting that I had only seen in a family photo album. It was a very strange experience and I’m still trying to get my head around it.”

The vicar laughed.

“So, you are linked to the Leighs that founded the church! That’s wonderful. It makes you eminently qualified to become one of the Village Council and a future church warden. One of the Leigh family was the priest in our church for many years. That also means that Willow also has that link. What did you think of the Abbey?”

“It was huge and a wonderful house and gardens.”

“I do the odd wedding there. The couple book the chapel and the dining area for the event. I believe that you can book rooms there overnight, to make it a great experience. Did you see the organ, Willow?”

“I did. It looked a lot brighter than ours.”

“That’s merely polish, my dear. It is a newer organ with more modern controls, but the basics are the same as ours in the church. If I get asked to officiate, would you be my organist? You will get a small payment.”

“If I can try out, first.”

“Agreed. How was young Rupert?”

“He was very nice. He showed us the Abbey and said that his father will invite us to their home once he is told about Dad and the Campbell link.”

“I’ll have to ring Hilda, tonight. She will be tickled pink. She told me that the teachers had a meeting after last week, and decided to make sure you aren’t overloaded at school. She was very surprised to walk into church to find you playing Bach. She really is a fan of yours, but don’t tell her I told you.”

“I’ll be close to her for a week, to catch up on the first-year subjects before school starts, so I guess she’ll have plenty of opportunity to lose the fandom.”

They talked some more, and Reverend Russell pulled a list out of his pocket, along with some folded music.

“These are the three hymns for Sunday, and the music. You can try them out on your keyboard here, then come in at any time Saturday to run through them. The only Sundays or other days that we do something special are at Christmas and Easter, but it may be nice to do something for Mother’s Day, next year. There I am, getting ahead of myself and expecting that you will be available.”

“It’s all right, sir. I’m sure that we will be able to fit something in. I love playing that organ and want time to experiment with all the stops. It’s not as if they all have directions on them.”

“Silly of me. There is an overlay for beginners somewhere. I’ll find it and put it up by the organ for next Saturday. You just seemed so assured when you play. Anyway, thank you for the drink. We’ll walk back to the vicarage and get ready for dinner. We’ll see you all on the weekend.”

On Monday morning, the household was up and ready to go by eight. Ashley kissed his wife, hugged his daughter, and went off to Gaydon. Willow was dressed in her school skirt with a casual top and the new school shoes, to get them walked in. She had a backpack with her handbag in, along with spare panties, and some pens and a notebook. Wendy dropped her off at the school and went to the workplace. She giggled as she realised that both of them were starting at a new place where, she hoped, they would both be happy.

Willow went into the admin area, where she told the girl at the desk who she was. She was told to relax and wait for the other students. By nine, there were another three girls and two boys waiting to be helped. Miss Russell came in with a male and a female teacher. The man took the boys to show them where everything was, the woman took the other girls. Miss Russell and Willow were the only ones left.

“Willow. You’re the only one of this extra intake who is doing music subjects. I’ll show you where the facilities are and give you a tour. We’ll hold off to let Miss Simpson get ahead with the girls. My brother rang me last night. I had thought that you and your family had no more surprises for me, and now I find that you have links to the Leigh family. Did you know about that before you moved north?”

“No, Miss Russell. It was a shock to us. My Dad was shaken to the core. Rupert Leigh showed us around the Abbey; what a beautiful place.”

“With a very nice organ. You played beautifully, yesterday. Before the end of the week, I’m going to get our school organist to try you out on the one in our chapel. It’s not an old one, and is fully electric, but has a lot of the enhancements that the old ones had, as well as a few more modern tricks. He was at the concert and thinks that you have possibilities.”

They left the office and Willow was shown the toilets, the various classrooms, the library, the science rooms, and the lunchroom. The last stop in the main part of the school was the chapel, which was big enough for a couple of hundred students. There was a space for the choir and the organ was to one side, with speakers spaced along the walls.

“When we have someone with conducting skills, they can play the organ while leading the choir. It is a specialist skill, which you may learn in a few years, if you continue the way you’re going. Have you composed anything?”

“Not really. I can doodle on the keyboard but that’s mainly snippets of classics that I’ve heard. The first time I thought about composing was when I was in the MRI machine. The whirs and other sounds almost sounded like a tune of sorts.”

“Yes. Your mother did tell me that you spent a couple of days in the clinic. Nothing too bad, I hope.”

“I had keyhole surgery to remove two lumps from my groin. The doctor said to take it easy for a while, but, otherwise, I’m good.”

“I’ll make a note for the phys-ed teacher to let you do light training, like walking or jogging. You should be able to play netball, but we’ll keep you off the soccer pitch.”

“Thank you. I was wondering how I would go with PE.”

“Now. You may be wondering why I haven’t shown you a locker. As you’re in the music stream, and likely to be starring sometime, you are allocated a section which has lockers big enough for stage outfits, instruments, and other things. If you need to wear something special for music, then you change there. We do like to get the students wearing appropriate clothes when they perform, even if it’s only in-house. It makes them realise that performing is not just standing there in old rags. But I don’t need to tell you much about that, as you’ve already got the standard choir and recital dress. If you play in the orchestra, you’ll need a long black skirt, but we’ll get to that when we go to the shop.”

They went to the theatre area, which Willow already knew, but she was shown a change-room which looked like a make-up salon.

“This is where you prepare for a performance. We do have regular events in the theatre. We also have arrangements with bigger theatres in the area, as well as the one in Stratford, where our drama students have put on Shakespeare in the past. We are talking with the Coventry Cathedral about an orchestral event before next summer but haven’t decided on what we’ll be playing. With your skills on the organ, what do you think of Saint Saens and the ‘Seven Improvisations’ for organ?”

“I’m sorry. I haven’t heard that one. The first time I played a proper organ was the day before the concert. I’ve never considered it to be one of my instruments, before.”

“All right. You just made me realise just how young you are. What about the tune that was featured in ‘Babe’? That was the last part of his organ symphony.”

“Now, that I’ve listened to. I’ve never thought that I would be able to play the organ part. It’s so huge!”

“Look, this gives me an idea. I’ll put it to the others and see what they think. If we get the Cathedral, next May will be the hundred-odd anniversary of the first performance of the ‘Organ Symphony’. We can do a simple Saint-Saens evening. Open with the ‘Seven Improvisations’, follow it up with ‘Carnival of the Animals’, and the second half can be the ‘Organ Symphony’. That repertoire has everything in it to test all of our orchestral members, even if we join the junior and senior orchestras for the performance.”

“This is so much bigger than anything we did at Clifton. I’m not sure that I would be up for it.”

“By the time we get to May, knowing you, you’ll have it nailed. We had wondered if you would be able to play the chapel organ, and then I walk in yesterday and you’re playing Bach on a hundred-year-old pipe organ and doing it beautifully. Never fear, Willow, you are destined to be a star, one day, and you just need to reach out and grab your chances. Just look at what they wrote about you in the Observer.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t read it, other than get shown the photo and the headline. We don’t get it delivered.”

“I’ll give you a photocopy of the article to read. The school has put copies of that issue in every teacher’s cubby-holes. Now, I think you’ve seen everything. We can take you back to one of the classrooms and there are a couple of short tests on the academic subjects for you. By the results from Clifton, you’re well up with most of what we teach. After lunch, you and I are going shopping.”

Willow sat at a desk in a classroom, along with the others from this morning. They were given three test papers. The teacher stood in front of them.

“These are taken from our first form exam papers. They are three questions on three subjects each. This is just to see where you stand so we can properly look after you. If you don’t know the answer, just write ‘Don’t Know’ or ‘Never Studied’. If you’ve studied the subject but have forgotten, do whatever you can. This isn’t a competition, so nobody leaves until the time is up. If you do finish, sit back and I’ll bring you more papers to look at. You have two hours and start now.”

Willow looked at the questions and decided to just give a precis of her answers. The more papers she could finish, today, the more time she would have to catch up with music. The first three papers were completed, and she sat back after a bit under an hour. The teacher gave her another three, and she only had one question unanswered when the two hours were up. Others had received extra papers as well, so she didn’t feel smug.

They all went to the lunchroom where there was a long table for them. Willow, like the others, had brought her own lunch, but the water heater was on, with coffee and tea, and an arrangement of biscuits and cakes. They talked among themselves and got to know each other’s names, and a little of the history. Willow was asked why she hadn’t been with the other girls, this morning, and explained that she was in the music stream. Of course, she would be in normal classes with most of the others, so did her best to be friendly.

After lunch, a couple of them who were in the science stream had to go to the laboratory to do some simple experiments. Others rang their parents and were picked up. Miss Russell took Willow out to her car, and they went shopping.

Willow followed orders, went for bargains and kept the receipts. She still ended up with six bags with an extra skirt, a long skirt, more blouses and school tee-shirts. She had the complete PE kit, including two pairs of sneakers.

When they returned to the school, the bags were left in the admin office along with her backpack. Miss Russell needed to go and catch up with her work, so Willow took her phone and went to the rehearsal room with a baby grand and sat to brush up on her piano technique with a number of Etudes. When her mother rang to say she was outside, Willow closed the piano lid, picked up her bags and went outside, more than ready to be home.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 8

Willow told her mother about her day on the way home, then allowed Wendy to tell her how her day at work was. They arrived home before Ashley and started preparing dinner together after they had changed. Willow was finding soothing to be preparing vegetables and learning how to cook, something that most girls go through well before they reach their teens.

Ashley was given the full story after dinner, then Willow went upstairs to her computer to download the ‘Seven Improvisations for Organ’ by Saint-Saens. She listened to it, twice, added it to her MP3 files and then played her keyboard through the headphones while listening to the original. In a very thoughtful frame of mind, she got ready for bed and told Tiger all about her day until she drifted off to sleep.

Tuesday, she was back in the school, unsure of what would be happening. She was taken to a room in the theatre area by Mister Jamieson and given a number of exam papers that were from the more academic side of the music curriculum.

“These are the full exams from last year. I know that there was a lot that you may not have studied, but with your inquiring mind, I guess that there is some that you have some knowledge of, so feel free to write what you think. You have as long as you want, can take toilet breaks when you need, and we’ll go through the results, together, after.”

The first exam was about the background, meaning and plot of the Joseph show. She had seen the video of it, so was able to make a fist of the answers. She took a break and then picked up the second paper. Staff notation was her bread and butter, so she breezed through that one. Rhythm and the eight-beat composition was a little harder until she was able to create the music in her head.

After another break and some water, she moved to the instruments of an orchestra, which was almost too easy, and then finished the use of technology paper quickly, having used a lot of what was asked. She took another break before trying the Indian and Chinese music paper.

There was a lot of it she didn’t know, mainly being questions about the history of both countries, but she took a few guesses. The questions about timing and rhythm were easy as she thought about some of the music she had heard in her short life. She grinned as she remembered pieces that she may have only heard a couple of times on the radio. She knew that it was unlikely that she would be asked to play anything, even if they did have the instruments in the school.

While she was working on that paper, Mister Jamieson was going through the ones she had completed and making notes. When she finished, he told her to go and get herself something from the lunchroom. He would meet her there and they would go through all the exams that she had done.

Willow was digesting a cream bun, bought as a present to herself, when he came into the canteen with Miss Russell. She sat while they went through all the subjects from yesterday, declaring that she was well able to carry what she knew into second year. With the music papers, it was as she had expected. The lack of actual playing of Indian and Chinese music was not a problem. She would be able to try the different instruments out, if she wanted, but it was a specialist field with there being players within the school, should they need them for future projects.

The result was that she was cleared of most of the things she needed to know. Miss Russell said that Wednesday would be a class day. She would be given the textbooks for both History and Politics, and for Social Science. She would be allowed to read them in the library all day and take them home with her. That was purely for her to say if she wanted to carry on studying the two subjects. This afternoon, however, the school organist was coming in to give her a try with the school organ.

Miss Russell took her to the chapel, where a man was taking the covers off the organ. He showed her where the main switches were, then a couple of the buttons that changed the timbre of the sound. She was sat at the keyboard, and he told her to play something for the students to come in with. She played the Bach that she had opened with on Sunday, and he listened to her with a smile on his face. When she finished, he grinned.

“I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself before. I’m Reg Edwards and I wondered if Miss Russell was trying to get me to teach a complete beginner. She’s done that to me in the past. Where have you played, other than the Purple a couple of weeks ago?”

“I did the full service at the church in Stoneleigh on Sunday.”

“How many hymns?”

“Four, all from the standard book.”

“Do you remember any?”

“Mister Edwards. I remember anything I’ve played a couple of times. I can tell you the numbers if you want to sing along.”

“I have the book here. I’ll hold you to your claim, young lady. Any slip-up and we’ll do it all again until you get it right.”

She told him the number and played the intro while he looked it up. He was ready, so she started playing and he sang the hymn, in a beautiful baritone voice. When they had finished the first verse, he called for her to stop and asked what the second hymn was. She told him and played the intro. They got through all four hymns in the same fashion. When they had finished, he smiled.

“Now that, my girl, is what I call playing. The settings that you’ve been using, and the ones I showed you before, are really all you need to play church organ. The fact that you played perfect Bach and the bones of four different hymns without needing the music puts you into a league of your own. I will be asking for you to work with me on the special days, and when we work with the choir. Now, Miss Russell said something about the ‘Seven Improvisations’ and that you’ve never heard it. Was that right?”

“It was when she spoke about it. I downloaded it last evening and played about with it on my keyboard at home. There were some notes and passages that I had to imagine because of the limitations of my set-up.”

“All right, show me how far you’ve come with it. It is a tricky piece, and I don’t mind if you have to stop.”

Willow addressed the keyboards, remembering the music in her head, and then started to play the piece. After her time on this kind of instrument, she was able to find the keys and the pedals she needed without needing to search for them. When she finished the piece, Reg looked at her with amazement.

“That was almost perfect! The only hesitations were with the second row and a couple of the bass pedals. Let me call Miss Russell and then we’ll do it again. I think that it will be perfect this time.”

She sat and took a sip from the water that was in her backpack while he used his mobile to call Miss Russell. When she arrived, Reg grinned.

“Miss Russell. I believe you spoke about Willow playing the ‘Seven Improvisations’. She told you that she hadn’t heard it. She downloaded it last night and, to put it in her words, ‘played around with it.’ Sit in a choir stall with me. Willow, whenever you’re ready.”

Willow waited until they had sat, and then played the piece, with no hesitations this time. When she had finished, Reg called out.

“Do you know the ‘Toccata and Fugue’?”

“Only the first bits. I hadn’t considered the organ as one of my instruments before.”

“Play what you know. Producing that iconic opening on a church organ is enough to hook you into a lifetime of playing one, if you’re not hooked already.”

She turned to the keyboard and thought of the powerful opening, turned up the volume and hit the notes hard. He was right, the power of the piece entered her bones, and she played about the first minute of it before she stopped. Now, the only thing she wanted to do was to get the sheet music in front of her so she could play the complete opus. Before the teachers could say anything, she hit the keyboard with the opening of the organ finale of the Saint-Saens. If they were going to play that at the Cathedral, she was going to be at the keyboard.

Tears were running down her face as she finished. The experience of playing power pieces of music transcended all the violin and clarinet pieces she had played. At the keyboard, she would be the one to wake up an audience, the one to get all the attention. From a bullied boy, she could become the girl in the spotlight. It made her happy, hence the tears, but it was also a little frightening.

Miss Russell also had tears in her eyes as she gave Willow a tissue.

“I understand the weeping, Willow. We girls get emotional at times. It may be great pain but can also be great happiness. That’s why we cry at weddings. You’ve just realised your calling. We will concentrate on the organ with you this year, but you will have to keep up with your other instruments for some relief. When the rest of the orchestra have mastered the ‘Organ Symphony’, we’ll have to get the Cathedral people in to hear it. We can use the portable organ in the theatre for that.”

“Thank you, Miss Russell. I just felt the power of the music in my bones, and it made me realise that I could produce that power. I’ll buckle down to everything that I’m taught. This school is like a parent to me, and I’ll be a good child to it.”

“That’s a very adult thing to say. Mister Edwards has promised me that he’ll teach you everything he knows, and that is an awful lot. Why don’t you have a rest and then you can sit with those textbooks for a drastic change until your mother arrives. It will calm you down, that’s for certain.”

Reg helped her get up from the organ, her legs feeling a bit wobbly.

“Miss Russell, I would like Willow to be here with me on Thursday. I’ll get the sheet music for the Bach, as well as his four Sonatas for organ. I think that Willow could be able to play a Bach recital by the time the term opens.”

“All right. If she gets a start on the two textbooks today, I might just give her the two tests tomorrow afternoon, to see how much she has absorbed. She will be well on board with her subjects then. The Clifton school had certainly taught her well, even if the other pupils weren’t so good to her.”

She led Willow back to the admin area, via the toilets, and gave her the two books, and the photocopy of the newspaper article.

“The paper between the pages is how far the first years have got, and that’s all that the exam will be on. If you want to read further, it’s your choice. Just sit in the library, tomorrow, and I’ll give you the exams after lunch. When you’ve done that, I want to hear your clarinet, so have it with you when you come in.”

Willow sat quietly, starting with Social Science. There were parts of the subject matter that she had experienced with. The bullying and group violence was something she knew well. She could see why it had been set as a subject, in order to give the pupils that knowledge of how to be good members of society. The ability to restrain one’s urges was a long way towards maintaining an orderly society.

When her mother arrived, she went out to the car, and they went home. After dinner, she spent some time in her room, downloading the toccata and those four organ sonatas that Reg had spoken about, and working through them. In bed, she told Tiger that today was the chapel, tomorrow was the world!

On Wednesday morning, she had her clarinet in its case and the two textbooks. When she was dropped off, she went to the library, to read up as far as the paper, and then another chapter afterwards of both books. Miss Russell came for her in the lunchroom and took her to a room where she sat for the two tests. After that, they went to one of the rehearsal rooms, where a music stand had some sheet music already set up.

“Look, Willow. I don’t know what you’ve played before. This is a test piece for solo clarinet. You should be able to play it from the sheet music if you haven’t already played it. Warm up your lips and then play what you see.”

She played a few notes and worked up and down the scales, then played the piece. It was one that she had played in class at Clifton, so made it sound easy. When she had finished, another sheet was put on the stand.

“This one is the examination piece from the fifth-year music.”

It was a piece that she had never heard, and noted that the composer was called Jamieson, and was quite complicated. She was hesitant with the first playing, and Miss Russell got her to play it again. This time, she was right and decided that it was rather a lovely piece of music. Miss Russell took away the music.

“Play it again, with feeling.”

Willow closed her eyes and didn’t see Miss Russell with her phone out. She played the piece as she would in a recital, and when she had finished, Miss Russell gave her a hug.

“Jim Jamieson is going to love you. I’ve recorded that and will send it to him. There’s a piano over there. Why don’t you sit and show me what you’re like with it. I know that it was one of your main instruments before we threw you into the deep end with the Purple. Just do whatever you want, I’ll just sit and listen.”

Willow sat at the piano and warmed up her fingers with scales, then played some Chopin etudes and then the quiet part of the ‘Moonlight Sonata’. She didn’t notice that she was being recorded. She ended with a few of the Satie pieces and then she packed her clarinet away and picked up her bag. She sat in the reception area until her mother arrived, reading more of the two books.

…………………………………….

That evening both Jim Jamieson and Howard Bamborough sat in their respective easy chairs, after their dinners, and looked at the three files that Hilda Russell had sent them. They each showed the pictures to their wives and commented that this girl, Willow, was going to turn the school on its head this year, and in the years after. That she was so good on piano, and organ, was amazing, but Jim Jamieson had tears in his eyes as he heard his little opus being played so beautifully.

……………………………………………

The Reverend Russell watched the file that his sister had sent, then transferred it from his phone to his computer, switched on the speakers and went to the door, calling out.

“Edie, darling. Can you come into the office. Hilda has sent me a recording of the next E. Power Briggs.”

……………………………………………..

Willow had enough of playing for the day. After dinner, she sat with her parents as they looked at the copy of the newspaper article. It was, she thought, a bit lopsided, with half of it filled with details about all the acts of the first half, and the rest waxing lyrical about the second. The whole band were named, and compliments bestowed on all of them, fairly equally. She had a paragraph all to herself, with praise of ‘such adult interpretation of Deep Purple mixed with snippets of Bach from a girl in her first year as a teenager’. It also mentioned that she had also played violin in the quartet but missed that she had been in the choir. Her mother took the page ‘as start of a scrapbook’ and kissed her daughter on the forehead.

“Wait until you see me at the concert that they’re cooking up, Mum.”

“Is that going to be in the school theatre?”

“No. They’re planning it for Coventry Cathedral, with me on the big organ. It’s still in the talking stage, but knowing the people I’ve met, they will make it happen. I found out that the drama stream has played Shakespeare at Stratford, so anything is possible. There will be other concerts, in-house, for you to come to.”

“We’ll be looking forward to those. When is the one in the Cathedral?”

“In May, next year. It’s an anniversary of the first performance of the ‘Organ Symphony’, by Sain-Saens. They want that to be the second half of the show.”

“Is it one I should know?”

“It’s the main theme from that film about a pig, you know, ‘Babe’.”

“That’s a wonderful tune! There was a pop song with the same tune, I think it was called ‘If I had Words’.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll be with Mister Edwards at the chapel organ all day. I don’t know what they have for me on Friday. It’s been so full-on this week. I’ve sat for almost a dozen exams as well as playing my music. I think I’m due a rest.”

The next morning, she walked into the school and there was a girl behind the reception desk.

“Hello. I’m Debbie and I sit here during term. I’m just getting up to speed on what’s happening.”

“Hello, Debbie. I’m Willow Rose, and I’m spending the day with Mister Edwards in the chapel.”

“Willow. Ah! Miss Russell left a note. She said that you can have tomorrow off for being such a hard worker. Then you have to experience the first day of the new term. It starts with an assembly in the theatre. That usually goes a while, depending on what the Head has to say. After that, you’re to go to your first class. There will be an entry on that in the info sheet you were sent. What year will you be in?”

“Second year.”

“There is a morning service in the chapel. First year on Monday, second year on Tuesday, and so on. It doesn’t take long; a prayer, a hymn and a message, and you’re set loose to continue your academic career. Have a nice day!”

Willow gave her a smile and headed for the chapel. When she walked in, she was alone. She put her bag down and saw a note on the organ. It read ‘Will be a little late, please start without me. Sheet music is on the stool’. She looked at the sheets, seeing the full music for the Toccata and Fugue, as well as the four sonatas. Underneath was the music for a hymn, with a paperclipped note ‘For second year service.’ She uncovered the organ and turned it on, putting the sheets on the rack, the sonatas first.

She looked around and, seeing that she was alone, turned the volume up and started playing. She didn’t notice Reg creeping in and sitting in a choir seat behind her. She worked through the four sonatas and then got to the ‘Toccata’. She was smiling as she played the opening chords and was now warmed up enough to do the complicated keying that sounds so melodious. When she finished that, she took the hymn music and looked at it, being one of the standard ones that she had sung at Clifton. She played the intro, and as she started the hymn, she heard a full choir behind her, along with Reg with his baritone. They worked through six verses, and she sat back as the last notes faded.

As she swivelled on the stool, she saw the girls she had sung with at the concert, as well as another group. All of them were busy putting their shoes on, having crept in with stockinged feet. Reg was smiling.

“Sorry about that, Willow. I came in while you were playing the first sonata, and the girls joined us while you were knocking the walls down with the ‘Toccata’. Today is choir practice before the term starts. Here are the sheets for all the hymns for the first term. You will be playing the organ, today, and I will stop you if I want the girls to repeat something. We have a lot to do, so let’s get moving.”

For two more hours in the morning, and three in the afternoon, Willow played the hymns and the girls sung. They only had to stop a couple of times to repeat the hymn from the top, or to allow a toilet break. During both sessions, several teachers came in to listen, before heading for their departments to set up for the following week.

At the lunch break, Willow was hugged by all the girls and told that she has to be part of the choir sessions after school. Barbara, Zara, and Dianne were happy to see their friend again, and there was a lot of chatter over the lunch. The lunchroom was now operating as normal, seeing that there would be a lot of students coming in on Friday as well.

When Mister Edwards declared that the session was over, Willow was tired, but happy. She had been at the keyboard for over six hours and had gained a fluidity of playing that Reg noted with a smile. As she picked up her bag, he gave her another shock.

“The organ you used for the concert will be on the stage on Monday morning. You will be playing for the choir who will be leading the hymn at assembly. There will be the entire staff on hand, and, for once, I’ll be down in the stalls. I’ll leave you the list of events on the stool, if you can come in early, the same as you have been, this week. Wear your uniform but bring the blue dress to change into for assembly, so that you match the choir. The hymn will be one we played, today, and the religious part will be led by your friend, the Reverend Russell.”

“Thank you for your faith in me, Mister Edwards.”

“It is me that should thank you, young Willow. Miss Russell told me that you were very tired after the concert, and we needed to pace what you get asked to do. The thing is, this week, you have been subjected to a set of exams that usually take place over two weeks and I could see you taking to extended playing time with better fitness. You need to be fit to play a big concert, especially if it is over three different days. The Cathedral concert, if it goes ahead, will be sold to the public, and I expect that it will be a Friday and Saturday affair. If you don’t do so now, see a fitness coach and get a set of exercises to build up your arms and legs. Admin can give you a contact. I look forward to seeing you on stage on Monday. We will spend a lot of time together, over the year, and I fully expect that you’ll be better than me by the time we get there.”

Willow was in a reflective mood when she waited for her mother. It was lightened by the chatter of the girls waiting for their own parents. She was drawn into the talk and was a lot brighter when she saw her mother arrive. It had been a big week that had almost overshadowed the previous weekend.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 9

On the way home she told her mother about her day, telling her that she had played enough hymns to fill a church. She gave herself a break from her room after dinner, going outside and walking from the house to the end of the road and back until the light was fading. It felt good to move after being sat at the keyboard all day.

As she walked, she thought about the things that Reg had said. She had a sudden attack of nerves, wondering when she would be found out as a weak and useless boy, as she had been accused of at Clifton. She stood by the front porch, closed her eyes and took deep breaths. She told herself that she was better than that, and counted off all the good things that had happened after she wore the uniform skirt for the first time.

Berating herself for the moment of weakness, she went inside and up to bed, cuddling Tiger and telling him that she had no fears. She slept well, with a dream that had her playing a huge organ, with pipes that disappeared into the distance. She was playing the Babe tune, and hundreds of girls, in blue dresses, were singing. The organ was thundering, and she woke, suddenly, as another peal of thunder sounded after her bedroom was lit from the lightning.

She got out of bed and looked out the window, with Tiger under her arm, and watched the lightning for a while. She realised that the thunder sounded a lot like power chords and wondered if this was what prompted the composers to write such magnificent music. After a while, she told Tiger that they’d seen enough and they went back to bed, with the blanket pulled up around her ears.

On Friday, she was up at the early time, as usual, and told her mother that she would be going over to the church to see what hymns they would be doing on Sunday. When the house was quiet, she went up to her room and cleaned it, rearranged her clothes in the wardrobe, and made sure that the blue dress was good for Monday.

After ten, she walked to the church, avoiding the puddles from last night’s rain. Inside, she found Edie polishing the brass rails. Up at the organ, she wiped the keyboards and the surrounds. She turned the fans on and sat there for an hour, trying all the stops that she hadn’t touched before, with the overlay that had been found, and making a note of what difference they made. She heard talking and saw that there were a few women doing odd jobs in various places.

She smiled to herself, set a few stops, and played the ‘Toccata and Fugue’ right through. It sounded more authentic on a pipe organ, and she also realised that her playing was considerably better than when she had last sat in this seat. At the end, there was applause and Edie called for her to come down for a cup of tea and some cake.

It was then that she properly met the ‘church ladies’ as well as a few who lived nearby and had been drawn into the church by the sound of the organ. They sat in the little room with tables and chairs, and she had to explain how she ended up as the church organist.

“Actually, I only came over to see what hymns we’re doing on Sunday, and to tell Reverend Russell that I’ve been told that I’ll be playing the school organ for assembly on Monday.”

“Is Reg Edwards sick?”

“No. I was with him all day yesterday, and he had me playing for the choir. He told me that I was going to be on the stage, and he would sit with the other teachers, for a change.”

“That would be a first. We will be at the assembly as my husband leads the short service. It’s a favour to his sister and allows the school to just have a Theology student as the house priest. He’s just there to provide some spiritual guidance if needed and takes the weekly services. Paul is a nice enough lad, but very driven; you’ll meet him next week.”

Edie went to the vicarage and came out with the list of hymns and showed Willow the cupboard where the sheet music was kept. Back on the organ stool, she worked through the three that had been chosen, hearing some of the women singing along as she played. It was one thing to play pop music, but playing sing-along music was very fulfilling. It made her realise where she had found the stamina to play for six hours yesterday. There were so many things that fell into place as she played the hymns, and she finished the set with a smile on her face and peace in her heart.

When she had tidied the organ area, she went back down into the church. Outside, she couldn’t make up her mind what she wanted to do, go home, get lunch and play music, or something else. She saw a girl, about her age, sitting on a bench, reading a book. She went over to her.

“Hello, I remember your face. You were at the Blue Coat the day I was roped in to play Purple. Weren’t you with that girl Abbie?”

The other girl smiled and blushed.

“I can’t believe that you remember that! I was sure that you would forget everything after that performance on the stage. You were magnificent! Yes, we had all gone in to talk about our next year with the orchestra. There are two of them, the Junior and the Senior. I play piano in the Junior. My name is Gina.”

Willow went and sat next to Gina.

“Well, hello again. I’ve been told that I’ll be playing clarinet in the orchestra this year. I had thought that I may play violin, but all the seats are taken.”

“I saw you play at the Summer Concert. You really are amazing.”

“Not amazing, Gina, I just multi-task well.”

“I was sitting out here, listening to you play the pipe organ. I wish that I had a chance to play the organ, but our cottage doesn’t even have room for a piano.”

“I know how you feel. Where we lived in Bristol was what they call ‘character’ and you could hardly swing a plush cat. My bed still has cardboard under two legs to make it sit evenly. We have a piano at home. It had been in storage for some years. It came from my father’s home; his grandfather had it to play sing-along in the local pub. I may have gained his genes; they certainly missed my father.”

“You have a piano, here?”

“Yes, but it needs tuning from years of sitting with a cover over it. I haven’t even checked it to see what it needs.”

“There’s a retired piano tuner that lives in the village. Maybe he can bring it to life. I was waiting for my mother. I was getting bored sitting at home. She is taking me into Coventry this afternoon to shop for new things for school after we have lunch.”

“I spent an afternoon with Miss Russell getting a huge bundle of things this week. Can I come with you?”

“I’ll go and tell Mum to expect a guest on the trip. What are you doing for lunch?”

“How about you come with me. I’ll make us something and we can check out the piano. Then we can walk over to your house.”

Gina’s eyes lit up.

“That will be fantastic! I’ll go and check with Mum.”

She went off, leaving Willow with a grin on her face. Gina may be a fan at the moment, but Willow needed as many close friends as she could get, especially orchestra members.

Gina came back.

“Mum said it was all right and to be home by one to go to town.”

Together, the girls walked to Walkers Orchard, with Gina showing Willow a pathway across the field that cut off a lot of distance. It came out opposite the end of her road. In the house, they looked at what was available and made lunch, talking as they did so. Willow opened up the upright in the sitting room, and they played all the keys, finding that it wasn’t so bad as she had thought.

“These old things were built to stay in tune in a pub, so I should have realised that there would only be a couple of keys out of tune. Show me what you can play, Gina, while I get a drink. Soda water?”

Gina nodded and sat on the stool and started playing an etude. As far as Willow could tell, the only wrong sounds were the fault of the piano.

“Wow! You are good. If you want, when we get this properly tuned, you can come over and practise. I have a small keyboard in my room that I’ve been using before we came here.”

“Can I see?”

They finished their sandwiches and Willow took Gina up to her room, thankful that her mother had girlified it. Gina squealed when she saw it.

“This is fantastic, twice as big as my room in the cottage. I see that you made a start on proper decorations. Let me guess, the curtains were here when you arrived. What do you call the tiger?”

“That’s Tiger. Yes, we’ve been so busy that I’ve been a bit slow decorating. We had the rest of the house to put into some order, and I didn’t do much with mine. Are there stores in Coventry where I can get things?”

“There are. I’ll ask Mum if we can visit them after the other shopping. We had better get back to my place.”

“Just a second while I change from this full skirt to something better. I wear it for playing the pipe organ as it allows me room to stretch my legs for the bass pedals.”

She took an internal grip on her feelings as she took the skirt off and found her shorter denim one. She was going to have to get used to changing in front of other girls in the near future. By the look on Gina’s face when she turned around, she wondered if it may have been the wrong move.

Willow locked the house and they walked, arm in arm, to Gina’s house. On the way, she called her mother to tell her what was happening. Her mother told her to get dropped off at her workplace and she would bring her home, as Friday was a shorter day at the office,

“Mum just said that I was to be dropped off at her workplace, in Seven Stars Park. It’s just around the corner from the school. Will that be alright?”

“I’m sure it will. Are you going to be at the after-school sessions?”

“I expect I will, with the orchestra. I have been asked to join the choir, but I spent all yesterday playing organ for them in the chapel.”

“What about Mister Edwards?”

“He was there, singing along. He has a lovely baritone. I was told that I’ll be playing the organ at assembly on Monday.”

Gina stopped in her tracks, jolting Willow.

“Your first day in school and you’ll be up on the stage playing the organ! That’s wild!”

They carried on to her house and had a cup of tea before they went off to Coventry. The afternoon was a whirlwind of shopping for Gina, with the assistant being very helpful, seeing that Miss Russell had personally brought this other girl to the shop on Monday. They moved on to a teenage clothing shop that Willow hadn’t been to, and she bought herself another skirt and a couple of warmer tops for the coming winter.

There was a section in the store that sold accessories that appealed to teenage girls, and Willow bought a couple of posters and another plush toy, this one a Shaun the Sheep. Gina’s mother told her that she usually picked up Gina after the orchestra sessions, so would be able to take Willow home. Willow thanked her and said that her mother would confirm the arrangements on Sunday, after church. When she was dropped off, outside the warehouse, Gina said that she would call her in the morning to tell her what the piano tuner said.

Willow carried her bags into the office, where she was told to go through to the graphics department, after the receptionist told her that she had been at the concert because her father was one of the benefactors of the school and it was where she had been taught. Willow told her that her hair was unmistakable and that she already knew that, from seeing her dance.

“I could see a few, in the first few rows, looking like they had sucked lemons. It was a bit funny, with everyone else having a good time.”

“Well, it was a lot different from any other concert we’ve been to. They’re usually just classics and a bit boring. I hope that you and the boys liven up future ones.”

In the graphics department, she was introduced to her mother’s colleagues, and they laminated her posters for her. On the way home, she told her mother about her morning and the arrangement that had been suggested.

“That sounds wonderful. It saves me going back into the city. Was that Gina one of the girls that you met on the first visit?”

“She was, Mum. With that Abbie. She plays piano and we tried out ours this morning. There’s a retired tuner in the village and Gina is going to talk to him. The upright only needs a little tweaking.”

“How do the two of you get on?”

“She’s very friendly and I’m happy that she lives close. I’m not sure about her motives, though.”

“Oh? Tell me more.”

“I’ve realised, in the last couple of weeks, how fine the line is between fandom, friendship, and infatuation. I saw a look on her face that I’ve only seen once before, and that was between two lesbians at Clifton.”

“When was that?”

“When I was changing out of my organ-playing skirt and into this one.”

“The thing is, Willow, that you never had a real friend as a boy. There wasn’t another boy you played with. From what you’ve told me, your only friends were girls. At your age, and being so new to the world of girls, you haven’t discovered what you really like. Did you feel ashamed, or disgusted?”

“No, Mum. Just wary. You’re right. All of my relationships with boys is being on the end of taunts and violence. Perhaps, when the hormones kick in, I might think differently, but at the moment I just want friendship, not anything emotional.”

“Even friendship can be emotional, my daughter, just wait and see how you react when one of your friends breaks up with her boyfriend. It happens a lot in your teens.”

“Out, damn hormones! Never sully me with your devious chemicals!”

“Seriously, you just be yourself unless she does something silly, like kiss you on the lips. Girls hug, air kiss, and sometimes kiss cheeks, but the lips are serious. If that happens, you have two choices. You can kiss back and enjoy it, or you pull away and tell her that you swing the other way but value her friendship.”

