Chapter 6 #2
Harmony pulled a face. ‘Not a poem, Walter. No offence, honey, but it would be more of a surprise gift if you didn’t quote poetry at them.’
‘A gift for us all,’ murmured Ronnie.
‘It’s all very well saying what we don’t want to give them,’ Isaac said, ‘but no one seems to have any bright ideas about we can give them.’
‘Why don’t we play them a Beatles song?’ Millie suggested hopefully. ‘Ooh, they’ve written some fab tunes. I could ask Lucy to bring a record player to the party and they could play “Love Me Do”?’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Percy with a grimace.
‘I hardly think that’s appropriate,’ Walter protested.
‘What’s a Beatles?’ asked Robert, puzzled.
‘What’s a record player?’ asked John.
‘Hey, the kid might have a point.’
There was silence at that last comment, as Harmony got to her feet and paced up and down, deep in thought.
‘Ya know, it could work.’
‘Yessss!’ Millie punched the air in excitement.
‘You’re joking, right?’ asked Danny. ‘I mean, don’t get me wrong, The Beatles were fantastic, and their music is right up there with the best, but it doesn’t strike me as much of a present to bring a deck into the pub and spin a bit of vinyl.’
Several of the longer established ghosts frowned and shook their heads, clearly not understanding a word of what he was talking about.
‘I’m not thinking of playing them a Beatles song,’ Harmony said. ‘I’m thinking of singing them a song!’
‘A Beatles song?’ asked Millie eagerly.
Harmony gave her an affectionate smile. ‘Well, maybe, kid. We’ll see. That would have to be put to the vote, right? But look, what about us finding a song we all like and singing it to the happy couple at their engagement party?’
Everyone considered her suggestion.
‘I suppose it’s an idea,’ said Agnes cautiously.
‘But, Mother, you can’t sing for toffee!’ Florrie cried.
‘Manners, Florence,’ Aubrey chided her gently.
‘I’m afraid she’s quite right,’ Agnes agreed, ‘but Aubrey certainly can sing, and if anyone should perform for Callie and Brodie at the party it should be him.’
She beamed proudly at her husband, who looked rather bashful.
‘I don’t think that’s fair,’ Bill protested. ‘I can sing an’ all.’
‘As can I,’ Isaac added. ‘Why, many’s the time I’ve led my customers in a rousing chorus of “A Messe of good Fellows” or “The Three Merry Coblers”.’
‘We’d have to do auditions,’ Harmony said. ‘We can hold them here or at The Magic Lantern. We’d need music, though, that’s the thing. And a song. We’d have to decide on a song.’
‘Are you seriously suggesting that singing Callie and Brodie a song is the best thing we can come up with?’ Bill asked incredulously.
‘Got any better suggestions?’ Harmony said, her eyes daring him to go for it.
Bill sank back in his chair, his nervous gaze fixed on Quintus Severus, who watched him silently from the door. ‘Nope.’
‘Thought not.’
‘The problem is,’ said Polly, ‘that Brodie won’t hear it.’
‘But whatever we do, Brodie won’t see or hear it,’ Ray pointed out. ‘And it’s not like we can give them an actual gift, is it? I think Harmony’s on to something here.’
‘I suppose at least this way we can express our congratulations and admiration to Callie,’ Percy acknowledged.
There were nods of agreement. It seemed that peace had finally broken out at The Quicken Tree.
‘Ooh, and if we sing a romantic song that means something to them then Callie can play it for Brodie later, and it will become their song, and they’ll always know we ghosts were thinking of them,’ Brooke said with a sigh.
Danny had been about to ask her sarcastically if she was sure she didn’t want them to give the happy couple chocolates instead, but the wistful look on her face stopped him. There was something in her expression that touched him suddenly, catching him by surprise.
She caught his eye and he gave her a tentative smile. Brooke stared at him as if in shock, and he realised with some shame that he rarely smiled at her. In fact, he rarely looked at her at all. Well, not when he could help it anyway.
But right now, there was something so sweet and vulnerable about her that he found it hard to look away.
Until he remembered what she’d done and the spell was broken.
‘We just need to think what song we can sing,’ he said loudly, addressing Harmony. ‘Any ideas?’
