End of an Era Part VI
Nick's recall of the events of the previous night were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. That was followed almost at once by the faint of a key in the front door lock, and then the sound of Mike's voice as he let himself in. Nick was confused for a moment, but then he noticed the time on the kitchen clock… He hurriedly started to clear away the breakfast dishes, trying to carry them over to the dishwasher, but then noticed that his son was still finishing up his cereal…
"I can get those if you want," said Mike as he stepped into the kitchen. Nick immediately noticed that he had his daughter strapped to him in her carrier, and his son's hand clutched in his own as young Harry stood beside him. "Now, before you even say a word, Tina got called into work at the last minute to cover for a sick colleague, and assist with a full list in the operating theater. It isn't a problem though, as the children and I always have a walk in the morning, regardless of the weather. I have left Harry's stroller upstairs in the hall, so all this means is a slightly longer walk than usual. I can pop by the deli and the drugstore on the way home and do my errands, so it is win, win."
"Even so! I don't know if I have ever said this before, but I should have; you, Mike Chang, are the greatest best friend ever."
"All I am doing is paying you back for all that you have done for Tina and me," replied Mike. "By the way, your dishwasher is now fully stacked; you have Wes well trained."
Nick turned round and saw that his son had indeed finished his cereal, and had placed his bowl, spoon and juice glass in their correct places in the machine. He smiled, and then saw the clock again. He wished his son a good day at school, thanked Mike again, and then hastened off to catch the subway. As he walked in the direction of the station at 14th Street, he typed out a quick text message to his husband, hoping that he was okay, and asking him to get in touch as he was worried about him…
By the time that Nick arrived in his office, Jeff had replied, full of apologies for not having done so sooner but not giving any explanation as to why he had not done so; he knew that his husband would be fully aware that he was just getting used to the time difference. He had followed his message with photographs from Green Park of all the flowers and finally words.
'They said it was a carpet of flowers, but that was the understatement of the year. It stretches as far as the eye can see in the park and from what I have been told, the same scenes are repeated in Saint James's Park too. So many toys too, all but a few of them Paddington. Who would have thought that one little video could resonate so much with so many people. The atmosphere is so sombre; apparently they were out last night en masse taking down all the remaining Christmas lights as they were no longer deemed appropriate. As for the day of the funeral itself, this time even the big supermarkets are closing for the whole day. Her image is still everywhere you look and it feels so strange to hear the words 'The King' on the radio and television. Anyway, think of me about 11pm your time tonight, because that is when we plan to join the queue. The official waiting time is currently 13 hours, so you can expect to see us sometime tomorrow afternoon on the live feed. In case you wondered, Drew is texting Ethan as well as I type, as he had not messaged him either. All of my love to both of you and Wes xxx.'
Nick was still reading his husband's message when Miss Worthington stepped in through the open door to his office. He hastened to put his phone away but she just smiled. "I will assume that the message you were so engrossed in was from your husband. Of course, you were in London when the Duke of Edinburgh died, so you will be all too aware of what the situation there might be like just now."
"Jeff says that it is even more sombre and it was bad enough then, so I can imagine that the sense of grief must be really overwhelming this time." He pulled up one of the pictures of the flowers that Jeff had sent him and showed it to his boss, whose eyes went a little wide at the sight. "At this time of year there aren't that many flowers being grown locally, so I assume that the rest of Europe…"
"… is going without," his boss said, finishing Nick's sentence. "It's true; a friend of mine in the Spanish delegation tells me that he has been informed that there is hardly a bloom available in Madrid, and according to my sources, none at all to be had in the likes of Dublin, Brussels, and Amsterdam. Nobody there objects, because they know why. As for all of the bears, there is already planning in place to deal with them. Each night the park staff come and remove them from the cold and the damp and take them to a facility where they're being cleaned and stored for now; in due time, they will go to a children's charity for distribution."
"She would approve of that; she always put other people first in her lifetime after all."
"Funnily enough, she is also the reason why I am here in the first place. There is to be a small memorial service in the main chamber at noon - well they say small, but I doubt that it will be. As someone who actually met her, I want you to feel free to attend. To be honest, I intend to go and I would appreciate the company."
"I will be there," replied Nick, glad that he had chosen to wear his black suit again that morning. He also expected that she was right about it not being a small event though…
As he and Miss Worthington squeezed into the chamber at noon, it was 5pm in London and Miss Frobisher was serving dinner to her two guests; she did so much earlier than she normally would have done, but that was because they would soon be heading off to bed. She had already looked out all of her thermos flasks, of which she had four in total. Two would hold tea, the larger two soup, a pan of which was cooking away on the stove. The soup would be blended once it was cooked, making it much easier to pour into the cups. Jeff had purchased a selection of biscuits, chocolate bars and crackers to join them, as well as small packets of chips and nuts. In a way, it felt more like a picnic than a duty. The weather forecast said that it would be dry but cold, so layers of warm clothing were a must.
