End of an Era Part IX.
Then they were saying their farewells, and they were heading back out of the Houses of Parliament towards Westminster station, the security guard escorting them directly to a private entrance directly into the station normally reserved for MPs. They all agreed that they would talk the following day to arrange what the next steps would be. They all knew that some of them would want to be back in the centre of the city on Wednesday, to join the crowds that would line the route of the funeral procession. That would mean another early start to ensure they got a good spot, although they all drew the line at camping out at the roadside as some would no doubt be doing.
They separated, and those heading for the District Line found a train pulling up at the platform as soon as they stepped onto it. In no time at all they were alighting at the station nearest to Miss Frobisher's home, and they walked the rest of the way slowly. As soon as they stepped inside they could all smell the casserole that the resourceful teacher had left in the slow cooker as they headed out that morning. All they had to do was take off their coats, wash their hands and the meal was available, the meat so tender from the long slow cooking process. A slow cooker was something that Nick had looked at purchasing before, but was a yet undecided upon. Jeff now knew that such a device was a necessity for their home.
In Surrey there was a different approach to a meal after their wait in the queue, and they headed straight for the village pub, which was still serving food even at this late hour on a Saturday. It helped of course that Mr Crawford had called them up and placed an order before he started to drive them back out to the country. The landlady had been only too pleased to oblige knowing where they had been. Sebastian would later confess that he had not felt quite as ravenous as he did that night since he had been a teenager at Dalton; the steak and ale pie that he was presented with was accompanied by chipped potatoes, peas, carrots and a lot of gravy, and it tasted like heaven on a plate to him, all washed down by a glass of red wine.
As they ate, the news came on the television at one end of the bar, and much to the horror of Sebastian, the interview he had given at the National Theatre was part of it. As the eyes of everyone in the place turned in his direction, he stared at them watching him, then shrugged and waved, which earned him a burst of laughter. Then he was immediately replaced by the interview with Adam, which was greeted with cheers for the local lad made good, although the man in question immediately went pillar box red…
Then the presenter carried on. "It is rumoured that Mr Smythe and Mr Crawford are in the company of the former's schoolmate and artist Jeff Sterling-Duval, who of course drew the centenary portrait of the late Queen. He is also known to be a close friend of the Princess of Wales, so when we watch the footage from Westminster Hall, we may be able to see him as well…"
Nick would hear those words in New York as he prepared the venison burgers for his and Wes' evening meal. He was grilling them carefully, the brioche buns ready to receive them, spread with a layer of mustard on the base, something that he and his son both liked. He wondered if his husband had also heard, but when he did not receive a text from the blonde he decided that he obviously had not. It was most likely that Jeff was asleep anyway; his day had been a lengthy one after all. He had said as much in the text message he had sent an hour ago, although it had been more about how wonderful slow cookers were more than anything else.
Nick had decided that he would study the online reviews and then head out to Macy's the following day to see what they had in stock. He guessed that it would be just as easy to place all of the casserole's ingredients in the slow cooker first thing in the morning and allow it to cook slowly during the day then making it the evening before, or batch cooking them in advance at the weekend.
The burgers now grilled to perfection he called Wes over from the sofa to the kitchen table. His son had been reading an article in the supplement of the New York Times on the late Queen; the fact that his son read a bit of that august journal every weekend was a source of pride to his father. He watched as his boy selected salad to place on top of his well-done burger and then started to eat. Before cooking them, Nick had trimmed the patties a little so they better fit the buns and those trimmings had made their way to Caleb's bowl, where they had been sniffed, tentatively tasted and then wolfed down. They had finished them you by the time the reporter from earlier returned to the screen with footage of Jeff, which meant that his presence at the Lying in State was now also recorded in the public record...
Miss Frobisher was up early the following day, which was normal for her even at the weekend, but she was surprised to find on coming into her kitchen that both of her house guests were also up and about. They had prepared breakfast for her, a poached egg with wholemeal toast, a favourite that she rarely enjoyed even at the weekend. They discussed their plans for the day as the ate, Miss Frobisher telling the two young men that she intended to go to church, where prayers were being offered for Her Majesty. Drew looked at Jeff and he nodded, before asking her if she would object if they joined her.
