When they reached the chapel both instinctively rushed towards a radiator. It wasn't quite autumn yet but it was certainly past summer and the change in temperature was beginning to show. There were 4 rather large industrial sized heaters at the back of the church and all were blistering hot to touch bare handed in preparation for the choir. It wasn't quite a cathedral but it was still a rather large chapel. It would have to be a fair size to fit all of the pupils plus the staff in. After warming themselves through for a minute or so they both walked into the body of the chapel.
The organ was magnificent, full size, not one of those tiny little unimposing electric setups that you play through a PA system. Kate couldn't help but stand there staring open mouthed in amazement. She had never played any instrument like this size. She had never seen any instrument this size other than a few big cathedrals and churches that she'd visited.
"It's quite remarkable, isn't it?" Caroline whispered quietly and directly into Kate's ear sending an unusual sensation down her spine as Caroline's words brushed past her ear.
"It's magnificent." She turned her head round and met Caroline's gaze, their faces must have been mere inches apart.
"I take it you'll want a shot then?" Caroline replied, holding the eye contact. Kate nodded, still with mouth open. "Right this way then." She turned and Kate followed.
When they reached the keyboard Kate almost ran at the seat. She ran her fingers over the keys and tentatively pressed one. They both jumped when it made a noise.
"Well go on then," Caroline encouraged, "Give us a tune!"
Kate then proceeded to play a few chords before sitting herself upright and flicking through the music book that had been left on the stand above the keys. She settled on a nice chorale. She took a deep breath then started. The organ played well and sounded delightful. Deep, rich, full. Kate relaxed into the piece of music, she didn't need the music after a few page turns. It all came flooding back to her. Caroline leaned against a wall and watched Kate play. She was relaxed, you could tell by the way that her hands and feet managed to work seamlessly, making it look so easy. The way the light from the music stand hit her face complemented her darker complexion. Kate was a very pretty woman Caroline thought to herself. She seemed so at ease with the world.
All of a sudden the music stopped and Caroline was brought back into reality with a cruel thump. Her head jerked towards where Kate was sitting at the organ. Her hands had dropped from the keyboard to her lap and she was sobbing quietly. Caroline froze for a second, she wasn't quite sure what to do. If this had been one of the kids she could've dealt with it fine but she'd never been that good at comforting adults. Caroline took a breath and walked over to Kate.
"Uhm, are you okay? Is there something wrong with the organ?" she said like a socially awkward teenager. She also placed her hand on Kate's shoulder, she was sure people did that in films when people are upset.
"Oh, no, it's beautiful. It's just perfect." She wiped a tear away from her eyes, "It's just all happened now. I'm here, it's real. There's no going back." Caroline shuffled on to the bench beside Kate and put her arm around her shoulder. Kate nuzzled into the crook in Caroline's neck and hugged her, held her tight. Caroline did the same before she even realised it. There was something that just felt right about holding Kate in her arms. She hadn't experienced this kind of feeling since she was in her late teens, though she couldn't quite place it.
Kate released her grip for a moment, enough for her to look up into Caroline's watery blue eyes. "I'm so sorry," she muttered as she let go full and turned from Caroline slightly. "It's just all a bit overwhelming. That's the piece of music I walked down the aisle to." She rested her elbows on the wooden bit of the keyboard and dropped her head into her hands.
"Well you played it beautifully." Said Caroline, trying her best to comfort her new friend.
"Thanks. It is a beautiful organ you have here. It sounds brilliant, it must be so well maintained to sound and play that well after all the years it's been here."
"I would certainly say so. I hoped I wasn't using the school funds to pay some odd-job man who knows a little bit about piano tuning. Not at his prices anyway." They both looked at each other and laughed out loud. Caroline handed Kate a tissue to clear her tears with. "We'd better be getting back, Mrs. O'Sullivan will probably appear any minute for the choir and ask us to leave."
Kate stood up and followed Caroline out of the chapel. They were standing in the vestibule waiting for Caroline to put her coat on when tehere appeared a little old lady, no more than five feet tall wearing a brown ankle-length skirt, red wooly cardigan, circular horn-rimmed spectacles and her dirty grey hair tied up in an impossibly small and neat little bun on the very top of her head. She shuffled more than walked into the chapel, struggling with a bundle of papers. It looked as though she didn't even notice Kate and Caroline standing there watching her pass.
"Who's that?" Kate asked Caroline once they were out of earshot.
"That is Mrs. O'Sullivan. She's fairly deaf at the best of times and completely oblivious to the world at the worst. A bomb could go off in her hands and she wouldn't even realize until the she smelled the burning flesh emanating from where her hands once were."
"And you've got her teaching the choir?!" Kate remarked, still in shock at the mere sight of this woman.
"Well not me personally, no. She's been here since the forties and some members of the board think it would be a shame to send her away to do something else after she'd been here so long. That's the only reason she's here. If it was my choice she wouldn't be, end of." Caroline inhaled deeply and breathed a sigh that was almost like relief.
"Oh, okay. It's just that I-"
" I know that you ran a choir at your old school and would like to set one up here but can we discuss it at some other time please? I've got to get home to my boys and…"
"Oh I'm sorry to have kept you! Oh god, I'll let you go. I'll see you tomorrow yes?"
"Yes of course, bye." Shouted Caroline as she trotted back into the building and to her office to collect her bags.
On her journey home Caroline couldn't stop thinking about the way in which herself and Kate had connected. She hadn't been able to make a friend as easily as that since her days at university, and even then she hadn't found it that easy. She'd come from a broken home, of sorts. Her mother and father were married but barely spoke unless it was neccessary after her mother discovered that Caroline's father had been cheating on her with a string of other women since they had been married. As a result of this, Caroline didn't have any real role models to look towards as far as friendship was concerned.
Even still, she had managed to get on well in life. She got into Oxford to read chemistry and completed a phd before becoming a teacher. Through teaching she had managed to move up the career ladder, even becoming chartered before landing her present job as head teacher at her current school which was a cut above anything she could have ever dreamed of.