"I was speaking to Sebastian earlier," Jeff said between mouthfuls, "and their thinking is that we should meet somewhere close to Southwark Park, because even if the back of the queue isn't there, we can follow the route from there easily to where the back of the line is currently situated."
Miss Frobisher replied, "I quite agree, that does make a lot of sense. The walk will also help to lessen the feeling of cold."
"I see that there have already been quite a few well-known faces in the queue. The younger ones are standing in the main line; sports personalities and TV presenters, and such like. Some of the older people I have of course joined the queue for those with disabilities, although even that has a substantial wait time," remarked Drew.
"I saw that too; there was one image of the two Dames, Dench and Smith, keeping each other company, having arrived together. It is such a sight to see, two 92 year olds side by side to honour the woman that came to the throne when they were both just 18 years of age… That was the thing that really brought it home to me, just how long she was our Queen," added Miss Frobisher sadly.
Jeff would be in his bed and sound asleep in London as his son left school in Manhattan that Friday; Drew would just be dozing off as Evie joined her neighbour in walking home with Mike, now without his own children, as Artie was now at home and had offered to have Harry and Laura stay with him and his own two children. Kitty was out at a Women in Business meeting, where the late Queen had been mentioned more than once. At first, Kitty did not understand why, but then the presenter had clarified her reasoning; she saw the late monarch as the chairperson of a highly successful brand, the public face that was recognised all over the world.
"We should never underestimate the power of the brand. She was a major part of the image of 'The Firm' as some of the family actually call it themselves. She was the stable influence, known and trusted for over seven decades. The brand now has a new face at the helm, and he is not trusted quite as much yet; his face is known, but he is seen as more radical, and has embraced the way that the world has changed. The next in line to succeed him also has an excellent reputation, and both have sound partners that have earned respect for themselves. What happens now to the brand remains anyone's guess. I think that it will survive, but it will be adapted to the realities of the world around it. The younger generation has less time for sentiment and less unquestioning loyalty. The notion that you can carry on in the same way because that is what has always been done is outdated. However, if the changes are too fast and too extreme, there is a risk that they might alienate others, so they will need to exercise caution at every stage…"
The point was well made, and it resonated with them all. Kitty crossed her fingers, and hoped that the influence of the modern William and Kate at least would be strong on the new monarch, a man that was almost eighty…
Mike let himself and the two children into the West Village house; almost as soon as they stepped into the kitchen, they heard a miaow of protest from Caleb. He was not happy to say the least at how things were going in his house; his food supply was much less than normal, and none of the humans he permitted to live with him had been around to answer his protests earlier. The brunet and the small human were out pretty much all day, but worse, his blond one had vanished…
As Wes sorted out milk and cookies for himself and Evie, essentials required to get them through their homework, Mike attended to the demands of his furry friend. He knew that there was still an element of blackmail in the way the cat looked at him and treated him now; the events of Christmas and Mike's part in the tooth extraction incident were still remembered. Tina had shaken her head at him several times now when he had bemoaned that fact, stating that Caleb was merely spoiled and indulged by him and Jeff, but all that mattered to her husband was the restoration of the previous relationship he had enjoyed with the animal…
As he placed the scraps of chicken he had brought round that morning, leftovers from his own dinner the night before, into Caleb's dish, the contented purring and the way that the cat rubbed around his legs showed him that he was now back in the good books. With the animal fed, he glanced over at the children, who were doing their homework, but had also switched on the television. He saw that there was a news channel on the screen, and he wondered momentarily if they had been unable to find the remote. Then he saw them both look up, and overheard something that made him think otherwise…
"Still no sign of my dad and your papa," Evie said.
"Or Uncle Sebastian and Uncle Adam. They did say it was a long line though," Wes replied.
"Do you think they will tell us when they get to the top of those steps?"
"I don't know if they can. Dad said that you can't use your phone inside the building…"
The conversation stopped abruptly, and Mike hastened over to observe the television screen himself, in case his four friends were now in shot. However, he now saw that it was 4pm, and the news channel was now showing footage from two hours before, when the four children of the late monarch had performed what was known as the Vigil of the Princes. They had come to stand in silence, in fully military dress, heads bowed, one on each side of their mother's coffin, alongside the members of the military already there. Mike watched in silent awe, and relief too; he would never have to perform such a duty around the coffin of his own parents, at least not under the spotlight of the media of the entire world…
"But she isn't a Prince, she is a Princess, so they have the name wrong," said Evie suddenly, to no-one in particular. Mike smiled, as he could immediately picture both his wife, Kitty and Santana saying exactly the same thing.