"Neither of us are regular churchgoers but at a time like this it feels right that we attend," said Jeff.
"I don't think that would be a problem and I would be delighted do have you sitting alongside me," she replied.
With that agreed, Jeff sent a message to Sebastian, to let him know where they would be and what they would be doing. His reply came almost at once, the actor telling him that he would be joining the Crawford family for a similar service at the village church, and that he would call them at 2pm to decide what they would be doing in the next few days before the funeral itself.
That done, Jeff and Drew changed into their most formal clothes and headed out with their hostess to her church, which was an old Victorian building that still dominated the community it was set in. They arrived for the service early, but by the time that it commenced, that turned out to have been no bad thing, as every pew in the building was filled to capacity, and there were a handful of younger people standing at the back as well. Sebastian would later report that the scene had been almost identical in the parish church in Adam's home village. It was something that was repeated across the UK and indeed much of the Commonwealth…
When they arrived back at Miss Frobisher's home just after 1pm, she headed to the kitchen to prepare a light lunch for them. Both Drew and Jeff decided it would be a good time to try and call home, knowing that neither Ethan or Nick was a late riser even on a Sunday. Jeff was delighted to hear his husband's voice, and did not mind that he had been shown on the television news the night before either. Instead, he confided in Nick what he had seen in the newspapers on their way back from church.
"The tabloid press is full of allegations that some television presenters have been using their celebrity status and the excuse that they were filming a segment for their show to 'jump the queue'; the two in question are vehemently denying that they did it, as is the television production company involved, but that isn't stopping the general public going to town on them. There is much being made of the fact that they just walked in to Westminster Hall whilst there are frail elderly people standing outside and waiting; even in the special queue for those with disabilities, the wait is now up to six hours at certain times…"
At home in New York, Nick found himself involuntarily shaking his head, before replying, "That does seem a very long time for those that are supposed to be in a designated queue. Of course, there would be a whole host of celebrities here that would try to use their status as a reason to push to the front of a line, and indeed some of them do. Her Majesty would not have approved of such things at all…"
Jeff made noises of agreement, and then went on to change the subject. "I am just so grateful that I had the opportunity to talk to the Prince and Princess yesterday. I feel so much better about things in that area now. However, if I am being totally truthful, I am not looking forward to Wednesday at all. We went with Miss Frobisher to church this morning, and it was such a sad occasion. I can only imagine how much worse it is going to be when her coffin is there in the middle of the Abbey, and then, when the moment comes when she is finally laid to rest at Windsor…"
Having talked to Nick, Jeff went on to talk to their son, Wes telling him about all that had happened in New York in the last few days, not of course mentioning that the burgers that they had eaten the night before had been venison ones, much to his father's relief. Of course, Caleb then came over from his basket, wondering what all the chatter was about so early on a Sunday morning, but he showed no interest in miaowing into the telephone, even if the voice that he could hear was recognisable to him as that of his missing blond human. He maintained a dignified silence until the small human gave up on the idea of having him miaow into the phone for his papa, then headed off, tail held high, towards his bowl. He was glad to discover that there was sufficient food already there, because had there not been, he would have been forced to stalk back over to his humans and miaow for it, and that protest noise would have been seen as him finally complying and talking to the man that had left him again…
Wes eventually tired of talking to his papa and went back to watching the television, handing the phone back to Nick. The brunet smiled, and then said, "I have to admit that I am looking forward to Thursday. I miss you being in bed next to me in the morning when I wake up, and having you greet me with a kiss when I come home from the office each night…"
"I miss you too Nicky… Hopefully we will be back in New York early in the afternoon, so that I can be back home in time to greet you with a kiss when you come in."
"Whatever time you arrive, I will welcome you with open arms," Nick replied, before the two of them said their goodbyes and went back to the tasks they had for that day.
The remainder of Sunday would be a day of rest for those in London, but the next day would be different again. True to his word, Drew had called his ex-wife's grandmother on Sunday afternoon, and discovered that she had moved away from Oxford, and was now living in the town that she had grown up in, Maidenhead. It was served by trains on the Elizabeth Line on a regular basis, and could be reached easily from Kensington by taking the tube to Ealing Broadway and changing there. After a few moments of thought, Drew decided that he should travel out there on Monday and meet her again in private.