“It’s odd that I already know so many girls, and a few boys, and a few teachers; yet I haven’t even started school yet. I played through Sunday’s hymns today, and it calmed me. Not the words, but the tunes and the cadence. I expect that some were designed to put the worshippers into a trance so that when the plate comes around, they empty their pockets.”

“You’re too young to be so cynical, my girl! The tunes are that way to make the worshippers obey all orders and not make trouble. I’ve read that the popular version of the bible had hundreds of references to the warlords, dictators and oppressors changed to say ‘King’. With the general population quiet, it saved a lot of his money for troops, giving the overall power to the preachers.”

“Who’s the cynical one now, Mum.”

When they arrived home, Willow changed the previous posters for the new ones, and added Shaun to the bed.

“And so, ‘the Tiger shall lay down with the Lamb’. Be good, you two, I don’t want to have to clean up tufts of wool.”

She helped her mother make dinner and they were almost ready when her father came home. Willow was asked about her day and gave the potted version; some things that were discussed with her mother not being suitable for her father. She went up to her room, after everything was tidied up, and listened to some music from the internet, following it on her keyboard.

Saturday morning was cool but dry, and Willow told her parents that she intended to go for a walk as part of a new fitness regime. She had her jeans on with a thick coat, and followed the pathway back to the church, and then around the village before getting home again. When she got home, her mother said that Gina had called, and would be coming around with the piano tuner.

Willow had put her coat away and was sitting at the piano when she saw a car pull up. She went to the front door to see Gina and her mother help an older man out of the car. He had a small case with him. Gina’s mother introduced him as Ernie Basildon. He held his hand out to Willow.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rose. I was at the service last Sunday and admired the playing. Now, let me look at this piano of yours.”

Willow ushered them in and called her mother to meet the guests. Ernie took the front of the upright off to show the strings, then played each note, slowly, so he could hear the complete sound. Gina and Willow watched him, both listening carefully as he worked. They both could hear the changes he made. He took a little over a half an hour to fix the tune, then put the cover back on.

“All right, girls. Let’s hear you play.”

Willow told Gina to go first, and she sat at the piano to play the etude that she had played yesterday. It sounded good, but not as good as it would have done on a baby grand. Ernie heard it, too.

“I would take a bet that this was made in the early part of the twentieth century, purely as a pub piano.”

“You’re right, Mister Basildon. That’s what my grandfather used to use it for.”

She replaced Gina at the seat, thinking about the music that she had listened to, last night. She looked at Ernie and grinned as she played ‘Roll out the Barrel’, followed by others in the same vein and finishing with ‘Auld Lang Syne’. When she finished, the room was full. Her father laughed.

“Let me guess, you’ve been listening to songs on your computer again.”

“I remembered something that Mum had told me and started out by listening to Mrs. Mills, and then to a set called ‘Favourite Pub Songs’. I looked up some of them and they go back to the previous century and to music halls and vaudeville.”

Gina’s mum said that it reminded her of Saturday nights at the club. Ernie nodded.

“Exactly, lass. There is a similar piano there. We used to have Saturday night sing-alongs once a month until our pianist died from COVID. I could play a lot of the material until the arthritis hit my fingers. I have an idea. I’ll talk to the manager, this afternoon, and you can all come along tonight. If Willow plays some tunes, I’m sure that he’ll provide a free meal.”

Her mother laughed.

“My teenage girl playing a pub on Saturday and then the church on Sunday. If I hadn’t heard her with my own ears, I would never have believed it.”

“I’ll give you a call this afternoon, if you give me your number. The organ music has lifted the souls in the village already; playing in the club will lift the sinners as well. It’s a win-win, and I won’t even charge you for my time, as Malcolm will give me a free dinner as well. What about it, Willow?”

“I’m good, Mister Basildon. I’ll just have to listen to some more so that I’m not repeating myself. If I can use the computer in your office, Dad, I will be able to print some sheet music so that Gina can play, I’m sure that she can sight-read.”

Gina’s mother laughed.

“That’ll be something different, a Saturday night at the club. I haven’t been to one of those in years.”

With the idea agreed, she left, with Ernie, leaving Gina with the Roses, who had promised to feed her. For the rest of the morning, Willow searched the internet for the sheet music for pub songs. They also included typical lyrics, which made both girls blush. They had a dozen for Gina to play, and she went to the sitting room to try them out, while Willow found a few more that she hadn’t found and added them to her MP3 files. She would listen to them and try them out on her keyboard this afternoon.

Her mother came in and sat with her, as they could hear the piano playing.

“You really are something else again, my daughter. You have made Gina very happy, shown her something else that she had never seen, and have opened up another link between us and the Village. It also means that you won’t be hogging the limelight. I saw that she looks up to you, so I think that her infatuation will turn to respect.”

Gina was getting freer with the pub songs, the more she played them, and they stopped for lunch.

“Thank you for welcoming me into your home, Mister and Mrs. Rose. When I first heard Willow play the organ, I thought that she was a young-looking sixteen-year-old. When I found out that we’re almost the same age, it floored me.”

“You’re welcome here, any time, Gina. I believe that you’ll be around quite regularly to play the piano. As Willow has found, it’s good to listen to something before you need to play it at school. You’re a talented pianist, and you’ll do well. Never think that you’re in competition with Willow. She’s a freak with her ability to remember music. She could sit at that piano and play you something that she only heard a couple of times a few years ago.”

“I still have problems with longer pieces, Mum. I need the music for bigger classical pieces, although I did play the ‘Toccata and Fugue’ on the church organ from memory yesterday.”

In the afternoon, Gina repeated the tunes she would be playing, and Willow went up to her bedroom and played her keyboard to the MP3 files. She heard the phone ring, and her mother came in to tell her that they would be going to the club at six, for the meal, and that Gina had gone home to get ready.

Willow had a shower and dressed for Saturday night out. She had a good skirt with a silky blouse and her new shoes with a small heel over tights. Her mother and father were smartly dressed as well. If anything, the Roses looked good.

They walked to the club, just down the road and opposite Church Lane. Ernie was already there and helped them fill out the paperwork to become members. The manager was dubious with the sing-along plan but was willing to give it a trial run. Gina turned up with her mother, both in going-out clothes. They found a table for six and Ernie joined them. The club filled up with the locals, mainly older men, but a few wives. The Roses were a subject of some talk, until it had been circulated that the daughter was the new church organist, and they were related to the original Leighs.

When the meals had been eaten, the barman called out for order. In a surprised silence, he announced that the piano will be heard tonight. When Gina went and sat at it, Willow could see that many thought that it would be a classical recital, seeing that nobody had ever heard her play anything else. The mood lightened as she started playing pub music, with someone starting to sing, followed by the others.

Willow watched as Gina began to blossom, being the centre of attention for the first time in her life and realising that she was actually entertaining her neighbours. She played the dozen songs that she knew, and there was applause and a bit of banter as she stood up. Wendy looked over at her mother and saw the pride on her face.

Willow walked over to the piano and some wag called out that it was hymn time. She grinned at the room and turned her attention to the keyboard. Once again, she was in entertainment heaven. She played until ten, ending with ‘Auld Lang Syne’, followed by ‘We’ll meet Again’, which had some of the older members in tears. Both girls were feted and there were many hugs and cheek kisses given and received. Willow and Gina hugged and air-kissed before they all left the club to go their own way home. As they strolled towards their home, her father laughed that after the first drink he hadn’t put a hand in his pocket.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

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

Chapter 10

On Sunday morning, the Rose family were at the church as the bells started their peal. Today, because it wasn’t a special occasion, the Reverend Russell was wearing a grey suit and his clerical collar. He welcomed them when they arrived.

“Good morning, good people. A little bird told me that my organist was tickling the ivories in a den of iniquity last night. One of my wardens rang me from the club to let me hear some of the festivities. It sounded like a good time. Are you ready for today, Willow?”

“I am, sir. I’m supposed to be playing the organ at assembly, tomorrow. Do you have an order of events so I’m not daydreaming at the wrong time?”

“Good thinking, I’ll dash off and copy mine and give it to your mother. Now get yourself upstairs and entertain us with some music. Just don’t start ‘Roll out the Barrel’ instead of the hymn.”

They all had a laugh and Willow went up to the organ to get things going. With this being her second service, she was happy that it should be easier. Once the air was up to pressure, she started playing another Bach piece that she could repeat ad infinitum if needed. The congregation slowly came in, and she could see, in the mirror, that it wasn’t quite as large as the previous week.

It all went as planned, with the three hymns and her playing them out as the bells were pealing. This time, she knew exactly when the peal ended, so was able to time the end of the music. She turned everything off, tidied the music and put the cover on the keyboard before going down and out of the main door.

Her parents were standing with Gina and her mother. Wendy saw Willow approach and stopped their conversation.

“Willow, dear. I’ve just been speaking to Maisie and Gina about the trip to the school. I’ll be taking you both in the morning and bring you home when you finish at normal school times. When you are both staying late, Maisie will go and pick you up. It will save fuel and allow Maisie to do her own things.”

“That sounds great, Mum. We should know what evenings we’ll be late. It will mean that we both will need to do the same extra studies. Junior Orchestra is a given, but I don’t know what else they have in mind for me. There again, Gina is a good enough player to start on the organ. We could ask Mister Edwards if he would tutor us both. It would give him a lot more choice when it comes to services or choir sessions. There may be another organ in the school.”

She could see Gina blush when told that she was good enough for special study.

“Gina, I suggest that when you’re in the city, you go and have a look for something you can play at home. They aren’t expensive, fifty to a hundred pounds will get you something that works well. You will need it to have a jack-plug for headphones, so you can play it at home without bothering anyone. Don’t rush, we’ll talk to the teachers to see what they think.”

“You can ‘talk to the teachers’?”

“Well, they’ve been pretty good to me in the last week. I’ve spent a lot of time with Mister Bamborough, Mister Jamieson, and Miss Russell. I guess that I’ll be able to ask them a question about their plans for you. It could alter the set-up of the orchestra. Is the Senior pianist better than you?”

“From what I’ve heard, no.”

“Well then, it’s in their interest to look after you. The one thing that I have learned is that the name of the school is paramount in their thinking. Some things have been said to me that makes me believe that promotion of the school is a priority, and looking after the better pupils is a part of that.”

Willow wasn’t going to mention the Cathedral idea but was already thinking that they may need two organists, just in case.

“Look, I’ve got an idea. Just give me a minute.”

She went and spoke to the Reverend for a few minutes and came back.

“Right. We can use this organ for a little while, as long as we’re not too loud. Come with me and I’ll give you the chance to see if you like it before we go any further.”

She led the way back into the church, with the parents sitting in a pew to see what she had in mind. She took Gina up to the organ, took off the covers and turned on the fans.

“This is to get the air pressure up. This is a pipe organ, so the note is made by air pressure in the pipe, which is controlled by you pressing the keys. I’m not going to show you how to do anything. Sit on the stool, get comfortable, and play one of those Chopin etudes, but do it as if your fingers are wading through treacle to allow the note to form. That will let you get the feeling.”

She stood off to one side as Gina felt the keyboard and pressed a key to hear how it worked. She looked at Willow and grinned, before playing an etude on the organ. As it was written for piano, she only needed to use the one keyboard. As she played, she got the hang of it and her smile was something to see when she finished the piece.

“That’s fantastic! Now I know why you’re so happy. The piano makes musical sounds, but this is something you feel in your stomach as you play.”

Willow put a music sheet to one of the simpler hymns from the morning on the stand.

“See if you can play this?”

Gina played the hymn music, a little slower than normal, but was at normal speed on the second verse. When she stopped, there was some applause from below. Willow looked down to see the parents smiling, while behind them, the vicar and Edie had big grins. Willow understood why. Now there were two organists in the village.

They tidied up and turned the fans off. Downstairs, the Reverend gave Gina a hug.

“Do you think that you can help out with the services, Gina. I realise that it will take some time to get up to speed, but from what I’ve heard here, and what I’ve been told about your piano playing last night, I think that you may be ready to blossom.”

“Thank you Reverend. It may take a little while before I can play the two keyboards, and find the bass pedals, but, if Willow and Mister Edwards are there to help, I’ll be happy to play for you.”

Willow walked home with her parents. Her mother took her hand.

“That was something that shows that you aren’t a prima donna, my girl. You’ve only known Gina for two days and you’ve had her playing honkytonk piano in a pub and have now got her hooked on playing in the church. It shouldn’t take her long to learn the extra complexity. She is a very competent pianist, but I expect that she’s just been doing enough to get by.”

“I was thinking about the plan that Miss Russell was cooking up. We will need more than one pianist if we do the Cathedral. That symphony has piano with both two and four hands as well as the organ. Even if they use both orchestras, it’s going to be tight.”

“Are you sure that you’re still thirteen, and didn’t change into a thirty-year-old concertmaster?”

“I’m just starting to think a lot more, Mum. I just hope that the school lives up to the glimpses that I’ve seen of it, so far.”

At home, she changed to her jeans, and went out for a walk. There was a roadway that went to the River Sowe, to the right of her road, so she followed that down to the bridge, then turned left and walked along the riverbank, passing the church and the graveyard, before turning onto Church Lane and heading home. It gave her the peace and quiet that allowed her to think.

After lunch, she made sure that her outfit for the morning was ready to wear, and that the blue dress was good in its garment bag. She had a look at the paper that the vicar had given her mother. She saw that she would need to be early, change, and be up on the stage at the organ before the pupils arrived.

The vicar had noted that there would be ‘arrival music’ until the theatre had filled, and everyone was on stage. She would stop when the vicar approached the microphone. The choir would be alongside her and would lead the hymn singing with one that they had sung on Thursday. After that, she had to remain at the organ while the Head welcomed everyone to the new term and made announcements.

She would leave the stage with the choir and go and change, then go to her first lesson, where the teacher would know that she would be slightly late, so would just be going over the previous year until she arrived. She looked at her information sheet to find that the first lesson was French.

The rest of the day was sorting out the few textbooks that she had left and trying to synchronise her brain with the dual role of a performer and student, after such a concentrated couple of weeks as the performer. Dinner was a happy one, with both parents complimenting her on what she had achieved in such a short time. She could honestly say that she had no idea of where it all came from, and that it must have been hidden until she wore a skirt.

That evening, her mother helped to remove the breasts, and she sat in a hot bath and shaved her legs. She then lifted her legs either side of the bath, and her mother carefully peeled the covering from her groin. This was the first time she could see what had been done. The small penis was securely tucked, giving her a very feminine look from her viewpoint. It would enable her to be unnoticeable with panties on. Her mother looked and declared that the incision places were just a couple of dots. She soaked in the bath and washed her new groin for the first time.

After replacing the breasts and moisturising, she dressed in a nightie to go to bed. That night, she slept with an arm around each of her bed buddies and dreamed about being in charge of things.

In the morning, she had breakfast with her parents. Her father was already dressed for work and left as they tidied up. Willow had a wash and brushed her teeth, then went to dress in the school uniform. It was the first time since the ‘inspection’ and she knew a lot more now than she did then. The feel of the panties without the covering was different and having to wear a bra because of the breasts was no longer a novelty, but satisfyingly normal. She put tights on because she was going to wear the dress and put a new pack in her backpack.

She took her garment bag and her backpack with her books and handbag in and went downstairs with them. When she looked in the hall mirror, she realised that she had forgotten something, and dashed upstairs to her vanity to add a little make-up. No Goth, as Miss Russell had ordered, but enough to make a difference. That was something that had never bothered her in the last school.

When her mother came down and they went out to the car, she put the garment bag on the rail on the driver’s side and put her bag on the back seat. Then, she went and sat in the front. It was only a few minutes before they arrived and saw Gina waiting by her front door. She got in the back and put her bag beside her. After cheery ‘good mornings’ they headed for Coventry.

Gina wanted to talk about the weekend and the different way it made her feel.

“I’ve played piano in front of an audience, before, but it was just something I was doing as a subject. Saturday night, I found myself reacting to the people around me.”

“It’s called becoming an entertainer, Gina. I had the same experience when I was playing Purple with the boys. It’s the moment that you know that you’re making other people happy.”

When they arrived at the school, they retrieved their things and walked in.

“I have to go to the music side, Gina. I have to change for the assembly and see that everything is good on the stage. I’ll see you at the lessons.”

They hugged, and Willow went towards the theatre and the big locker. She hung her blouse and skirt on the hangers that she had brought with her and had just put the dress on when a couple of the Senior choir came in to change. They had been in the chapel on Thursday, and they all had a hug. Willow left them as they were taking off their uniforms and went through to the back of the stage and then went out to see the organ was ready.

She turned it on and pressed the middle ‘C’ to hear it sound through the PA system. She was set up at the back of the stage, and there was tape making a line beside her where the choir would stand. A few people were making sure that the chairs were all out, now with rows where the dancing had been. The paperwork that she had seen stated that there were over fourteen hundred students, so she guessed that it would take over fifteen hundred in the theatre.

She sat and started playing the ‘arrival’ music to pass the time. People slowly started to trickle in, mainly teachers. There was movement in the wings and Reverend Russell came out and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Good morning, Willow. We have to stop meeting like this.”

“Never! It’s too much fun. Besides, your wife is always by your side.”

He laughed.

“You are one of a kind, Willow. It’s going to be fun working with you.”
Willow kept doodling the Bach as the theatre filled up with pupils and teachers. They seem uncharacteristically well behaved. The choir came and stood in a line beside her and, finally, the doors were shut, and she tapered off the music as the Reverend walked on stage and towards the microphone.

He welcomed the new students to the school and wished them well, gave his blessing on the new academic year, led the audience in the old version of the Lord’s Prayer, then announced the hymn. There wasn’t a flurry of hymnbooks, but Willow saw all the eyes look above her head. She played the opening part and then waited a few seconds before playing the hymn music. It was six verses, and, with the sound of the choir beside her, and the rest of the audience singing at her while reading the words from the screen, the sound was amazing.

As the final verse was being sung, the Reverend came and stood beside her. As silence fell, the Headmistress came out on the stage and addressed the gathering. Much of it was, to Willow, the usual things that Heads say, until she came to an announcement that made her eyes go wide.

“This academic year will have a large project that the music school has put together. The Junior and Senior Orchestras will learn some new pieces for a performance at the School concert before Christmas. They will also combine to learn the Saint-Seans ‘Organ Symphony’, which they will perform at the Coventry Cathedral in May, subject to the Cathedral Board accepting it. It is thought that the performance will be televised and recorded for a BBC DVD. The full orchestra will be augmented by our choir, singing during the final part. I have spoken to the organisers of the BBC Proms, and we have been pencilled in to provide one of the Prom Evenings, so we will need to have several more pieces to play. That performance, if it goes ahead, will be the Summer Project for the Music School, so the concert here would be for the Drama students to put on a full show.”

Willow could hardly concentrate on what else she said. The idea of playing in Albert Hall at the Proms was something so far above what she had expected out of the second year, she could hardly breath. She looked at the choir and could see that they were equally shocked. She looked the other way at Reverend Russell, and he gave her a smile and a wink. When she looked down at the line of teachers, she saw all the ones that she had already met had huge smiles.

Finally, the assembly was over. The Head turned and walked off stage, so Willow turned the organ off, then fell into line with the choir as they left to go and change. She was still in shock as she hung the dress and put the uniform on. Picking up her bag, she left the locker room and walked towards the main part of the school, now alive with chattering students. She saw Dianne and Gina and went to join them, with all three going for the first lesson.

The day went in a blur of new experiences, as she sat with either Dianne or Gina in every class during the day, was sitting with the Junior Orchestra for lunch while being complimented on her playing that morning. It was like no other day that she had known at previous schools. She was never alone, and never taunted. The orchestra girls held her as some sort of talisman, seeing that she had played the assembly music, and there was much discussion about who would play the organ in the big concert, seeing that there were several keyboard players in the school.

The end of the first day saw Gina and Willow waiting for Wendy to pick them up. They spoke quietly about the day, and the work that would be needed to put together the different concerts, on top of the work needed to be done to achieve academic success. When Wendy pulled up, they got in the car and hardly stopped talking until Gina was dropped off.

When they were alone, Wendy turned to Willow.

“Interesting day, then?”

“Very interesting, Mum. I thought that it was wonderful. I did what I had to on the stage in the assembly, and the Head made an announcement. It’s the only part of the day that we didn’t talk about, coming home. The Cathedral concert is moving forward and could be televised. The success of that will pave the way to the school being the orchestra for one night at the Proms, next summer. It’s almost too much for my brain to process.”

“Wow! That is some news. It will take a lot of work to make that happen.”

“Yes, there is talk of combining the two orchestras and all the choirs for it. The thing is that I can see it, in my mind, and feel that I know what it will take to make it happen. I’ll just have to keep quiet and follow the teachers, after all, they’ve done this sort of thing before.”

“One day at the school and you want to run things. That’s so unlike the old you.”

Willow laughed.

“Today Blue Coat – tomorrow the world! Mehaha!”

“Come on, ‘Oh! Great Ruler’; we need to prepare dinner.”

They both went to their rooms to change, then set to in the kitchen. That evening, her father was told about the performance plans and told her that there had better be seats set aside for her parents. Tomorrow was to be the chapel service for the second year, and there was Junior Orchestra after school. Willow made sure that she had her clarinet and violin ready to take with her. That night, she had her phone on recharge and used her MP3 player to listen to the ‘Organ Symphony’ before she went to sleep.

Tuesday morning was overcast, so the girls both had their coats with them as Wendy dropped them off. Willow went to her larger locker to hang her coat and store her backpack and instruments before walking to the chapel to find Gina already there, talking with Dianne. The organ was covered, and when the chapel had filled with second year students, the school chaplain walked in.

“Good morning, everyone. For those who don’t know me, I’m Paul, and I conduct these year services. Today, I will give a reading and then we will say the Lord’s Prayer and let you all head for your classes.”

He stood in front of the altar and read from his bible. Willow zoned out and wondered about playing the organ. She couldn’t see the ‘nice lad’ that Edie had referred to. She made up her mind that Paul was a little too proud of himself, then that made her wonder if she had the same problem.

The rest of the day was similar to Monday, although the blur seemed to be getting clearer as Willow sat at the same desks and walked the same corridors with the same friends around her. The fear of school was beginning to leave her, and she relaxed more.

……………………………………………

In the Head’s office, she and Mister Bamborough were taking to Artie and Zac. Or, rather, fending off offers of greatness, fame and fortune for the children under their care.

“Mister Hamilton, we know that you have a duty to promote talent. It is our place to nurture that talent. The boys in that group are almost ready to study for their biggest exams of their life, to date. We cannot allow them to throw their future away on promises of fame and fortune. When they do finish school, they can make up their own minds.”

“But the review was so positive, we could put on a Purple Power show with them.”

“If you read the review properly, you would have seen that it was part of the Summer Project and was a total one-off. Those boys have been playing at parties as G-Force for a couple of years. They play old rock and pop and are very good at it. This is the important part that I hope you’ll understand; when they finish school, they will be able to compose their own songs and be more than a cover band.”

“What about the girl?”

“That girl is only thirteen, and there is no way we can even tell her about your ideas. She is likely to be a star in her own right when she graduates and will be well above the sort of performances that you promote. Any word that you’ve approached her, and we call in the police.”

“At least let us know when they’ll be playing in public.”

“If you look at our website, you’ll see the upcoming performances. Now, good day to you both.”

………………………………………………

At the end of the lessons, Willow went to her locker with Dianne, and they picked up their instrument cases. The locker room was filled with girls talking about the announcement on Monday, keen to find out what the future held.

The meeting of the Junior Orchestra was in a larger rehearsal room that Willow hadn’t seen before. The places were set, with seats and music stands. As Willow waited to be directed to a seat, she saw a celesta and some percussion. A few girls had hauled their bigger cases in and were setting up a couple of cellos and a double bass. Willow was directed to the woodwind section, so left her violin case with the empty clarinet case and went to sit where told.

When she looked at the sheet music on her stand, she saw that it was for the ‘Bolero’, by Ravel. As the seats filled, she found herself hemmed in by boys in the brass section and a lad that she had seen in class with a flute beside her. He played a few notes and then turned to her.

“Hello. I’m Alec Hancock. I know that you’re Willow Rose as the second year has been buzzing with your name since assembly. How come you’re sitting there and not the celesta?”

“Because Gina is the pianist, and I also play clarinet. This was the only empty spot.”

“That’s good. It means that I can talk to you.”

“That’s nice. My mother has told me to talk to boys more, but to watch out for the forward ones.”

The discussion was halted with Mister Bamborough tapping his baton on his music stand.

“Boys and girls, welcome to the first session of the Junior Orchestra for this year. The announcement that the Head made will make this a very busy year for us. In front of you is the music for the ‘Bolero’. It will be one of our pieces for the end of year concert, so we need to get it perfect by then. Later in the term, we will start having joint sessions with the Senior Orchestra to work on ‘Carnival of the Animals’ and the ‘Organ Symphony’. Both are by Saint-Saens and will be part of the Cathedral concert, should we get to perform. Those rehearsals will be in the main theatre. It will be a lot of hard work, but the results will be tremendous when we’re in front of a TV audience. For six weeks, we will be here, as usual, and then there may be a second weekly session with the combined orchestras on Thursday afternoons as well, in the theatre, as I said. Right, now for the ‘Bolero’.”

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 11

They spent two hours working with the music. They didn’t have the numbers that the piece was written for but made do with a pruned down orchestra. There was enough percussion players to fill out that section, but the strings were thinned out a bit. There was a full complement of brass players, and Willow wondered if there was an evening brass band.

All the members of this orchestra had played for some time, and all could read from the sheet music. They had to stop and start as mistakes were made, but gradually worked towards a better sound. Willow was able to play her clarinet part first time but had to repeat it several times as they restarted. She listened to Alec on the flute and was impressed.

They had a break at the one-hour mark, with everyone getting their water bottles and some heading for the toilets. Willow saw Mister Bamborough looking at some notes and went over to him.

“Excuse me sir, can I have a minute of your time?”

“Of course, Willow. What’s on your mind?”

“It’s about Gina Summer, sir. I know that there isn’t much for her to do with the celesta. Is there a chance that there’s something else we can do on the piano to let her shine?”

“Is there something you know that I don’t. Last year she showed that she was a very competent pianist, but lacked the spark that made her different.”

“I heard her play an etude on our piano at home. Then, we both played piano in the village club for a Saturday evening sing-along. I was able to let her play the pipe organ in our church, and she has realised that she can entertain. Give her a chance, please. I think that you’ll find that she has found that spark.”

“I’ll take that on board, Willow. Your clarinet playing is very good, by the way. I think that young Alec has been trying to impress you. He’s been brighter, today, than I’ve heard him before.”

At the end of the second hour, Mister Bamborough called a halt and said that they had done very well, then spoke to Gina.

“Miss Summer. I know that the Ravel doesn’t have a lot for you to do. I’m trying to think of another piece for our concert. Can you play me something on the piano, please?”

Gina was shocked to be asked and went to the piano. She thought about the etudes that she knew and chose the flashiest one in her repertoire. As she played, the rest of the orchestra listened to the pianist that she hadn’t exhibited last year. Willow was thinking ‘good girl’ and smiled. She saw Mister Bamborough raise one eyebrow. When Gina finished, the rest of the orchestra clapped.

“Thank you, Miss Summer. That gives me an idea for the main section of our part of the concert. I think that we’ll start studying the ‘Greig Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 16’. The quicker we get the Ravel perfected, the quicker we can move on to that, but it will give Miss Summer some time to learn it. Do you have access to a piano at home, Gina?”

“Willow has an upright at her house that she has offered to me to play, if I need it, sir.”

“Is that all right, Miss Rose?”

“It is sir, it belonged to my grandfather, but it was tuned on the weekend.”

“Right. That’s the end of the session, thank you all for your work. Gina and Willow, come with me and I’ll get you a copy of the music.”

Willow packed her clarinet away, and picked up both cases, following Gina out. They were given two copies of the music and put them in their bags. Then went out the front of the school to find Maisie reading a magazine. Gina got in the front and Willow got in the back with her cases. On the way home, Gina was full of the news that she had been chosen to be out front of the orchestra at the end of the year, as a solo pianist. Willow saw Maisie look in the mirror at her and wink.

When Willow went in, her mother was reheating her dinner in the microwave. Willow took her cases upstairs and quickly changed into a nightie and her gown. The dinner wasn’t too bad, she thought, and liveable for one night a week. When Wendy took away the plate and put some ice cream in front of her, she asked if today was different.

“It was, Mum. We had a service for the second years and the priest that Edie said was a nice lad didn’t strike me as very nice at all. He knew his stuff but was almost arrogant in his delivery. Then we had the orchestra. We’re doing the Ravel ‘Bolero’ for the end of year concert and will also see if we can master the ‘Grieg Piano’. Gina, as our pianist, will be the soloist, so expect her to spend a lot of time here on our piano.”

“How much did you have in that, young lady?”

“Who, me? She was asked to play something, and she picked the most difficult etude that Chopin composed, and nailed it, with panache. Or is that grenache?”

“A little something left over from Saturday evening, I expect.”

“Could be, Mum. See, nothing to do with me.”

“Yeah, right. Get yourself cleansed and into bed. I’ll clear up. Goodnight, dear.”

Willow held her two friends close to her as she tried to sleep. Was she a busy body? Why was she trying to help Gina? Why was everybody so damn friendly. Why was being Willow so different from being William? Why did she enjoy playing next to Alec so much? The memory of Alec playing the flute during the ‘Bolero’ was in her mind as she finally drifted off to sleep.

The morning of her third day at this school saw Willow leap out of bed and head for the toilet. It wasn’t so much the bladder driving her as the thought of another day in classes that she enjoyed, with students she liked, and teachers who knew how to teach. When they picked up Gina, she jumped in the back seat with a smile.

“Guess what?”

“What?”

“Mum’s taking me into Coventry on Saturday to look at keyboards. Do you want to come along?”

“That’ll be great. I’ll have to go to the church on Friday to check the hymn list, then.”

“Mum said that we can get a good one that I can use to play the piano on, though it won’t have the full keys. That way I can get some organ music and learn, as well.”

“I’ll help you get the right things so that you can link your phone and play along to the actual music. It really helps to get the feel for it, rather than being a load of notes.”

At the school, they were arm in arm as they walked in. The receptionist saw them and called them over.

“Gina, I’ve been told to give you this key. It’s for a bigger locker over near Willow’s. Clear your old one and give me that key.”

They went to Gina’s locker and Willow helped carry her things to the music area, where they found the bigger locker. Gina filled it with her things.

“I wonder why I’ve been given this?”

“It’s because you’re now considered to be a soloist, which means that you’ll need space to hang your special outfit before a show. As a pianist, you didn’t need the space, as I expect that you just brought the long skirt with you on the day. Welcome to the artiste’s area, my friend.”

The day was pretty much a carbon copy of the days before, and Willow was starting to get used to the tempo of the new school, as well as the feeling of safety that was starting to make her feel good.

On the way home, it was arranged that Gina would come and try playing the Greig on the upright. Willow told her that she would find a performance that she could play along to. She knew that she could play the MP3 file through a small speaker, and start the track from the beginning of the orchestra, after the piano intro.

Gina arrived with her mother as Willow was clearing the table. Wendy told her to get the things she needed, so she went up to her room, with Gina, and carried down the small speaker and the MP3 player. They set the speaker behind Gina as she sat at the piano, and Willow found the first part of the Grieg, playing the piano intro and then stopping the playback.

Gina warmed her fingers with an etude, then said that she was ready. Willow made a noise like a timpani roll and then Gina played the intro piano, then Willow started the player, bringing in the orchestra. Gina had the music in front of her and waited until she had to play again. When the piano part played, it sounded like an echo, as she followed the music. Having the orchestra behind her helped her keep the timing right. She did make a few mistakes but caught herself and carried on.

The first movement runs for nearly thirteen minutes, and the three adults were standing by the door as she played, keeping quiet. When she finished, her mother came in and put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders.

“When we get that keyboard, we’ll make sure that it’s the best that we can afford, my clever girl. We’ll get a unit that does what Willow has set up, as well. I’ve never heard you play so well.”

“That’s because I’ve never been asked to be the soloist, Mum.”

Willow set the player back to the beginning of the first movement, then they repeated the movement, starting with the timpani. Gina played the movement twice more, with it getting better every time and her not having to look at the sheet music so much. They decided that this was enough for one night. After hugs all round, Gina and her mother went home, and Willow packed up the speaker and took it back to her room.

She went back downstairs and sat with her parents, each with a cup of hot chocolate.

“Gina is a good pianist, isn’t she, Willow?”

“She is, Mum. She now has that little something that makes her more than a good pianist. I’m looking forward to being in the orchestra when she plays it for the first time. We have to get the other two movements into her mind, and then she needs to remember the whole concerto.”

“Don’t you think that you should be playing it?”

“Not really. If asked, I can give it a go, but it will boost her career to be out in front. I’ll be getting my time in the spotlight on the organ. They think that it should be my main instrument. If we do the ‘Organ Symphony’, there’s a lot of time when the organ and piano are carrying the piece. If we can get Gina up to speed with the organ, it will give me some Sundays off in the church. I’ll need to go there tomorrow evening to find out what hymns we’re doing this weekend.”

“Do you mind if I come with you on Saturday, love? I spoke to Maisie, and she said it was all right. The one that you’ve had for a few years needs upgrading if you’re going to play a lot more in the public. If we get you one with a full set of keys, you’ll be able to work on your school stuff at home, as well as just needing the sheet music for the keyboard parts of the hymns.”

“That would be wonderful, Mum. But those are a couple of thousand pounds, or more!”

“That’s as far as Maisie is prepared to go to further Gina’s playing. If she gets one that’s the same, you’ll be able to help each other with the music, as well as learn more pub songs. I’m sure that the two of you will be asked to play on other Saturday evenings.”

Willow looked at her parents.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a drain on the finances.”

Ashley grinned.

“We’re being canny, my daughter. When you’re famous, you’ll be able to look after us in our old age. It’s a drop in the ocean if you start playing professionally. You could play classics, or you could play pop music. If the way you played Purple was anything to go by, all you need to do is find the right band to be in. I’m already looking forward to being in the audience for the school concerts. If you play the Cathedral for more than one performance, expect us to turn up for all of them.”

“What if we get an evening at the Proms?”

“Then, we’ll have to book a room in London, won’t we?”

Thursday was now the new normal for Willow, until they got to the last lesson, which was PE. Willow went to her locker and got the PE outfit to change into before going to the gym. The teacher lined them up.

“Welcome, girls, to the new term. Today, we will have two netball games going, those of you that have played last year can sort yourselves out. The ones left over can make up any shortfall in the teams or will be doing other things. As usual, we will rotate team members as the term progresses”

Willow found herself added to a team with Gina and Dianne. Never playing netball before, she was given a goalkeeper top and told to try and stop the attacking team without knocking anyone over. She watched as her team got to the other end and then emulated the goalkeeper of the other team when the ball came her way. It was a position where she didn’t have to run up and down the court and suited her current medical condition.

Luckily, the showers had small stalls so she could slide in with her groin covered and then come out with the towel wrapped around her. She was glad that she had already changed that skirt in front of Gina, as the experience of being in a room full of teenage girls getting dressed was something she had never considered that would be part of her life.

Back in the uniform, and with some make-up, she was hugged by a few of her team and then went out to find her mother, with Gina beside her.

“Where did you play netball before?”

“That was the first time. I didn’t get picked in my last school.”

“But you were so good in blocking the attacks. I think that the teacher was taking notes.”

“As long as I don’t have to run around a lot, I’ll be happy.”

Friday was a now normal day at school. Willow had more friends now than she had ever had before. The lessons weren’t far away from her previous studies, there wasn’t the bullying, yet, and some of the other girls had started to talk to her about ‘out if school’ activities. That evening, she went to the church and found the Reverend to see what hymns were set for Sunday. He told her the numbers and she found the sheet music.

There was enough time to have a run through of the hymns and left the sheet music on the organ for Sunday morning. The Reverend asked her how her first week of school was, and she told him that it had been very good. She asked if he would let Gina work with her on the organ, and he thought it was a good idea.

On Saturday morning, Willow and her mother were ready when Maisie and Gina arrived to pick them up in her hatch. They went into Coventry and further on to a store that sold organs. When they had parked and walked in, they started looking at what was available. The store looked a little run down, and the man that came out to see them was looking a bit wizened and bent.

“Can I help you ladies?”

“We’re looking for two keyboards. Both need to be able to use as a piano and an organ. Single keyboard, and outputs for headphones, amp. Input for second keyboard an advantage.”

“Two, you say. There has to be a story there?”