"I think that is because what they are doing is an old tradition, and it used to just be the sons of the monarch that did it. I don't think the Princess Royal would have been too happy if they had tried to stick with that. I have met her, and she would not have sat back and not allowed herself to be included in this ceremony," said Wes, quite authoritatively for one so young.
Before Evie could respond, Mike decided to add his own thoughts. "These days we only have actors, not actors and actresses. Given that, maybe we should only use the term Prince, and not worry about the word Princess."
He almost laughed as he saw the look the two children gave him, a mix of scorn and pity. Evie sighed audibly, then said, "I guess that is kind of true. Anyway, the fact that she is there and doing it better than her brothers, in my opinion, is more than enough…"
Wes looked as if he was about to challenge that statement, asking how she could possibly know that, but before he could speak he saw that his Uncle Mike, standing behind Evie, was gently shaking his head, a finger on his lips. He knew that he had experience of people like Aunt Santana and Aunt Kitty when they were younger, so he bowed to his Uncle's greater knowledge of these matters, and decided it wasn't worth arguing….
Nick would arrive home that evening at the exact same time as Ethan, the two of them laughing as they tried to race each other from opposite ends of the street to Nick's front door, and ended up in a dead heat. As soon as they stepped in, Nick realised at once that it was too quiet, but it would be Ethan that noticed the note on the hallstand first.
"It would appear that neither of us will need to cook this evening," he said as he scanned the note. "We are invited to join Mike and Tina for dinner, and our respective children are there already."
"Well it wasn't planned, but I for one am not going to complain," responded Nick. "I will just pop my case in the study, and then we can head over there."
"I'll get you outside my place, because I'm going to go and drop off my bag too," replied Ethan, and he headed back outside. Nick swiftly placed his bag in the study, and after a quick detour down to the kitchen to ensure Caleb was fed and to grab a cake tin from the pantry shelf, he headed out once more.
It would be a lively dinner for eight that evening at the Chang household, with good company and delicious food. It was inevitable that the conversation would eventually turn to their absent friends, Nick confirming that Jeff was alive, before showing them all the images that he had sent from the parks earlier.
"So many flowers, and such an outpouring of love, affection and respect," remarked Tina. "It is no wonder that there are flower shortages across the whole of Europe now that I see these pictures!"
"From the look of it though people are obeying the instructions to unwrap their blooms before they lay them down, so that once they are past their best it will be fairly easy to compost them down into organic material that can be used as a fertiliser to grow more," observed Ethan, an idea that they all felt Her Majesty would have approved of.
"He also told me that they intend to join the queue tomorrow morning at 4am London time, so I estimate, based on the current projections, that we might see them on the livestream anytime from 6pm tomorrow, as they walk slowly through Westminster Hall past her coffin…" added Nick, something that made the mood a little more sombre…
As neither Nick or Ethan wanted to take advantage of Mike and Tina's generosity for too long, they both made excuses to leave for home early. As soon as they arrived home, Wes announced he was heading upstairs to take his bath without being prompted. Nick smiled and headed down to the kitchen again to check on Caleb once more. The cat was sound asleep, but Nick knew that he would wake up the instant he heard the sound of the man opening the fridge door; he knew the cat too well…
He headed back up and fetched his laptop from his case, bringing it back down to the kitchen and firing it up. He checked his work mail first, as he had been waiting for some reports to come in from one of the world's many troublespots before he headed home; the usual scenario of one group of people being denied their human rights by another that was currently more powerful. He shook his head sadly at the things he read in the reports that had just arrived, but he knew in his heart that his work would never be done; that somewhere in the world there would always be someone denying the rights of others, often stating that they did so to protect their own rights. It had been like that since the start of recorded time, and human nature meant that it would never stop…
He heard the sound of the bath draining upstairs through the pipes, something that no plumber could ever eradicate in an old house like theirs, but it gave him his cue to start making the hot chocolate that Wes had every night before he headed to bed, knowing he would have just enough time to heat the milk and have the mug of warm goodness ready the moment his son appeared. He also knew that as he poured the milk into the pan, as it only was really perfect if you did it the old-fashioned way on the stovetop, he would feel a furry body rubbing on his legs…
As ever, the timing was spot on, and as Wes stepped into the kitchen in his pyjamas and dressing gown, his father was pouring the chocolate into his mug. Nearby, Caleb was tucking in to his umpteenth meal of the day, Nick able to feed him as the milk started to heat through. Nick placed a couple of iced oatmeal cookies out onto a plate for his son as well. He knew that his son was not a cookie hound like his husband was, but if he did just hand him the packet, they would nonetheless be consumed swiftly and in an inordinate quantity. Father and son would sit side by side on the sofa and they watched a show on the television, Wes allowed to stay up a little later as it wasn't a school night…
His son had been upstairs in bed for an hour, and Nick was writing a summary of his own for work on the latest crisis when his phone buzzed with a message. He glanced at the clock, and seeing that it was 11pm, he immediately knew who it would be from. Sure enough, it was from Jeff, telling him that they had just joined the back of the legendary queue.