He arranged to meet her in a café close to the railway station which would be easy for him to find on his first time in a strange town. She knew the owner, and they would not mind if they sat in a quiet corner for a few hours and caught up properly in a more comfortable location than the queue. He insisted that he should go alone, although when he told Jeff of his plans, the other man had concerns…
"I know what you are worried about blondie, and that is why I am meeting her in a public place within a short run of the railway station. If there is even a hint of anything untoward then I can say I need the restroom, and make good my escape very quickly. I don't think for a moment that there will be any issue though; she was the victim of an abusive spouse just as much as I was, but she suffered at her husband's hands for much longer in an unsympathetic time. He did her the great service of dying young, crashing his car into a wall one night when he was driving home much too fast one night. She knows why he was in a rush too; he had called her before he left work to tell her that he knew she had overspent on the weekly budget, and she needed to be punished for it. It was only by a few pence, and the irony was that she had only done so because he had announced that he wanted a steak for dinner one evening when she had already purchased sausages…"
Jeff shook his head in disbelief that any man could be so cruel as to beat his spouse for an error they had caused. Drew went on, "I would like to invite her to come over and visit me and Evie this summer. She was always so fond of her, and I recall that on one of the few occasions we chatted in private away from Lucy, she said that Manhattan was on her list of places that she had always wanted to visit but had never had the chance to. She did not expect that to change, but now, if things go well tomorrow, I'd like to give her the chance…"
Later that day, Jeff would relay what Drew had said to Sebastian, who thought that Drew was doing the right thing. "We all know that she did her best to prevent him from marrying that evil woman. I sometimes find myself wondering exactly how she ended up in that hospital bed. It was so convenient that she was there; it allowed Lucy to con Drew into marriage. I would hate to think that anyone could harm their own grandmother, but given what else she was prepared to do, I wouldn't put it past Lucy to have put her there…"
Jeff shuddered at the very idea, then let Sebastian continue. "As it happens, I will be on my own here as well tomorrow. Adam is going with his mother to see his aunt; you know, the one that always told his mother that her son would never come to anything if she let him be an actor… They're going to take her a signed pair of playbills from Mary Poppins, and a set of promotional images from the sitcom that has made him into a global star. All that, coupled with the fact that he was on television yesterday, being interviewed by the BBC during such an important national event, should have her eating her words…"
Jeff laughed at the tone in which Sebastian said that last line, filled with more than a hint of gleeful venom. "It doesn't do anyone any harm to be taken down a peg or two, and be proved wrong by their family."
"To be honest, I had much the same conversation with my dad when he discovered that I was going to be enrolling at NYADA," Sebastian replied. "Of course, he had to eat his words a long time ago, once my Tony Awards started to mount up. Hopefully Adam's aunt will have the decency to do the same thing."
Jeff and Sebastian had agreed to meet up and spend the day together on Monday, given that they were both to be alone otherwise. The latter was happy to take the train into the city and meet his friend at Victoria station. Whilst considering what they could do that day, Jeff had decided that he would take Sebastian down to Brixton, and treat him to lunch in the little café that he and Nick had discovered after a recommendation from Adam, and where they had taken Trent the previous summer, whilst they had all been in the city for the Queen's Official 100th Birthday celebrations. He had enjoyed the atmosphere as much as the Sterling-Duval family had, and Jeff was certain that Sebastian would as well.