“Willow, here, played organ with a band at the school concert and had a write-up in the Observer. Gina is starting to learn organ, but is an accomplished piano player, and will be a soloist in a concert next year. We don’t have room for a full-size piano in the cottage, but Willow has an upright at her home, and has just started as the resident organist in Stoneleigh Village church.”

“Do you have a budget? Or, more importantly, can you pay, in full, today?”

“We’re looking for something good, not cheap.”

“All right. I think that we have something for you here. This is a Yamaha YC88. It has everything you want, including eighty-eight keys, and is able to be a pure piano, organ, or synthesiser. Why don’t you try it out and then we can talk turkey.”

Willow went first. She tried keys with different settings. The piano sound was almost the same as a baby grand. She played some Chopin, then switched to organ and played some Bach. With a grin, she did a little bit of Purple before letting Gina sit at the instrument.

Gina had been watching carefully, and set it to piano, playing the etude that she had played Tuesday evening. Then she played a couple of the hymns on the organ setting, before going back to the piano to play a couple of the drinking songs she had learned. Maisie looked on.

“What do you think, sweetheart?”

“This is fantastic, Mum. It will fit into the cottage, and I can perfect my playing at home. If we learn some more songs for the club, I can try them out on the upright to get the right sound. I think it will allow me to shine.”

She turned back to the keyboard and played the opening piano part to the Greig. Willow and Wendy were looking on. Wendy turned to Willow.

“Will one of these be right for you, darling?”

“It would be fantastic, Mum. It’s as good as the one I played with the band. If I get to play any pop gigs, I can take it to the venue. All I would need would be amps supplied.”

“All right. What do you think, Maisie?”

“Depends on the price.”

The man smiled.

“Ladies, I have this one, and another in a box. Normally, they would set you back over three thousand, each. But I’ll do the pair for four thousand. As you can see, I may not be open much longer, so it would be good to clear stock. You will get the usual guarantees. I can take card or cash.”

Both Wendy and Maisie pulled out their cards and did the deal. The girls helped the man find the one in the box and checked that it was untouched. He found the original box for the shop unit, and they packaged it up. He threw in the worn stool and the support frame from the shop with the deal. They needed to drop one seat-back to fit both boxes in the car, with the girls having to be very friendly in the back seat that was left.

It was a quiet ride back to Stoneleigh with the adults hoping that what they had paid would be worth it. The two girls were thinking about playing the new instruments. Willow, in particular, was thinking about experimenting with the synthesiser and hoping that she could recreate the MRI sounds. At Stoneleigh, they stopped at Gina’s home and unloaded the new unit, amp and stool. Willow told her that she would pop around later to make sure that she was set up.

At the Rose residence, Willow and Wendy carried the other unit up to her bedroom, while Maisie went back to see what sort of mess Gina was making with the packaging. Willow and her mother stopped for lunch and talked about what they had done.

“I hope Dad’s all right with what you spent?”

“I told him that we may spend three thousand, so we have come out of it much better than I thought. He’ll be happy when you’re up on a stage.”

“Shall I play some Purple for him?”

“I wouldn’t, love. It may upset the neighbours.”

After they tidied up, Willow went up to her room to see what she needed to do. The old keyboard was taken off its support frame and put into a corner. She took the new unit out of the box and wrestled it onto the frame. After she had plugged it in and tested that it had arrived safely, she looked at the inputs and outputs, with the instruction book, to see what she could add.

It had a headphone jack, and she tested to make sure that it muted the internal speaker. There were jacks for two amps and a MIDI input. She sat for a while, playing around with the settings and reading the instruction manual. She realised that it would take hours to work out all the things that she could do. Taking the headphones off, she switched it off and told her mother she was going to see how Gina was getting on.

For the rest of the afternoon, she and Gina were working through the features of the unit, with Gina getting more excited as she realised how many sounds were now open to her. They experimented with Gina’s CD player, sending it into the input jack and finding out if it played through the headphones, along with the organ output. That way, she could set up and work on the Grieg.

Willow finally was able to leave, with them hugging before she left. Maisie followed her out of the house and hugged her as well.

“Thank you, Willow.”

“For what?”

“For being a good friend to Gina, and for helping her become the good pianist that was hovering on the horizon before you turned up. I’m sure that we’ll have many evenings with her serenading me. I’ll see you, tomorrow, at church. Do you think that the Reverend will let us borrow some of the sheet music?”

“I’m certain he will. He’s thinking about two organists in the Village after years of silence. The Club will be thinking about more sing-along evenings, I expect.”

Willow walked back home to help her mother prepare dinner. Her father had been at work today, some sort of upgrade for the new model. As she strolled, she thought about the deal that they had made at the shop. She expected that the demonstration model that she now had would have been written down, if not written off, so the shop owner really hadn’t lost anything. Still, they both had gig-worthy keyboards. All she needed to do now was to put hers to good use.

That evening, after dinner, her parents sat on her bed as she serenaded them with a range of piano pieces. The keyboard lived up to the hype and really did sound like a grand piano. Then she played them some Bach organ music. Her father wanted her to play the intro to ‘Lazy’ that she had played in the concert, and she did so, extending it with snippets of other Purple songs.

When her parents said goodnight, her mother gave her a hug and a wink, before her father smiled as he left. As she brushed her teeth and cleansed, she heard her parent’s bed springs squeak.

‘One day’, she thought. One day she would be operated on and able to experience the things that the boys at the Bristol school had always spoken about, although, at the moment, that was the last thing on her mind.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 12

Sunday morning, they were up and ready for church. Willow showed her parents the pathway across the field, and it was a pleasant stroll in the morning sun. At the church, they saw Maisie and Gina arriving, so the girls left the adults to talk and went up to prepare the organ for the morning service. Willow asked if Gina wanted to play the arrival music, and she sat at the keyboard and started doodling Bach and Beethoven piano pieces.

Willow told her to watch the mirror for when the Reverend arrived at the altar and stop playing. When that happened, they changed places and Willow played the hymns while Gina watched her. At the end, they swapped places again, and Gina played the departure music as the bells pealed. As they tidied up, they talked about the morning.

“You were good with the in and out music, Gina. The only thing that I do, that you didn’t, was to listen to the bells, so that you finish when they do. What did you think about using the bass pedals?”

“It looks as if you don’t have to use them a lot, just some underlying notes to the melody. I was looking at where they come on the music as you played. I think that I’ll be able to follow it, once I teach my feet where to go.”

“It’s a bit too close to the service to play anything else. We can meet here on Saturday morning for you to play the hymns for Sunday. If you feel up to it, you can do the whole service. I’ll be here beside you. We can pick up the music on Friday evening for you to try them at home.”

“I can do that now! It’s wonderful to be able to play at home. There are so many options with that Yamaha. How are you getting on with yours?”

“I played some things for my parents, last night. The piano sound is fantastic. It’s going to take me the rest of the year to get my head around all the things it can do.”

“I know what you mean. I’m going to concentrate on the piano and the simple organ sounds for church. I don’t have the wide talent that you have.”

“My problem is that I sometimes think about several things at once, then get things wrong. The school will be good for me, forcing me into one thing at a time.”

After lunch, Willow was in her room, trying out all of the synthesiser options. She found some that were like the MRI machine. Another thing she found was a variation of the speaker, to give a Leslie variation. Her brain was getting overloaded with what she needed to learn, so stopped that and just concentrated on playing the ‘Seven Improvisations for Organ’, which she thought may be her solo part of the end of year concert.

Monday morning was back in school, and it was now becoming familiar. Willow sat with the orchestra girls in second year for lunch. They were surprised when Alec asked if he could join them to talk about the ‘Bolero’. There was a place next to Willow and he sat there, making her wonder if he had seen the vacant place and made a bold decision. It all seemed normal, as they spoke about the music. When the girls spoke about things that boys normally don’t listen to, he was attentive, and stood up for normal boys, but agreed with them about the nastier ones.

Having been around boys before, Willow could see through his plans. She wasn’t upset, though, and laughed at his jokes along with the others. She could see some of the other girls warming to him and felt a pang of jealousy as he spoke to them. This was an odd feeling, as it was one that she hadn’t felt since the previous school when she had been jealous of the other girls and their freedom to be themselves.

After lunch, he was in her next class, and she found him walking beside her.

“Willow, what do you do on weekends?”

“I’ve been busy helping Gina and we both play the organ in the church at Stoneleigh. It’s been hard to change schools, but I’m slowly getting things in order.”

“Ordered enough to go out with me?”

“As far as that goes, Alec, my parents consider me too young to be dating. But I’ll keep it in mind for when we’re in fifth year, if you’re still asking.”

At the class, she sat with Dianne, but her mind wasn’t fully on the lesson. This was a first for her; a boy wanting to take her out on a date. She had no idea of the way to react, and no idea of what she should do in such a situation. She was happy to have fended him off without him getting angry, and wondered if he would continue to sit with them at lunches. Tuesday orchestra would be a bit different for her this week. It stayed in the back of her mind but was able to concentrate on the last couple of lessons.

On the way home, Gina commented that she was quiet. Not wanting to pull her friend into her thoughts, she replied that she was thinking about the new organ. Gina was happy with that, and the conversation continued about the different things they could do with it. When they were home and changed, Wendy spoke to her.

“All right, Missy. Somethings up, and it isn’t the organ.”

“You’re right, Mum. A boy asked me if I would go out with him today.”

“And what did you tell him?”

“That I am too young and that he can ask again when we’re sixteen.”

“That was very adult of you. Do you like him?”

“He’s nice. He plays flute next to me in the orchestra. Mister Bamborough thought that he was trying to impress me last week as we were playing.”

“That’s always the first step if he likes you. Next time, he’ll be asking you about things you like so he can get you a present for Christmas, if you’re still speaking to each other. Try to find out what his likes are so you can reciprocate. Boys do like to talk about themselves if given the chance. You still have a few months to sort that out.”

Willow looked at her mother, her eyes wide.

“You’re telling me that I should encourage him?”

“Why not. It’s all part of being a girl to have a boy, or two, sniffing around. It’s something you have to learn if you want to go all the way and have the operation, unless you decide that you like girls better.”

“I don’t know what I like!”

“But you do like this boy, as well as having a lot of girls as friends. Has Gina taken her feelings for you any further?”

“Not since she has realised that she is a better performer than she thought. I think that she may have been mixing up admiration with love.”

“All I can say is that you are doing the right things, even if you haven’t planned them as such. Let your instincts help you along. They seem to be working well up to now.”

After dinner and cleaning up, she went up to her room, put the headphones on, and played piano to herself, immersing herself in the music and using the full keyboard; something she could never do with the old one.

Tuesday morning was the second-year chapel. Willow thought that Paul looked her way far too often when he preached about the wickedness of pride. The morning lessons went off easily, but there was a surprise at lunchtime. There was a table set up with a pile of DVDs from the Summer Project Concert. They were five pounds each, with the proceeds going to buy equipment for the school.

There was a line of students waiting to buy one, and Willow didn’t have the five pounds, so she went and sat at the usual place with her lunch. Alec came over and sat beside her as the girls started arriving. Dianne had two discs, and Alec had the one.

“I didn’t get to see this concert, but I’ve heard so much about it since we came back to school. Some of the boys in the orchestra have been raving on about how good it is.”

“It was fun to do, Alec, but I was asleep in the car on the way home from all the excitement.”

“You were there? But you didn’t start school until a few weeks after.”

Dianne leaned over and smiled.

“Your crush was in three acts that night. She helped me and my sister get our extra marks by playing violin in our quartet. Then she was in the choir line-up. Then she played organ in the second half, as part of the Shallow Blue, replacing Jim, who went down with measles.”

“Wow! That was some show. I wish there was some way that I can do one of those summer projects. It’s a bit hard when you play the flute. I know that there’re some trios and quartets written with the flute, but hardly any pop bands use it these days.”

They had nearly finished their meal when Gerry came over to their table.

“Willow, we have had a lot of requests to do another show at the end of term. We were wondering if you could play the organ. We’re not sure what sort of music we’ll play, yet, but we have a while to think of something. Geoff thinks that once the DVD has been watched, there’ll be plenty who will want to come along. We won’t be doing a summer project, because we’ll be going up to fifth year and need to concentrate on our academic subjects.”

“I’ll have a think about things we can do. Are there any songs from your pop stuff that you think would work?”

“We have done some blues. I love to play blues, and Geoff plays a mean harmonica, which he showed a bit of in Shallow Blue. Maybe, we can do a show of blues? You might find some that use organ in the line-up.”

Alec was looking on, wide-eyed, as Gerry walked away.

“Is Geoff on this disc? He’s a good guitarist.”

“Yes, the rest of the band are now in fourth year. As well as Geoff, there’s Gerry, Grant and Garry. They’ve been doing private shows as G-Force. The show we did was all Deep Purple numbers. I remember looking out at the audience and seeing some pained expressions when we were playing, but most of the audience enjoyed it.”

That afternoon, it was orchestra. Willow picked up her clarinet case and joined the others in the rehearsal room. When she looked around, there were some extra seats. They found their places, and Zara gave her a wave as she came in with her cello case. As they were setting up, Mister Bamborough handed out the sheet music.

“Last week, I thought that the ‘Bolero’ sounded a bit thin. We’ve co-opted some of the senior orchestra to fill out the sound. I’ve had a word with the Head, and we’ve agreed that this orchestra will do a full concert at the end of this term, playing the ‘Bolero’ and the Grieg. The Senior Orchestra will do a full concert next term, with some of you being co-opted into helping them. Over next term, and next year, we’ll concentrate on the combined orchestras for the Saint-Saens concert, which we will put on at the end of the school year, and, hopefully, in May to a paying audience. Now, let’s start from the top, and see how much better we can make this.”

With extra percussion, strings, and brass, the ‘Bolero’ was much better. The seniors had played it before, so there were no slip-ups. After the first playing, they were told to take a break as a few from the drama class came in with their cameras and sound equipment.

“This is just so we can show the Head what we can do, before we concentrate on other things. How are you going with the Grieg, Miss Summer?”

“Good, sir. Willow and I have now got a pair of YC88 keyboards, and I’ve been playing it at home. I should be good to go, next week.”

“That’s great. I’ll set this room up with the piano. Right, let’s play the ‘Bolero’, and make it zing!”

They played the ‘Bolero’ and Willow thought that it sounded as good as a professional orchestra. When they finished, Mister Bamborough told them that they could go earlier than usual but would stay around if anyone wanted to ask any questions. Willow and Gina had to wait for Maisie to come for them, so they waited as he answered some of the questions. When it was their turn, Willow asked about the Summer Project next year.

“You can register your interest, and we’ll look at adding it to the concert. I know that the Gees will not be playing, so you may have to put together another band. There are some good guitarists in the junior school, and we do have a solid group of percussion players, as you’ve heard today. Let me know what you want to do, and I’ll see if we can let you have a rehearsal room in the later weeks of the last term. Then, we can decide if there’s anything good for the concert.

“Can you pencil me in, sir, and I’ll see if there are any guitarists who might like to join. I don’t know what we’ll be playing, yet.”

“Hopefully, a little more restrained than Deep Purple. I had a few complaints from the board members who went home with ringing in their ears. It may have been that you dislodged some wax, but don’t let on that I said so.”

Willow and Gina collected their things and went out to wait for Maisie.

“What are you thinking, Willow?”

“I don’t know, yet, but something will come up. What we need is music that will have a pop group, plus two keyboards, so that you can get some extra marks. There has to be a lot out there, so I’ll have to do some research.”

When she was dropped off at home, Willow had the meal that her mother had saved for her. As they were wiping her dishes, she thought about the DVDs.

“Mum. The school had copies of that concert for sale on DVD. It had been filmed and recorded during that evening. They’re asking five pounds for one.”

“Now, that’s fantastic! I’ll give you ten pounds in the morning, and you can get two. I’ve spoken to my mother, and she wants to see her new granddaughter. We can give her one to watch. She was a Purple fan in her day, it must have rubbed off on me. If you see about the church music on Friday evening, we’ll go over and see my parents on Saturday.”

As Willow was trying to get to sleep, she thought about the way her grandparents had treated her when she was still William. She hoped that they loved her as much as they did then. At least, they now knew about the changes.

The rest of the week went as usual, with Alec bringing his DVD back on Wednesday to get her to sign it for him. She bought the two for her parents and grandparents. In PE, she was quickly chosen to play goalkeeper in the netball games, and was told that, if she kept it up, she may be picked for the inter-school competition in spring.

Friday was the first music lesson, all afternoon. She found it very interesting, as the first thing that they studied was pop music. The teacher was Mister Jamieson, and he started with the popular music of the Tudors and worked forward from there. They had reached vaudeville songs of the end of the nineteenth century by the end of the three hours, with a few that both Willow and Gina already knew.

The two girls had arranged to meet at the church before dinner and were given the three hymns for Sunday. They got the organ set up, and Gina played the first verses of each of them, a couple of times. Willow gave her a hug and declared that Gina was able to play the full service. Gina took the sheet music with her to rehearse at home.

Saturday, after an early breakfast, Ashley went off to do an overtime day on the new model, and Wendy took Willow off to visit her parents. They had a copy of the DVD for them, as well as some photos that Wendy had taken since ‘the change’. It was a pleasant trip to Stapleford, just south of Cambridge, and, when Wendy parked in the driveway of the semi-detached bungalow on Aylesford Way, the door opened, and her parents came out to greet them.

Wendy was hugged my both her parents, then introduced Willow ‘in the flesh’ who was hugged as well. Her mother declared that they had a lot to talk about and that morning tea was almost ready, with the kettle needing to be put on.

Over the course of the next couple of hours, Wendy’s parents were brought up to date with the new jobs, the new school, the full reasons why William was now Willow, and she had the pictures of his scars to show the extent of the bullying. Willow was relieved that her grandparents were so ready to accept her, even praising her for the way she acted as any other girl, even with a habit of touching her chin that her mother had when she was a teenager.

They walked around the corner to the Three Horseshoes for lunch. They had an upright in the saloon, and her grandmother commented that her father would be on the ivories, had he still been alive. Wendy went and spoke to the publican, and he gave permission for Willow to give it a play. They had an uproarious hour, with Willow playing old drinking songs and most of the patrons crowding in to sing along. Back at the bungalow, Willow was now the favourite granddaughter, with her grandfather having recorded a lot of lunch time on his phone. Willow went over to their stereo player and looked at the CD’s that they had.

“Gramma. Were there any bands around when you were young that had an organ in the line-up?”

“Lots, sweetie. There were The Animals, Manfred Mann, several American bands. The one that I remember was The Moody Blues. I went to see them when they played at Yarmouth, in nineteen sixty-nine. They were doing all the seaside towns on a tour. They had just brought out the first of their ‘concept’ albums. It was ‘Days of Future Past’. I’ve got the CD here. The thing was that they recorded it with a full orchestra, but were able to play it live, because the organist had a fantastic organ that could reproduce orchestral sounds. Their act was the whole album, from start to finish, with the last track being their biggest hit, ‘Nights in White Satin’, which you’ve probably heard.”

“That one, I know. So, there is a whole album of similar songs.”

“Actually, there were seven albums. Some not so good as the first, but they all have at least one killer song on them. Look, I have the complete set here. Why don’t you take them home with you and see what you think? You can bring them back when you come to see us, again.”

“Why don’t you come to see us for a few days? We’re working towards having a school concert at the end of term, and I’m in the orchestra.”

“Yes, Mum. Why don’t you come and stay for a while. We have a spare room, so just need to put a bed in it, after Ashley has cleaned it out. That will give him an excuse to get a shed in the back garden.”

“That would be lovely, dear. Now, Willow, let’s look and see where those CDs are.”

Wendy was happy as she drove them back to Stoneleigh. Willow had a bundle of CD’s to listen to when she could.

“Mum. There was something that we never told Gramps.”

“What was that, dear?”

“We didn’t say anything about our link with the Leigh family.”

“That’s because it was more your father’s side. It’s funny, though. You with great grandfathers on both sides who played in a pub. That must be where you got a double dose of the performing genes. I never knew that I had a pianist in my family. He had passed before I was born.”

Back home, they had a light dinner, and Willow went to her room to listen to the first CD. It opened her eyes, as here was a pop group, with an orchestra behind them, and not only an organist, but a flute player as well. She researched them on the internet, to find that most had already died, or retired. Over the next week, she listened to all the CDs, including an extra ‘Best of’ and chose seven songs that would work well in a school concert. She made ten discs of the songs, in the order she thought would work. Each one was marked ‘Blue Moods’.

At orchestra on the Tuesday afternoon, she said nothing to anyone else as they went through the beginning of rehearsal for the Grieg. Gina showed that her time with her own instrument was paying dividends, and they were able to work through the first movement without a lot of fuss. Before they left, Zara gave Gina and Willow a hug, telling them that this concert was going to knock previous ones into a can.

Tuesday evening, Willow also researched the other bands that had been mentioned. Manfred Mann supplied a number of good blues songs, which she found strange considering how poppy their hits were. She added a few Eric Clapton numbers and made another set of CDs with eight tracks. These were marked ‘Blue Blues’. She then added both sets to her phone.

At lunch on Friday. She gave Alec, Gina, Geoff, Gerry, Grant, and Garry notes to ask them if they could meet in a rehearsal room the following Wednesday after lessons. She had arranged for the room to be vacant, and that it had a small amplifier in, and that Mister Bamborough would attend, as he needed to give them the green light for the project that she had in mind.

Both Gina and Alec had questions for her, but she told them that all would be revealed at the meeting. She had asked Maisie to pick them up later on Wednesday. Willow and Gina went to the rehearsal room, followed by Alec. After a few minutes, they were joined by the Gees and the Head of Music.

Willow plugged her phone output into the small amp and then turned to the group waiting for the big revelation.

“I’ve asked you here because I’ve had an idea about an end of term concert. It can be this term or next term. We’ve been told that there are a lot of requests for the Shallow Blue to play again. However, what I propose is for us to have the whole evening, with two line-ups. The first half that I propose is for a band called the Blue Blues and is all bluesy numbers. The second half is what I’ve called Blue Moods and is the music of the Moody Blues. If you think that we can do it, sir, I’m asking if we can put on the whole show.”

She found the start of the blues concert on her phone then they sat and listened to parts of the songs. It started with Layla, worked through Clapton numbers, then a few standards, like Mojo, Hootchie Cootchie Man, and ended with Stormy Monday Blues. She had added House of the Rising sun as an encore. At the end, she handed out a disc of the songs to everyone.

Then, she started the second set, beginning with Dawn, ending with Veteran Cosmic Rocker, and Nights In White Satin as the encore. As she handed out the discs, she could see Alec beaming.

“Look, we’ve gone a bit late, tonight. We don’t have to discuss this tonight. Please listen to the tracks again, in full, and see how each of you can fit in. I expect that you may have changes you want to make, but each show will be complicated enough for the school.”

There were smiles, all round, as she reclaimed her phone, and they made their way out of the school. The only surprise, for her, was that each of the Gees gave her a hug as they left, and that Alec not only hugged her, but gave her a quick kiss as well. Gina left her hug until they were outside Willow’s home.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 13

When Willow went in, Wendy had some sandwiches for her after she had changed.

“How did this mysterious meeting go? Are you ruling the world yet?”

“Not that serious, Mum. All I did was to get together with a few people and play them some songs which I thought might make a good concert.”

“Oh, yes. Now give, before I get you some ice cream.”

“It was the Gees that I played Purple with; plus, Gina, Alec and Mister Bamborough. I’ve put together two halves of a show, with the first half being blues and the second half being Moody Blues. We’ll work out the line-ups later, but I think that Gina can play organ with the blues set, and we’ll both be needed in the second half, with Alec on the flute. Mister Bamborough has a copy of each disc to talk it over with other teachers. The thing is that I’ve heard that they have needed to produce more copies of the summer concert and that there have been requests that we play again.”

“That’s quite an initiative, young lady, one that you would never have thought about once upon a time.”

“Once upon a time I wasn’t a girl and hadn’t been kissed.”

“Do tell. Is this something recent?”

“Alec followed the others and gave me a hug when we left school tonight. The thing was that he took advantage of it to give me a peck on the lips. Well, one side, but it took me by surprise.”

“So, angry, upset or intrigued?”

“Not sure at the moment. It’s not something that a boy has ever done to me in the past. Hitting me, yes, but hitting on me is new.”

“Was there a reason that he wanted to kiss you?”

“Well, he was moaning about there not being much pop music that has a flute in it, and the Moody Blues uses it a lot. I think that he just wanted to thank me by giving me something.”

“That’ll give you something to ponder when you go to bed. You know, if this concert goes ahead, it may be the subject of another DVD, and there’ll be some who will want you playing actual gigs. I hope it doesn’t come between you and your exams.”

That night, Willow had cleansed and was in her bed, cuddling her two friends. She told them what had happened and gave Shaun a quick kiss, telling him that he was a ‘Baaad Boy’.

Thursday was usual. At lunch, Alec was full of his need to be on the stage and playing his flute. Gina wondered what her place would be, and Willow told her that she could play the blues half, with them both needed to recreate the orchestral sounds in the second half.

“What about vocals?”

“Geoff and Gerry both have good singing voices, and the rest of us can do backing. We’ll just have to rehearse and fine-tune as we go.”

Friday was their second music session. Starting from the beginning of music hall and the advent of wartime music. Then on to the flapper days and big bands playing the songs that everyone knew. The lesson finished with the second war and the influx of American soldiers bringing jazz, swing bands, and American country music. The students were encouraged to research the times for themselves.

Being Willow’s turn for the church, she went over and picked up the music for the hymns on Friday evening, running through them at home on Saturday morning. In the afternoon, she revisited the two concert projects, and listened to the Moody’s, trying to make notes of what sounds were needed with the two keyboards. She knew that it all depended on what the school said they could do.

Saturday afternoon, Gina came over and they listened to the Moody Blues and tried to dissect the sounds that they would need to recreate with the organs. They decided that Willow would concentrate on plain organ and making the strings sounds, while Gina would do the brass and woodwind. On Willow’s Yamaha, they found all the settings that would do the job, then ran through the CD that Willow had made, playing along to the songs, taking turns to get the right sounds. Then, they spent a little time with the second and third movements of the Grieg, before Gina needed to go home. After dinner, Willow used the headphones to improve her parts of the Moody concert.

Sunday morning saw her up with the church organ, playing classical doodles as people came in. She saw Rupert come in with an older man, and go up to her parents, sitting with them and Edie in a pew. The service was a normal one, with three hymns. Willow could see that there were some of the congregation who were gathering together to sing. Afterwards, she shut the organ down and went outside. Rupert called her over and introduced her to the Sixth Baron Leigh, his father, Christopher, who praised her work on the organ at such a young age. Before they left, the Roses had been invited to the Baron’s home for the next weekend. It was an invitation that she knew could pave the way to better things for her family, so went over to Gina to confirm that she could take the organ for next week’s service.

It was still Sunday morning, but Wendy was now starting to jump up and down.

“Ash, my love. Next weekend we’re visiting the nobility and your favourite girls have absolutely nothing to wear. We’ll need something casual but classy, perhaps something better for Saturday evening, and something else to come home in. The shops are open this afternoon until half past four, and Bonmarche is calling us. Can’t you hear it?”

“Now that you mention it, my darling, I can hear the tills ringing from here.”

The went home to get the car out. Wendy and Willow changed into casual skirt and top outfits, and they were off into Coventry. They had lunch in the shopping centre and went into Bonmarche. The two women came out with bags containing tops, trousers, and skirts. Ashley had bought some new slacks and shirts.

Willow had been undergoing a new sensation, in getting clothes to look good in, rather than just to wear because you have to wear something. She had a good skirt on with a colourful top, and Wendy remarked that it would be a good outfit for a date. Willow looked at herself, did a pose and smiled. She wondered, fleetingly, if Alec would like the look.

On Monday, lunchtime, Miss Russell gave Willow a letter, with the school letterhead, giving the seven band members the permission to set up in a rehearsal room to work on the two halves of the concert, with a tentative performance date a few weeks before the close of the second term, in mid-March. They had until the end of the next week to see if it would work. During the lunch period, she showed it to all the others and got high-fives and hugs as she passed on the news. Now, they had somewhere to set up. Geoff, Grant, and Garry told her that they would organise amps and other equipment. Garry said that the rehearsal room had a lock, and that they could get a key from admin, so they could bring their own equipment in. The school had the organ that Willow had played at the previous concert, so, all they needed was an extra organ for the second half. By the time they were ready to go home, the Gees had taken over the logistics, with an initial session starting Wednesday, and hoping that they would know how they stood by the end of the following Friday.

That evening, Gina arranged for her mother to pick them up at around seven on the other days. Willow would have her new organ with her on Wednesday morning, as Gina still needed hers to rehearse the Grieg. Alec lived near Grant, so they had organised to take him home.

On Tuesday morning, Paul was his usual self. Willow was starting to wonder why he never had the organ uncovered, and why the hymn was always sung without any accompaniment. She had a fleeting thought that he may be just lazy.

Tuesday orchestra was good, as they worked on the second and third movements of the Grieg, with Gina exhibiting the skill that she was now embracing. The two movements took around twenty minutes, so they had a chance to play the full piece for the first time, before they went home. On the way to Stoneleigh, Gina told her mother about the session, and that it had been a genuine milestone, because she had played the whole piece with only odd times that she needed to look at the music.

On Wednesday, Willow had her Yamaha in its box, along with the frame and extra cables. Gina helped her to carry it into the locker room and put it in her locker. At lunch, Alec was almost hyper, looking forward to his first session as part of a pop group. After the lessons, the girls carried the organ to the rehearsal room, which was already open.

The Gees had set up the amplifiers and laid out cables. The other organ was already there. It didn’t take long before the second organ was set up. They all had microphones to a small PA with a pair of speakers facing them. They decided to work on the two shows alternatively. With the first blues number to start with. Gina got comfortable with the organ and Willow sat off to one side as the others started working. Nobody had suggested any changes yet, so the first number was ‘Layla’. It was something that the boys already knew, and just needed Gina to get on board. She had been listening to the CD, so had a good idea of what to do. It took the second run through to be passable. Geoff called it a good try and said that they should work on ‘Dawn’.

The work that Willow and Gina had already put in paid off immediately, as they were able to recreate most of an orchestra, once they had worked out a simple starting phrase. This sort of music suited the boy’s voices much better than Purple, and they had a passable rendition by the time they had been playing an hour. Alec was, by now, starting to enjoy himself. They all sang the backing and Willow was almost in tears as she heard them for the first time.

They had a short break, and then worked on the second songs in the list. Willow and Alec sat it out as they worked on ‘Cocaine’. They had time to work on the second of the Moody Blues songs, ‘Legend in the Mind (Timothy Leary)’, before getting time to pack up. With everything shut down and the room locked, they went out to find their rides home, the Gees now fully committed to the project and Alec looking like he had won the lottery.

Thursday, they worked on ‘After Midnight’ and ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ for the blues part, and ‘The Voice Within’, and ‘For my Lady’ for the second part, with Alec doing the vocals for that one. Geoff was now the main vocalist and playing harmonica, while Gerry did the main guitar work.

Friday was a bit different. With Gina now getting the hang of improvising blues organ, they worked on the final three songs of the first concert, as well as the encore number. Willow was grooving along to ‘I’ve got my Mojo Working’ when Alec pulled her to her feet, and they started dancing. ‘Stormy Monday Blues’ was next, followed by ‘Smokestack Lightning’, which ends with a sudden halt. Both were slower songs and she kept dancing with Alec, much to the amusement of the rest of the band. The encore was ‘House of the Rising Sun’, which had Garry singing while playing bass. He had a gravelly voice and fitted the song well.

As they shut things down, they talked about the progress. All four Gees were happy with how things had gone, complimented Gina on her organ work, and they agreed to finish off the Moody’s part by the end of Thursday, with the Friday session being filmed and recorded by the drama students for showing the teachers.

Willow was happy to leave her organ set up, as she wouldn’t need it over the weekend. As they walked out towards their rides, Alec took hold of her hand. It didn’t seem unusual, considering that they had spent the best part of half an hour dancing with his arm around her.

That was something that they refrained from talking about on the way home. As she got out of the car, Willow wished Gina good luck with the Sunday service. She stood and watched the car go back to the junction. Her thoughts were a jumble of music and the memory of being close to Alec as they danced. It was such a new sensation, which she decided was down to the hormone injection and the tablets she was now taking.

She stood there for so long, that Wendy opened the door and asked her if she was coming in or going to stand out in the garden like a gnome. She had been eating more at lunch, so was only having sandwiches in the evening, and quickly changed to come down to the kitchen while her parents were watching the television. When she had tidied up, she looked in to see what they were watching, decided that she wasn’t interested, and gave them both a hug before she went up to her room.

She was in bed, reading, when her mother knocked on the door, came in and sat on the bed.

“Never, ever, play poker, Willow. You are far too easy to see through. Now, what happened today? Nothing bad, I hope.”

“Not bad, Mum. Just a bit different. We had a two-hour session working on the blues section of the concert, and the guys wanted to go through to the end of it, leaving Alec and me just sitting it out. Then, he pulled me up and we danced. That was all right, except the last couple of numbers are slower, and me, like a fool, didn’t sit down. We danced for nearly half an hour with his arm around me as the rest of them worked through the songs. Then, on the way out, he took my hand. And I let him!”

“My, my! You are growing up faster and faster. Usual question. Upset, neutral, or pleased?”

“I was neutral, for most of the time. It was when I got home that I realised what had really happened. I had been up close and personal with Alec in front of the others, and nobody did anything but smile.”

“Did he try and kiss you when you left school?”

“No! The rotter just gave my hand a squeeze as we got to Maisie’s car. That’s why I was gazing at nothing when you opened the door. I was wondering whether to blame the hormones or the pills, or if I’m just being silly.”

“Not silly, my girl. Just a normal teenager who has realised that boys have an attraction, after so long avoiding them. He is showing his affection but tempering it with restraint. When he does kiss you, you’ll be able to process it better for not being rushed. In the meantime, you’ll find yourself mooning about him and wondering if you should call him to talk to.”

“Funny about that. It did cross my mind.”

“Over the weekend, you’ll need to act as the adult you’re becoming. I don’t know what will be happening on this visit, but I’m certain that it will replace him in your thoughts, if only for a little while.”

They had breakfast on Saturday morning, then went off to shower and dress. Ashley was very presentable in new slacks and shirt, with a leather jacket to offset the cold. Wendy and Willow had decided to do the mother and daughter look, with similar tailored slacks and silk blouses. They had linen jackets in the same colour as the slacks. Willow felt very ladylike. Putting their overnight bags in the car, which had been warming up in the driveway, they set off for the Cotswolds.

They had the destination set in the GPS, and enjoyed being on the road, although they were all worried about what they were going to find when that got there. The house, when they pulled up outside, was a typical red brick farmhouse, but a fair bit larger than most. As they got out, Rupert came out to greet them.

“Welcome to Fern Farm. It’s nothing like the Abbey but it’s a lot easier to keep warm. Come and meet the rest of the family.”

They got the overnight bags and followed him into the house.

“Just put your bags by the stairs and come through to the control room of every farm, the kitchen.”

They must have arrived at morning teatime, as they saw Christopher and some others around a big table with cups in front of them and a big platter of buns in the middle of the table.

“You met Dad on Sunday. On his right is my mother, Marie. To her right are my sister, Cassandra and her fiancé Terry. Take a seat. Folks, this is Ashley and Wendy Rose, and their very talented daughter, Willow. Did you bring the family history, Ashley?”

“It’s in my bag.”

“We’ll have a look at that later, It’s a fair trip from Stoneleigh, so tuck in. All good with tea?”

Hands were shaken and air-kisses made, then Rupert and his mother organised the tea and handed out plates. Willow felt as if she was a fly on the wall of a movie. Everything was so gentle and polite. As Marie and Cassandra moved around, she was glad of her mother’s foresight with their shopping, as she didn’t feel underdressed.

The talk centred around the family links and Rupert recounted his first meeting with the Rose family. When he said that Willow had been playing the church organ that Sunday, Cassandra asked her if she did weddings.

“I’ve only been playing in the church for about a month. The Reverend has asked me if I would play at weddings, but we haven’t had one yet. He told me that he had done a few marriages at Stoneleigh Abbey and that the organ there is good to play.”

Marie looked up.

“There you go, Cassie. I told you that the Abbey did weddings. I’m sure that we could organise one there. Rupert, you’ve been there more than me; do they have special packages?”

“They do, I think. It includes accommodation before and after the event, the service in the chapel and the reception in the Great Hall. I think they also do a marquee event if you have more than can fit into the house.”

“Willow, dear. How would you play the organ in a marquee?”

