The Christmas Concert
21 December 2012
15:33
I'm sure everyone knows that Petruchio and Kate belong to William Shakespeare and that Sally Wainwright brought them into the Twenty First century.
Rufus Sewell and Shirley Henderson splendidly created them for the screen.
I have borrowed them for my first Christmas story.
I have borrowed too, with her consent, from a story by Brit-bound, my fellow FF writer and Rooftopper
I have not chosen a song for this very short story.
Pick if you like, Little Drummer Boy or Little Donkey or any of the dozens of carols being played at this time.
I have given this a K rating
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THE CHRISTMAS CONCERT
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He manoeuvred the Range Rover into the nearest available parking space. The village hall did not have its own car park; car parks had not been necessary when the hall had been built. It would be a case of first come, first gets the nearest spot in the surrounding area.
It had been very quiet in the back for the last ten minutes. He undid his seat belt and got out, stretched and looked up at the sky. It was only two thirty but it was already very gloomy and the clouds were low, dark and full.
Five more days to the holiday.
Who knows? Perhaps they might have snow for Christmas .
He opened the rear door of the car. As he had thought, his little one was asleep. Unbuckling the straps, he lifted her out of the baby seat and hoisting her high on his shoulder, made his way to the hall.
It was already starting to fill up, buzzing with the voices of parents and small children.
The school Christmas concert always got a good turnout. He picked a pair of seats together and sitting down, eased off Lexi's coat and bonnet and put them on the other chair to save it for Kate. He thought about trying to save another pair of seats for Kate's mother and Harry, but there was a chance that they wouldn't be able to make it. It wouldn't really be fair to keep two empty seats if people were standing.
He gently moved Lexi into a more comfortable position.
His chair creaked ominously.
The hall chairs were really past it ; they had been ancient when he was a boy. Perhaps he could spring the cash from the estate for new ones; or perhaps Kate would contribute.
Somebody slid into the empty seat beside him.
"Piers, what a pleasure! Though I suppose I should call you Lord Charlbury now."
Surprised, he turned.
"Mrs. Masters." He smiled. "Always Piers to you."
Mrs. Masters was head teacher of Hazlington village school; she had been his teacher in his first year at the school.
"And this must be Lexi? I won't wake her. The boys talk about her so much. They must be so excited about the concert ... and the play."
"The play?" He hadn't heard anything about this and said so. She smiled.
"If they have managed to keep it a secret, then I won't tell you anything more." She paused." I remember you in your first concert. You sang. What was It now? ... Do you remember? "
His smile faded a little.
"Little Drummer Boy."
"Of course! We managed to get you a Guards uniform, and a drum. It was my first concert too. Now this is my last! I am retiring at the end of this school year." She smiled again.
"Forty years! It has been a long time. Well, I must be off. I hope to see you again soon, Piers."
He sat and watched the shabby old red stage curtains.
They shook and bulged as small bodies behind them pushed and jostled for position to see if their parents had arrived.
Forty years ago, he had done the same, waiting till it was his turn.
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"They are not here yet, Mrs Masters."
"They will be, Piers."
He looked through the gap between the curtains. He could see Granny and Grandpa sitting three or four rows back, with two empty seats next to them. Granny, with her lips pursed and Grandpa frowning.
He bit his lip.
"Can we wait a little bit longer, Mrs Masters?"
She knelt beside him holding him gently.
"I'm afraid not, Piers. It would hold up everything else. I'm sure they are here; probably standing at the back."
They watched together as Reception Class finished their Nativity play and trooped off the stage.
The dusty old curtains swung across.
Mrs. Masters took his hand and went with him to the centre of the stage. His bottom lip trembled.
"Just remember, they are out there even if you can't see them. Sing out Piers."
She left him and went off stage to the piano. The curtains swung back.
Mrs Masters tapped the piano key to give him the note.
"Come, they told me, pa rum pum pum pum,
A new born king to see, pa rum pum pum pum."
His treble voice, unaccompanied except for the drum, rang out over the hall, the beat of his drum exactly in time.
He would do it even if they weren't there.
He would, he would!
When he finished, he turned with tears trickling down his face and marched off the stage into Mrs Master's arms.
"Brave Boy." she said.
Three days later, on Christmas Eve, he stood on the steps of Hazlington and watched the taxi driver put the cases into the boot. His mother swung a mink coat that he had never seen before, over her shoulders and got in the cab.
"Mummy," he said. She turned and wiggled her fingers at him. The cab drove off down the drive.
"Mummy, Mummy."
He ran after it, but she didn't turn around again. Granny and Grandpa came out and took him inside.
He didn't see Daddy at all over Christmas.
He was in his room, Granny said, don't disturb him; but her eyes were very bright and Grandpa's lips were all tight.
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His old man had bought him a second hand drum kit when he was in his teens; it must still be up in one of the attics somewhere.
He wondered how well he could play it now.
As well as any proficient thirteen year old, he supposed.
He stared at the curtain.
"Pa Rum pum pum pum, me and my drum." he murmured softly to himself.