As soon as he arrived on the train from Surrey, Jeff guided Sebastian towards the entrance to the Underground station, which did not surprise him, at least not until they boarded a southbound train. In no time they were at the terminus of the Victoria line in Brixton, and heading up to the busy streets. As soon as they stepped out of the station, Jeff was struck by the number of tributes he saw on display to the late Queen, a sign that she was loved in every community in what was now a diverse nation. He took his friend over the street and down to the David Bowie mural, and it was seeing that that reminded him why the name of the suburb he was now standing in had seemed familiar…
They crossed back over the road and headed into the crowded market that filled most of Electric Avenue, the street so called as it had been one of the first in London lit by electric streetlights. The atmosphere was every bit as colourful and frenetic as Jeff recalled, even on a chilly day in January. As they strolled amongst the stalls, Sebastian was recognised by someone on no less than three occasions, which did surprise him a little, although his recent television appearance had naturally been the cause. He allowed Jeff to take a photo of him with one stallholder who was a big fan of the theatre and of Shakespeare in particular, and when she produced her programme from his performance at the National Theatre, he was happy to autograph it for her. He was then introduced to the people on the neighbouring stalls, who were just as pleased to shake hands with a Tony winning Broadway star…
Eventually they managed to reach the café, and as soon as they entered it was Jeff's turn to be recognised; the owner asked after Nick and Wes at once, then smiled as the blond explained why he was back in town without his husband and son. "My wife went up and stood in the queue on Friday; I was up there myself yesterday. She was our Queen all of our lives, even when we were children back home. I met her once when she came here and paid a visit to the market; such a beautiful, lovely lady… Her son will be a fine King if he acts as she did with all of his people, and I think that he will because he believes in a multi-cultural inclusive society. There are some of my friends that think that now Her Majesty is gone, we should get rid of the monarchy, but to have what instead? No offence, but having a President can turn out to be a very bad idea…"
"No offence taken; Trump was not exactly our favourite person either," laughed Jeff.
The café owner smiled, then went on, "The funny thing is that when they conducted a survey a few years ago about whether this country should become a republic, they asked who people would choose for the first President if they thought it should. Most of those people decided that the first President would be… The Queen!"
They all laughed at that, and then the two friends were escorted to a table. Sebastian allowed Jeff to choose the dishes they would eat, and when the food arrived, he quickly saw why his friends had fallen in love with the food in the café and the whole vibe of the area outside. He noticed that whereas in some parts of the city there was a deep sense of mourning, here they were celebrating the life of the late monarch in lively conversation, recalling a figure that had been, in one way or another, central to all of their lives…
After lunch, they took the tube back towards the centre of the city, alighting at Pimlico station. Sebastian had admitted to Jeff that he had never been to any of the art galleries in the city other than the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, and he had heard that Tate Britain was a good one as well. It would be a good place to while away some time on a winter's afternoon as well. Jeff suspected that Sebastian had suggested it because of his love for art, but he denied it; in fact, he admitted that his own appreciation of paintings and drawings was growing as he grew older.
As they walked along the Thames to the gallery, they could see not only the headquarters of MI5 on the other side of the river, but also the chimneys of the former Battersea Power Station in the distance. That building was now at the centre of a mixed-use development of homes, the old power station now hosting shops, bars, restaurants and even a hotel. It was possible to take an elevator right to the top of one of the old chimneys and enjoy a view over the city that was once the sole preserve of steeplejacks…
They wandered through the galleries for a while, Sebastian asking Jeff questions about some of the paintings, ones that spoke to him particularly, and Jeff doing his best to answer them. He stood for some time in front of an image by John Singer Sargent of the actress Ellen Terry playing the part of Lady Macbeth, and then even longer in front of a portrait by the same artist of a young man, who reminded him a lot of an actor he had worked with in The Book of Mormon all those years ago.