“Using a long power lead to a central board where you take the lights and power from. They sometimes use four-fifteen out to the plugboard for safety. A portable organ has an output to an amplifier.”

The Baron chuckled.

“That’s the power we use on the farm for the workshop equipment. I think we have to look into that one, Cassie.”

“Yes, Dad. Rupert, dear brother. Do you think that you can see if you can look into dates clear for Easter. Willow, would the Reverend conduct my marriage at the Abbey?”

“He would be happy to. How many guests are you planning for?”

That took until nearly lunch to resolve, with Cassandra just wanting a smaller wedding, with Terry very happy about that, and her mother insisting that it should be a grand affair with all the extended family attending. In the end, Cassandra prevailed. Willow suggested that if the Abbey wasn’t available, St. Marys would be able to cater for a smaller affair.

“The point is, Cassandra, that it’s the church that the Leigh family founded and supported. One of your family was even the preacher there for many years. There are lots of your family buried and revered there. Even the Village is named after your family.”

The Baron smiled.

“The girl has a valid point, Cassie. I was there last Sunday. I haven’t been for years. It’s a lovely church, the Reverend is very nice, the organist is exceptional. We could always have a marquee in the Abbey grounds for the reception. By being here for thirty years has distanced us from our roots. It would be good to reconnect with Stoneleigh.”

The discussion halted so that the cook could take over in the kitchen, and the Roses could be shown their rooms. Collecting their bags on the way, they went upstairs to freshen up. Willow almost laughed when she saw where she would be sleeping, as it was very similar to the room she had in Bristol, with the uneven floor.

Back downstairs, they assembled in the parlour. Ashley and the Baron looking at the Rose family history, back to Marie Campbell. Wendy and Marie sat, talking about families, while Willow sat with Cassandra and Terry, with Cassandra asking her about her school, and hobbies. When Willow said that she played piano, Cassie grinned.

“There’s one in the dining room. Come on, the oldies won’t miss us.”

The three of them went to the dining room, where a big table had been laid for lunch. The piano stood at one wall. Willow gasped when she saw that it was a Steinway upright. She sat at the piano, while the others pulled out a couple of chairs.

“What do you want to hear?”

“Terry and I are young and spend a lot of time in pubs. We’re not into hip-hop or rap.”

“So, a little pub music, maybe.”

She started playing the drinking songs and the couple smiled and started singing along. Willow was at one of the best pianos in the world, playing the same tunes that had entertained the drinkers at the Stoneleigh Club. She had the feeling that she was in some indie film having a dream sequence. It became more unreal when the rest of the family joined them for a sing-along, which lasted until the cook started to bring out the lunch. Whatever doubts she had about being here, the ice was well and truly shattered as they sat down to eat.

That set the tone for the rest of their stay. They were shown some of the records of the family, a few paintings of ancestors, a tour of the farm and explanation of what was produced. They were taken to The Porch House, near Stow on the Wold, in a people mover with Rupert driving. There, they had dinner and Willow ate a meal of smoked haddock and prawn cakes. The adults all had wine, with Rupert stopping at one. Willow had a lemonade, with Wendy tipping a little bit of white wine into her glass when she had emptied it.

They went back to Fern Farm and then off to bed after a nightcap. Breakfast was various tureens of hot food, so they all tucked in to eggs, sausages, bacon and the trimmings. After that, they were back in the people mover and into Stow on the Wold. There, they went to the St. Edwards church for the morning service. Wendy and Willow had been told about this, so were in new dresses for the occasion.

They were early enough to be shown the famous north door, which is flanked by a pair of enormous yew trees growing right against the church wall. Inside the church, Willow was drawn to the big bank of organ pipes. There was a voice behind her.

“I’m sorry, miss. Our organist is in hospital at the moment. You’ll have to come back if you want to hear it.”

“Just professional curiosity, sir. I play the organ at St. Marys at Stoneleigh. I’m with Baron Leigh and his family today.”

“If I get the vicar’s permission, would you play for us this morning?”

“I’d love to.”

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 14

He was back quickly.

“Right, let’s get this opened and turned on. It’s electric in a traditional instrument. Here’s the hymns for this morning. Thank you for sitting in.”

Willow was grinning as she started playing the Bach arrival melodies. The organ had a much broader sound than the one in Stoneleigh. As the congregation came in, her mother looked for her, seeing her at the organ. She wagged her finger before she went to sit with the others. The service was similar to what Willow was used to, with the vicar being very clear with the hymn numbers. There were only three, and Willow had played them all. There were no bells, but Willow played Bach until the man who had spoken to her came up to tell her she could stop.

“Thank you, miss. It’s a dull service without the organ. We have a piano, as well, which we use for special events, such as children’s services. You are very good; St. Marys is lucky to have you.”

Willow went out to be greeted by the others. Her mother tried to be stern.

“You little minx! We can’t take you anywhere without you finding some ivories to play. I thought that today was going to be a rest day for you.”

The Baron put a hand on her arm.

“Don’t be angry, Wendy. That was a wonderful service, with the organ sounding magnificent. Willow is a special talent and a talent like hers needs to find an outlet for it whenever she can. This weekend has been very enjoyable, and I’m so glad that we’ve met. There’ll be more visits in the future, that’s certain.”

The vicar joined them.

“Thank you for bringing these visitors, Baron, the service was better with the organ. Where did you learn to play like that, Miss?”

“I’ve been playing at St. Marys at Stoneleigh for a month or so. I’m studying at the Blue Coat School in Coventry in the music stream.”

“They would have to have you in the orchestra with you playing so well.”

“I am in the orchestra, sir, but play clarinet.”

“Have you taken part in any of the concerts?”

Ashley snorted.

“There a week and she’s in a DVD of their Summer Project, and the discs are walking off the shelves. You can get it through the school website.”

“My, my! A real future star.”

The Baron grinned.

“And part of the family, as well. Willow is a descendent of the brother of the third baroness. We only found out the connection recently. I expect that you may see more of her in the time to come.”

As the talk swirled around her, Willow had that feeling that she was in a dream sequence, once more. She pinched herself to wake up, then smiled as she realised that if it was really a dream, the pinch would be part of the dream as well.

Lunch, back at the Porch House, was very real. The talk was about the likelihood of future visits, the wedding plans, and the enjoyable visit that they had experienced. Back at Fern Farm, the Roses packed up and put their bags in the car. The farewells were protracted, with many hugs and kisses, but they were heading home before mid-afternoon. Wendy waited until they were back on a main road before breaking the silence.

“That went well.”

“It did, my love. The Baron is a great guy. He will be adding our little twig to the official family tree. That will put us into the next edition of Burke’s Peerage.”

“That will be interesting. When is the next edition?”

“Ten or twenty years, I think. Just don’t hold your breath. Although he did say that they make corrections in the on-line version quicker.”

Wendy turned to ask Willow what she thought, but Willow had her eyes shut. Wendy decided that she was either shutting the world out or could be asleep. It had been a very full, and very interesting weekend, especially for her talented daughter. She had to admit that the organ, this morning, sounded magnificent and it was her child producing those sounds.

…………………………………………………

In Stoneleigh, Gina was sitting at her keyboard listening to the last of the Moody’s songs that they had to get right. For her, last week had been almost more than she could bear. At the beginning of term, she had just been a pianist in the background; now she was out front and soloing with the orchestra, playing organ with a blues group, and doubling up with her best friend on keyboard for some of the most complicated music that she had ever tried to play. Not only that, but she was also singing backing! The next week would see them, hopefully, have it all good enough to get the green light from the school. She thought about playing in the church, that morning, and wondered if Willow had enjoyed her day off.

………………………………………

Monday morning was hard for Willow to wake up to. The need to be always correct and ladylike had been draining, even without playing the drinking songs. She giggled at the thought of the Baron and Baroness roaring with laughter as they tried to remember the words to a few of the tunes. She had really clicked with Cassandra and Terry and had told them to look on the school website to see what was coming up.

The main thing that was slowing her down, this morning, was the need to go back to being just another schoolgirl. In her mind, she had realised the responsibilities that come with being a grown woman, that had never been on the radar in the future as a boy. There were standards to be maintained, with the Leigh women as perfect examples.

Going to school, she told Gina a little bit about the people she had met and the places she had been. She spoke about St. Edwards and the door, but nothing about playing their organ. Gina told her that Sunday morning, for her, went well. The day dragged for both of them, until, at last, they were joining the others in the rehearsal room.

When everything was ready, they tried ‘Driftwood’. It was a slow song, but here she was, in the band, with Alec in front of her, playing his flute. It took another two tries before they moved on. ‘Veteran Cosmic Rocker’ was to be the nominal last song. It was loud and proud, with some very difficult timing, and took them the rest of the session to get close. As they were packing up to leave, Alec came over to her.

“Willow, my parents watched that DVD over the weekend. They were very interested in the second half, seeing that the band is this one that I’m rehearsing with. They want to meet you, as Mum wheedled it out of me why I was smiling a lot. She told me that I was usually grumpy on weekends.”

“So, what is it that makes you smile?”

“Knowing you, of course. What else could it be?”

“Ooh! Finally playing flute in a rock band, maybe.”

“That too. Anyway, how are we going to arrange for them to meet you?”

“Well, I will be playing the organ in St. Marys in Stoneleigh for the Sunday morning service. If they bring you to that, I’ll ask my mother if you could come to lunch with us. That way, you’ll not only get them meeting me and my folks, but you’ll also taste some of my cooking.”

“Can you let me know at orchestra tomorrow? That would be great. Dad has always told me that you can tell how a girl will grow up by meeting her mother.”

She gave him a mock punch on the arm, then he took her hand, and they walked out to the cars. He held her back as the rest went ahead, then stopped and leaned in to give her a kiss. It didn’t last long, and, when they continued walking, Willow smiled.

“We’ll see if you want to do that again after my cooking.”

“I can’t see you doing anything that will stop me wanting to kiss you.”

He squeezed her hand before letting go as they reached the car. Willow got in the back and gave him a wave as they drove away. Alec had a smile on his face as he went to join Grant for his own trip home.

When Willow got home, she waited until she could get her mother alone.

“Mummy, dear. I was talking to Alec, and he said that his parents want to meet me, for some reason. I suggested that he talk them into coming to church on Sunday and then we sit them down for lunch. I told him that once he’d eaten my cooking he would cool off.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Not really. Can we do that? I’ll help in the kitchen.”

“Look, with something like lunch, we can prepare it all on Saturday, then keep it in the fridge. We do have a microwave, so reheating things isn’t a problem. The kitchen table has room for six, so sitting in there isn’t a problem. Not everyone has a big dining room.”

“Especially one with a Steinway upright, in perfect tune, just gathering dust.”

“All right. Tell him it’s on if his parents are happy to come out this way. Where does he live?”

“Somewhere in the south-western suburbs, I think.”

…………………………………………….

Sitting in his home office, Paul was sorting out the reading for the next morning. He was angry with himself for his thoughts. That girl, Rose, would be there with the second-year classes. He knew that she played the organ at a church, and that Reg had advised him that she would liven up his Tuesday service. He just couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge her, so did without music. It hadn’t been a problem, so far.

What worried him was that she did all the right things, but seemed to be acting on remote control, lowering her head so he couldn’t see her lips move, without actually professing her faith. He suspected that she didn’t have any faith, and was just making the moves, and for that, she should be admonished.

…………………………………………

Tuesday morning, Willow thought Paul looked stressed. The reading was about those who followed Jesus around but really didn’t believe that it was real. Doubting Thomas was the main culprit, but was won over, in the end. Willow considered him to have been weak to just roll over, and the injection of magic into the narrative left her cold. Historically, she knew that there were people in the bible who actually lived, but when the magic happened to make the population believe, it all went a little off the rails. Without the ‘miracles’ there was nothing to believe. She wondered if that was why she played a church organ, being part of the proceedings but up in her hidey-hole without needing to pray.

The rest of the day went as expected, and the orchestra went well. Today, Mister Bamborough thought they were good enough to do both the pieces that they had been working on. The piano was out front, next to his rostrum, and they started off with the ‘Bolero’. They had a five-minute break, the sort of time that they would have in a concert, then went straight into the Grieg, one movement after another. When it had finished, he told them that they were magnificent, and next week would be working on something else.

“Next week, we will be joined by some more of the Senior Orchestra and will soon start with the ‘Beethoven Ninth’. We will work through all four movements before we’re joined by the choir. Gina, there is no piano, but we can fit you into the percussion with a triangle, or you can wait for the choir joins us and stand with them.”

“I’d like to stay in the orchestra, sir. It’s more exciting.”

“Good girl. The triangle will help you reading the music, staying focussed, and getting the timing exactly right. I don’t know when this will be performed, but the Head is talking about it being something special for Christmas. Willow, we are also thinking of you opening with the ‘Toccata and Fugue’. It’s just ten minutes and will make it a pretty powerful concert. The organ can be removed quickly.”

Before they left, Willow told Alec about the Sunday, and asked him if he could give her an answer on Wednesday, so her mother could get something in on Thursday, on her way home from work.

Wednesday, at lunch, Alec told her that his parents would take him to the church on Sunday morning and would sit with her parents. After the lessons, they all met in the rehearsal room. Today was devoted to working on ‘Nights in White Satin’. When they were happy with it, they did the complete Moody concert from start to finish. After some discussion, they agreed to extend the instrumental breaks to lengthen the show. There were three that were easily extended, so they spent the rest of the session doing those three. Gina was growing in musicianship as they worked, more able to play by ear and improvise. She had always played to sheet music, and the last couple of weeks had opened her mind.

The show was good, as far as Willow was concerned, but the bits that brought shivers to her back were the flute solo in ‘For My Lady’, and the flute and bass passage in ‘Nights’. Thursday evening was for running through both halves of the concert, with the need for them to do better with the backing singing. Geoff said that he could borrow a few units that would improve that aspect, with a switchable device between the microphone and the PA which could multiply the input, but slightly out of time, so making it sound like more than one voice.

Thursday evening, they found that it improved the concert by a lot, bringing smiles to their faces. Friday was the music class for the afternoon. The lesson took them from the fifties to the end of that century, with discussion on the biggest stars of the different periods. Mister Jamieson floored Willow, Alec, and Gina when he told the class that there was to be the final presentation of a concert, after school.

“It could be part of the exam regarding the pop section of Music Study, as well as part of the blues subject that is coming up. Anyone who isn’t being picked up is welcome, but you will have to sit on the floor as there are no seats.”

Willow, Gina, Alec, and about twenty from the class followed him to the rehearsal room, where the Gees had just arrived and were watching as the drama students were setting up microphones in front of all the speakers, linked to a mixer and then to a tape recorder and a digital disc recorder. Others were setting up cameras.

With the recording equipment ready, they did a quick sound check to test the levels. While that was happening, Mister Bamborough came in and stood next to Mister Jamieson. With a final look around, the five Gees started the blues half of the concert. It didn’t take long before the students were dancing. Willow and Alec joined them.

While they danced, Willow made sure that she watched Mister Bamborough’s reactions, only stopping that when they got to the slower songs and Alec held her close. He put his mouth close to her ear.

“Is it me, or is Gina playing better than ever?”

“It’s not you. Just wait until you’re there and playing to an audience.”

When the last of ‘House of the Rising Sun’ faded, the band took mock bows and then took a break for a drink. Willow was closely watching the teachers and was relieved at the smiles on their faces. After a ten-minute break, during which a few of the audience had to leave, Willow and Alec took their places, pressing the buttons to multiply the voices, along with the others.

She played the first few notes on the organ, and then they were into ‘Dawn’. As expected, Alec was playing as if his life depended on it, and the two keyboards provided almost the sound of a full orchestra. She could see the look of shock and disbelief on the teachers faces, changing to broad smiles as they moved through the set. The addition of the extended interludes worked perfectly. The camera operators were busy moving around to get the best views, and the sound man had his eyes shut and a smile fixed on his face. When they did ‘Nights’, as the final song, the passage with flute and bass was almost dream-like. They ended it with a neat finality. After a few seconds, the remaining dancers cheered, and the teachers applauded. The camera guys straightened up and the sound guy stopped the tapes, pulling off his headphones.

Willow and Gina hugged, and then it was a general hugfest, lots of the other students wanting to be part of the action. The teachers came forward and shook everyone’s hand. The other students slowly left the room, chattering about what they had just seen, which had crystalised some of the previous lesson. The guitarists put the instruments in their cases, and the drama students were cleaning up their equipment, as Mister Bamborough was speaking to them. He then came over to the band.

“I have a couple of questions, first. You were given permission on Monday, last week, and three of you had orchestra on Tuesdays. So, you had six sessions, prior to this, to put that concert together?”

They all nodded.

“No other rehearsals on the weekend?”

They shook their heads, and Willow spoke.

“I was in the Cotswolds all weekend, sir, on a visit to Stow on the Wold.”

“Look, I expected to come and hear the bones of a number of songs, not the complete package that I heard. Now, that Yamaha. Who does it belong to?”

“That’s mine, sir. Gina and I bought one each a few weeks ago. They’re good.”

“I’ll agree. They’re also easier to move around than the school organ. There has been enough of your DVDs sold to pay for one of those for the school. I’ll put that to the rest of the teachers in our next meeting. How did you multiply the voices, it sounded like you had a full choir.”

Geoff, pointed to one device.

“I borrowed these, sir. You can set them for a single voice, or up to six, with the inputs staggered by fractions of a second to give the effect. We only used them for the first time, yesterday.”

“Do they work with instruments?”

Geoff pulled his guitar out and plugged it into the unit, strumming a few chords while pressing the button to increase the number of outputs.

“Right, thanks Geoff. I want to get some of these for the school. We can use them with the choir to make ten girls sound like a whole roomful. It will come in handy when we do the ‘Ninth’. Take your own things with you, tonight. I’ll get a few volunteers to move the organ and amps tomorrow. I’ve asked the others to get us CDs of the audio, and DVDs of the concert to show the Head and the other teachers. The performance date will still be the end of next term, as there are no dates available this term. We can give you a couple of weeks, prior, to rehearse. We will advertise it through the website and charge admission. I think that we will have a CD and DVD to sell on the night. That will, hopefully, buy a lot more equipment. I believe that you’ve been complaining that the school doesn’t have any good acoustic guitars, Geoff. All the proceeds will go towards modern instruments, and we’ll let you guys choose.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Alec, where on earth have you been hiding? I’ve listened to you in the orchestra, but you were several levels above that, today. Your breathing technique is better as well.”

Alec blushed.

“It’s playing to an audience, sir. I had no idea that this type of music existed until Willow gave me that CD. What we have just played has been a struggle to get right, having to reproduce another flutists sound. I think I’ve learned a lot about myself in the last couple of weeks.”

The two teachers helped to pack Willows’ organ in the box and collect up the leads. When everything was turned off, they left the room, with Geoff handing over the key and the door being locked.

Alec and Willow carried the organ box, and Maisie had the boot open and one side of the back seat down. They slid it in as Gina got in the front. Alec pulled the hatch down and then kissed Willow while they were out of view.

“See you Sunday.”

“See you too.”

Willow got into the back seat and Maisie drove them home, being regaled by Gina on the evening’s performance. Willow sat, quietly, only adding to the conversation when invited to. For some reason, tears were rolling down her cheeks. She couldn’t decide whether it was the release of the stress of the concert, the kiss, or those damn hormones. When they got to her house, Ashley came out to help her take the box in. They took it up to her room, and then she went back out to retrieve her bags. When Wendy came in, while she was eating her sandwich, she just said that she would tell them all about it in the morning, and that she was tired.

Wendy took one look at her tear-streaked face and just nodded. Willow was showered, cleansed, and in bed before nine, and asleep a few minutes later.

On Saturday morning, she slept late. When she arrived in the kitchen, Wendy put a plate of food in front of her and stayed quiet until she had eaten her fill and had drank two cups of tea.

“Feeling better, now, darling?”

“Yes, thank you, Mum. I was wiped out last night.”

“You looked like you’d been crying.”

“I don’t know if it was due to the hormones, the kiss I got from Alec, or the fact that our last session with the band had two teachers, about twenty students, three guys filming with one manning a recording unit. It went well, and we were told that the performance will be certain. I hope that we get copies of the audio and visual recordings.”

“No wonder you were tired and weepy when you got home. You had your father worried.”

“I think that I’ll take it easy, today. When I’m dressed, I’ll go to the church and get the hymns for tomorrow. I might crank up old Betsie and run through them. Then I’ll need to unpack the Yamaha and set it up again. Mister Bamborough was very impressed with it and intends getting one for the school. It will be easier to move around than the old one. It was odd. He said that the DVD we have has sold so many that there’s plenty of money to spend.”

“I can believe it. If a thousand were sold, that’s five thousand income. Remember that it’s available through the website. If one of those influencers had pushed it, there may have been thousands sold.”

“He also said that they would have a CD and DVD to sell on the day of the performance. I expect he may use what was recorded last night. I have to say that we were really good. When we got into the first Moody’s number, I saw shock on the teacher’s faces. They said that they hadn’t expected what we had produced. The even queried the number of sessions it took us.”

“Once again, you’re making waves, my girl. No wonder you got stressed. You’ll be better able to handle it as you get older. I got the things in for lunch, tomorrow, so we can do the preparation this afternoon.”

“Thanks, Mum. I’ll go and get dressed now.”

Marianne Gregory (C) 2025

Chapter 15

Willow took her time getting ready, then strolled to the church. Reverend Russell was sweeping the porch when she arrived.

“Willow, welcome. How did your weekend go?”

“It was good, Reverend. We really made friends there. I met Cassandra, who is planning an Easter Wedding. I did suggest that she has it here. They did talk about having it at the Abbey. We went to St. Edwards for Sunday morning.”

“I know. I had a phone call telling me how pleased they were that I loaned them my organist.”

“Well, it was there, looking lonely, and their own organist was sick.”

He laughed.

“The hymns are on the organ, if you want to run through them.”

She went up and got the organ up to pressure and worked through the hymns, and then sat for a while, playing Bach to settle her racing heart. When she was calm, she shut it down and left the church to go and sit on the bench near the road. She had her eyes shut, thinking about yesterday’s music and the excitement with recreating the sound of the Moody Blues, especially how Alec sparkled on the flute.

She felt someone sit beside her and opened her eyes to see Gina.

“Good morning, my friend.”

“Good morning to you, Willow. It is a good morning, isn’t it?”

“I think so. I could hardly think when I got home. I was wiped out with the effort.”

“I can believe that. You know, if it wasn’t for you, Alec and I would have never had that experience. It was something that will change my life, even if it was just to compress the learning of all those tunes into two weeks. It has made me realise about the hard work that can achieve a good result.”

“It also changed the way you play. I think that you can now hear the music in your head and playing it is more natural. I bet that if we turned the organ on, you would be able to go up and play the ‘Toccata’ reasonably well.”

“I’ve never played it, or even seen the score!”

“Humour me. Let’s go and see if you can do it. You’ve heard me play it. It was the experience of playing Purple that triggered the knack for me. I felt that the music had chosen me to let it free to be heard.”

They went into the church and turned the fans on. Gina sat at the keyboard and looked at Willow.

“Close your eyes and listen to the music in your head. Then play and set it free.”

Gina closed her eyes, smiled, and started to play. She finished the toccata movement with very little hesitation. When the sounds died, she stood and hugged Willow as if she had granted her a new life.

“You were right. This is going to alter my life. I was only doing the music as an addition to the academic subjects, but it will now be a possible career. How can I ever thank you.”

“You could allow me to breathe!”

Gina let Willow go, and they shut the organ down again, before going back out to the bench.

“You looked as bad as I felt when we dropped you off. Why the tears?”

“I don’t know. I wonder if it’s puberty and hormones, or just the stress being released after the teachers said that it was all good. I wonder if they’ll go through with the new equipment?”

“We can only wait and see. Mum tells me that they would like us to play at the Club, tonight. A free meal on a Saturday night is better than the pay in the church.”

“The church will pay you in other ways, especially when you can sit down and play hymns after you become famous. It will give the newspapers something to say about you that’s positive.”

“You are cynical.”

“Just read the music papers. I bet that after we’ve played in the school concerts, the Observer writer will come along to hear you play. Church organists as young as us are not found easily. I’ve got to go. I need to put my organ back in place.”

“Can I help?”

The girls were arm in arm as they walked to Willow’s home. Wendy saw them coming. As they came in, she called from the kitchen.

“I’ve got the kettle on, girls. Come and tell me about yesterday at school.”

……………………………………….

In Coventry, at a café, the four Gees had been joined by their friend Jim, now allowed out after the measles. Grant had just arrived at the table after placing their usual order.

“Did you get to see the DVD of the concert, Jim?”

“I did, and I thought it was fantastic. That girl can play the organ as if she had been part of Purple. I’m sorry that I let you guys down at such a late date, but you were lucky with her. I’ve never seen her in the school.”

“That’s because, when we did the concert, she hadn’t started there. She’s in second year.”

“Oh! Come on, playing like that at thirteen, you’re pulling my leg!”

“Believe me, bro. She is the real deal. She plays clarinet in the orchestra, and is the freakiest keyboard player in the school, until she brought something out in Gina Summer, the piano player in the Junior Orchestra. Look, we did a session in front of Jamieson and Bamborough Friday afternoon. One half was blues numbers, the other half was Moody Blues. If you would have asked us if we would give them a go, we would have said yes to the blues. That’s the sort of things we like. Willow Rose gave us two CDs, one with a half a concert of blues, and the other with half a concert of Moody’s. We nailed the lot in six sessions, and three-quarters of the songs I had never heard before, even the blues tracks.”

“So, it was you four and her again?”

“Plus, that Alec, who plays flute, and Gina. It was the seven of us doing the second half, and she let Gina play blues organ in the first half. How she sees hidden talent in ordinary players is weird. Both of them were playing like seasoned performers, in the end. It was all recorded, and I hope Bamborough gives us copies.”

“Is there a performance date?”

“Some time towards the end of the second term. It’s filling up quickly for this term concerts, some sort of big deal with both orchestras.”

“So, it will be interesting when I come back, next week.”

“Sure will!”

……………………………………………

In the Rose kitchen, the girls had given Wendy a potted account of their Friday afternoon.

“So why the tear streaks when you came in?”

“I asked her that!”

“I’m not sure, Mum. It could be the puberty hormones, or the release of the stress.”

“Or the kiss that Alec gave you behind the car!”

“You saw that! It was just a peck to say goodnight. His parents are supposed to be bringing him to the church, tomorrow, and then here for lunch. I’m cooking.”

“Beans on toast is hardly lunch, friend.”

“I’m learning! Anyway, let’s go up and put the organ back in place.”

They went upstairs to do the re-erection of the keyboard, leaving Wendy with a smile on her face. She really couldn’t see any part of William in her child. She walked, talked, acted, and had the emotions of a teenage girl. She wondered when this concert would be. She knew that they had to be there. Then she started to prepare tomorrows lunch.

……………………………………….

In the school drama department, two students had come in on Saturday morning to work on the recordings from yesterday. They had celebrated at a birthday party on Friday evening, so were both a little under the weather. Both had worked on concert DVDs before, and it was a simple operation to make the CD audio, trimming the non-music parts. They spent a while producing the visuals, using bits of film from the different cameras and then adding the same audio track as the CD, but adding a title screen for the first half, and another for the second half. When they had finished that, they produced a cover for the DVD and CD with the names of the band members.

“What’s the band called?”

“They were Shallow Blue with the last DVD. I suppose that the Shallow bit was a pun on Deep Purple. These two halves are Blues and Moods, so, I guess that they’re to be known as just Blue.”

“Do you remember what Bambi asked?”

“I think that he said that he wanted it out by the end of next week. He said he wanted fourteen.”

When they had finalised the product to their satisfaction, they sent the completed audio, video and cover art to the company that produced the school concert discs, with an order for fourteen hundred copies each of ‘Blue in Concert’. Then they tidied up and left to go and see Coventry City play at home.

……………………………………………

That Saturday evening, Willow and Gina played honky-tonk piano in the club, with them and the parents getting free dinners. The place was full, and everyone had a wonderful time, including Reverend Russell and Edie. Ashley was a little unsteady walking home, but they made it.

Wendy told a grinning Willow to get herself to bed and that she would look after her husband. She did that by getting him to lean against the wardrobe while she took his shirt off and dropped his trousers, then gently moving him to a point where he fell onto the bed she had already pulled back. Shoes off and pants laid over the chair, she went into their bathroom to take care of herself.

He wasn’t well enough to be ready for church, next morning, so he was told to be sober and dressed and doing something productive when they came back with Alec and the Hancock parents. Willow and Wendy were wearing their new Sunday best when they walked to the church. Willow was up and playing Bach when she saw Alec come in. She gave him a little wave and then concentrated on the music. She had described Alec to her mother, and she saw Wendy speak to them, getting them to sit with her in the pew with Gina and Maisie.

The service was the usual, now becoming routine. She played the hymns as required, and started playing more Bach as the Reverend left the building and the bells started. When she finished, she shut down the organ and went outside. Her mother and Alec’s parents were standing and talking, with Alec and Gina having their own conversation about the Friday concert. When Willow approached them, both Gina and Alec gave her a hug, and then Alec introduced her to his parents, Harry and Elizabeth (Call me Beth). Gina gave her a smile as she left with Maisie, and the five of them walked to the Rose residence.

They found Ashley in his office, who came out to shake hands.

“Sorry I wasn’t at the service this morning. I had to catch up with some paperwork for Monday at the office.”

Wendy and Willow exchanged looks and then the adults moved towards the sitting room. Wendy opened the sherry and looked at the teens, who obviously wanted to be somewhere else.

“Willow, dear, why don’t you play us something while we talk, and then you can come and help me prepare lunch.”

Willow sat at the upright and started to play Chopin and some Satie, with Alec leaning against the piano. After a while she gave him a wink and played the tune to ‘For My Lady’. He took the hint and started to sing. This stopped the conversation in mid-sentence as the two of them sang. When they finished, Alec bowed. His mother asked Willow if she could play old-time songs.

“If you mean pub songs, Beth, pick one.”

Beth named one of the staples that she knew, and she started playing the tune, with both sets of parents joining in. They did a few songs and then Wendy stood up.

“Look after our guests for a few minutes, darling, Willow and I need to get lunch ready. It will be in the kitchen; we don’t have a dining room.”

Alec followed the two of them out to the kitchen, offering to help. He was tasked with laying the table after Willow showed him where the cutlery was kept. Wendy put things into the microwave.

“When did you two learn to duet like that?”

“We didn’t Mrs. Rose. That’s the first time. It’s one of the things that Willow can pull out of the hat. I sang it on Friday and played the flute. Willow just played the flute parts on the piano, along with the bulk of the backing. It’s just her and her magic.”

“Call me Wendy, Alec. Mrs. Rose is my mother-in-law. I saw Willow’s magic firsthand when we were at the school. She got up on the stage with those four boys and, suddenly, I was at a Deep Purple concert. I’d never heard her play it before, as she would use headphones.”

“I wish I had been there. I’ve seen the DVD, and it was awesome. The concert we put together will be great to see. Willow and Gina on two organs made Mister Bamborough nearly bug his eyes out when they showed him that full orchestras can be reproduced. I had seen Gina play the piano, last year, but Friday she seemed totally free, but totally in control. She tells me that she now plays the church organ. That was not something I had expected.”

“She spent some time on our piano, practicing the Grieg. She is a very talented pianist.”

“I couldn’t see her playing pub songs, though.”

“You should have seen her and Willow in the Stoneleigh Club last night, between them they kept a sing-along going from just after seven to a bit after ten. Never judge a book by its cover, young Alec.”

They busied themselves and then sent Alec off to get his parents in. When he was out of the
room, Wendy whispered that she could see what Willow saw in him. They had a cheerful
lunch, and Willow found out more about Alec and his young days. Alec found out about Willow’s young days in Bristol, slightly altered to preserve her secret. It helped that she could talk about the orchestra there and the girls she knew.

Willow found out that his parents had a haberdasher’s shop in one of the suburbs, and that he had an older sister who worked in the shop but was living with her boyfriend. After the lunch, Willow volunteered her and Alec to do the washing up, and the adults went back to the sitting room for more talking.

When they were alone, Alec put his hands on her waist and she leaned into him, putting her arms around his neck, for their first real kiss. When they came up for air, she pulled away.

“I’ll rinse and you can load the dishwasher.”

He grinned and did as requested, then she kissed him again as a reward for being a good boy. She pulled him by the hand and went to the door of the sitting room, where the adults were complaining about the government.

“We’re just going for a walk, be back in half an hour or so.”

They left the house, holding hands, and she took him to the pathway down to the river. Near the bridge, they stopped, and he held her close as they kissed again. Then, with his arm around her shoulder and hers on his waist, they walked along the river and behind the church. Hidden from view by bushes, they kissed again, now getting the hang of it.

Hand in hand, they then went along Vicarage Lane and back to the house in comfortable silence. As they approached the house, Willow said that she would try and talk her mother around to let her go on a date, but it would be difficult as they had no transport. When they were at the front door, they kissed again before going in, Willow heading for her bag in the kitchen to repair her lipstick and get a tissue to wipe his lips clean.

When Alec and his parents left, Willow walked with them back to their car. Beth was looking around.

“This is a lovely village, Willow. You’re very lucky to have such peaceful surroundings.”

“It’s glorious, and we have made so many friends since we arrived. The only drawback is the lack of shops and the poor bus service. Miss the late one and you have to stop in the city overnight.”

“They tell me that there’s a big house nearby that’s worth visiting.”

“That’s Stoneleigh Abbey, in the main village, a few miles west. I’ve seen it and it’s lovely. It’s very popular because the author, Jane Austen, stayed there. Her mother, Cassandra Leigh, was married to the Reverend Austen. The Leigh’s were strong around here. There are several memorials to them in the church. One was Lord Mayor of London.”

“You seem very knowledgeable about them?”

“It’s part of being accepted in the Village. Most places this small consider a hundred years ago to be yesterday. It really makes you part of where you live, like having an overcoat on a cold day.”

“Are you sure that you’re still thirteen?”

“You’re not the first to say that. When Gina saw me rehearse the Purple concert, she thought that I was a young-looking sixteen.”

They got to the car and Beth gave her a hug.

“I’m so glad we came to meet you. From what Alec had been saying, I expected to meet a cross between Taylor Swift and an angel. What I see is a very talented teenager with a very adult outlook and sweet as well. We’ll see more of you in the future, I hope.”

They all got in the car and drove away, with Alec waving out of the back window as they disappeared. Willow sighed as she turned to walk home. Her thoughts a jumble of her sorrow that she would never be a proper woman for Alec, along with the anticipation of being with him for more kisses.

At home, she went to her room, plugged in the headphones, and played various organ pieces to herself until it was time to prepare dinner. Conversation was light until afterwards. As they tidied up, Wendy broke the silence.

“Alec is a nice boy. You’re showing good taste.”

“He spoke to me first, so, I guess it’s him with the good taste.”

“Whatever, you make a good couple, for as long as it lasts. First love is a rocky road, believe me.”

“How many boys did you date before you met Dad?”

“Probably a dozen or more. There was one boy that I was keen on for over a year, but he migrated with his parents. He promised to write, but never did. Mind you, I was your age at the time, and I cried for days.”

Willow hugged her mother.

“Thank you for that, Mum. I’ve cried more since I’ve been here than I did before.”

“You were very loud when you were a baby, but you did quieten down after you turned one. It could be the injection or pills that have accelerated your puberty. You have done an awful lot since you started at the school. It has been good for you, as you have been good for it, and you’re still in the first term there with at least four years to go.”

“It’s scary when you think about it. I’m getting on well with the normal subjects, but the music has been brilliant. They’re talking about doing the ‘Beethoven Ninth’, the ‘Choral’. Now that would be fantastic to perform. They’re so much braver with the things they plan.”

“Maybe that’s because they trust their students to step up and do the hard work.”

“Talking about hard work, I’ve got some laundry to do.”

Monday morning was full of second-year students talking about the show they had seen on Friday afternoon. As most of the Junior Orchestra were in their year, the lunch table was full and had several visitors. There was a lot of talk about the half-term holiday, the following week. Willow hadn’t given it much thought, but some of the time was laid out when Geoff brought Jim over to the table and introduced him.

“Willow, this is our friend, Jim, who you replaced for the Purple show. He is keen for you to show him some of the tricks you used during that concert. We’re talking about G-Force being expanded to five, as you’ve shown us how much more we can do with the added organ. I’ve spoken to Mister Bamborough, and he’s promised us a rehearsal room next week. If your mother drops you off, and picks you up, on a couple of days, can you help out?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, Geoff. I’ll talk to my Mum. Will you have the setup that we used Friday?”