'It is dark, cold and much too early to be up here. We are at a place called Bermondsey Beach, but it doesn't look like any sort of beach that I have ever been to! The current queue time is apparently 15 hours, but we are all ready for the challenge… Nonetheless, I do envy you, as you will just be heading to bed! Anyway, I guess that means you can expect to see us on the livestream around 2pm your time tomorrow, but I will update you nearer the time. Everyone sends their love to you and Wes xxxxx.'
Nick smiled and then the photo arrived, showing Jeff flanked by Sebastian and Drew, standing behind Miss Frobisher, Adam, his mother, and an older lady that Nick assumed had to be Adam's grandmother. All of them were well wrapped in hats, gloves and scarves, but were smiling, but nonetheless, Nick shivered involuntarily at the very thought. He quickly typed back a message of his own, all the while wondering if the same image had been sent to Ethan, Dave and Lawrence; he suspected that it would have been.
He then decided to forward the picture on himself to Grace, his mom and Thad, having also suggested to his husband in his reply that if he had not already done so, he might like to send the picture to Elspeth and the Sterlings. Grace was the first to respond and she admitted that her own reaction had echoed his own, in that the thought of standing out all day in the cold had sent a shiver through her body. Thad's reply as much more measured, stating that he was proud of all of them, particularly his three Warbler brothers, for being there. They were representatives of their brotherhood at a global event after all. He then asked what time he might expect to see them on the livestream, as he knew that the Carmichaels would like to be watching as their boys appeared on the screen…
To get to the moment in that photograph had not been simple for those in London. When the alarm on Jeff's phone had gone off at 2am, his initial reaction had been to groan audibly; then he nearly jumped out of his skin when Drew had laughed at him from the other side of the bed that they had decided they could share. Neither had any issue with doing so, and it made more sense than one of them being uncomfortable and trying to sleep on the sofa in Miss Frobisher's sitting room. Although he said nothing, Drew was grateful when Jeff agreed, as it ensured that the night terrors that still occasionally afflicted him did not surface from sleeping in a strange room alone…
With the prompting of the other man, Jeff managed to drag himself out of the warm bed, and followed him to the kitchen, where they found that Miss Frobisher was already up and about, making a pot of tea. That initial cup was just the start, and it was followed by a substantial cooked breakfast of bacon, egg, sausage and fried bread, all designed to fortify them for the long time that they would need to wait in line. To eat such things in the morning was unusual for them all, cereal being the norm for the two men and porridge for Miss Frobisher, but this was no normal morning…
The two men did the washing up as their hostess started to fill up her Thermos flasks with tea and the lentil soup that she had made the night before; she packed oatcakes and cheese biscuits as well, and they were joined by the chocolate and cereal bars that her two guests had purchased the day before. They had read the instructions on what could be taken into the environs of Westminster Hall carefully, and flasks could be brought in on the proviso that they were empty; they were all sure that would be the case. With their provisions packed and warm clothes on, they had been outside and ready when the taxi had pulled up to drive them through the darkened streets of London to the back of the queue.