A little wriggle in his arms.
He looked down."Hello my treasure, are you awake then?"
She sat up.
Ow. Her little elbows dug him in the ribs. How could anything as soft and cuddly as a toddler have such bony bits and pieces?
"Mummy come now?"
"Not yet."
"Mr. 'bama won't let her?" Her little face was anxious. He took the strands of hair that fell over her face and tucked them behind her ear.
"Ooh! Not even Mr Obama could stop Mummy coming to see our boys."
She turned and knelt into his lap, looking over his shoulder.
Aah! Her bony little knees ground into him.
She turned his face with her pudgy hands and said "Gwamma 'n' Gwampa Hawwy ", pointing with a chubby little finger.
He turned and winked at them, three rows back.
There was a little whisper of a draught as the Hall door opened, then a rustle as someone sat beside him.
"Mummy." Lexi scrambled over him onto Kate's lap.
He smiled at her as he reached out and pushed her hair behind her ear; he rested his hand along her cheek. She turned her face into it and kissed his palm.
The usual effect she had on him spread through him. Contentment and more than that. Security.
"Good trip down?"
"Yes, the holiday traffic wasn't too bad."
"We got the Christmas trees up this morning. The bigger one in the Lesser Hall and the smaller one in the drawing room."
"Good, we'll dress them tomorrow."
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The lights went down and Hazlington Village School Christmas Concert began.
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"Now" Mrs Masters announced. " we have year 2 with "Little Donkey."
"Mummy" Lexi pointed as she spotted her brothers in the front row, Kate shushing her.
As the choir came to the end of the first verse, the triplets took two steps forward and sang the chorus:
"Ring out the bells tonight.
Bethlehem! Bethlehem!
Follow that star so bright.
Bethlehem, Bethlehem. "
Strong and clear, every note true. They stepped back in line and continued the rest of the song with their class.
Kate's eyes were sparkling with tears as they met Piers'.
His were pretty close to it too.
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Mrs Masters said," Now there will be a short interval while Year 2 take their seats in the front and we get the scenery ready for Year 7's play.
Year 2 came out and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the stage, then twisted and craned their necks to see where their parents were sitting.
At last, the play started.
"That's why they wanted a bale of hay." Piers murmured.
Mrs Johns, Year 7's teacher, sat out in front and narrated the story as the children performed their parts.
'There was a miller and his daughter who was very beautiful but they were very poor. ...Then the miller went to the king.
'My daughter can spin straw into gold.'
When he told his daughter that he had done this, she cried bitterly because, of course, she could not.
A funny little man appeared in her room, stomping around...
"What is the matter?"
And the girl weeping, told him.
'I can help you but you must promise to give me your first born baby.'
She promised.
And he took the straw and spun it into gold.'
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"Mummy" Lexi whispered pointing.
"Shush." Kate said.
The play went on.
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The miller's daughter married the king and had a baby. The little man came to her and demanded the baby. The queen cried,
'I cannot give my baby away.'
The little man took pity on her.
'Guess my name, if you can. You may keep your baby if you do.'
The queen sent her knights far and wide to find it out. They came upon the little man's cottage in the middle of a forest, and listened outside. He was singing a strange little song
'No wise man can tell
The Queen where to begin
For no-one knows
my name is Rumpelstiltskin'
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And they returned to the queen. ...
The little man came to the castle jumping and stomping around.
'Guess my name.' he said.
The Queen said 'Caspar? ...No?
Melchior? ... Um ... Rufus? ... Balthasar? ...'
'No. None of these.' the little man said. 'Nobody knows my name.'
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Then a little voice called from the audience, "It's Mikey. Mikey.
Everyone on the stage froze.
A ripple of laughter ran across the audience.
The little man stamped down to the front of the stage, hands on hips and shouted back, "No, it's not! My name is Rumpelstiltskin!"
The hall erupted into a wave of applause.
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The little man stumped back .He was very cross that the queen knew his name. He leapt up onto the table, and jumped off into the bale of straw and disappeared for ever.
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"Well done year 7!" Mrs Masters said. "And a special well done to Michael Crick, who was borrowed from Year 2."
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The concert over, Kate and Piers collected their boys. They said their hellos and Merry Christmases to their neighbours and met Lesley and Harry outside.
"You were splendid" Harry said to the boys. Grandma knelt to hug them; her arms around all three.
"Lexi shouldn't've done that." Rupert said, and the other two shook their heads, slowly and seriously.
"Oh, she is only a baby." Grandma smiled." Besides Michael was quite wonderful, saving everything and making things right."
They walked together along the side of the village green until they stopped at the Range Rover.
"Where are you parked?" Kate asked. Harry gestured.
"Well, we'll see you back at the house."
They put Lexi in her baby seat and bundled the boys, squabbling about who should sit where, into the car and made sure they were belted in
Kate came around the back of the car to Piers and put her arm around him.
They looked up at the sky.
"Looks as though we might have a white Christmas." he said.
"Mmm. Lovely! ... Come on, my love, let's go home."
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