“That’s the plan. We’ll be working with those blues numbers as well, so Gina, you’ll be welcome.”

“That would be good, thank you.”

“Right. Let me know tomorrow.”

As they were walking to the next class, Gina and Willow were side by side.

“Willow. If we ask that there’s a room with a piano, and we take one of the organs, we could work on something together. I wonder if we get Alec in; we could see if there’s anything written for piano, violin and flute. It would make a great act for the Summer Project, next year. We could record it on our phones to play to the teachers.”

“As I play violin, I’ve been in a few different trio’s. Beethoven wrote some that I know of. There must be dozens that fit, seeing that those three instruments were so popular in their day. There may be something for just piano and violin that we can do. Even a more modern song with you singing as well.”

“Or us playing, and Alec singing.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re wicked.”

On the way home, they asked Wendy if she had any plans for them over the holiday. As she had to work, Wendy was happy to drop them off and pick them up.

“I doubt that the lunchroom will be operating, so you’ll have to take your lunches. Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

“It is, Mum. If the boys don’t need us, we’re going to work on something of our own. I’ll do some research over the weekend on a trio that we can work on with all that time. We may even see if there’s a few popular songs that we can work on as a duo.”

“Oh, yes! I can just see your names in lights. Tonight, see ‘Summer and Rose’ in concert.”

When they got to Gina’s home, both girls got out and hugged.

“See you tomorrow, Summer.”

“See you, too, Rose.”

Giggling, Willow got back in the car.

Tuesday morning, Paul was as stern as usual. Willow thought that he would never make it as an ordained priest if he kept that up. More likely to bellowing fire and brimstone to an empty church.

They confirmed the following week with the Gees, and Alec told them that he wanted to be included if Grant would take him in and back home. They also found out that Zara would be there to start to sing with the band. Geoff suggested that Willow could work with Jim on Fleetwood Mac numbers, with Zara out front. It looked as if it would be almost all week in the school.

When they arrived at orchestra, the school organ was sitting in front, with the piano off to one side. When they were all sitting, Mister Bamborough stood on his rostrum.

“Today, we will play a complete concert. We will be joined by the Head and Miss Russell, in a few moments. We will start with the Saint-Saens ‘Seven Improvisations for the Organ’, played by Willow. I’ve heard that she is happy with that. So, Willow, please take your seat. After that, the organ will be wheeled off to one side, and then we’ll play the ‘Bolero’, followed by the Grieg, after the piano has been put into place. This has been a very productive term, and I’m proud to be conducting such a competent orchestra.”

The door opened and the two visitors came in, nodded to the assembly and took their seats. Willow left her clarinet on its stand and sat at the organ. She looked at the conductor and he nodded to her. It was show time!

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 16

The rest of the orchestra sat quietly as Willow played the Saint-Saens piece, with fingers over strings and hands on the percussion, to dampen any resonances. When she had finished, a couple of the percussion players pushed the organ to one side as she went back to her seat. Alec smiled and made a kissy face as she sat down.

The baton was tapped, and they made ready for the ‘Bolero’. Willow thought that it was getting better with every time they performed it, with today being a real performance to the Head of the school. When that had ended in the great blast, the percussion players were back to push the piano into place and Gina made her way to the front to sit at it. The sheet music was in front of her, but she now knew that it was in her head and not needed.

The atmosphere was electric as they worked through the movements. Mister Bamborough knew that this was a pivotal moment for this orchestra. Today was the first time that they had an organ soloist, as well as Gina being the first real piano soloist that he had conducted. He was almost afraid to glance at the Head to see what she was thinking about it.

As the last notes of the Grieg faded, there was an audible sigh from the orchestra, followed by the sound of clapping from the two visitors. The Head went and shook the conductors hand, then went to give Gina a hug. Over in the woodwind section, Willow and Alec were enjoying their own hug, having to be careful with their desire to kiss. When things settled down, Mister Bamborough called for quiet, and the Head spoke.

“Thank you for inviting me to this concert. I have been hearing things about the Music School and this orchestra over the term. I really didn’t expect to hear such a polished performance from students. You have all done very well, and there will be a date set for this at the end of the year. We can advertise it on the website and charge admission. With how you have performed today, I can’t see any problems with the Saint-Saens concert for next year. For the rest of the year, you’ll be working on that along with others. I’ll organise the Cathedral board to come in early in the second term to hear you, with the concert likely in May. With what you have played today, you will have almost enough for a Proms Night, if we get listed. You’ve made me proud to be associated with you, and you’ll make the school proud in the new year.”

They all packed up their instruments and made their ways out of the school. Alec and Willow walked with Gina, both girls getting other orchestra members coming to them to give them hugs, including most of the boys, who saw an opportunity not to be missed. In the car, on the way home, Gina turned to Willow in the back seat.

“Did you know that you were going to play the organ today?”

“No, it was a complete surprise. I had played it in the chapel to Miss Russell, so I suppose that she had suggested it to round out the concert. You do know that you’re the first piano soloist in the school. Zara told me that she had never heard of one before.”

Maisie laughed.

“So, I’m chauffeur to a couple of classical music stars, am I?”

Gina and Willow giggled.

“Not just a couple of stars, Mum. We’re Summer Rose, the next big thing.”

They were all smiling when Willow was dropped off at home. She went in and Wendy saw the look on her face.

“So, my girl, something big today?”

“We had the orchestra, and they had me out front on the organ to play the ‘Seven Improvisations’ to kick off, followed by the ‘Bolero’ and then Gina solo with the Grieg. It was very good, and the Head sat in. She told us that we were certainly going to have a concert, this term.”

“That’s good. Let us know and we’ll get the tickets. Your father may get in touch with Rupert to see if the family would like to come and hear you all. That would be a good time for your grandparents to visit, if it’s just before Christmas.”

Willow went to get changed, then helped her mother with dinner preparation. After dinner, she sat at her desk with her computer and looked for the trio music, surprised at how many there were that included cello, but the smaller number that included flute.

Wednesday was almost anticlimactic. It was only the extra chatter among the orchestra members at lunch that livened it up. Their table was visited by one of the percussion players and a couple of other boys.

“Willow. I’m Brent, from the percussion section. I’ve been talking to my friends about what we’ll be doing for the Summer Project, next year. They’re in Mister Bamborough’s guitar group, and he has suggested that they talk to you about forming a band, seeing that the G-Force will be concentrating on the academic side and won’t be taking part. What do you think?”

“We will be in the school next week, Brent, working with Jim and the Gees to get him up to speed on how to play the organ with more freedom. Gina and I will be there, so you can join us to see how it works. The Gees will have the amps set up, so we’ll have to get Mister Bamborough to organise a second rehearsal room with more. I’m sure that he’ll be more than happy to help.”

“Thanks, Willow. We’ll talk to him and see what happens. We’ll let you know by Friday.”

When they left, Gina leaned over to Willow.

“Looks like we may have the bones of Summer Rose, next year.”

Most of the week was revision of what they had done so far, and Willow took time out to talk to Mister Bamborough.

“Excuse me, Sir.”

“Yes, Miss Rose.”

“Next week, when Geoff and the others have one of the rehearsal rooms, I was wondering if we could reserve another for the week with a piano in it. There are a few boys from the guitar group who want to see if they can fit into a band with us, so we would like a set of amps and drums there as well.”

“That would be Brent and his friends?”

“Yes, Sir. Brent spoke as if they want to be the next version of G-Force when Geoff and the others move into fifth year. Gina and I were also thinking of working on a couple of trios for piano, violin, and flute.”

“I’ll let you into a little secret, Willow. I have ordered two of those Yamaha keyboards. If you’re happy to use one as a piano, I’ll put them both in the room. You’ll be able to use the amps with them as well. I’ll need to talk to Brent to see what drum kit he wants.”

“Thank you, Sir. That will be great.”

On the Friday, Geoff and Brent collected the keys to the two rooms. Brent gave Willow three CDs.

“This has some music that Herb, the main guitarist, wants us to try. I’ve listened to it and I’m not sure if it’s possible. There’s a complete CD, plus a couple of live versions of songs to show how the band performed them. It is a lot simpler when they play it live. There’s a copy there for Alec; none of the guitarists sing, so he might consider being up front. He sang very well last week.”

Willow passed the extras on to Gina and Alec, saying that they should listen to them over the weekend, and talk about it on Monday. They had questions, but she had to say that she had no answers.

Friday evening, Gina sat next to Willow as they looked for the particular trio they wanted. They found free sheet music for two modern pieces, and there was one video on YouTube of a Nino Rota piece that was thirteen minutes. They sat and watched it and then Willow emailed Alec with the link. After that, there was a Cesar Cui piece that was very bright, and they emailed that link as well. When they looked, there were a number from that composer that they could use, but starting with a couple was the first step.

They put Brent’s CD in the player and sat on the bed to listen to it. There was a sheet of paper in the CD case with all the details. The band was called Kansas, which neither of them had heard of. The first track nearly blew their minds, but, when they listened closely, they could hear the usual rock group plus an organ and a brass section, with the organ double tracked. It was a concept album, called ‘The Point of Know Return’, about the end of the world as the one person who knows how to run the place disappears. In the middle of a mass of big-stadium rock, was a slow number that the girls immediately loved, called ‘Dust in the Wind’. When they got to the two live versions, they could see how the songs had been pared back for a stage group.

“Well! That’s something else, Willow. Do you think we could do that? When you take it apart, it’s not that much harder than the Moody Blues.”

“If we did, it would have to be the whole show. Some of the tracks are seven or eight minutes, and you would need to tell the whole story with the ten tracks. It would certainly stretch us, and we could use two organs to get the complicated bits sound good. Those boys must be sure of themselves if they think that they can nail this stuff.”

“It might be a good project for us. We could call the show ‘This ain’t Kansas’, with a picture of you on the front, dressed as Dorothy with red shoes.”

They both listened to the CD over Saturday, trying out the different organ sounds. On Sunday, Gina played the church organ, and Willow found herself sitting in the pew with her parents for the first time. After church, Willow went to Gina’s house to discuss the things that may happen on Monday.

Wendy took them to the school on Monday. It was strange to walk into the quiet building after half a term with well over a thousand other students. In the music area, they found the Gees and Jim setting up. Jim said that he had listened to the CD that Willow had given Geoff, and wanted to work on the blues numbers, rather than try to recreate the Purple.

Gina stayed with them while Willow went to the other rehearsal room, where the other boys were working out what they wanted to do. She was introduced to Herb, the lead guitarist, Victor, the bass guitarist, and Ron, the rhythm. There were both the new Yamahas, so Willow set to plugging them in and trying them both out. Alec joined them.

“Good morning. I’m blown away by that music. I’ve transcribed all the words and have been trying to get them all into my head. It’s quite a story. How much of it have you guys worked on?”

“We’ve been able to remember most of it, so we can get working on it from track one. How about you, Willow?”

“I’m with you, lads. Let’s get working.”

They took their places and started with the first track. After a number of false starts, they finally made it through to the end. They decided to take a bit of a rest with a simpler tune and worked on ‘Dust in the Wind’. They had just started what they thought may be the final run-through when the door opened and Mister Bamborough came in, nodded to them and sat down. They carried on and went through to the end.

“That was really good. Have you mastered any others?”

They played him the first track that they had mastered. He grinned when they finished.

“That sounds even harder than the Moody Blues. Well done, you. Now, if you can take a break, let’s go and get the others. We need to have a talk.”

They opened the door of the other room, where Gina was sitting by the wall as the boys were working through ‘Smokestack Lightning’. When they finished, they were all asked to follow Mister Bamborough. They were led into the main school, to the teacher’s common room, where the Head and Miss Russell were at the hot water urn, making a cup of tea. The Head saw them come in and smiled.

“There you are! Welcome to a safe place to talk about something very important and very urgent. Get yourselves a drink and we can discuss a problem that we have.”

They all got the drinks and took a biscuit from the jar next to the urn. They sat in a group and the Head cleared her throat.

“The week before last, some of you played a rehearsal which was recorded, both on good audio and on video. Mister Bamborough asked the lads doing the recordings to let him have fourteen copies of each, so that you can listen to them, and we can see about putting together a performance date.”

They stayed silent as she picked up a copy of each of the discs.

“Here is a sample of each disc, and I have to say that they are excellent quality. The problem is that instead of another thirteen, we have received thirteen hundred and ninety-nine. That gives us a cashflow problem. We cannot afford to keep these in stock for another six months. Can you play a concert at the end of November? These will go on sale three weeks before, in the school and through the website, at the same time we advertise the live performance.”

Miss Russell came into the silence after she finished.

“I’ve had a look at the DVD, and it doesn’t look like something performed in a rehearsal room. I think that we’ll price the CD at five, and the DVD at ten pounds each. The performance will be five pounds a ticket. The music might make a good Christmas present. We’ll be putting the orchestra concert on in the second week of December, with the choir starting their outside performances around then.”

They sat and thought about what had been asked, then Geoff spoke up.

“If we do it, we can have Jim playing the blues half and the girls with Alec in the second. I’m sure that we can do what you want. If we concentrate on getting Jim up to speed in the next day or so, Gina can go with the others, then we can all get together after we’re happy, and do the second half of the concert. Will it be a Friday evening, after school? If so, we can be set up in the theatre and do a sound check before anyone comes in.”

Willow spoke.

“We could do the show with the two Yamahas. Are we getting the voice multipliers?”

“They should be with us on Wednesday, so you’ll have them in plenty of time.”

The boys all nodded, with the new members looking surprised at being part of such a important occasion. Willow turned to Herb.

“With your taste in music, you must have listened to the Moody Blues?”

“You’re right.”

“Well, if the Gees and Jim work on the blues half, we can work on the second, now that Gina can join us. Can we have a copy of the CD, Miss?”

“I’ll give each of you a copy of both discs. If we sell the bulk of the rest, it will be a great result. We can’t be too hard on the boys that placed the order. It may all end up as a good moneymaker.”

The bands were given their discs and went back to the rehearsal rooms in relative silence. Geoff said that they would start working on the set, knowing the sequence of songs already. The others went into the other rehearsal room. Willow took charge.

“Look, lads. We’ll leave the other stuff until tomorrow, after you’ve seen the DVD. The three of us are good with it if we continue what we were doing before we were interrupted.”

So, they took their places and resumed working with the Kansas. They started with the first track, with Gina adding her input, then did ‘Dust in the Wind’, before working on the second track together. They stopped for their lunch, taking the wrapped sandwiches to the lunchroom and bought drinks from the vending machine. They got the best part of another two tracks right before turning everything off.

The boys needed to be somewhere else but were very happy with what had been achieved. Gina opened the door of the other room slightly and could hear the others still working. The three friends went back to their room and talked about the trios that they had sent Alec. He was excited that he could be part of a classical project.

“I’ll bring my flute tomorrow, if you bring your violin. Gina can play one of these organs as a piano. If each of us download your sheet music for the three pieces, we may be able to work on them if the others leave early.”

Alec went to the other room to wait for Grant to be ready to leave, while Willow and Gina went to the front of the school to wait to be picked up.

“What did you think of the mess with the discs?”

“When we finished, I saw Mister Bamborough speaking to them. I think that they hadn’t settled back enough to understand what he meant. We were all a bit worn out. It could be good, as it gets the concert over and done with, letting us think about other projects. Here comes your mother.”

On the way home, Wendy put the CD into the car player, and they went back to Stoneleigh listening to blues. That evening, the Rose family watched the DVD, after which, Willow was hugged and then went to prepare for bed. In her nightie, she sat at her computer and printed off the trio music, then hugged her two bed buddies before drifting into sleep.

On Tuesday, the two girls helped Brent and his friends master the Moody Blues numbers, being able to recreate the entire show by the time they needed to leave. The Gees came in as they were working through the last couple of numbers, having got Jim playing with a lot more soul. When they had finished, Geoff spoke for the other Gees.

“That was tremendous. You guys are good enough to do that half yourselves. We should have some voice multipliers tomorrow. When you hear yourselves using those, you’ll be blown away. If we get the teachers in to hear us, as separate groups, we should be able to do other things in the rest of the week. Zara will be coming in and we plan to work on a Fleetwood Mac concert for the second or third term.”

When the Gees left, Willow turned to the others.

“It looks like we’ll be Blue Two on the night. You guys wanted to have a project, and it seems that your wish has been granted, depending on permission. Bring your main game when you come in, and I’m sure that you’ll be rock stars.”

The others left, and the three friends set up to play a trio, with the music on stands. They did one piece, which they thought sounded good, and left the flute and violin with the rest of the equipment when they left. With Grant already gone, Wendy was asked to take Alec home. After a cup of tea with Beth, they carried on to Stoneleigh.

The CD was still in the player, so they listened to the end of the blues and the beginning of the Moods on the way. After dinner, Wendy packaged the DVD in a post pack and addressed it to her mother for posting on the next day, telling Willow that they’ll buy another one of their own when they’re on sale.

Wednesday was a success on every front. The teachers joined Blue Two, and Zara, when Blue One played the blues half of the show. Then, everyone trooped to the other room as Blue Two recreated the second half, now with the vocal multipliers. The permission was given to work on whatever else they were doing, as Zara joined the Gees to go and see what they could do with Fleetwood Mac.

Willow and the rest of the band worked on the Kansas concert, nearly completing the set when it was time to pack up. The others were still working, so Alec went in to wait for Grant as the girls went out to the school entrance to wait for Wendy.

On Thursday, they finished the ten tracks, and played the set all the way through, with Herb recording it on his phone. The boys had a birthday party to go to, so took their instruments with them and told the others that they would see them Monday. It left the girls and Alec almost two hours to work on the two trios, enough to be an act in one of the concerts.

With just the three of them, so they started to explore other things. Alec was told about Summer Rose, and asked if there were any current pop songs that he liked to sing along to. He had some on his phone, so they listened to one, then tried recreating it with the two keyboards and Alec singing. The songs ended up sounding totally different to what they had been working on in the first part of the week. They were almost jazzy. As they had each one how they liked it, they all had their phones on record to have their own set to listen to.

When it was time to go, Willow took her violin with her, and Alec had his flute when he went to wait for Grant, locking up and taking the key for Geoff to hand in. Gina needed to go to the toilet, so Willow and Alec took the opportunity to have a kiss while waiting for her. Before they parted, he told her that his parents wanted to see the Stoneleigh Abbey and would be coming to the church first on Sunday morning. He asked her if she could join them after the service. She said that she would love to show them around. On the way home, she told Wendy about the plan.

On Friday, she went over to the church to check the hymns and run through them. It was a pleasant rest from the full-on week. She tidied her room, did her laundry and transferred the recorded songs to her computer, then burnt a CD of them. At a loose end, she got the vacuum out and worked through the house, then started preparations for dinner. Once she had things ready to start, she went up to her room and looked through her wardrobe for something she could wear on Sunday, that would give her legroom at the organ, but still be good for a trip with Alec and his parents.

After dinner, she played the CD of their songs to her parents. Wendy gave her a hug, and her father said that she should start thinking about writing her own material. That was so far from left field, she sat, stunned. Her brain was full of tunes, both classical and pop. Why not try what he had said. She gave him a hug and thanked him for the suggestion.

That evening, while her parents watched the television, Willow was at the keyboard, headphones on, and trying out various tunes. She already had the words in her mind. They dealt with teenage love and a girl’s first kiss.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 17

On Saturday morning, after breakfast, Willow went for a walk. She went down to the bridge over the river and then along the bank to the church. Instead of cutting back along Church Lane, she continued through the orchard to Coventry Road and back towards home along Vicarage Road.

She was passing the Club as a truck was delivering beer. The Club Manager saw her and called her over.

“Willow, my lass. Just the person I wanted to see. Those piano sessions have been very good for the club takings. We haven’t had crowds like it for years. Can we organise a monthly, or even fortnightly, event?”

“That would depend on Gina helping out, sir. But I can’t see much of a problem unless we’re both deep into exam time. Would you mind if the two of us start with other types of songs while the patrons are eating?”

“You can do whatever you like, as long as it’s entertaining. Can you play a week next Saturday?”

“I’ll be there. My Mum appreciates a night without cooking.”

She carried on home to tell her parents about the arrangement. Wendy told Ashley that he had to slow down with the drink, or else she would go without him. After lunch, Willow went out again, but only as far as the bench by the church. She took a notebook and pencil, sitting there with her eyes closed while she thought of all that had happened in her life. She opened her eyes and started writing.

By the time that she went home to prepare for dinner, she had a number of song lyrics written down. There was a song about the transition from childhood into being a teenager; another about finding a best friend forever, that would precede the one that she had written about the first kiss. Having worked on two concept albums recently, she was writing a story, her story, in song. This would be her secret project.

On Sunday morning, she wore one of her better full skirts and a matching top. When the family walked to the church, they all had coats on against the winter cold. She went up as the bells started and got the organ ready, then started playing Bach, which always calmed her down. She saw, in the mirror, her parents come in with Alec and his parents. Gina came in with Maisie and sat in the same pew.

The congregation rose as Reverend Russell entered, and Willow faded the Bach out as he approached the altar. The service was routine, and she started the departure music as the bells started. Gina led Alec up to the organ as the church emptied, and he watched Willow playing. When she stopped, with the bells, she turned it off and covered the keyboard.

“Gina. I was asked, yesterday, if we could do our club gigs on a regular basis, even fortnightly. Are you up for that?”

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with schoolwork.”

Gina turned to lead the way back to ground level, and Alec took the opportunity to give Willow a kiss, before they followed.

“You do realise, young man, that kissing your girl in a church usually only happens after the wedding vows.”

“If that’s the case, my sweet, then so be it. We can get married here, can’t we?”

“Not so fast, young buck! There are demons to slay and dragons to vanquish before the maiden is yours.”

They joined the adults outside, with her parents walking home as she joined Alec in the back seat behind his parents. She showed them how to get to Stoneleigh Park, and then to the Abbey. His father paid for them all to go in, and they started exploring the building. Willow was able to talk about some of the places which had ‘No Entry’ signs as they moved around.

Beth was starting to wonder how this teenager knew about the hidden rooms when a voice called out.

“Willow! Fancy seeing you here.”

Willow turned to see Cassandra and Terry walking towards her.

“Hello. Are you here to look at the chapel?”

“We are. We were wondering what the organ sounded like.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t played it.”

“We have to get our organist to try it out, won’t we? Dad is around, somewhere, with Mum. He can talk to the management. Now, who is this young fellow, with his parents if my eyes don’t deceive me?”

Willow introduced Cassandra and Terry to the Hancock’s. Alec was looking at her with a quizzical expression, which Cassandra saw.

“She hasn’t told you about us, has she? I’m Cassandra Leigh, and my father is the Sixth Baron Leigh, who lived in this house for a while as a child. Willow is a descendant of the brother of the Third Baroness, if I’ve remembered it correctly. It was all a long time ago. Have you shown them the portrait of the Third Baron, Willow?”

“Not yet.”

Willow hadn’t wanted to reveal all, but it was now out in the open. Alec still looked quizzical, and his parents looked shocked. She took Alec’s hand and pulled him up to the corridor where the portrait hung. It may have been a mistake as they found the Baron looking at it carefully.

“Good morning, sir. Cassandra said you were in the house.”

“Hello, Willow. Who is this young man with you.”

“This is Alec, who plays flute in the school orchestra, sings in a pop group, and is my boyfriend.”

“Good morning, talented Alec. I know that Willow is a talented girl, and it looks as if she attracts talented young men. What is the pop group?”

“It’s a school thing, sir. We will be playing in part of a school concert. I’m with Willow, and others, recreating the sound of the Moody Blues.”

“Now, that’s something I’d like to hear.”

“It will be advertised on the school website in a couple of weeks. You will be able to buy a DVD that we’ve already filmed, and there are some of the concert that Willow played Deep Purple songs in still for sale.”

The Baron looked at Willow with a raised eyebrow.

“You kept that quiet when you visited, young lady. As far as we knew, you were a quiet young thing who played church organ and sometimes honky-tonk in a club.”

Willow laughed.

“It’s been a busy couple of months, sir. We worked with another group perfecting a Kansas concept album last week, with Alec singing, and our friend, Gina, on another organ. The three of us then did something completely different, learning a piano, flute, and violin trio.”

“Right. Now, are you two here on your own?”

“No, Alec’s parent brought us. They’re probably still downstairs talking to Cassie.”

“Let’s round them up and I’ll lead them into the forbidden zones that Rupert has already shown you.”

He set off and the two teens followed behind. Alec whispered to Willow.

“You never let on that you’re practically nobility!”

“No, and it’s not something that needs to go any further. It’s just that my great-great-great grandfather was brother of the wife of that man in the picture. It’s so far removed that we’re not considered officially family, except that the Baron has accepted us as part of his history. When the third Baron died, childless, his cousin inherited the title, and that’s Christopher’s great-great grandfather. If you go back to the church, you’ll see a lot of signs of the Leigh family connection.”

“Christopher Leigh?”

“Don’t make that joke. He’s good with it but has distanced himself from the actor, years ago.”

They found the Baron rounding up Cassie and the others, and then leading the Hancock’s on a personalised tour of the house, collecting Marie on the way, who gave Willow a hug. They ended up in the chapel, where Willow was asked to try the organ out. She had been to enough weddings, in her younger days, to be able to play the wedding march for them.

As they left the chapel, Cassie made a joke that Willow wouldn’t be able to play at her own wedding, and Alec said that Gina could do the honours. His mother looked at him and he blushed.

They had lunch at the Abbey dining room, and Beth announced that they had an appointment that afternoon. Willow saw the look of surprise on Alec’s face. The Baron looked at Marie, who nodded.

“Look, we were going to St. Marys to have a look at that church, this afternoon. If you want to dash off, we can take Willow home.”

“If you can do that, it will be good. Thank you.”

Willow and Alec managed to separate themselves from the group on the way out. Alec gave her a quick kiss, before he raced to the open car door, held by his mother. When they left, Willow stood, wondering about the change in the atmosphere. The Baron came up to her.

“It’s something we have to live with, Willow. That family has to be staunchly left. Meeting a right-wing peer of the realm was an unwelcome shock. I saw the look that Beth gave Alec when he spoke about Gina playing at your wedding. If I’m any judge of character, he will tell you that his mother has laid down the law. I’m sorry.”

“Not as sorry as I am, sir.”

“Willow, we’re family, call me Chris.”

“All right. Chris. I’ll try not to cry and spoil your afternoon.”

He pulled her into a hug.

“You’ll get over it. He may not be husband material, but you know that he’ll stay your friend. And everyone needs friends.”

She smiled.

“Thank you, Chris. Has Cassandra met Reverend Russell yet?”

“Not yet. With you to introduce her, I’m sure that he’ll be happy to let her look around the church.”

“Will you pop into my home when you drop me off? I can ring Mum to open a fresh bottle of sherry. I think that Alec’s parents emptied the last one.”

He nodded, so she pulled her phone out of her bag and rang home.

Back in the Abbey, both Marie and Cassie gave her a hug and told her that she shouldn’t be upset that her boyfriend was whisked away so suddenly. The Baron completed his task by getting the official brochure and the prices for weddings, with a discount as a Leigh. They all got into the people mover and drove into the village. Willow went to the Vicarage and spoke to Edie, who told her that the Reverend would join them in a few minutes.

Willow led them into the church, where Cassandra and Terry went around the walls, carefully looking at the plaques and taking pictures. When the Reverend joined them, the Baron asked about a wedding.

“For you, Baron Leigh, it will be free, seeing that it’s for the Leigh family, and will be a full-service event, with the flowers and ushers thrown in. The Leigh family is revered here, as you can see on the walls. It would be churlish to charge you a penny, and my parishioners feel the same. I’m sure that the Stoneleigh Club would be happy to accommodate a reception, it’s just a stroll across the road, so you can have a four ‘o’clock wedding and then go over for the reception. The happy couple can change in the vicarage.”

“That’s most kind. I would, of course, donate.”

“That would be your prerogative, sir. I wondered if you would be having the wedding at the Abbey.”

“It’s nice, but a little commercialised. This has a much nicer atmosphere. Cassie, do you want to hear the organ?”

“Yes please. Would you, please, Willow.”

Willow went up to the organ and turned it on, waiting until it was up to pressure. Then she played the wedding march. She thought that this instrument sounded mellower and full toned compared to the Abbey. She shut the organ down and covered the keys, then went down, where the Reverend was showing Cassandra and Terry the way that the wedding would take place, seeing that the main door was at the side.

She slid outside and trotted across to the Club, where the manager was cleaning the taps.

“Excuse me, sir. I need to tell you that the Sixth Baron Leigh is in the church, seeing if it would be suitable for his daughter’s wedding. Reverend Russell has just suggested that they hold the reception here, so they may be in to ask you about it.”

“Thank you for the heads up, lass. We have rooms that we don’t use, so a big do is easy. I’ll give him a really good deal, never fear.”

She went back to the church, and slipped inside while the group was being shown the area that the Reverend emerged from on Sundays, and where a table would be set up for the signing of the official documents. Cassie would have to come in through that door on the day of the wedding. She pulled out her phone and called home.

“Mum, we’re at the church so that Cassie can see if she wants to marry here. I think that we’ll be going over to the Club after, to see about a reception. I’m sure that the manager will try and sweeten the deal by offering them a meal, tonight. Be prepared for me to give you another call.”

She then rang Gina.

“Gina. Are you free tonight, if I call you. We may be asked to play at the club tonight as a special occasion. It shouldn’t be as late as Saturday nights.”

With Gina’s reply that she would warn her mother, Willow put the phone away and tried to look angelic as the Baron came back out into the body of the church.

“The organ here sounded much better. Did you play it differently?”

“It’s the difference between a newish instrument and one that’s been in place for over a hundred years and is powered by pumped air pressure. Having played the other one, earlier, I thought that this was much more authentic.”

“Authentic. That is exactly the word, Willow. This whole village, the church and the people. They are the real thing. My family has forgotten our roots, and they lie here, with all these good people. The club, that’s just across the road?”

“It is, and I think that the manager will be setting up for the Sunday evening drinkers about now.”

“They do meals?”

“Only on weekends. They get a full house on the Saturdays that Gina and I play there.”

“What about space for a band at a reception, or, at least, a DJ?”

“I don’t know. I do know that we fill the front rooms, but I believe that there are more rooms out the back.”

“We’ll just have to ask about those. This is great! My wife is happy here, my daughter is positive about the church, especially with all the ancestors here. If we get too many coming, we can always set up a screen outside and a camera inside.”

“It’s a good view from where I sit, if you want to have a look.”

She led him up to the organ, and he took in the view.

“For a wedding, the Reverend has told me that he uses the main altar, right at the end, so the cameraman will need to be able to zoom in. The procedure would happen just between the current altar and the main one.”

He looked hard at the view, then took some pictures on his phone.

“Thank you, Willow. You really should direct films when you’re older. We can put a couple of go-pros facing the couple on the day, to be slipped into the official record. What about unwanted noises up here?”

“I will be turning the fans on when I arrive, to get the pressure up. The only other times that they start is if I’m doing a long, or loud, piece. They kicked in while I was playing the ‘Toccata’ the other day, but you wouldn’t have heard them in the body of the church. Will there be many cameramen, seeing that it would be a society wedding?”

“We’ve talked about it and may have a single photographer from a society paper, keeping the general newshounds outside. It would be a lot easier to control than the Abbey. Then there would be the family photographer to do all the group photos.”

He took another look at the church from this vantage point, gauging how many could sit in each pew.

“The pews are authentic, as well, with the doors.”

“They’re the same in the Abbey. It must be something from earlier days.”

They went back down and joined the others. Cassandra smiled, sweetly.

“This is all right, isn’t it Daddy? All we need is to see where the reception can be held.”

“Thank you, Reverend. I’ll get back to you with the exact date and time, but it will be around Easter. Now, let’s go and see this club.”

The strolled over to the club and went in. Willow had suppress a giggle as the manager had put on a jacket with his name badge on the lapel.

“Good afternoon, folks. Hello, Willow. What can we do for you?”

“We’re here to see if you can host a wedding reception for up to two hundred guests.”

“Certainly. If you follow me, I’ll show you a bigger area. We generally fit around sixty to seventy here on a good night, but there are rooms where we used to hold dinner dances.”

He led them down a passage and opened the door to a large room and turned on the lights.

“We can sit around two forty, with the dance floor it comes back to two hundred. There’s a stage for a band, as well as a PA, which we would make sure was in full working order. It’s a bit messy at the moment as we haven’t used it for a few years. We had monthly shows up to the COVID period and it hasn’t restarted.”

“What about catering?”

“We have the kitchens here, and I would need enough lead time to make sure the kitchen is back at full capacity. We do feed around fifty or sixty on the sing-along nights. The usual charge for receptions is sixty pounds a head, but I believe that you’re special, right?”

Willow stepped in, looking at his name badge.

“Malcolm, this is the Baron Leigh and the Baroness. It is their daughter who will be getting married.”

“Right. I can bring the price down to thirty a head, two-plate drop, and dessert. Drinks would be by a pre-paid bar tab. I can do the price because I can get a good deal from my suppliers. All they need would be a group picture outside the Club, and your permission to add the caption that they had been the preferred supplier to the wedding reception. They would put the picture in their windows.”

Christopher laughed, and Marie giggled.

“If my daughter is happy, you sir, have a deal. This village is priceless! Or, at least, half price.”

“Look, Baron. Why don’t you and your family stay for dinner, tonight, on the house. There’ll be others coming in. Willow, would you be able to provide some entertainment if we include you and your parents?”

“That can be arranged. Can Gina come in and help out?”

“The more the merrier. What do you say, sir?”

“All right, we’ll stay. We can rest with a drink until dinner time. Willow, do you want to go and get Ashley and Wendy, and call your friend?”

The family settled in as Malcolm gave Willow a smile as she went off to collect her parents, calling Gina on the way. When she got home, Wendy had already changed and was putting on her socialising face. Ashley had a sports jacket and slacks.

“Right, Missy. You left with Alec and his family and return with the Baron. Spill the beans, kid!”

“Short answer, Dad. Hancock’s happy looking around Abbey, run into Cassandra and Terry. Cassie spills the beans about me being almost family, Beth looked like thunder. Baron appears on the scene and does the full behind-the-barriers tour, then we had lunch. Beth announces that they have a prior appointment this afternoon and they leave in a hurry, taking Alec and my love life with them.”

Ashley hugged her.

“So, a left hook met a right jab and decided to throw in the towel.”

“If you meant that she got the hump because I’m almost nobility, then – yes.”

“So, the Baron brought you home?”

“We stopped at the church to have a look and they’re now sitting in the club having a drink. Malcolm has shown them the big room at the back and offered them, and us, a free meal tonight. Gina and I will be doing an impromptu sing-along. If you’re worried that I might start bawling, I’ll keep it in until I have a pillow to soak.”

She went upstairs to freshen up and let Wendy redo her make-up. Then, they left the house and walked to the club, where the Leighs had been joined by the Russell’s and the Summer’s, as well as a few more locals who had come along for a meal and a drink. The Reverend had introduced Gina and Maisie to the others, and, when she saw Willow come in, she stood and came to her side.

“So, when were you going to tell me that you’re this pally with the Baron?”

“It isn’t that important, friend. They are almost normal people with a bit more money and a Steinway upright in the dining room. It’s a short story from a long time ago, and I’ll let you know it all on the way to school in the morning. It makes no difference to us.”

They hugged.

“I’ll believe you, friend. They seem nice.”

“I met them at the Abbey this morning. I was with Alec and his parents and Cassandra spouted it all out about our family and theirs. His mother carried him off after lunch. I suppose that my boyfriend isn’t my boyfriend anymore, on mother’s orders.”

“Oh! You poor girl. You two were getting on so well.”

“Let’s forget that, tonight. We have some entertaining to do. I’ll open up with something different, and then you can get them going. I don’t know how long the others will stay, but they do like drinking songs.”

Willow went to see the manager, getting him to put a microphone on a stand, next to the piano. Then she joined the others for a while and had a lemonade. Before the food came out, she went to the piano, sat down and moved the microphone closer, and turned it on.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight I’m going to start with something a little different. Please refrain from throwing tomatoes, they’re terrible to clean off.”

She started playing a tune and then started to sing, softly. It was her song about a child becoming a teenager. It was followed by one about a teenager finding a true friend, and one about the teenager experiencing her first kiss. Wendy had tears in her eyes as she realised that these were Willow’s own story. The next tune was one that Gina knew but had never heard it played with just the piano. It was ‘Driftwood’, and includes the line ‘Don’t leave me, driftwood, on the shore’.