There was a moment’s silence then…
‘A Beatles song,’ Millie insisted. ‘“All My Loving”?’
‘What about “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square”?’ suggested Polly.
‘Here’s an idea. What about “Lili Marlene”?’ said Ronnie, giving Bill a sly look.
Bill glared at him. ‘Shut it.’
‘“Lily of Laguna”?’
Bill got to his feet. ‘I said, shut it.’
‘“Lily of the West”?’
Bill punched Ronnie in the face. ‘I warned you!’
‘Not again,’ said Percy furiously. ‘I knew it was too good to be true.’
‘Coo, a proper fight,’ said Florrie in delight.
‘Smack him, Bill,’ yelled John.
‘Really, I think we need to get these children home,’ Aubrey said. ‘This is hardly appropriate.’
‘They’ll kill each other!’ Agnes shrieked without a hint of irony. ‘Oh, somebody do something!’
Suddenly, Bill and Ronnie were dangling in the air, held in the strong grasp of Quintus Severus, who had each of them by the scruff of the neck.
‘You know, you guys really need to get a grip.’ Harmony shook her head at them. ‘Still fighting over this Lily girl, right?’
‘She was my girlfriend,’ Bill said furiously. ‘And he went and did the dirty on me with her!’
‘And then took great pleasure in telling you all about it,’ Harmony said, rolling her eyes. ‘Which led to you two fighting on the station platform while you waited for the train to come and take you on your journey back to the front.’
‘Yeah,’ Ronnie said. ‘Except we never made it, did we?’
‘Because of you!’ Bill said angrily.
‘Because of you!’
‘Because you’re both nuts,’ Harmony said. ‘Too busy arguing to think that at the centre of it all was a young woman who didn’t really care about either of you.’
‘Lily loved me!’ Bill cried.
‘Lily loved us all, mate,’ Ronnie said with a smirk, earning a shake from Quintus which made his teeth rattle.
Harmony turned to face the others. ‘Does anyone know what happened to this Lily girl after these ridiculous guys got into a fight on the platform and fell under the train as it pulled in?’
Both young soldiers winced at the thought, even though they mercifully had no memory of the actual moment their deaths had occurred.
‘I do,’ said Peter sheepishly.
Bill and Ronnie stared at him.
‘You do?’
‘Well, go on then,’ Bill said. ‘Tell me! What happened to Lily?’
Peter cleared his throat. ‘Er, well, about three months after your funerals she married a young man called Albert Smith from Kingsford Wold. He was exempt from the fighting due to him being a teacher. When he got a position at an exclusive boys’ school in Derbyshire with accommodation included, he proposed and she accepted straight away.
They moved to their new home the day after the wedding, I do believe.
Her mother was very proud. She was telling all her friends that she knew her Lily would do well for herself.
I, er, happened to overhear the conversation. ’
‘Never in this world!’ Ronnie said. ‘Three months?’
‘My Lily got married?’ Bill gasped. ‘After three months?’
‘Bet she’d been seeing him a lot longer than that,’ Ronnie said, sounding almost apologetic towards Bill. ‘I told you. You can’t say I didn’t.’
‘Like I said,’ Harmony told them with a shrug, ‘you guys need to get a grip.’
Bill and Ronnie looked at each other.
‘Maybe she’s got a point,’ Ronnie said sheepishly. ‘How about it?’
‘You still did the dirty on me,’ Bill snapped.
‘Yeah, I did. But that was only to make you see how daft you were being, mate. You were my best pal, and she was making a fool of you. I probably didn’t go about it in the best way—’
‘You think?’
‘Yeah, I know. Sorry, mate.’
He held out his hand.
Bill hesitated, clearly not sure. Quintus Severus gave him a little shake, just to help him make up his mind. Luckily it worked and Bill shook Ronnie’s hand.
‘Truce?’
‘Truce.’
‘Thank the good Lord for that,’ Percy Swain breathed.
‘Peace at last,’ said Agnes with a sigh of relief, as Quintus lowered the two men to the ground.
‘So,’ said Millie, after a moment’s appreciative silence. ‘Which Beatles song are we going to sing?’