A similar scene had taken place in rural Surrey. Sebastian had shared Adam's bed that night as his grandmother had stayed over, which made perfect sense given the early start they were making. A hearty breakfast had been enjoyed, followed by flask filling. Adam's grandmother Joan had made them all chuckle when she stated that they were packing as if they were off to cross the wilds of Africa, not head into inner London. Sebastian was inclined to agree as he watched the amount of food being packed grow, but felt that she might have been better to have suggested they were off to the South Pole, given that the current temperature outside was in the high twenties of the Fahrenheit scale. He was inclined to think that way, which did confuse him when the younger three Crawfords talked of the temperature on the Centigrade scale…
Their journey into the city began a little earlier than the one from Kensington, and Sebastian was glad that Mr Crawford's car was much more spacious than his wife's, given that he found himself in the back seat once more, this time alongside Adam and his mother. What surprised him was that once they were out of the rural lanes of the village, the roads were not exactly quiet. He worried at first that dozens of people were heading for the queue along with them, then chided himself as he realised most of it was going out of the centre, people heading home after night's out. It did make his head hurt to think that many people were only just going to bed, and that was before he realised that it was still Friday back home in Ohio…
They drove all the way to the end of the queue, their original plan to drive only to Croydon and take one of the overnight trains from there into the city having been thwarted by engineering works. As they drove, a flurry of texts passed between Adam and Jeff as they tried to pinpoint the exact place at which they would rendezvous; all this was done as Annie Crawford checked the government website for the queue at the same time. A street was pinpointed, and the party from Surrey arrived a minute before the black cab from Kensington. The two pairs that had come from the States made introductions, as Miss Frobisher had naturally never met the Crawfords…
As they joined the back of the line, dead on the stroke of 4am, it turned out that although they had never met each other, there was a connection between Adam's grandmother and the kindergarten teacher from Kensington. Joan had looked thoughtful as soon as they had been introduced, and now as they stood in the streetlights beside the River Thames, she spoke. "This is going to sound rather presumptuous, Miss Frobisher, but do you by chance have a relative by the name of Norma? An aunt, perhaps, obviously on your father's side of the family?"
"I do, actually, but she isn't my aunt; she is the daughter of my grandfather's younger brother, my first cousin once removed. Why do you ask?"
"I attended a girls' school in the early sixties, and one of my closest friends was a Norma Frobisher. Her father was a councillor in North London, a member of the GLC…"
"…and her mother had been a secretary in the head office of John Lewis," finished Miss Frobisher, pleased when Joan nodded. "I did hear a lot about her school days when I was a pupil at the same establishment in the early seventies, and if I am thinking of the right person, then your maiden name was Brownlow…"
"It certainly was! What are the odds of the two of us being brought together like this and having a connection?"
"Very small I would have thought. My dear cousin Norma is very much alive, although she is now Norma Penfold, and recently widowed. I will let her know that I have met you, because she does wish that she had done more to stay in touch with her old schoolmates…"
As the two older ladies exchanged contact details, Adam could only shake his head in surprise at it all. Turning to his three friends, he said, "They always say that it is a small world, but until this moment I did not actually realise just how small it could be."
"Such meetings will be one of the things that will make this queue go down in history. I bet it has happened elsewhere too," replied Drew sagely.
"I am sure that there will be lots of new friendships formed in the time people are waiting too. It's natural when you are caught up in the same situation," observed Sebastian.
"And I think there will be a few romances started too," added Jeff with a wink…
By the time that the sky had begun to lighten behind them, the small group had made good progress towards the centre of London, but they were still being advised by an electronic board at the side of the road that they had another 12 hours to wait before they would finally descend the steps into the hushed Westminster Hall and walk past the coffin. It wasn't quite as cold as Jeff had anticipated, and the camaraderie they felt with the other people that surrounded them in the line was keeping them all going. The streets were no longer deserted, the normal Saturday morning traffic now flowing through the city. Suddenly, Jeff smelt something in the air, and he sniffed hungrily, then glanced ahead, searching for something…
Sebastian saw him, and looked at him in mild amusement, before shaking his head at how much his friend resembled a puppy sniffing for a scent. "I think that there must be one of those food trucks up ahead, and by the smell of it, they are frying bacon," the blond announced, and with that, they all could now smell what he had been able to. As people had been leaving the queue to go to the restroom, or to run over to a shop, they all knew that there would be no issue with them stepping out to see if Jeff's suspicions were correct, as long as they didn't go as a group, and they returned to the exact same spot.
Drew smiled, and said, "I think that a bacon sandwich would certainly hit the right spot. So, my treat – who else would like one?" Miss Frobisher and the elder Mrs Crawford both declined, but everyone else was more than happy to accept. Requests were then made for either tomato ketchup or brown sauce, and Sebastian volunteered to go with him, leaving Jeff with Adam, whose mother was referring to the blond as the Bisto Kid...
It was indeed a short stroll to the food truck, and it was busy, but the queue was moving far faster than the one they were in. they placed their order, then stood to one side as it was prepared. Sebastian had noticed that they also had toasted teacake available, and he had added two portions of that for the older ladies, as a temptation. They stood and observed the area around them, and the others in the queue, in silence. And then…
"Drew? Drew Symons?"