She switched the microphone off and went back to her seat, to polite applause. Wendy stood and held her close before they sat down. After the meals were eaten, Gina went to the piano to start the sing-along. When she got to her final piece, Willow took over and kept the entertainment going. There was at least fifty in the club for the extra entertainment, some of the regulars having rung their friends.

When Willow played ‘Now is the Hour’, she put the lid on the keyboard and there was general applause, hugs and kisses as the Leigh’s left to go home, and the other patrons drifted off. The manager asked Willow to stay for a while, and the evening drew to a close with just the Russell’s, the Rose’s and the Summer’s, sitting with hot coffees in front of them.

The Reverend confirmed that a date had been set the weekend before the Easter weekend, and Malcolm confirmed that the Baron had paid a deposit for the reception at the club. Ashley said that they had been very happy that they had been so well accepted by the Village.

Willow was hugged by Maisie and Gina, with Gina saying that she’ll be looking forward to the story in the morning. Willow walked home with a parent on each side, each with an arm over her shoulders. When they got home, she went to her room and changed into her nightie, then went to the bathroom to cleanse her face and clean her teeth.

She didn’t cry until she was in bed, cuddling her furry friends. And then she cried herself to sleep.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 18

On Monday morning, Willow felt better. She had dreamed about life back in Bristol and had pictured herself in a bramble bush after being bullied. The word ‘stoic’ stayed in her mind. She went down for breakfast, determined that life continues, whatever had happened, and you just have to adapt. She was even able to speak about things when Wendy asked what had happened.

“It’s simple, Mum. Beth dragged Alec out to the car, and they took him away. The Baron thinks that she must be a staunch leftie and meeting a Tory peer had rattled her. I’ll be nice to Alec, as it isn’t his fault, but his parent’s support for our relationship has evaporated.”

“But we’re not even related.”

“Doesn’t matter. I was treated like family, and the acceptance of me just disappeared. I put my pillowcase in the laundry, it was a bit soggy.”

When she went up to get ready for school, she was meticulous in her dress and make-up. Luckily, the nighttime tears hadn’t left permanent evidence on her young face. On the drive to school, she had to fully explain the historical link to a peer to Gina, minimising any actual blood relationship. Gina was asked to just accept it as her family having a family friend who just happened to be a Baron.

“It’s all right, Willow. Spending the evening with them was enough to show me that they’re good people. Cassandra told me about you playing the wedding march on the two organs, and how it was so different. She’s one of those who hasn’t realised that the sound of an instrument can be different, depending on who made it.”

They walked into the school, confident that last week had been productive, if surprising. Alec was in a couple of classes, and he looked unhappy and couldn’t hold Willow’s gaze for long. At lunch, he sat next to her.

“I’m really sorry about Sunday. My mother gave me a good talking to about not following the family politics in being with you. She really laid it on thick. I don’t know what her problem is; the Baron and his family are nice people, even if they are Tory.”

“It’s all right, Alec. I realise that she’s made it very difficult for you. She didn’t talk about taking you away from school, did she?”

“Only if we remain as a couple. I’m not allowed to talk about you, but she will quiz me on what I’m doing. If we’re in a concert, together, she doesn’t want us to sit next to each other.”

“Is she afraid that I’ll infect you with a political virus? What about the band shows?”

“I told her that I would be singing with a group, and that you play the organ. She told me to make sure that there’s no contact, or else I’m out of here.”

“Alec. I’ll be blunt. Last night I cried myself to sleep. Today I’m prepared to be your friend and forget our closeness. I want to hear you playing flute and singing and am not prepared to let you leave this school because of her prejudices. I’m not happy about it, but seeing you here is better than not seeing you at all. Remember – hugging but no kissing!”

Gina was listening in and admiring her friend’s depth of character. On the way to the next class, she linked her arm in Willow’s.

“That was some speech, friend. It was almost statesmanlike. You could go into diplomacy when you get older.”

“It was hard, friend. I didn’t know if I could tell him that it was definitely off, but it’s done. I just hope that his mother lets him be himself. I doubt that she would approve of our trio pieces, though, unless he’s your boyfriend.”

That comment started Gina thinking. Living with her mother in a village of older people, she hadn’t had a lot to do with boys, other than seeing them in school. Learning to play the piano had also isolated her. Alec had been the first boy that she had spent time with as they learned new music. She didn’t really think of him as a potential boyfriend, just as a friend. Her first real friend who was a boy. She did think that Brent was cute, and playing the triangle near him may be an opportunity to get to know him better. In the band, he was with his mates, and she knew enough that this was a bond that one doesn’t intrude into.

Tuesday morning, Paul was his usual self. When they gathered for the orchestra that afternoon, Willow asked Zara if he was any different with her chapel mornings.

“He’s a bit stuck up, but all right. He can’t be anything else with Reg there.”

“Reg? Does he play the organ?”

“Yes, he does. He plays in every chapel.”

“Not in ours, the organ stays covered.”

“I’ll ask Reg when I see him. He helps out with Senior Orchestra on Wednesdays.”

Willow went and sat next to Alec, with them smiling at each other. The one thing that Willow had seen, when she walked in, was the two Yamahas set up in front of the orchestra.

Mister Bamborough tapped his baton on the rostrum once the orchestra had settled.

“Today, you will see the sheet music to ‘Carnival of the Animals’. It is a composition that highlights a number of instruments, and I’m certain that we will do it justice. In the original, it only uses eleven members of the orchestra. We have made changes so that most of you get a chance to play. We have a new instrument with this piece, called the glass harmonica. Can you give us a demonstration, Julia, please.”

The orchestra sat as they heard the sound of this new instrument, a proper part of some compositions in its day, a sort of industrial method of rubbing a wet finger around the rim of a glass.

“Thank you, Julia. Today, we will start with the first short piece. It uses two pianos, and we are now lucky enough to have been able to buy these two keyboards. Gina and Willow, can you come forward and take your seats.”

They went and sat at the keyboards, each with a small amplifier. They were set on the grand piano setting, and Gina played the middle ‘C’ for the rest to tune to. The baton was tapped again, and they prepared to play.

Saint-Saens may have written the opus as a musical joke and a poke at various people, but that didn’t make it easy. It took the whole session to get the first three of fourteen pieces to an acceptable condition. Mister Bamborough told them that they had done well, and then called out some names, including Willow and Gina.

“Can those named please arrange to be able to attend the Senior Orchestra on Wednesday, next week, and every week until the end of term. You will be working on the Saint-Saens concert. We will get this item settled in two more weeks, and then we will work on the ‘Ninth’.”

On the way home, they told Maisie about the new arrangements, excited that they would be in the Senior Orchestra as well. Wendy was also told that evening.

In Thursday lunch, Zara came up to Willow and spoke to her, quietly.

“I asked Reg about the organ in the chapel. He said that Paul told him that he had you playing it on Tuesdays. Something doesn’t add up!”

Friday was the first music lesson for the second half of the term. It was about the blues. Mister Jamieson spoke about early use of song that slaves used to communicate their feelings, and then the movement to other parts of society in southern America. They touched on Cowboy Blues that became sad country music songs and came to the more modern songs.

“We’ll delve deeper into the reasons and history of the blues, but some of you had a close encounter with modern versions in the last week before the break. We can watch this and discuss it.”

He turned on a big screen and they watched the first half – Blue Blues. When he ended it, he turned to the class.

“You will have seen our own Gina playing the organ in this show, the rest of the band are in fourth year. Some of those songs were written more than fifty years ago, who can identify them?”

It was Gina’s week to play the church organ, and Wendy told the girls that Willow would be having a short break in Oxford, to visit her grandparents on her father’s side. They would be leaving in the morning, staying in a hotel overnight, and would be back Sunday evening. It would be the last chance to visit before Christmas. When they were home, Willow asked her mother if the grandparents were aware of her change of status.

“They have been told, love, and your father has sent them pictures. Their replies have been a bit off-handed, though. If it all goes belly up, we can always tour Oxford and sight-see.”

They packed overnight bags that evening and left as soon as they had tidied up on Saturday morning. The drive was reasonable, and they arrived late in the morning, checking into the hotel before going to visit Ashley’s parents. To say the visit wasn’t successful would be an understatement. Her grandfather just made a sour face and left the room to read the racing pages of the newspaper. Her grandmother kept calling her Bill, while being quite chatty with her son and daughter-in-law. There was no offer of lunch, so, in the end, Ashley spoke up.

“Mother. I can see that you are not accepting of our daughter, and that Dad will have nothing to do with her. No amount of telling you that her transition was not of her desire doesn’t seem to sway your hide-bound thinking. We’re going into the city, now, to enjoy our break. Any visit, in future, will be just me. We did hope that you would be as good with this as Wendy’s parents. We wish you both a Merry Christmas. Hopefully, you might reconsider your prejudices at a later date. Say cheerio to Dad for us, we’ll see ourselves out.”

On the way into the city, Wendy put her hand on Ashley’s arm.

“I’m proud of you, my love. That took a lot of courage to talk to her like that. Any time you want a weekend down here, Willow and I will be able to get by.”

They stopped at a pub for lunch, and then did the double-decker tour of the city, getting off if they wanted to see more, and getting on the next one. They had dinner in the hotel, had an early night, and were back on the road home by ten. Willow had a number of brochures to look at, including some from the University. They didn’t take the M40, but stayed on the ‘A’ road to Banbury, where they had lunch in a pub. They took the A423 towards Coventry and then took a side-road to Stoneleigh.

Back at home, Willow hung the good dress that she had taken but not used and checked her skirts for possible reuse. Putting the used underwear into the laundry, she went down to help Wendy put together a light meal.

“That went well, Mum!”

“I’ve told you before that your father’s family are a bit crazy. It means that, if you go to Oxford, you’ll be staying in a dorm, rather than with them. Of course, you could stay with my parents and go to Cambridge.”

“I think that Cambridge would be the go, Mum, unless there are Uni’s closer with good courses. Of course, that is a long way into the future. Who knows how my life will unfold, considering the last three months. Actually, talking about three months, don’t I have to go to the clinic soon?”

“I’ll ask your father to check when they can see you. If it’s only a short visit, he can book you for a Saturday.”

On Monday morning, they told Gina a revised story about their visit to Oxford, and a lot about sight-seeing. Gina said that the general talk at church had been all about the upcoming wedding. Edie had been rounding up the volunteers already, and talking to the flower suppliers to make sure that there would be plenty of spring blooms.

The classes were all routine, Willow well able to keep up. At lunch, there was more talk about the juniors being added to the Senior Orchestra. Alec was one who was going to be there, as was Dianne. Monday evening, Willow listened to the complete ‘Carnival of the Animals’, noting how much of it was the two pianos.

Tuesday morning, Paul looked angry. At the end of the short service, they were turning to go as he called out.

“Miss Rose. Could you stay, please. There is something we need to talk about.”

Willow hugged Gina and Dianne, with her back to him, while she pulled her phone from her inside pocket of her blazer, switching it to record. Slipping it back in, she nodded to her friends and then turned back, looking at Paul. He waited until the last of the students had left and the door had shut.

“What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?”

“About what?”

“About making trouble for me. Reg Edwards asked me about a claim that we don’t use the organ on Tuesday mornings.”

“But we don’t use the organ.”

“Don’t you know why, Miss Rose?”

“No, I don’t.”

“When you speak to me, you call me sir or reverend!”

“But you’re not a teacher, and I was told that you were a theology student by the Reverend Russell. Did I miss your ordination?”

“You’re being cheeky! That old fool, Russell, wouldn’t have the gig here if it wasn’t for his batty sister. I’ll tell you why we don’t use the organ. I was at the Summer Project and saw you playing the devil’s music. I refuse to allow your satanic hands play this organ and desecrate the keys.”

“Why don’t you get Mister Edwards to play, then?”

“He’ll only get you playing, and I would have no power to stop him. I can’t wait until that Russell retires. When I’m the Reverend, there’ll be changes, I can tell you. Given the chance, I’ll get a pile of cushions and get the whole school on its knees for assembly.”

“So, would I be acceptable to you if I attend chapel in a sackcloth with a chain for whipping my own back?”

“You would never be acceptable, Rose! I see you, looking down during the prayers. I doubt that you even open your mouth. In future, you will look at me and pray properly, or I’ll put you on detention. Now, get out of my sight!”

Willow left the chapel and switched the phone recording off. Now, she had to think about what she should do next. She was late for the start of the first class and told the teacher that she had been detained in the chapel about future services.

At lunch, the others wanted to know what had happened. She told them that, at the moment, it was a private matter between her and Paul. Orchestra, that afternoon, continued with the ‘Carnival of the Animals’. On the way home, she asked Maisie if she could drop her off near the church, as there was something she needed to talk to the Reverend about. As she got out of the car, Gina gave her a look, and Willow smiled.

“You’ll know when everyone knows.”

She knocked at the Vicarage, and the Reverend came to the door.

“Willow, what can I do for you?”

“Reverend, could you please arrange for your sister to come here one evening? There is an important matter that I need to talk to both of you about. Around this time tomorrow would be all right as I’m with the Senior Orchestra.”

“Just a moment, I’ll give her a call. I know that it must be important, as you would never do something like this without a reason.”

He went into the house and came back a few minutes later.

“She’ll come to tea, tomorrow, so knock when you arrive.”

“Thank you, Reverend.”

She walked the rest of the way home. She was eating her sandwich and drinking tea as her mother was tidying the kitchen.

‘Mummy, can you do me a favour?”

“Certainly, dear.”

“Tomorrow evening, I’m going to need to go back to the Vicarage as soon as I get home. Can you come with me, please?”

“I can. Is it important?”

“I’m going to play them a recording of a conversation I had this morning. It was highly unusual, and I’ve asked that Miss Russell listen to it as well.”

“That serious? Can I hear it?”

Willow took her phone and pressed the buttons to replay the conversation. When it finished, Wendy sat there for a few moments, her face like thunder.

“That ‘holier than thou’ bastard. Give me five minutes alone with him and he’ll be singing soprano. That is going to blow up in his face after Miss Russell hears it. We’ll be there, together, and show them what the Rose women are made of. Transfer that to a CD for them to take to the Head, with a copy for me, if we need to play it to a lawyer.”

Before she went to bed, Willow transferred the conversation to her computer, then made four CDs.

On Wednesday, she kept herself to herself. With Senior Orchestra, it was conducted by Mister Jamieson, with Reg Edwards helping him. Willow had the school organ, Gina had a piano, with the senior pianist on another. They had already worked on the first movement of the ‘Organ Symphony’, with Reg at the keyboard. Over the course of the session, they ended up playing the movement twice, with Mister Jamieson telling them that they will move on next week.

Maisie dropped Willow off at home, and she went in, coming back out with Wendy, five minutes later. They walked to the vicarage and knocked on the door. Edie let them in and showed them to the sitting room, where the Reverend and Hilda were sitting.

“Good evening, thank you for seeing me tonight. I have a recording to play you, but first, I need to give you some background. Since the beginning of the term, the second-year Tuesday service has sung our hymns without organ accompaniment. In discussion with Zara, she mentioned that all of the services used the organ. She said that she would talk to Mister Edwards about it. When she got back to me, she told me that Paul had told Mister Edwards that I was the organist.”

Miss Russell looked at Willow with an odd look.

“And?”

“On Tuesday morning, this week, Paul asked me to stay behind when the others were leaving. I’m sorry to say that I recorded the conversation on my phone, because I had been having reservations about Paul from day one. I was worried that he may have sexual thoughts. I didn’t expect what he did say. If I may, I would like to play you the recording. The only person who has heard it is my mother.”

The Russells both nodded, and Willow took her phone out and pressed the right buttons, so that the conversation could be heard, loud and clear. For Wendy, it made her blood boil again. The Russell siblings listened, with both of them getting angrier as it went on.

“That jumped up little shit!”

“Now, now, brother dear, that’s not proper language for a man of the cloth. Mind you, I was about to say the same thing, but with a few four-letter words added. Willow, what do you want done?”

“That’s not my call Miss Russell. I’ve brought this to you to do with as you think fit. He hasn’t vilified me in public, and, as far as I’m concerned, I still think that he’s creepy. His main attacks are against both of you, and the implications of his ideas are for the school to consider. I have made three CDs with the conversation, so you have something to use as you wish.”

“What about you, Wendy?”

“I would feed him his nuts on a piece of toast, but I have to go with my daughter. What you’ve just heard is something the school has to work through. Willow is happy to carry on as usual and will stay quiet about the recording. She is not vindictive. But I will say one thing, if you do nothing, and he expands on his battle with her, I will take the school to court for not taking this seriously, to the detriment of students. His ideas about music do not allow movement into the modern age, in fact his ideas are almost medieval.”

“I agree. Brother, dear, can you contact the seminary and see if there is a replacement we can get at short notice. I will see the Head tomorrow, calling Reg in. I’ll play them the recording. If I know the Head, he’ll be out of the place before the afternoon. Can you just imagine fourteen hundred children on their knees, it’s absurd!”

The Reverend nodded and touched his cross.

“I am not a strong character, Wendy, and just like things working well. Since you and Willow walked into the church, my world has expanded. I believe that we may get a visit from the diocese before Christmas, because of the increase in congregation numbers. The idea that we may host a society wedding next year will get back to them and we’ll be asked a lot of questions. They will want to know how we do it. Hilda, if I’m needed in the mornings, I can come in to conduct the services.”

“Thank you for that. We can only leave it to the Head. It is part of her job description, after all. Thank you, Willow, for not screaming blue murder. We can minimise the disruption and any student worry. I never realised that Paul held those views, but now, when I think of times I’ve spoken with him, he was never respectful of the teaching faculty.”

As they walked home, Wendy had her hand on Willow’s shoulder. They had done all they could and needed to trust the Russells to do the right thing. After they had taken their coats off, they hugged, and Willow was given her sandwich and tea.

When she was in bed, hugging her two friends, she whispered to them.

“Now the excrement hits the rotating barrier, lads. We may have done it now!”

Thursday morning had no upheavals to mar the day, but Friday, they saw the Reverend’s car heading for Coventry as they went to the school. At the lunch, Miss Russell came into the lunchroom and asked Willow if she, and her mother, could go to the Head’s office when she arrived to take them home. Willow asked if Gina could join them, as she had been there when Willow was asked to remain behind, and that she wouldn’t shout it out if she’s told what has happened.

That afternoon, as they stood by the main door, they were joined by Miss Russell. When Wendy arrived, Willow went down to get her mother to lock the car and follow the three of them for a meeting.

In the office, they were sat down, and the Head had a teapot ready.

“Thank you, on many fronts. Gina, you must have had some idea that something was wrong when Willow was asked to stay behind after the service on Tuesday. I’ll leave it to her to tell you exactly what happened. She took a recording of that meeting to Miss Russell and the Reverend Russell. Miss Russell brought that recording to me yesterday. The upshot is that Paul has left the school and returned to the seminary. He may have to undertake further training. The Reverend took the service today and will fill in until there’s a new house priest. We will be pushing for one who is already ordained, maybe one who has retired.”

Gina was starting to realise that this had been something serious.

“I won’t say a thing, Headmistress. I don’t think that anyone has realised that he’s gone for good.”

“We want to keep it that way. Willow, the school offers you a sincere apology for his actions, and his allegations. Your faith is your own business, but your service to the school and St. Marys is noted and appreciated, as is yours as well Gina. Wendy, we thank you for keeping it all in perspective and going with Willow. You are a remarkable family. I will look forward to seeing you and your husband at the various concerts during the next few years. I’ve been told that they will be as good as going to London to see professionals.”

In the car, Gina wanted to know what had actually happened, so Willow played her the recording on her phone, then, ceremonially, deleted it.

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 19

When they got to Gina’s home, Willow got out and they hugged.

“I’ll be at the church in the morning to see about the hymns.”

“I’ll come and we can talk. You’re so brave. I would have just dissolved into jelly if I had been spoken to like that.”

“We’ll talk tomorrow.”

When they got home, Wendy took the CD and put it into a safe place. Then they went to change and met in the kitchen to prepare dinner.

“That went well, sweetie. We just have to hope that he doesn’t make waves. He won’t be happy and may consider what happened to him as a sign that you really are the devil’s spawn.”

“Does Dad know?”

“Not yet. He would have gone down to the school and tried to beat the shit out of this Paul. Now that it’s settled, we can tell him that we’ve done all we could, without violence, and then talk about getting security cameras here, in case the bastard comes looking for you.”

After dinner, Ashley was brought up to speed with the situation, restrained from dashing somewhere to hit someone, and then they spoke about the extra security. He said that he would go into Coventry, in the morning, and see what was available. They didn’t play him the CD, with Wendy telling him the gist of it and the result that had been reached.

That night, as she lay in bed, cuddling her friends, Willow told them that changing to a girl changed nothing, as there are always people who hate other people.

“I know that you’ll try to protect me, Tiger. I used to have to look out for a lot of bullies, once upon a time, surely one crazy man should be easy to avoid.”

In the morning, she walked to the church. The Reverend was sweeping the porch.

“Good morning and welcome, Willow. Hilda has kept me up to date with what happened at the school. After you had left, the other evening, I rang the Bishop and played the CD to him over the phone and told him the rest of the details. He told me that he would see to it, and that he was coming to our service tomorrow. Hilda rang on Thursday, saying that a couple of guys from the seminary turned up in the morning and took Paul away with them, then asked me to take the Friday service.”

“We told my father last night, and he’s gone into the city to see about surveillance cameras in case Paul comes looking for me.”

“He won’t be a problem. The Bishop rang me late on Friday. Paul was taken to his home and kept in the car while one of our men packed his bags. The Bishop said that there was enough hate literature and far-right brochures from an American cult, that Paul was given two options. The first was to be thrown out and the police advised that he was an extremist that needed watching. The second was to be sent to Africa with extensive retraining. He chose Africa and is being kept at the seminary until they put him on a plane.”

“That’s a relief! I won’t tell my Dad; he’ll be able to watch the camera footage when I’m brought home by a future boyfriend.”

“Not that Alec?”

“Not anymore. Last week having his parents meet the Baron threw a spanner in the works. We are now just good friends, if it got any hotter, she would take him out of school.”

“That’s a bit harsh! I’m sure a lovely girl like you won’t be left hanging for long.”

“It really is all right, Reverend. Alec was interesting but far too early in my development. I’ll see how I am in a couple of years. Before then, I have a lot of learning to do. What have you got for me for tomorrow?”

“The sheet music is on the keyboard. From what I’ve been told, you don’t need it.”

“I do have a strange brain. I can remember most of what I’ve heard in the last few months, and the more I play something, the longer it stays. Earlier than that, it just needs a look at the music, or the first few bars, to bring it back. You’re right about hymns. Paul would have been incandescent if he had known that I had spent close to six hours on the chapel organ playing hymns for the choir practise.”

“All right. You go up and get Betsie going, toss the sheet music down and I’ll call out the numbers.”

Willow grinned.

“You’re on!”

She went into the church and up to the organ, picking up the music and dropping it down to him. She sat and warmed up with a few bars of Bach. In the silence, he called a number, and she played the intro to the hymn. He called another, then another, then another.

“All right, young lady, you win. This will give you a head start on the Bishop. He has been known to call out a hymn number at random when he gives a reading, to see if the organist is up to scratch. I expect that reports that he has received from the school will tempt him to try it. If you just sit without playing, he’ll look at the board and tell the congregation that he had made a mistake and then call the right number.”

She turned the organ off and went down.

“This Bishop sounds like quite a card.”

“He was a few years before me in the seminary. He had some difficult assignments in his early days and has learned to go with the flow. We served in adjoining parishes for several years and became good friends. He will be staying at the vicarage overnight, so will be coming to the club for dinner tonight.”

“We’re starting monthly sing-alongs tonight, going to fortnightly in spring. So, he’ll get to hear his organists playing honky-tonk.”

They laughed and went back outside as Gina was approaching. Willow went over to the bench, and she followed, sitting beside her.

“All good with the hymns tomorrow?”

“No problems, it should go well. How are you feeling after the surprise of yesterday?”

“Really well. I still can’t see how you could stay steady and calm for four days. I would have been in tears to have been spoken to like that.”

“It’s training, just training. When you’re confronted by a bully, tears make them worse; looking frightened makes them happy, and begging ends up with you getting a kicking. Stare them in the eye and hold your nerve and they think twice. Paul couldn’t lay a hand on me in the school, and that was my strength. The Reverend has just told me that Paul will be kept at the seminary until he’s flown to Africa on a new assignment.”

Gina was quiet for a few moments, looking at her feet, then held her head up.

“It’s odd, us sitting here like this. When I first met you after that concert, I thought that I was in love with you.”

“I know. I saw the look in your eyes.”

“You knew! Why didn’t you tell me to buzz off?”

“Because I also knew that you are a nice girl. I wondered if it was just awe from the concert.”

“It was, I think. Knowing you better, I respect you and your talent. Your friendship and leading me to better things has made me realise how special you are. I had never thought that I was a lesbian, but there was one short period when all I wanted to do was kiss you. Now we hug and it’s so much better.”

Willow turned to her and opened her arms. They hugged for a while, then drew apart. Gina looked serious.

“I’ve been thinking about the orchestra. If they do a full Saint-Saens concert, it will be the two of us highlighted. You first on the organ with ‘Seven Improvisations’, then the pair of us with ‘Carnival’, seeing that the pianos hog the show. After that you’re the mainstay of the ‘Organ Symphony’ and I get a lot of work on the piano. It’s making me realise that we’re both being picked out.”

“Why is that a problem, friend? We are the youngest church organists around, the best pub piano players in the area. I get a solo in one concert; you get a solo in another. We’re both good enough to wear the mantle with humility and a touch of pride. Our playing lifts the others to new heights, with just a chance that they will get more exposure over the next few years. Take on a side-job. Listen to the others and see if there are any who deserve a chance. Then we can make suggestions. When we get to ‘The Swan’, I think Zara will be setting herself up for a cello concerto later. Mister Bamborough is very good at promoting talent when it is pointed out to him.”

“Talking about talent. Those songs that you opened the show with last week. I can’t remember hearing the first few, before. ‘Driftwood’, I knew, of course, but never how you played it.”

Willow reached into her bag and pulled out her notebook, showing her writing to Gina.

“That’s because I sat here and wrote them. The tunes had been whirling around in my head, and the stress of having Alec wrenched from my life made them bubble to the surface. There has been one thing about a lot of songs, and that is that they are written about a personal loss. Or a personal gain.”

“That second song. That was about me?”

“Of course it was, my best friend forever. Who else could it have been.”

They hugged again. Gina was crying tears of happiness.

“Don’t go blubbing on me, it will set me off as well.”

“I can’t help it, I’m so happy.”

“Stay that way, friend, and nothing will stop you.”

“Talking about stopping, I told Mum that I’ll be stopping at your house for lunch.”

Willow laughed.

“That’s good. We can research the internet for more pub songs, maybe we can get sheet music for you to extend your session.”

They went to Willow’s home, had lunch with Wendy, and then went up to Willows bedroom to get the keyboard, re-erecting it in the sitting room next to the upright. When they had set up the computer, they looked for more pub songs. As they found one that they hadn’t played, they listened to it and then Willow played it on the Yamaha, with Gina watching her fingering and getting the tune into her mind. Then, she played it, solo, with Willow looking on. Over on the other side of the room, Wendy watched as they worked, growing more amazed at her daughter, and her ability to transfer her talent to Gina.

When they had found ten that would work, Wendy asked the question that had been on her mind for a week.

“Those few songs that you opened with. Where did you learn those?”

“The last one was one that we had worked on for the Moody Blues show. The others were ones I wrote. They were just right to fit my mood. Those who had been there at the Abbey understood them, completely.”

“So did I, my daughter. It was the story of your recent life. Have you got any more?”

“Not yet, but there are a lot of songs that Gina and I did with Alec singing. Are you up for it, friend?”

Gina grinned and started playing one of the tunes; Willow switched to a strings setting and started singing. They played recent chart-toppers for half an hour, Gina amazed at how she could drag each song from her memory, as long as they did them in the order that they had played them before. When they finished, Wendy smiled.

“Why don’t we take the keyboard and amp over to the club. You could open the evening with that set. It’s songs that the younger ones would be able to sing along to. You don’t need to be playing old time stuff until they’re getting drunk.”

She left them and walked over to the club, seeing Malcolm, organising a power plug and two microphones. He had a twenty-watt amp that could be used for both the mics and the organ. She went back home.

“All worked out. We just need to take the keyboard, stool, and stand. Let’s get them there and then we can tizzy up for the Saturday Night Hoedown.”

That’s what they did. With the keyboard set up, a sound-check made, and a song sung, they left a beaming Malcolm polishing glasses. Gina and Willow hugged and then parted to get into better dresses for the first performance of Summer Rose.

Ashley had returned with boxes of cameras and other items.

“What on earth have you got there?”

“Security, dear wife. We have five cameras. One to look down the road to the junction, one to be set on wide-angle over the front door, one for the left side, another for the right side and the last looking at the back yard.”

“That one will be nice, I’ll be able to watch you putting up a shed to store all our extra stuff. We’ll need the spare room if my parents come visiting.”

“Very funny. The rest are a siren and a lot of panic buttons. The whole lot is blue tooth driven and able to be monitored through our phones.”

Willow snorted.

“It looks as if I’ll have to have a goodnight snog around the corner before I get driven home. There’s no way you’ll get me on disc by the front door. Thank you, Daddy.”

“I can always get another one and put it in a tree on Vicarage Road.”

“You do that, and you’ll be getting pictures of the fish in the river!”

They had a laugh and finished getting ready to go out. Both Wendy and Willow had the dresses that they had bought to visit the Baron, and Ashley had to take himself out of his comfort zone to match the good looks.

At the club, they were seated early, and Willow and Gina were fed first. The place started to fill, and Willow saw the three Russell’s come in with a jovial looking man, the only clue that he was the Bishop being the gold cross on a chain, matching the Reverend’s own. As the food was brought out and the talk subsided, the girls went to the two keyboards and sat down. Willow spoke into her microphone.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Stoneleigh Club and what will become a monthly event, hopefully becoming fortnightly as the weather improves. Of course, that also depends on you turning up, drinking up, and singing along. Tonight, we are doing something different. Tonight, we’ll start with more modern songs, so that the younger ones among you can go home to bed. After that we’ll do more of the old favourites.”

Gina spoke.

“I’m Summer.”

“And I’m Rose.”

“Together, we’re Summer Rose!”

And then Gina started playing. They were not a couple of thirteen-year-olds as they worked into the set; they were a pair of seasoned performers. The Bishop leaned towards his friend.

“Those two are fantastic. I wonder what they charge?”

“They do this show for a free meal, my friend. The one on the piano is Gina, a long-time resident of the village. The other is Willow, who moved here in the summer. They both attend the Blue Coat, and they are both organists in the church. You’ll see Willow in action, tomorrow, as they alternate.”

“My word, you are a lucky man!”

The girls finished the modern songs, and the Gina started with her part of the show. Unbidden, Willow continued to play accompaniment, with them both leading the singing. Malcolm brought them lemonades and they continued into the evening, with a swap of seats to put Willow on the piano. Gina found her improvisation skill and switched from strings to organ to brass sounds as needed. After the last song, Gina bade the audience goodnight from Summer Rose, and they stood and bowed.

They hugged and then joined the others at their table for more hugs all round. Willow saw a smiling Bishop being taken back to the vicarage, with more than communion wine in him. Malcolm surprised them by telling them that they would get a share of an overflowing tips jar and thanking them for such a great show.

“Girls. I have an idea. If we need to get the back room into good order for that wedding, perhaps we can do that early and put on a Christmas Party. Give it some thought, and we can discuss it another time.”

Willow walked home with a parent on each side, with arms over her shoulders. She felt tired, but happy at what she and Gina had done. It was if they had a mental connection as they played. It didn’t pass her by that Miss Russell had been there. There would be ramifications during school hours, likely a spot in one of the concerts using both of the new keyboards. She wondered if the guys from Blue Two would be interested in joining them. A party gig in front of a couple of hundred might be something to get them excited.

The relief that Paul wouldn’t be a bother, and the tiredness of playing, allowed her to sleep deeply, dreamlessly restoring her body. Waking up to a cold, but bright, day, she showered and dressed for church, then went down for breakfast. Wendy gave her a hug and then put a plate in front of her. She devoured the food, needing the strength it gave her, and then went up to brush her teeth.

When she came down, her parents were waiting for her, and they walked towards the church, the bells starting as they approached. Reverend Russell was waiting.

“Good morning, good people. Today, we are blessed with having the Bishop give the service. He will join us before it starts, but is being a little slow getting going, this morning.”

Willow grinned to herself as she went in and got the organ ready. She had retrieved the sheet music, just for show, and set it to one side to start playing the Bach variations that she improvised. Slowly, the church filled, the bells stopped, and the congregation rose. She could see the Bishop walk up the aisle, the Reverend to one side and a warden to the other. She timed the music to stop as he arrived at the altar, then sat as he led the welcoming prayer. She was ready when he climbed the stairs to the pulpit.

“Today, the first hymn is one of my favourites”

He called out a number and there was a general rustling of pages as they tried to locate the hymn. Willow left it a few beats until she could hear that they were mostly ready, and then played the intro, which allowed any laggard time to find the right page. Every hymn, thereafter, wasn’t what was on the board, and Willow could see some smiles in the mirror as she played the right tune. The readings and the sermon were normal, and after the Bishop had descended the stairs, he knelt at the altar, and it was quiet. When he rose, he turned to the congregation.

“My friends. I had heard whispers about St. Marys and my friend, Reverend Russell. They told me that great things were happening here, in Stoneleigh. I came to your lovely village yesterday and was taken to your community club last night. There, I was amazed at how strong the community spirit is, and enjoyed the show that was put on by two, very talented, girls. One of those girls was at the organ, today. I have a habit which I should stop, and probably will, after this morning. I would call out a hymn number that isn’t scheduled to see if the organist is up to scratch. Usually, it only those with many years behind them who will be able to adapt. If they remain silent, I say that I’ve made a mistake and revert to the one on the board. Today, every hymn that was sung were my personal favourites, and my personal choices. Your organist, Willow Rose, was with me all the way and I hereby vow that I will never play that trick again, having been beaten four – nil.”

He turned and left the church, with the two attendants behind him. Willow started playing the music as the bells were ringing. There was some applause as the congregation slowly left. When Willow thought that everyone had gone, she timed the music to finish with the bells, then turned the organ fans off and went downstairs. Her parents were waiting for her and hugged her. Her father laughed.

“Queen takes Bishop, check mate!”

“Don’t pretend that you play chess, Dad. That was fun, though. The Reverend had warned me that he might try one ring-in, but four was interesting.”

Wendy gave her another hug.

“But it was a very enlightening set of hymns. The Bishop is a man of joy and hope, if those show his feelings in song.”

They left the church as a family. Gina was the first to hug her, the Bishop was next.

“What can I say, Miss Rose. I have had seasoned organists cry when I’ve played that trick, and then I come here to find a teenager who beat me at my own game. Hilda Russell has told me about you two girls at the school, and I’ll be with my church committee to listen to the concert that’s planned. With the two of you on piano and organ, it can’t go wrong.”

“Thank you, Bishop. We’re working on ‘Carnival of the Animals’ at the moment and should have the whole thing ready to hear by the end of February.”

“Excellent. Now, I have a favour to ask you, young lady. I’m told that Gina will be playing here next Sunday. I wonder if you’ll like a chance to get some time in on our organ, at the Cathedral. I’ll give my organist the day off, and you can come in on Saturday afternoon to see what you think. Then we have two services on Sunday, the usual and an Evensong. Do we have your permission, Mister and Mrs. Rose?”

“You don’t have to ask, Bishop. We will be happy to bring Willow to Coventry and see your wonderful Cathedral. Saturday would be a good opportunity for Willow and me to get new dresses for the occasion. My husband can give the house a clean on Saturday.”

They all grinned and then the Bishop left them to speak to others. Gina hugged Willow again.

“Playing the organ in the Cathedral! It’s a wonderful instrument. You’re so lucky!”

“What is lucky is that I get to play it before we go there for a rehearsal of the concert. It will let me know how quickly I can leave the piano, after Carnival, and be ready to play.”

Miss Russell came over to them.

“Well done, you two. The Bishop was the one who had doubts about our concert idea. Now, with him on board, we can push forward with it. Last night was an eye-opener. My brother had told me that you played pub songs in the club. What I didn’t expect to see was a three-hour show of new and old tunes that everyone could sing to. I guess that you won’t be surprised if I pencil the two of you in for a complete show in the school theatre, sometime next year.”

“We had spoken about that, Miss Russell. We were wondering if we could pull Blue Two into it and make it a complete band. They were thinking about a Christmas party in the Club, in the bigger room out the back.”

“Blue Two?”

“Yes, the four Gees will be Blue One when we do that blues show, with Jim on the organ. Blue Two are all second years, the two of us plus Alec, Brent and three of his friends. We will do the Moody Blues half of the show. We have all rehearsed the two halves, so the actual show will be different looking to the DVD.”

“You have four new members able to play that set?”

“Yes, is that a problem?”

“Certainly not. Can we have a demonstration, some time?”

“Not a problem, Miss Russell. After that, we can show you the other show that we’ve put together. It’s from a concept album by Kansas and will be a full show of ten long tracks.”

“That, we’ll have to hear. Do you have any idea how much you two are doing for the school? Mister Bamborough has been in my ear about how much better the orchestra is, with the two of you providing the higher bar for them to jump over.”

“We’re just doing what we love. We’re both amazed at how well we play, together. Last night was the first time we had both stayed out front, and it worked. That reminds me. I have to get my keyboard back from the club.”

“You go and do what you have to do. I’ll be telling the Head that you’ll be at the Cathedral next week, so expect some of the school staff along, although you won’t see them from where you’ll be sitting.”

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 20

Finally, Willow and Gina could take their leave and go to the club to collect the keyboard. They were greeted by Malcolm, who gave each girl an envelope, with notes in them.

“That was a great show you put on, last night, girls.”

“Even the Bishop mentioned it in the service this morning.”

“We had the Bishop in here, last night?”

“We did, and he told everyone how much he had enjoyed it. Can we have a quick look at the back room, please? We’re thinking about your idea of a Christmas party.”

He showed them the room, and then the storeroom where the house amplifiers were stored.

“It will all need a clean and test before we use anything. If we do long tables, we can fit about two-twenty sitting, with space for dancing. The wedding will have to be limited to two hundred if they want a head table. There is a PA system, which hasn’t been used since COVID started. There are a few volunteers, mainly the ladies from the church, who will be able to get the place tidy and clean.”

Ashley came in while they were unplugging the keyboard. He had a quick talk to Malcolm, and then picked up the keyboard while the girls took the frame and stool. They went to Willow’s home, where Wendy and Maisie were getting a kettle going. Wendy rummaged in her larder and was able to produce lunch for them all while Willow and Gina were putting the keyboard back in the bedroom.

As the shops were still open that afternoon, Wendy and Willow were joined by Gina and Maisie to go and look for things suitable for an organist in the Cathedral. Willow decided that she already had a full skirt for Saturday but went home with a matching skirt and top in white for Sunday, with a wide blue hem on both the top and skirt. She had to have a smile when she saw herself in the shop mirror. At the beginning of the year, white wouldn’t have lasted a half an hour. While it was the only thing that they left with, between them they had all tried on a lot more.

When they got home, they had dinner and Willow went up to her room and listened to some MP3 tracks for a while, before turning on her laptop to research the Cathedral. When she was in bed, she thought about the prospect of playing that wonderful organ next week, in front of a big congregation, until she went to sleep.

On Monday, the DVD and CD were for sale, and the concert was being advertised on posters and the website. The envelope that she had been given had enough to buy the DVD. During lunch, she spoke to Alec about fronting a band for a Christmas party at the club. He said that he would talk to his mother about it but would tell her that it was a school outreach project. She then went to talk to the rest of the band, and they said that they would think about it. Herb wanted to know what sort of music they would play.

“Dance music, slow stuff, carols, pop songs, all sorts. You must have played a lot of it in the past.”

“Does it pay?”

“Of course it will. I don’t know if it would be a lot, though. Perhaps a lot of goodwill.”

Tuesday morning, Willow joined the others in the chapel. A stranger stood as they found seats.

“Good morning. My name is Jack Heinrich. I’m an ordained vicar but have retired due to my health. I was asked by the Bishop to stand in for as long as I felt able. So far, it’s been good. I’m told that Miss Rose will play the organ, today, with Miss Summer next week. So, if you can join me out the front, Miss Rose, we will begin.”

It was so different from how Paul conducted the service, that the relaxation of tense muscles was almost palpable. The Reverend Jack showed his years of service in an easy delivery, non-combative style and, when Willow played the hymn, he was beaming as he brought the short service to an end. As the others started to leave, he stood next to Willow as she turned the organ off.

“The Reverend Russell told me, yesterday, that there were two girls in this year who played well. Your talent, young lady, is the talk of the diocese. I hear that you will be playing at the Cathedral on Sunday. I know several vicars who are planning to attend the Evensong if they don’t hold one themselves. I also heard that you outfoxed the Bishop.”

“Four – nil, Reverend.”

“There are several organists in the area that would buy you a drink because of that. Now, go along to your studies, I’ll see you in the Cathedral.”

Willow caught up with her friends, all saying how nice the new vicar was. That lunch, Alec told her that it was still iffy about being able to sing at the party. At the Junior Orchestra, everything changed. Miss Russell was there, and waited until they were all seated before she spoke.

“Before you start, today, I want to ask for volunteers to play in a dance band at the Stoneleigh Community Club before Christmas. It will be a Saturday evening, and we will have the school coach for transport. It will be classed as an outreach project, raising money for the St. Marys church roof, and will be repeated, in our theatre, for an audience of disadvantaged members of society, in the week after. We already have Gina and Willow on keyboards and vocals. We need drums, bass, guitars, horns, saxophone, woodwind. The usual dance band, limited to about ten. Just google Benny Goodman or Billy Cotton to see what they used. Talk to your parents and let me know by Friday. We’ll schedule a short set of sessions to put it together.”

She nodded to Mister Bamborough on her way out. They continued to work on ‘Carnival of the Animals’, with just the last five movements to do. As the friends had expected, Zara put in a performance with ‘The Swan’ that raised the conductor’s eyebrow.

On Wednesday, the two friends had to field lots of questions about the proposed party, telling everyone the sort of songs that they would be playing, as well as several carols that the orchestra already knew. Wednesday, at Senior Orchestra, they moved on with the ‘Organ Symphony’. When they were packing up, Mister Jamieson came over to Willow.

“I’ve been told that you will be playing the organ in the Cathedral on Sunday and going in on Saturday afternoon to try it. I’ve had a talk with the others, and we’ll be bringing the choir in. I’ll write out a variation of your sheet music for us to try, which will give the choir three verses of the lyrics. I’m keen to try those multiplier units through their PA to test the effect. It will be good to see what the Bishop thinks. If I were you, I’d see if I could get something from the ‘Seven Improvisations’ in. That will go a long way in getting a positive decision for next year.”

“No pressure then, sir.”

“Not for you, Willow. There are a lot of people keen to make this work. Just do what you usually do, and everything will be all right.”

Willow was quiet on the way home. Gina asked her what was wrong.

“Nothing wrong, Gina. I’m just trying to remember the fourth movement to the ‘Organ Symphony’ and figure out how we’re going to fit three verses of the pop song in, you know, the words from a record of the day. Mister Jamieson has told me that the choir are coming to the Cathedral on Saturday so that we can test it out in front of the Bishop.”

“Mum! Can we go to the Cathedral Saturday?”

“Of course we can, dear. I’m not missing a chance to hear Willow on that organ.”

When they dropped her off, Willow went in and hugged her mother.

“What was that for, darling?”

“That was just pure happiness, Mum. On Saturday, when we’re at the Cathedral, Mister Jamieson will bring a revised music sheet for me to play part of the ‘Organ Symphony’, along with the choir. I can hear it in my mind. It will be fantastic!”

That evening, she listened to the fourth movement and made some variations of her own, playing through her headphones. She thought that it would be interesting to see if it was similar to what she was given.

Thursday and Friday dragged, until they got to the music lesson. Both Yamahas were set up in the classroom. Mister Jamieson got Willow and Gina to sit at them.

“Today, we are continuing with The Blues. Much of it is made up of repeating your woes, complaining about your situation, or telling the world about your true love. If you will lead us off, Willow, with a typical blues refrain, I want you, Gina, to add typical sounds. The rest of you, when I point to you, you will sing me a few lines. By now, a lot of you have seen the DVD of the concert, even if you didn’t attend it on the day.”

Willow grinned and played a typical blues into, then started singing.

“I’m here in this class, playing on these old keys.”
“I’m here in this class, playing on these damn keys.”
“If I could be anywhere else.”
“I’d be out in my boat, sailing on the high seas.”

The class were all smiling and now had the idea of what they had to do. When each one was pointed at, there weren’t very many who couldn’t think of a line. There were a lot of smiles, as some juicy gossip was aired in song. Gina was pointed at as she was adding her extra accompaniment.

“I’m here with my friend, who is quite a freak.”
“I’m here with my friend, the musical freak.”
“But if I tell her that fact.”
“She would just give me cheek.”

It took over half an hour to let everyone have a go, and those who had baulked put their hands up to add their lines, now that they’d had a chance to think of something. When they had run out of steam, Mister Jamieson clapped for a few seconds.

“Well done, class. You have just passed the first barrier of truly understanding the blues. We will all forget the gossip. Just joking. What these girls played can be played on guitar, harmonica, piano, organ, and a lot of other instruments. The thing is that you don’t need electric power to play blues, you just need something to say. For the rest of this lesson, I want each of you to write a verse, one that we haven’t heard before, about good looking girls and sexy boys. We will pick ten of the best, then Willow and Gina will play the music while we sing them with as much pain and suffering as we can muster.”

He motioned for the two of them to continue with the music, to give the others the cadence they should be working with. A half an hour later, there was the ten best verses written on the blackboard. Mister Jamieson went to the back of the room, took out his phone to record the result, then nodded to the girls to start playing. When they had worked through the ten verses, with much giggling, he called out.

“Do it again, with pain and suffering. Tomorrow, you have to work in the cane field for fifteen hours.”

When they had finished, he walked to the front of the class and clapped the students.

“Well done, class. That captures what the blues is all about. Next lesson, we will look at the first part of the DVD again and discuss how the blues has developed into entertainment. Now, off you go.”

As the class filed out, he went over to the friends.

“That was truly awesome, you two. What you produced was perfect. It made the rest of the class grasp what I was aiming for. Thank you. I’ll see you, tomorrow, Willow. Now, just let me get the new music from my bag and you’re free to go.”

He gave Willow the sheet music and she put it in her bag. The girls strolled out to wait for Wendy.

On the way home, Willow looked at the music and hummed the tune, seeing where he had added several lines that allowed the choir to sing. It was almost identical to what she had played to herself the night before. That’s when she realised that she should actually take the time to write things down, instead of just committing it to memory. That evening, she wrote out the tunes and lyrics to her three songs, adding other instrumentation as well.

Saturday morning, her father had booked her into the clinic for a check-up. She was woken early, had a quick breakfast, and they were on the road before eight. He dropped her off and then carried on to office for a few hours.

In the clinic, she had to undress completely and wear the hospital gown. The false breasts and the glue holding the penis in place was given the solvent treatment, and her own budding breasts were revealed. Her chest was thoroughly cleaned, as was her groin, and then the rebuilding started.

The new breasts were hollowed out slightly, to allow her own more room to grow, and then they changed how her groin looked. After it being well shaved, they gave her a local anaesthetic and pulled folds of skin over the penis to create a more female-looking groin, glueing the folds to look like a vagina, and leaving a gap in the bottom for urine to be passed. A nurse held her hand and explained what they were doing.

“Because you never developed a proper scrotum, we have to stretch skin from either side. You may feel that it is tight, after the local wears off, and you shouldn’t do any hard exercise for a week. We could stitch the skin together, but then we would need you here for several days. If this doesn’t work, we may have to resort to that over the next school holidays.”

By the time her father came back to take her home, she had practised passing water and shown how to properly clean up. They had also taken blood and given her another hormone injection. When she redressed, the panties fitted much better.

At home, they sat in the kitchen for lunch. The front doorbell rang, and her father went to answer, putting his head back into the kitchen.

“It’s Joe from work. He’s got a ladder in his van and he’s going to help me fit the cameras this afternoon.”

Wendy and Willow went to dress for the afternoon at the Cathedral, and then left, seeing Joe up a ladder with Ashley rummaging in his toolbox for something.

“Looks like we’ll have the cameras up when we get home.”

“It’s all for nothing, Mum. Paul has been sent to a ministry in Africa.”

“That’s good, but we won’t tell your father. This helps him to feel as if he’s protecting us. Mind you, it could all come in handy when you’re famous and we get fans come to see where you live.”

“Yeah, and when I’m being dropped off by boys. At least this will give the neighbours something to talk about. I saw a few curtains twitching as we left our road.”

When they arrived at the Cathedral, they parked next to a coach with the school signage on. As they entered, they both just stood and looked, in awe, at the magnificent interior. Gina was already there, and rushed over to Willow and gave her a hug.

“Isn’t this just fantastic. Look at that lovely organ. The place is huge!”

“Calm down, friend, by the time we get to the concert, we’ll be used to it. The place is truly magnificent, though.”

Mr Jamieson came over, shook Wendy’s hand and took Willow over to the choir girls. He explained what he wanted to do, and Willow hummed the organ part so that they could be certain of where they came in.

As they were doing that, the Bishop came over and waited until they had finished.

“Good afternoon, Willow. Come with me, there’s a few people that you should meet.”

He took her and introduced her to his Dean, his organist, and a man from the BBC, here to get some idea of what the proposed concert would be like before he committed an outside broadcast van.

The Bishop asked the organist to take Willow up to the organ and show her the ropes.

“Get used to the instrument, Willow. Play something to let the Beeb know that you’re worth coming to see. Then run through the service for Sunday, you’ll find it a little different to what you’re used to, this being a High Church service.”

Willow beckoned Mister Jamieson over.

“I’ve been told to get used to the organ and then play something for that man over there. He’s from the BBC and here to see if we’re worth his trouble. I’ll play the last movement of the ‘Seven Improvisations’, and then what you gave me, so have the choir ready to sing their part at the right time.”

“Right, I’ll get them miked up and tested. You’ll be doing the service afterward?”

“Yes. You don’t have to hang around, if you don’t want to.”

“Don’t be silly. The girls would kill me if I told them to leave. They brought their hymn books with them.”

As Willow went to follow the organist, she saw Vicar Jack come in with a few others wearing clerical collars. She gave him a wave and he smiled back. There were a lot of people in the building, some cleaning, some sightseeing, some sitting in pews with their heads down. That strengthened her resolve.

At the organ, she was shown some of the stops that were unique to this instrument. She asked for, and was shown, how to add a trumpet sound to a second keyboard. This organ had four keyboards and a full set of bass pedals. It was almost too much to take in. There was a bunch of sheet music and was told that this was for the service, and she would be shown what to play as they trialled it.

“I’ve never played something with so many sets of keys.”

“It takes years to be able to use the power of this instrument properly. At your age, I’m surprised that you’ve even been invited to play. I’ll just set it up, so you use only the first two rows. Now, young lady, I’ve been told that you’re a pretty good player. Impress me!”

Willow started by playing some Bach church music to warm her fingers, savouring the tones of the pipes. She tapered that off and then played the Seventh movement from the Improvisations from memory, adding some extra that this organ could provide. When she finished, there was a smattering of applause.

“Looks like you brought some fans.”

“It’s some of the school choir. We’re planning a Saint-Saens concert, and there’s one more thing we need to try before we do the service.”

She grinned and hit the keys with the opening part of the final movement, playing it as well as she ever had. When she reached the point that the choir was going to sing, she trusted that they were ready, breathing a sigh of relief as they sung.

“If I had words to make a day for you.”
“I’d sing you a morning golden and new.”
“I would make this day last for all time.”
“Give you a night deep in moonshine.”

She continued with the linking section, thinking that it had sounded good through the PA system, if a little light. When she got to the next place that the choir sung, they had switched the input to three times the number, which made her smile and the organist grin. At the third time, the choir was now six times stronger, and the words thundered around the Cathedral, and she added the trumpet fanfare in the between bits of the third verse. Willow played the final part of what they had planned and then sat back.

The organist slapped her back.

“That was absolutely fantastic. And all from memory!”

There was applause from the body of the Cathedral, and then they started with the service.

“All right, Willow. This service is a lot more complicated than you’re used to. For one thing, being High C of E, it’s similar to a Catholic Mass. You play the accompanying music during his entry and exit, and there will be a tolling bell, tomorrow. The rest of it is pretty much what you usually do. Entry music and exit music, and hymns. Now, if your choir is still miked, this is going to be interesting. I’ll give you a sheet with all the points and the approximate timing when we leave. Now, the hymns. I hear you can play them from memory. This, I want to hear.”

He said a number, and Willow played the intro. She had already seen the numbers on a board in the body of the Cathedral and hoped that the girls were ready. She needn’t have worried, as the sound of the singing came out through the PA. It swelled as the general public found hymn books and joined in. They did the four hymns in full, with the final one sounding, to her, as if the place was full.

When the sound of the last one faded, she stood and the organist hugged her, and spoke in her ear.

“Four-nil, again. They told me about you, but I found it hard to believe. I heard that the Bishop vowed never to pull that trick again. I’ll buy you a soft drink for that!”

They went down to the body of the Cathedral, where a number of people wanted to hug her and tell her how great she was. The man from the BBC shook her hand.

“I was ready to commit as you played that first piece. When you and the choir let loose, that was when I was totally ready to film the concert. With a full orchestra, it will be as good as the Proms.”

When Gina hugged her, she had tears in her eyes.

“It was so wonderful, friend. I could see us below you, in the orchestra, soaking up the atmosphere. It’s going to be mega awesome!”

The organist came over and shook Wendy’s hand.

“Your daughter is almost too good to believe! She will be a star, whatever she does. I’m sure that she could take my seat when I retire, if she wants. I’m already looking forward to being in the audience for the concert. I’ll keep an eye out for other events that the school is doing. I believe that there’s a pop concert coming up, soon.”

Gina giggled.

“Blue One and Blue Two, sir. Blues in the first half, Moody Blues for the second. That’s when you can see Willow and me on keyboards. It’s a bit different from what she just played.”

“I’ll see if I can get a couple of seats. It would be a good night out.”

He then took Willow to one side, arranged a drink for her, and went through the service again to make sure that she played the right thing at the right time. Then he had a list of items that she would have to play at Evensong, which is mainly one hymn after another, and some choral pieces with the Cathedral choir. Her gave her the full list of items that were planned and then said.

“I’m told that the Bishop gave the choirmaster a call after your choir sung. He has called them in to try out those vocal devices with the choral pieces that’s on the list. Can you hang around and play for them?”

The school choir had taken the mics off and Mister Jamieson had been asked to loan them to the Cathedral choir. They were never going to leave if they had a chance to hear semi-professionals singing. Mister Jamieson was thinking that it would be good points to the school if they had introduced the Cathedral to some new technology. Then smiled as he imagined the Bishop in full six voices with a sermon.

“Something tickle your fancy?”

“Hello, Reverend Jack. I just thought of the Bishop using those multipliers.”

“Don’t be too sure that he hasn’t thought of that himself. I was looking carefully as young Miss Rose played those hymns. She never looked once at the sheet music, so it was four-nil to her again.”

“Four-nil? What’s that about?”

“The Bishop took the service at Stoneleigh, last Sunday. He has a habit of calling out the wrong hymn number. I’m told that he did it four times that day, and she was playing the intro as soon as he spoke. He did promise to never do it again. She played for us on Tuesday morning, the first time I’d heard her. She is something that comes along once in a blue moon.”

“We know. She’s the reason we’re planning this concert. She helped Gina blossom, and now Gina will be playing the Grieg as a soloist. The two of them have lifted the orchestra.”

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 21

The other choir came in and were followed by the choirmaster. Mister Jamieson went to help them get connected up and test the devices, while Willow took Gina up to the organ with her to get ready for the Evensong practise. She started with a short piece of Bach, then played the intro to the first hymn on the list, one that most churchgoers know by heart. There was some singing from below, which heartened her. Every hymn was from memory, while Gina looked on, in awe.

When they got to the first choral piece, she just hoped that the choir was ready, as she played from the sheet music in front of her. The six girls and three boys of the choir was right there, with her, sounding like thirty-six girls and eighteen boys. They worked to the end of the list, and she turned the organ off, and gave it a pat. She, and Gina, went back down to find that the multipliers were staying there for tomorrow, and that they would be given to Willow after Evensong to take back to the school on Monday.

As Wendy and Willow went to their car, the school choir were boarding the coach. Mister Jamieson came over to them.

“Thank you for coming. It has been a very productive day for the school. Not only do we have Willow playing here tomorrow, which will be attended by several teachers. But we also have the permission to finalise the concert to play here, with definite BBC coverage. Not only that, when I told the Bishop that we were working on the ‘Beethoven Ninth’, he insisted that we present it here, in the Cathedral, before Christmas. It will be hard work for the orchestras, with both working on that one, but it will be worth it. I think the Head will be pleased.”

Wendy agreed, then looked at Willow in the car, belted up and with her eyes shut. She saw Maisie and Gina come out and went over to them.

“Are you good for a dinner, out? I’ll check to see if I can get a booking.”

They both said that it would be perfect, so she rang the Miller and Carter, making a booking for five. Then she rang home and spoke to Ashley, to get him to meet them at the restaurant when he can. He told her that everything worked and that he’ll shower and be there.

When Wendy got in her car, Willow didn’t move. She drove, carefully, to the restaurant and parked. Wendy nudged Willow, who opened her eyes.

“Are we home, yet?”

“Not yet. We’re at the steakhouse and your father is going to join us. That was too much of an afternoon to be cooking. Here comes Gina and Maisie. You go with Gina and splash your face. You’ve had about half an hour sleep.”

“Thanks, Mum. I feel better now.”

She got out and Gina came over.

“Gina, dear. Can you help Willow to the ladies room? She just had a short sleep and needs to wake up.”

She locked the car and went over to Maisie, who was locking hers.

“That girl of yours is on automatic until she stops. Then she just falls over the cliff.”

“I know. This afternoon was tiring for me, and I wasn’t playing that organ. She was magnificent, wasn’t she?”

“It was a pleasure, and a privilege, to be there and be part of it. Talk about a performance! There’ll be a couple of hundred others who will be feeling the same as us. The Evensong was really beautiful, I think that Gina will want to be there tomorrow.”

“Both of us will take Willow in and see what happens between the two services.”

They went into the building and were shown to their table. They ordered wine for themselves and soft drink for the girls. They sipped their wine and relaxed.

“I never thought that I would be in the Cathedral and seeing my daughter, up next to Willow as she played the organ, with nobody telling her to come down.”

“It’s a strange thing, all round. If the Reverend Russell didn’t know the Bishop when they were new clergymen, he wouldn’t have been in the church last week. Life really is a line of skittles. Knock one against another and you start a chain of events. Here come the girls. Sit yourselves down girls, soft drinks are on their way.”

“Thanks, Mum. I feel better, now. It looks like I go until I stop, and when I stop, I fade. Like that first concert.”

“You’re getting longer before you fade, dear.”

“I was told that I should start seeing a fitness coach, if I want to withstand long performances.”

“I think that’s a good idea. Are there any in the Village, Maisie?”

“There’s a woman who works with older folks, in the village social club on Thursday evenings. She might be able to set something up for the girls. I think that Gina will need something like that, as well.”

They sat, sipping their drinks and talking about that afternoon, until Ashley joined them. Then, they ordered their meals, making sure that Willow had plenty to eat. It was around seven when they left, taking the three cars. Wendy followed Ashley home. Willow said that she was going straight to bed, via the bathroom, and they kissed her goodnight. Willow was in bed and thinking about her afternoon, while cuddling her two companions. The last thing she wondered was why anyone would need four keyboards.

When she woke up, the thought came back to her. Overnight, her brain had worked it out. Set one up to be in a different key, and the other two can be different musical instruments, like the trumpet fanfare she had played. That answered, she was full of beans as she got out of bed, went to the toilet and put a robe on to have breakfast. She was the first in the kitchen so found the makings of a cooked breakfast.

The smell of cooking sausages woke Wendy and Ashley, who came down to sit at the table as Willow made their meal. When they were all served, they sat and ate, with Ashley putting bread in the toaster for them.

“Is the eye in the sky, working, Dad?”

“It certainly is my girl. Here, look at these.”

He got his phone, and worked a couple of buttons, bringing up the scene down the road from the front of the house. As they watched, it shifted to one side, then the back, then the other side, and then to the porch.

“The program is set to stay on one camera if there’s movement. You can alter the timing between switching. I set it to ten seconds. There’s an override if there’s movement from a camera not in operation. I can see what’s happening from my office. There aren’t any lights on the cameras, so an intruder won’t know of it’s on. They even work in low light.”

He called up the front one, and fast forwarded until he saw movement. The time was around one in the morning, and a neighbour’s cat used their gatepost as a scratching post, then squatted in the flower bed.

“That’s wonderful, Dad. We just caught a feline vandal who then took a dump on last summer’s peonies. We really are in the current century.”

“It just shows how good the system is. We may be thankful we have it, one day. I hope it’s never needed, but it’s good to know it’s there.”

“You’re right, Dad. Thank you for installing them. I’m just making fun because I’m nervous about today.”

“You mother told me how much work you put in yesterday. I’m sure that it will all be great. Anyone know what we’re doing between twelve and four?”

“No idea, honey. If nothing else, we can always go into the shops to get something to eat.”

“Plus, a little retail therapy, perhaps?”

“That ability comes with the extra chromosome, love. It’s not something that you’ll understand, unless it was hardware, software, or sporting memorabilia.”

“Don’t forget gardening tools, my love.”

“How could I ever forget your tool, my darling. Now eat up, we need to be at the Cathedral before ten, so that Willow can be sat on her organ stool.”

When they arrived and went in, the Cathedral was bathed in muted lights, with the wall panels up floodlit. An attendant led them to reserved seats, and then took Willow up to the organ.

“The order of service is there, with the hymn numbers. What you did, yesterday, is all you need to recreate. If you look, there are three mirrors. The centre one shows you what’s going on behind you, the left shows the door where the Bishop arrives and the altar, and the right one shows the body of the church. Now, if you turn that small screen on, it will show you the view of the centre aisle and the altar, from the far end.

She turned the organ on and sat for a few moments before starting her performance. She started playing Bach and the attendant pointed to a glass of water beside the organ, and then left her. She was playing something she had played in Stoneleigh, and she settled down, while watching all the mirrors and the screen to see what was happening. Just before ten-thirty, the Cathedral was almost full.

In the left mirror, she saw the Bishop enter in full robes, with the Dean in front, carrying a big cross. There were wardens behind them. Willow tapered the music off as he arrived at the altar. There wasn’t a high pulpit, just a raised lectern with a microphone. Everything happened as it should, with him calling out the hymn numbers correctly. His sermon was, Willow thought, a little long. There were two guests who gave readings. One, to Willow’s surprise, was the Head of Blue Coat, and the other was a well-known actor.

An hour and a quarter after the Bishop had entered, he turned to leave, with Willow taking that as the sign to start the exit music. To her total surprise, he suddenly stopped, looked up at her and raised his palm. She stopped playing. He went back to the lectern, with murmurs coming from the congregation.

“Brethren, today, our organ wasn’t played by our usual organist. Today we have heard one of the most talented thirteen-year-olds in this city. Sorry about this, Willow, but I just have to give you our thanks for your playing. Brethren, please applaud Willow Rose, one of the organists at St. Marys in Stoneleigh.”

There was applause and a few cheers. When it died down, he looked up at her.

“Now you can play me out, Willow.”

She grinned and restarted the exit music as he left the Cathedral. The attendant came back to her before the Cathedral had emptied.

“You can stop now, Miss Rose. A lot of people remain to take private prayers, or to just look at the building.”

She tapered the music off and turned the organ off. When she stood, she made sure that her white outfit still looked good and smoothed her skirt. She followed the attendant, and he took her to the door that the Bishop had gone through. She found herself in a large, circular room with a huge window. The Bishop was there, with slightly less robes on, and came to take her hand.

“Welcome to Chapter House. This is a little gathering of people who want to congratulate you. I’m sorry I interrupted the flow, back there, but I just had to acknowledge the playing. Most of the regulars would have glanced up and thought that our usual organist had taken to wearing a white shirt without a jacket, it was so close to normal.”

She was spoken to by the Dean, the School Head, the actor, and several members of the city council. Then, her parents were ushered in. As they went to give her a hug, she excused herself and spoke to the attendant.

“Can you show me where the toilets are, that glass of water is making itself known.”

He grinned and showed her a door with a very small female figure on. She went in and relieved the pressure. She washed her hands and reworked her lipstick before going back to give her parents a hug.

“Sorry about that. They had a glass of water next to the organ and it worked quickly.”

“That’s all right, my daughter. You were fantastic. I bet you wanted to disappear when the Bishop pointed you out.”

“It was a surprise, but he just told me that he couldn’t help himself. The Head is here, if you want to meet her.”

She took her parents to where the Head was talking to the man from the BBC. He saw her come over.

“Willow Rose, that was a tour de force of church organ. I was just telling your Head that we will be coming along to the rehearsal at the school, the rehearsal here, and the actual performance of the Saint-Seans concert. I just surprised her by saying we will also film the Beethoven concert.”

“Yes, Miss Rose. What do you know about that?”

“Mister Jamieson is the one to ask, Miss. He was talking to the Bishop yesterday and mentioned that we were rehearsing the ‘Ninth’. The Bishop insisted that we will be performing the concert before this Christmas. I didn’t find out about it until my mother told me over dinner. It’s going to make things tight.”

“Tight! You’re right about that. We’ll have to have that as our outreach for the choir this year. I’ll get the combined orchestras set up in the theatre from this week, and it will be full on with the ‘Ninth’. If we pull it off, it will be amazing, especially if it’s shown on TV during Christmas week. You realise that there’s no keyboard in that opus.”

“I’ll be playing my clarinet, I hope, unless I’m needed in the string section. Gina will be alright; she’s already been told that she’s going to be on a triangle. Oh! By the way. The Bishop has borrowed our voice multipliers for his choir to use in Evensong. I’m to be given them to bring back to the school, tomorrow morning.”

The man smiled.

“Now, they are something else again. The ten girls used them when they did the bit from the organ symphony, with the third verse sounding like sixty voices. It was what confirmed my desire to film your concert. Look, I have to run, I’ll see you at the school to confirm times and dates.”

He left them and the Head was introduced to Willow’s father. Then she spoke to Wendy.

“I gather that you were here with Willow yesterday. Can you tell me what went on?”

“Well, Willow played an organ solo, and then she had some music from the ‘Organ Symphony’ that Mister Jamieson wanted her to play, so he could test the voice multipliers through the PA. Then Willow did the music and hymns for this morning service, followed by the hymns and choral pieces for Evensong this afternoon, with the Cathedral choir using the multipliers.”

“He added the words from the Babe film?”

“Yes Miss. It was really beautiful. I think that he may have recorded it on his phone.”

“So, let me get this right. You and two bands are doing a concert in the school in a couple of weeks. Then we’re doing the ‘’Ninth’, here in the Cathedral in the middle of December. After that, we have a Junior Orchestra classical concert, with a Christmas party for the Stoneleigh church thrown in.”

“It’s not that bad, Miss. The band concert is already rehearsed to the point of performance. The Junior Orchestra has rehearsed that concert. All we need to do is perfect the ‘Ninth’, with the combined orchestras and the choir. The Senior Orchestra has already started, with the first movement done, and our orchestras are good enough to pull it off. The party will just take a couple of Saturday afternoons to kick into shape, once we put the band together.”

The Head smiled, then hugged Willow.

“Just keep driving them, young lady. Mister Bamborough has told me that you lift those around you.”

Just then, the Bishop joined them.

“I’ve been thinking. If were doing a Saint-Saens concert. It can’t be complete without ‘Danse Macabre’.”

Willow could hardly suppress a giggle. The Head thought for a moment, then smiled.

“You’re exactly right, Bishop, we will add it to the concert. We do have until May to get it rehearsed.”

The Bishop nodded and left them. The Head looked at Willow and her parents.

“That man!”

Then she giggled.

“Whatever happens, it’s going to be memorable few weeks.”

After that, there was about ten more minutes before attendants came in to take the Roses, and selected others, to St. Michaels House, now used for various administrative projects, but still retaining its grand dining room, now set up for lunch. The diners included the Bishop, several of his staff, the Head, some of the City Council, and the Roses.

It was a pleasant meal, with much chatter and the Bishop announcing that there will be a performance of the ‘Beethoven Ninth’, performed by the Blue Coat School. Willow saw the Head trying hard to keep a smile on her face. She started to think about this as a dream sequence, but then brought herself back to reality. This was real, this was happening, she really was sitting at a dining table with the Bishop, the Head and city managers, next to her parents. If this was what fame brought, she would just have to get used to it.

The meal was a protracted one, finishing in time to freshen up, have a look around the Cathedral, meet Gina and Maisie as they came in, and then go up to the organ for her second performance. She started playing random Bach melodies until the choir master joined her to check the Evensong order.

“I’ll stay with you until we start, then I’ll go down with the choir. Do everything as you did it yesterday and we can’t go wrong.”

She restarted the Bach as they waited. He told her that it was five minutes to go, and set a timer on the organ, next to a glass of water. She worked the Bach so that it finished with five seconds to go, and, at the stroke of four ‘o’clock, she started playing the first hymn. There was almost a full house, and they were there to sing their praises. All the hymns were in the same vein, with the choir leading the singing, and the choral parts also singable by the masses. It sounded so beautiful that it made Willow get teary. She had to grab a tissue out of her bag between hymns. It was timed to end at five, and her watch showed two minutes past as she sat back. She drank the remaining water, turned the organ off and went down to join her parents and friends.

There were a lot of friends to greet her when she reached floor level. Her parents, Gina and Maisie, the Head, several teachers, the school choir, Reverend Jack and some of his colleagues, the Russells, and even some of the ladies from church were there to hear their organist play for the masses. Everyone wanted to hug and kiss, and it took an effort of will, putting a halt to the congratulations so she could go to the toilet that she had been shown, earlier.

When she returned, she felt a lot better, and accepted the adulation with grace and humility. The choir master came to them with the box of voice multipliers, leads and mics. When they finally left the Cathedral, her father drove to the steakhouse again, with Maisie following. They sat to have a meal, with Willow glad to be in some quiet. That night, she hung the white suit on a hanger and didn’t take long before she had cleansed and fallen asleep.

On Monday morning, they transferred the box of electronics to Wendy’s car. At school, Willow took it into the admin office for giving back to Mister Jamieson. It was an odd morning, for her, still coming down from Sunday’s excitement. At lunchtime, her table had visits from the choir singers, all very happy with how things worked out.

Tuesday morning was a joyful chapel service, with Gina at the organ, for the first time. The rehearsal room had a notice to go to the theatre. There, they found enough seats for both orchestras, and the choir. They found seats, realising that they were now oversubscribed. They were joined by both conductors and the Head. The Head called for quiet.

“Today, we start an accelerated rehearsal of the ‘Beethoven Nine’. We will be performing it at the Coventry Cathedral on the second weekend of December. It will be advertised through the website and in the media, with a percentage of sales going to the Cathedral outreach, and the rest to our own outreach. The choir tried the voice multipliers in the Cathedral on Saturday, with their own choir using them during Evensong yesterday afternoon. I was there and they really lifted the sound.”

She stopped and looked at a piece of paper.

“The Saint-Saens concert is a definite performance. It will happen in the middle of May. That will give us the half-year break to make sure it’s perfect, and to get set up in the Cathedral. That one will have us visited by the BBC for the rehearsals here, and at the Cathedral. The concert will be filmed, and it could be a live broadcast, depending on the first time we play it to the Beeb. Now, both Cathedral concerts may be Friday and Saturdays, so you will need to stay committed.”

She took a long look around the sitting musicians.

“You will see that we have more here than we need. Seeing that the ‘Ninth’ is so close to Christmas, anyone who has other things to do can put their hands up now and leave. No ramifications. Others may be nominated as spares, to make sure that we can fulfil our agreement.”

A half a dozen players put their hands up and they waited as instruments were picked up and taken out of the room.

“Right. Everyone here will rehearse the ‘Ninth’. That is our total project for the orchestra. The concert will be considered this year’s outreach for the choir, any carol singing needs to consider the main event. We will get together tomorrow, and next Tuesday. Wednesday will be set for the pop groups to finalise the concert in this theatre, with the stage set for that concert. I can tell you that it will be over the Friday and Saturday with the number of bookings. There will be a Christmas Party in the Community Club in Stoneleigh Village, on the third weekend of December, with proceeds going to St. Marys church to refurbish the roof. That one needs a dance band and I believe that there are already volunteers for that. Rehearsal for the party will be the Wednesdays after the pop concert, until it’s perfect. We will repeat the dance music for the students, here, in the last week of school, after the exams. Next year, we will concentrate on the Cathedral concert until May. The Junior Orchestra concert for this term will be postponed until the end of next term. Any questions?”

There was silence as they took it all in. Willow thought that hard decisions had been made to ensure that everything happened as it should. The Head left them to it, and Mister Bamborough went around the group, nominating those who will be the first team, and those who would be the second team. On the rostrum, he said that they would run through each movement with everyone playing so they all get the idea, then the first team would be needed to attend tomorrow.

That all decided, and with half of the orchestra already good with the first movement, they played the whole piece, with the choir singing in the fourth movement. Willow thought that it was pretty good for the first time, if a bit overloaded in some departments. They stayed a little late to play it again, with just the first team. Willow decided that they were now much better.

Wednesday was just the first team, and they did it twice. After they had finished, Mister Jamieson came over to Willow as she was putting her clarinet away.

“Willow, I’m sorry to tell you, but something has come up.”

She looked at him, waiting for something bad.

“The Bishop has had a brilliant idea. He thought that because we’re doing Beethoven, and because of his high regard of your playing, he has suggested that you play the ‘Toccata and Fugue’ as an opening piece.”

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 22

Willow couldn’t help herself. She just had to laugh.

“I’ll say the same thing that the Head said when he suggested we add ‘Danse Macabre’ in May. That man!!! He’s not a person one would tell that he’s wrong, so we’ll just have to go with the flow. It will be a powerful concert, though. I’ll have to go to the Cathedral to rehearse before the show. I could perfect it here on our organ, but there are more options on theirs.”

“That will be all right. I think that he just likes hearing you play.”

“What if I said that I couldn’t do it?”

“Too late. It’s already up on the two websites. Dates, times and prices. It will be released to the media tomorrow, and the Head has arranged for you to miss a class if they want to interview you.”

Gina came over as he left.

“What was that about?”

“Oh, just a slight variation of the show. The Bishop has decided that I’m playing the Bach ‘Toccata’ before the Beethoven ‘Ninth’, I think that he was miffed that his organ didn’t star in the main event.”

“That will be fantastic. How are you going to work it?”

“Rehearse on the chapel organ with Reg Edwards, then have a session on the big one before the show. I suppose that the teachers have already written up the dates. Anyway, we’ll get some time to sort out the pop concert and the party. Hold on, I’ve got an idea.”

She went over to where the teachers were talking.

“Excuse me, but can I make a suggestion?”

“Certainly, Willow. What is it.”

“Why can’t we put one of the second team clarinet players in my seat, and I just concentrate on the organ. That means, if Mister Edwards will stay late, I can work on my opening in the chapel, instead of having to make extra time.”

“Excellent idea. I’ll talk to him in the morning and let you know at lunch. Are you sure that you want to give up the chance of being part of the orchestra for the ‘Ninth’?”

“I am part of the orchestra, sir. I just played it twice. It’s not as if I’m unreplaceable.”

“We’ll let you know tomorrow.”

Willow went and picked up her clarinet and the two girls followed the others out of the theatre. She had Geoff’s number on her phone and called him to say that the band would be rehearsing the next week. On the way home, they discussed the way that their final month of the term had been arranged, with Gina mentioning that there would be exams as well.

Wednesday, at lunch, Miss Russell came to their table and told Willow that her idea would be followed, and for her to go to the chapel after the last lesson. When she arrived there, she found Reg Edwards at the organ, playing some Bach. She put her bag down and he stopped playing.

“Willow Rose, church organist to the stars! We have a lot to show you, things that you need to know to make your ‘Toccata’ sparkle. Come and sit down and we will start.”

He got off the seat and she went and sat at the keyboard.

“I want you to play the piece but stop when I tap you on the shoulder. I’ll then show you a stop or a setting that enhances the music. Firstly, we will go through the process of setting the second set of keys to another octave and talking through the whole composition to discover when it’s better. Although you can now play it on one keyboard, two is better.”

For some time, Willow ‘spoke’ the composition, note by note, and he showed her where she could make changes. It was her first time in really pulling apart some music and tracing the bones underneath. When she did play, it was a much better sound, and easier as well. Instead of having to move her hands further along the keys, she could just play the other set. When she ended the ‘Fugue’, she looked at Reg.

“So, everyone has been telling me how good I am, yet I was sounding like a beginner.”

“Just the opposite, Willow. You have been playing the organ like a piano, and that is hard to do. What we have worked on will let you have the room to add things of your own as you play. You’ve seen the number of stops and the four keyboards in the Cathedral. Now, you’ll have time to experiment, if you get the chance.”

She played the ‘Toccata and Fugue’ again, now able to sit more upright without any difference to the music.

“You realise that I should have bought a waterfall keyboard for home use.”

“Your Yamaha has an input for a second keyboard. It doesn’t cost a lot because all you get are the keys. The alterations are made with the original controls. All you need as an extra is a different stand.”

“What about the four keyboards at the Cathedral?”

“I’ll come with you and show you tricks with those. We’ll organise a visit before you have a proper rehearsal with the orchestra there.”

At the end of the session, she went and joined Gina to go and wait for Maisie. They compared notes as they waited. When she was home, she turned on her computer and researched plug-in keyboards and different stands.

That weekend, it was her turn at the church, now knowing a lot more than before. The hymn playing didn’t sound any different but was less work. The arrival and departure music had an extra feeling, though. She spent a lot of her weekend researching dance music and creating a file of numbers for the party at the club. She spoke to Malcolm, and they agreed that the party would replace the sing-along in December.

That weekend also saw a change at home. A truck arrived on Saturday morning with dismantled crates on, and her father spent the weekend re-assembling them into a rudimentary shed, then covered it with a tarpaulin. Now they had somewhere to put all the items from the spare room and an invitation was extended to Wendy’s parents.

Wendy went off to a furniture store and arranged for a bedroom suite to be delivered the following Saturday morning. She also went on-line and ordered two tickets for the Friday pop concert, and four for the Saturday, when her parents would be with them. She also ordered four tickets for the Cathedral concert. She knew that her parents would be happy to sight-see during the week. They had been invited to stay until the New Year, and she started to stock up with packets and tins to see them through.

The following week was busy for Willow and Gina. On Tuesday Willow played the organ in the morning service, now using both keyboards. Gina had the rehearsal with the orchestra in the afternoon, while Reg Edwards took Willow into Coventry City and the Cathedral. There, she was given better understanding of the organ and played the ‘Toccata and Fugue’ twice, before being taken back to the school in time to be picked up with Gina.

Wednesday, when they went to the theatre, the orchestra set-up had been removed, and the stage now had the amplifiers, drums, and two Yamahas on stage. There were lads putting the seating back in place, without any space for dancing.

“Looks as if we have a full house, Friday.”

“Actually, Geoff, we have a full house on Saturday as well. Miss Russell told me, at lunch, that they could have started a third show.”

“Is that right, Gina? So, we’ll be playing the show to three thousand over the two shows, that’s insane!”

The five boys got up on the stage, while the others sat in the body of the hall. Willow went and sat at a mixing desk to monitor the sound levels, with Mister Jamieson manning the slides.

The first half of the show was as good as ever, then they swapped over, with Brent and his friends taking their place, while Alec stood with his flute and the girls took their places at the keyboards. Willow saw that the one that she was to use now had a plug-in second tier. She experimented with the switching and then declared herself ready and playing her intro to ‘Dawn’.

They had the voice multipliers, and the sound was better than they had been able to produce in the confines of the rehearsal room. As she played, she could see several teachers, not wanting to go home, standing with the Head. They worked through the set, and she saw Maisie come in to listen. She smiled as she saw them all swaying as they played ‘Nights’.

When they finished, they turned off the equipment and made ready to go home. Reg was still there and spoke to Willow.

“What did you think of the addition?”

“It was great, was it new?”

“The Head approved it Monday. I think that she wants you to get totally immersed in being a concert organist, considering what you’ll be doing in a weeks’ time. It was a drop in the ocean, considering what this show is going to make for the school. She said that there will be another thousand copies of the CD, and five hundred of the DVD, for sale at the show. I believe that the Cathedral has sold half the tickets for the Friday and is close to being sold out for Saturday. A little bird told me that the BBC will be recording both nights for the classic music station.”

“That’s ---- amazing?”

“That’s the power of a renowned venue and an interesting pre-Christmas offering. If he’s anything, the Bishop is a canny showman.”

On Thursday, the classes were more revision than teaching, with the exams coming up in a week. The girls needed to concentrate on the academic side of schooling, for a change. Friday was the last music lesson for the year, and they watched the video of the first half of the show, then discussed how songs of pain had become entertainment. Wendy took the girls home, where they had quick meals, and changed for their show. The outfits were to be the same as the previous show, the blue dresses, with the boys in black slacks and blue shirts.

The Roses picked up Maisie and Gina in the company car to go back to the school. When they arrived, it was busy. They parked and the adults went through the ticketed entry, while Gina and Willow went backstage, to find the rest of both bands tuning up together. While they waited, Willow sat with Alec.

“Are your parents coming to see you?”

“Dad’s here tonight, and Mum’s bringing me tomorrow, if he deems the show worthy of her attention.”

“That’s harsh.”

“It’s better than I expected. I thought that they may just refuse to let me be here.”

A stagehand popped his head in and said it was five minutes to the start. Blue Two stood in line to give Blue One hi-fives as they left to set up. Alec and Willow followed, with Brent and Gina behind them, to stand in the wings and see the sort of audience they would have. Tonight, the Head did the honours of welcoming everyone and introduce ‘Blue One, and a set of Blues music!’ The two couples looked out through the curtains, to see a full house, with a lot of their schoolfriends with their parents. Zara was in the front row and smiling at Geoff as he played. Jim had become fluid on the keyboard. Willow glanced over at Gina, to see her standing with Brent behind her, hands on her hips and his head on her hair. She smiled and then felt Alec copy the action. She leaned back into him and relived their times together.

As the set neared its end, the two couples went back to the room and interrupted the guys’ discussion on whether United or City were the better team. When the others had played the encore, the curtains were closed and they came down, put their instruments in the cases, then left to mingle. They all had seats saved for them for the second half.

Blue Two went up to the stage to make sure everything was ready to go, then stood around with bottles of water while they waited for the audience to return. The only ones with any nerves were the three who had never played in public before. The other four soothed them, saying that it would be exactly the same as Wednesday afternoon.

They were in their places, and ready to go, when the Head came back on stage to introduce ‘Blue Two, to play songs of the Moody Blues. No-one, in this group, is yet fourteen, and exude so much talent. I give you Blue Two!’

As the curtains opened, Willow played the first notes of ‘Dawn’, and all their worries and fears evaporated as they saw a full house of expectant faces, waiting to be entertained. When they got to ‘Nights’, they had entranced the audience, who were swaying in their seats. The section with the flute and bass, near the end, was played to a crowd collectively holding their breath. As the final chord played the place erupted. They took the bows and then the Head came back on stage and beckoned for quiet.

“I do have an announcement to make. We still have a few CDs and DVDs to sell. Now, there are members of this band who will be appearing in a concert, next week, at the Cathedral. It will be a little different, with one of tonight’s organists playing the Bach ‘Toccata and Fugue’ on their organ, while the rest will be part of the Blue Coat Orchestra and playing the ‘Beethoven Ninth’, the ‘Choral’. It should be a memorable concert. Thank you for coming, and a safe journey home.”

She backed up as the curtains closed and went around to give every member of the band a hug, telling them that she was proud of them. They switched everything off, and the boys put their guitars in their cases. Then they went off to find their rides home, although that took a while as many wanted to talk to them about the show.

When Willow was able to leave, with her parents, she realised that she wasn’t as tired as usual, and kept up her part of the conversation as they drove.

…………………………………..

In a pub, not far from the school, Artie was waxing lyrical about what he and his partner had just seen.

“I tell you, Zac, those kids are a gold mine, treated properly. Both halves of that show was good enough to tour the country!”

He could have saved his breath. Zac was texting a friend of his who booked classical concerts. He was getting tired of ferrying drunk teenage bands around and was certainly not going to try and poach a bunch of thirteen-year-olds, no matter how good they were. He had been talking to his friend about joining him for months. This concert in the Cathedral would be a chance for him to show some class, for a change. He would get tickets, on-line, in the morning.

……………………………………………

On Saturday morning, Willow walked over to the church to check the hymns. The Reverend was there, sweeping, as usual.

“Good morning, young Willow. Smashing show last night, it brought back a lot of memories. I tried to get tickets for tonight, but it was all booked out. I did buy the DVD.”

“You’ll find that a little different. It has Gina on the organ for the blues, and the same band for both halves. We re-organised it since the DVD was shot.”

“Maisie told me, last night, that you’ll be playing here until into January. She’s taking Gina to the South of France for a holiday as soon as school breaks up.”

“That’s right. I have my grandparents staying with us. They’ll arrive this afternoon, hopefully after the bedroom suite is delivered. She will be in the Cathedral for the concert, and in the Club for the party, then off to the sun. I said that I would sit in to give her time to pack.”

“The hymns are on the organ. I’ll just potter around. I did manage to get some tickets for Friday night’s concert. It will be interesting to hear you on the organ.”

“We are all going in, by coach, on Thursday, to set up and do a single rehearsal. We’ve all been excused lessons for the day. It’s mainly revision so we won’t miss much. It’s hard to believe that I’ve only been in that school a term; so much has happened.”

She went up to the organ, started the fans, and played the intro and first verse of the hymns. When she switched off, she went back to the Reverend.

“What have you got planned for Christmas?”

“I’ve got time to advertise a carol session, if you want to play for it. The last Sunday before the Holy period. Then, we can do a big Christmas service, with hymns and carols. I’m in your hands, Willow. Say the word and I’ll fill the yuletide with things to sing about.”

“You have the word, Reverend. I’m not going anywhere.”

She walked home with a smile on her face. In all the hustle and bustle, there was a place of rest and quiet with walking distance. She had the idea that her grandparents will enjoy their stay.

At home, the suite had arrived and had been set up in the spare bedroom. She helped Wendy make up the bed with all new sheets and blankets, then helped Ashley collect up all the plastic and foam packaging to hide in the ‘shed’ until they could get rid of it. Her grandparents arrived after lunch and were settled in, with a lot of hugging and chatter. Willow joined in until she needed to get ready for the show, then went upstairs to shower and dress. When she arrived downstairs, her grandmother saw her earrings and necklace and smiled.

She was picked up by Maisie and Gina, and they went to the steakhouse for a quick meal before going to the school. Gina was excited to be in the second show and was starting to think about her holiday.

At the school, they went backstage and spoke to the others that had arrived. As Blue One was getting ready, Willow went and peeked through the curtain, seeing her parents and grandparents out there. She also saw the Bishop in the front row, with several of his team.

She ducked back down to the room as the Head came out on stage to introduce the first part of the show. She sipped water as they waited, then went up to the stage as the others came down. Tonight, Blue One was going to mingle during the break, and then leave. They had a group hug as the boys left the backstage area, then went up to make sure that their set was ready to go.

A couple of minutes before the start, they were all in position and a lot less stressed than last night. The Head came out on stage and made the introductions and then they were off again, into a Moody World. At the end of the nominal last song, there was calls for an encore, with several of the audience standing for them. Willow spoke.

“Thank you for coming along to hear Blue One and Blue Two tonight. Of course, we can’t end a Moody Blues concert without the best song of all. Feel free to sway all you like, and sing along if you want.”

She started the first notes of ‘Nights’, and they took it easily and smoothly to the end, with the flute and bass section bringing tears to her eyes. This was likely the last time Alec would be in a band with her, unless there was a drastic change. He had stayed diplomatically apart from her, so she thought that his mother was in the audience. When they ended the song, there were cheers and much applause, until the Head came back and announced the concert, next weekend.

After the curtains had closed, they turned everything off and went to mingle with anyone who had stayed. Her parents stood back as her grandmother engulfed her.

“You took me back to my youth, tonight. I felt as if I was watching the band at Yarmouth.”

As they stood there, the Head came over with the Bishop.

“Another tour de force, Willow and Gina. I’m glad that we didn’t have to wait until next year to see this show.”

“I agree, that was the best show of its type that I’ve seen in years. The two keyboards were masterful. You must be Gina, who doubles with Willow at the church.”

“I am, Bishop. Next weekend I’m just a lowly triangle player in the orchestra.”

“Everyone has their place, child, a grain of sand is only small, but many create a lovely beach. Now, introduce me.”

Wendy took over and introduced her parents to the Bishop, telling him that they had tickets to the Cathedral. After a bit of chat, he went off to circulate. The two girls were starting to droop, so they all left the school, Willow between her grandparents in the back seat of the company car.

“So, daughter of mine. When were you going to tell me that you’re of speaking terms with the Bishop of Coventry?”

Wendy laughed.

“It was all too recent to tell you, Mum. We had lunch with him last Sunday. Willow played the organ for the morning service and Evensong. We were at the Cathedral from before ten to nearly six. It was an interesting day. He took the service at our church, the week before. We go regularly, now that Willow is a regular organist there.”

Her mother looked at her granddaughter, who had her head on her shoulder and sleeping, quietly. Life, she thought, produced miracles, sometimes, and it had come up trumps in her grandchild.

Sunday morning, the five of them walked to the church as the bells started.

“This is such a nice village. Almost out of a TV series, without any murders.”

“And no mad clergymen, Mum.”

The Reverend was waiting outside and greeted them, being introduced as Willow slipped into the church to start playing. She had slept well, last night, safe in the knowledge that the shows had been a hit. Today was her time to relax and unwind. She watched the mirror as people arrived, grinning as she saw Christopher and Marie come in, to go up to Wendy and Ashley and sit with them in the pew. If her grandparents had been shocked to meet the Bishop, they may have difficulty in meeting a Baron.

The service was all as usual until Reverend Russell was about to leave. He turned to the congregation.

“Good people. It’s late notice, but, as you know, next Saturday week is the Christmas party in the Club. For those of you able to wake up on the Sunday, we will have a later service, followed by an afternoon of carol singing, with Willow leading us on the organ. I’ll post up Christmas service times by then.”

He then turned to leave, and Willow started playing as the bells started. When she went outside, there were still a few chatting, but the cold had driven most away. The Baron and his wife were talking to the Roses and Wendy’s parents. Willow managed to go to Gina.

“How are you, friend?”

“I was tired after the two shows but feel really good now. We did well, didn’t we?”

“We did very well. I expect that the school has made a good profit with two full houses and more discs sold. The next week should be interesting.”

“If it’s anything like last year, it will be exams and some off-time to revise. We will be having the last rehearsal in the theatre on Tuesday, and I believe that we will have a group to knock into shape for the party. At least we should have about four or five hours to get it right. If it doesn’t work, the two of us can hold the fort.”

“I’ve put together a list of numbers. I’ll give it to Mister Bamborough tomorrow morning to see how many the school has the sheet music for. That should give us a solid base for the party. Are you coming to the club this afternoon?”

“Yes. I’ll be in my oldest stuff and will grab a mask from our old COVID supplies. Mum told me that some of the church ladies have been there with brooms, mops, and vacuums, so it should be better.”

Marianne Gregory © 2025

Chapter 23

They hugged, and Willow went over to her parents. The Baron gave her a hug.

“We went to that concert of yours, last night. I got the tickets through the website. Cassie and Terry were with us, and you, young Willow, are the talk of the family. We also managed to get four tickets for Friday at the Cathedral. Cassie said that there was no way she could miss hearing her wedding organist play in the Cathedral. We’ll be popping into the club before we go, to book some seats for the party, which will let us confirm our booking for the reception.”

“That will be good, Chris. Gina and I will be in there this afternoon, pulling the amps out of storage and testing things. We don’t have a set band yet, just a bunch of volunteers. We’ll be rehearsing on Wednesday afternoon, with one more rehearsal before the event. As all of the orchestra are sight-readers, we should get it sounding good.”

When the five of them were walking back to the house, her grandmother spoke up.

“What else are you intending to surprise us with? First, I see my grandchild playing in a rock group, then I find that you’re on speaking terms with a Bishop, and now I discover that you’re considered family by a Baron! And that Willow will be the organist at a society wedding!”

Wendy laughed.

“You forgot your grandchild playing in the Cathedral next weekend. We have the tickets.”

“If you’re in the city on Thursday, Gramma, we’re bringing all the school orchestra stuff there in the morning and setting it up. We’ll be doing a full rehearsal in the afternoon, with it being a sound check for the BBC.”

“What are they there for?”

“I’m told that they will be recording it for transmission later. They’ll be filming us in May, when we play a Saint-Saens concert there. We’ll be doing four numbers, finishing with the ‘Organ Symphony’.”

“You’re telling me that you’re going to be on the box?”

“That’s what I’ve been told. We’re also pencilled in for a spot in the Proms in the summer.”

“You’re telling me that a school orchestra is that good?”

“It’s not just any old school, Gramma. The drama class has performed Shakespeare in Stratford on Avon. You wait until you hear us in full flight. Although you won’t hear my clarinet playing on the weekend. I gave up my seat to concentrate on the organ.”

They went home to have lunch, and then Willow put on old jeans and a tee, with a hoodie and a mask from the COVID supplies, walking to the club. The passage to the back room was open, and she went through, to find it a different place from before. It had been cleaned and polished up. Malcolm had put some tables out and the door to the storeroom was open, showing more tables and chairs. The Baron was helping pull tables out.

“Hello, Willow. This gives us good ideas for the reception. Are you getting more help?”

“Gina’s coming along. All we plan to do is clean the stage are and pull out the amplifiers. Malcolm has microphones that we can test them with. Did you have lunch here?”

“We did, and very good it was too. Marie’s in the kitchen, helping get the unused parts back into working order. We plan to come along to the party.”

Gina joined them and the two of them went up on the stage with a broom each. They swept all the dirt to one side and got a vacuum to suck it up. Then they opened up the storeroom where the equipment was kept. There was a set of PA speakers which they placed, one each side of the stage. Four fifty-watt Marshalls were a revelation. These were put up on the stage and the girls carefully cleaned them before plugging them in. There was a separate PA amp, with modern wireless connectivity. They plugged a microphone in and tried the settings.

They found that they could send the output to the stage speakers, the room system, or both. There was an inbuilt mixer with input for six microphones, and an output mixer to set the speaker volumes. They tried a microphone in every input of the Marshalls and polished everything they could see. While they were doing this, Willow was visualising the band on stage, and moved two of the amps to one side, with the other two on the other side. Gina raised an eyebrow.

“Two guitars over there, wind in the middle with singer out front. The two of us this side with the bass. There’s room for, what, three guitars, drums, two keyboards and up to five others. That lets us choose wisely. We might be able to rotate the other players if we have more than we need, depending on what we’re playing.”

They cleaned the areas where the amps had been stored, and other places around the back of the stage. When they had finished, the switched everything off and helped pull out chairs. When that was completed, with everything cleaned, Malcolm tried all the lights, including a rotating mirror ball with spotlights that changed colours. Marie had joined them and stood looking at the set-up.

“This is wonderful. It’s like going back fifty years but with modern appliances in the kitchen. It’s perfect for the reception. How many seats have you got out, my dear?”

“It looks like two hundred in this format. There are a couple of extra tables if you give up the dancing. That should give you a target for the guest list. Willow, will you and your folks join us for a meal, here. My treat. Your grandparents looked like they had seen a ghost, this morning.”

“That’s understandable, Chris. Yesterday they found out that we were on speaking terms with the Bishop, and today they met you. I think that they thought that we lived in a tiny village, where nothing ever happens, and everyone keeps to themselves. It’s a bit like that where they live, near Cambridge.”

The girls left to go home for a shower and tell the family that a dinner was offered. Wendy and her mother retired to their rooms to get ready, and Willow had to wait for her shower until her grandmother had used the bathroom. Her grandfather was told that a shabby old cardigan was not going to be acceptable for dinner with a Baron. Eventually, they all strolled to the club. Ashley went and spoke to Malcolm for a few minutes, then sat with them.

“Dad. You and Malcolm seem to be having a lot of little discussions?”

“I’m talking to him about the future, my daughter. Malcolm happens to be the Mayor of the Village, or, at least, the Manager. He’s talking to me about putting my name forward to join the Club Committee and the Village Council. With what you’ve been doing, and my link to the original Leighs, he wants me on board. I’ve never been asked to be so involved, before, and would also look very good on my resume, should there be higher jobs coming up at work.”

They had a good meal, with a lot of chat. Willow was cajoled into sitting at the piano and led them in a half an hour of singing, before the Baron needed to get going and the family strolled home.

Monday, she took her list to Mister Bamborough.

“Excuse me, sir. I have a list here of typical dance numbers from the last twenty years. Would it be possible to check with your music library to see if you have the sheet music for any. If you don’t, any suggestion for others would be appreciated. The orchestra will be rehearsing Tuesday, and we’ll have our volunteers for the party on Wednesday.”

He took the list, and she went off to her first lesson. This week, it was all revision and non-academic periods, like PE, was set as private study. Tuesday. Willow played in the chapel, using the second row on the organ. Tuesday afternoon, she went along to the orchestra rehearsal, to watch until it was time to be picked up by Maisie. Mister Jamieson saw her come in.

“Willow, just the one I needed. The choir aren’t happy that you aren’t part of the orchestra, so you’ve been added to the singers for the ‘Ninth’. I have a spare songbook for you, there will be a microphone for you. It will be a big group, as the Cathedral singers will be joining us, so, with you, there’ll be twenty, sounding like a hundred and twenty. Leave your bag and go and sit with the others.”

So, Willow was greeted by the other ten girls, and sat until they came to the fourth movement. She thought that the eleven of them made ‘Song of Joy’ pop without being amplified. The thought of her adding her voice, at the performance, sent shivers up her spine.

Wednesday, they had a bunch of sheet music of songs, and an extra ten players with a range of instruments between them. The base of the band was Brent, Herb, Victor, and Roy. They had a trumpet, flute, saxophone, trombone and a violinist. They had the amplifiers and the two keyboards on stage. They didn’t stand around talking and got straight into working with the sheet music. Herb, Victor and Roy did the vocals, along with Willow, and they did well, by getting through half the pile of music with the first two hours. They were all upbeat when they finished. They would have two more sessions the week after, much needed relief from end of term exams.

Thursday, the orchestra were in two coaches, their instruments in a truck, and they were taken to the Cathedral. They were shown the space that they would set up, in front of the altar. It took an hour to put all the chairs out, with the music stands and the music. The choirs would be sitting directly below the Christ in Glory tapestry. As they worked, a group of guys with hi-vis came in and started laying out cable to a whole forest of microphones. They were bunched as they went outside to an OB truck full of recording equipment.

They stopped for lunch, with sandwiches and soft drink supplied by the school canteen, and then took their seats. They had a group of teachers; Miss Russell, Mister Bamborough, Mister Jamieson and Reg Edwards, who followed Willow up to the organ and helped her set it up. He had a two-way and they waited until they got word from the supervisor that the recording van was ready. Willow was looking down in the mirror and saw Mister Jamieson get the same message and gesture to the orchestra to be silent. A BBC man asked the public in the building to please be quiet.

Reg nodded to Willow, and she started playing. Although she had been here and played it before, this time felt different. This time it was almost for real. When the last notes of the ‘Fugue’ died, there was applause from below, as this was the first time the orchestra had heard her on this organ. Reg patted her on the back as she headed down to join the choir. The mic was clipped to her top and the sender to her waist.

A few minutes later, Mister Bamborough tapped his baton and the first strains of the ‘Ninth’ sounded. When they got to the fourth movement, the singers all stood, with their songbooks opened. When they started singing, Willow teared up, as they were all set on maximum voices and the words thundered through the Cathedral. When they finished, there was silence for a few moments before all the public, the Cathedral workers, the BBC technicians and everyone else who was there burst into applause and cheering. The choir all had hugs, with the orchestra with big smiles. They were instructed to leave their instruments and the microphones in the Chapter house, which would be secured until they arrived on Friday.

It was a very happy group that were taken back to the school, confident that they will be successful with their performance. They were given free rein to head home or stay in the school, and Gina and Willow opted to sit in the library until it was time for Wendy to pick them up, catching up on their revision.

When they arrived home, her grandmother gave her a big hug, followed by her grandfather.

“We took your advice and were in the Cathedral, getting there after lunch. We sat in the pews and heard you play the organ. It sent tremors up and down my spine. And then I could have been in the Royal Albert Hall. That singing at the end is so iconic, it made me cry.”

“Don’t worry. Gramma, I was the same and I had been in that choir. I think the guy from the Beeb was happy, I saw him talking to someone on his phone and waving his arms around.”

On Friday, Willow was wearing her blue dress when she went to school. All of the orchestra had their long skirts or blue shirts and black trousers. The choir members all had the same dresses as Willow. They had the lunch and then gathered in the theatre for a last-minute pep talk, then were back in the coaches and heading for the Cathedral. When they got there, they saw a second OB truck with another bundle of leads snaking inside.

They were checked in, with the building now closed to the public. When they entered, they saw the lines of seats with programs on, several cameras set up, and technicians scurrying around. The Dean met them and spoke to the teachers. The whole group were ushered into the Chapter House and Miss Russell got some quiet so she could speak.

“There’s been a change in the broadcast. Your rehearsal, yesterday, was so good that tonight will be filmed for showing during Christmas Eve. Tomorrow evening all the extra stuff will be gone, so we want you all to be on your best behaviour today. No making faces or whispering that could be picked up by the microphones. We want you to be smiling and looking happy to be here. There will be cameras taking in views of the Cathedral and Willow, you have a fixed camera over the keyboard. If you look up, it will capture your face. When we go back out, with the instruments, we will play the first movement so that the cameras and sound can be set. Then we take a break until show time.”

They got themselves organised, all the singers, including Willow, went behind a screen to clip the sender to their panties and the microphone to their dresses. She joined the other singers in a pew as the orchestra sorted itself out. The man from the Beeb made sure his crew was ready and nodded to Mister Bamborough, now wearing tails. They orchestra played the first movement and the man from the Beeb spoke to Miss Russell. She came over to the singers.

“They want us to give them a sound check of the organ and the choir, any ideas?”

“We can do what we did the other Saturday, Miss. I’ll play the snippet from the ‘Organ Symphony’, and the girls can sing the three verses. Do you all remember it?”

There was a chorus of yesses, so Willow went up to the organ, and powered it up. She saw the girls lined up, and one called out the old test – ‘two, two, two. She was given a wave, and started the final part of the organ symphony, concentrating on the music with her new-found skills. When she got to the bit when the singing started, she sung it herself, looking up at the camera above her. When they ended the piece, there was some cheering from the orchestra, being the first time that they had heard it played in the venue. When she went back down, Miss Russell came over to her.

“The man from the Beeb said that the picture of you singing along with the choir was so magical, they want you to do the same in May. He’ll play it back if you want to see it.”

“I didn’t know my mic was on.”

“All the singers are going through the same mix, so you were included. I really didn’t know that you were singing until he just told me, you blended in with the others perfectly.”

They went out to the OB trucks and were invited into the one with the video feed. They were shown what the camera above her had seen, and she had to admit that it was different from any organist she had seen before.

The man from the Beeb told them that this would be a clip used in the advertising of the live feed in May, with the song from Babe being a strong trigger for viewer interest.

As they went back inside, Willow commented.

“Will that make me the face of the school for a few days?”

“You bet it will. I can’t think of a better ambassador of that concert. I expect you to feature on the posters, as well.”

They all relaxed and there was a light meal that the school canteen had packed for them, with sandwiches and salad and a small drink. Before the public admission started, they were all taken into the Chapter House, where the Bishop came in with a natty suit on and blessed the orchestra with prayer for a good concert.

They talked among themselves until a radio call came through that the main doors were closing. They were lined up, with Willow last. The Chapter House door was opened, and the orchestra walked out, in line, to take their seats. There was applause which swelled as Willow went up the stairs to the organ. She made herself comfortable until Mister Bamborough gave her a nod after the audience had settled.

She grinned as she played the first strong notes of the ‘Toccata’. When the last notes of the ‘Fugue’ faded, there was strong applause and she stood, faced the audience and bowed, before going back down to join the choir, with them all smiling.

She sat as the orchestra began the first movement. Relaxed and happy that the first hurdle was over, she listened to the music swirl around her until they stood for the fourth movement. She had the feeling that someone had turned the volume up when they started singing, but then realised that there was almost twice as many singers as there was yesterday. The piece came to an end, and they all waited until the audience started clapping, with many standing in ovation. The entire orchestra we signalled to stand, and they all bowed, with the conductor pointing to individuals, with Willow getting cheers as she was pointed out. Eventually, they left to walk back into the Chapter House. The applause continued and Mister Bamborough asked Willow if she had an encore.

He then led her out and they both bowed. He pointed to the organ, and she went back up, with the audience settling as she sat at the keyboard. She played the ‘Allegro’ from ‘Seven Improvisations’ and there was applause when she finished. She went back down, the two of them bowed, and went into the Chapter House to wait until the building was cleared.

Her parents were waiting in the car when the coach got back to the school, in a full car park. Willow and Gina got in and they went home. Maisie would do the honours on Saturday, as Wendy and Ashley would be back at the Cathedral, with her grandparents, on Saturday evening.

On Saturday, Willow took it easy until Maisie arrived, with Gina, to take her to the school. She had been careful with her dress and make-up, and her grandmother commented on what a beautiful girl she was. She hugged her family and then went out to the car. Maisie dropped them off at the school and then went into the city to do a little shopping before the performance.

Before they left, the Head took Willow aside and asked her that, if she did another encore, to get the entire audience on their feet with God Save the King. The orchestra would go back to their places to receive a standing ovation of their own.

The performance was a repeat of the Friday one, but without all the microphones and cameras. There were the calls for more. Willow was sent back to the organ and did the ‘Seven Allegro’. As she played, the orchestra were quietly led back to their places. When Willow started the National Anthem, the entire place were on their feet and in good voice. When she finished, she waved towards the orchestra, who bowed to their own standing ovation.

When she was dropped off at home, the family were waiting for her. The grandparents beside themselves with joy and loving. When she went to bed, she cuddled Tiger, and told him that he should have been there.

Sunday was lovely, with a quiet time at the church, the Bach helping her to calm the flutters of the big performance. The Russells had been at the concert, and she was hugged and complimented on her playing. The following week was all exams, except for the rehearsal of the dance band. They were now good enough to wing it, should they be asked for anything special. On Friday, they were all allowed to leave after lunch, and Maisie was there to pick them up.

On Saturday, Ashley and her grandfather helped to take the keyboard and stand to the club, then they went to help get Gina’s. The rest of the band arrived during the afternoon, and they had a short rehearsal. After six, the room filled, and the drink flowed. The band were given a meal in the front section, and then went through to start playing. The fact that the audience were ready to have fun was an impetus to the performance, as was the fact that there was a table full of teachers, the Head, and their spouses.

The evening was a roaring success, with the dance band doing everything that had been desired, even managing some extra songs that were requested. Towards the end of the night, it developed into a sing-along, with Willow and Gina leading the way and the rest using every inch of their imagination to follow. At the end of the night, they did ‘Now is the Hour’ and wound up the show. Willow and Gina made a point to give the band members a hug, followed by the Head coming on the stage to add her hugs. There had been a whip-around as the night went on, and Malcolm announced that they had raised over two thousand pounds towards the church roof restorations, with a percentage of the takings to be added to that.

For Willow, it was almost the culmination of the first term. One that had been like no other in her life. On Sunday morning, she helped Gina collect her keyboard, and they hugged. Willow wished her a good holiday as they were heading to the airport that afternoon. Willow had a gift for Gina in her bag, and Gina gave her one in return. When Willow opened hers, she found that they had both chosen the same pendant, with entwined hands on it.

The later service, on Sunday, was a very calming affair, and that was followed, after lunch, with the carols. Willow sang as she played, hearing her mother and grandmother singing. It was a lovely time, which then moved them into Christmas and all the joy and gift giving that it brings.

The following Tuesday, the dance band, without Gina, played again, in the school theatre, to a bunch of teachers and students, and several hundred invited members of various aged people homes. There were tables with nibbles, and plenty of chairs for those needing a rest.

Christmas Eve, the family watched the performance on the television. For Willow, it was strange to see herself and her friends on the screen.

…………………………………………………

In Bristol, Harvey Horton saw the performance and was happy that Billie-Jean had gone on to better things, unlike his son, who was now in a juvenile detention home. He raised his glass to the girl who he now knew was actually called Willow Jean Rose, as shown by the credits that were scrolling on his screen. He went to join his new love, unlikely ever to know the drastic changes that his assumption had made.

…………………………………………………..

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?

Marianne Gregory © 2025
End of Book One