They made their way eventually towards the Turner Galleries, and it was whilst they were in there that they bumped into someone they both knew. Russell Tovey was a keen art lover as well as being Sebastian's co-star in Waiting for Godot, and they had become friends through that; Jeff he knew through that shared appreciation of art. The British man was shocked to see them though, as he had managed not to see or hear about Sebastian's interview on the BBC. They walked together for a while, Russell explaining that he was passing time there before he headed to the place in which he was recording the next instalment of his successful art podcast. On the spur of the moment, he asked them if they would be willing to come and join him and his co-presenter as special guests. Sebastian had to admit that he had expected that Jeff would demure, but it turned out that Jeff was a fan of the podcast in question, and to appear on it would be an honour…
They would make the recording in the apartment of Russell's co-presenter, which was a couple of blocks from the Pimlico station. Both Jeff and Sebastian were introduced as special guests right from the off, and over a cup of coffee, they talked about Jeff's art, which of course segued into his relationship with the late Queen. Jeff was careful not to reveal any secrets, but he told them all about her abiding liking for The Judging Angel, and the two other portraits he had done for her, including of course the centenary one…
He then mentioned the last drawing of his that had come into her possession, the drawing of Sebastian as Hamlet. That made Russell laugh, and he thanked Jeff for being the perfect guest, as he had just linked them neatly to the other person there with them. There was then time for Sebastian to talk about his growing love of art, and how that had been helped by both Jeff and his art loving former co-star; after all, it was Russell and his talk of art in the green room of the theatre in Manhattan that had helped him appreciate just how much art already formed a part of his life…
Jeff and Sebastian would end up spending the remainder of the afternoon with Russell and his friend, the former sketching the two actors as they sat and debated the merits of the various plays they had seen in their lifetime, and those that they had appeared in as well. Unlike Russell, Sebastian had never appeared on television, but the former was only too happy to extol the virtues of the medium.
"I'm not sure that I could enjoy it though," the former Warbler responded. "I have to admit that I love the immediate reaction that you get from a theatre audience. My very first appearance on Broadway taught me that, and just how much I enjoyed it. When the audience at that now legendary performance did not heckle, but laughed and applauded us; when I made all the facial expressions I felt the character would, and they howled, it was like a cool drink of water after a day in the desert… In television, that isn't there. I know that Adam pines for the days when they filmed a sitcom in front of a live studio audience…"
"Do you know," replied Russell with a twinkle in his eye, "I always found that such a weird thing to say – filmed in front of a live studio audience. I mean, it was never going to be done in front of a dead studio audience…"
Jeff laughed at once at those words, whilst Sebastian merely rolled his eyes.
Russell continued, "The problem with a studio audience for me is that those people might not appreciate what you are doing, and the silence that follows would be a killer. Of course, Her Majesty once requested a royal command performance of a sitcom called The Good Life and was in the studio audience; there is no record of whether she laughed or not…"
He paused for a moment, then continued, "My favourite story about a sitcom filmed before an audience is about one written by one of Britain's best loved comediennes, the late Victoria Wood. She was so concerned with achieving perfection that she had each episode filmed in front of an audience twice, on separate days. Two different audiences watching the same thing, more or less. If a joke had bombed in the first recording, it might be rewritten for the second. The show in question only ran for two seasons, at her choice, and was called Dinnerladies. I would rank it alongside Fawlty Towers in how marvellous it is."
On hearing the name of the second show, Jeff's eyes lit up. "I loved that show! Our late Head Warbler, Wes, was a huge fan of all British comedy, and he had us watch it in my sophomore year at Dalton. That episode with the fire alarm and the German guests had us all howling with laughter. That punchline was just so perfect…"
He looked at the other two, who nodded, and then they said in perfect unison, "Yes you did! You invaded Poland!"
It would be a short walk back to Victoria station after that, where Sebastian would catch his train back out to Adam's village in Surrey, whereas Jeff would descend back into the tube to take a District Line train back west. The latter was able to head in straight away, but Sebastian had a short wait for his next train. That did allow him to pop into the small branch of Marks and Spencer on the station concourse, and pick up several packs of custard creams, some to place in his case to take back to Ohio, and some to replace those that he had munched his way through at the Crawfords' home. Adam had warned his mother that they were Sebastian's favourite biscuit, and she had laid in a stock, but now supplies were running low…
The fact that he opened one of the packs of biscuits and started on them on the journey home would not shock anyone. He also perused the free copy of the Evening Standard that he had picked up, which had a supplement in it which indicated the confirmed route of the funeral procession, and where the best places would be to watch it. There was also an article all about the Canadian Mounties, who would be leading it at Her Majesty's request. A troop of them had been placed on notice the moment that concerns for her health were announced officially, and they had been ready to embark on a flight to London the day after she passed away. It was much too impractical for them to bring their own horses of course, so they had been training on some loaned by the British Army instead…
It was all promising to be quite the spectacle, and reading between the lines, Sebastian realised that the best place to stand and watch would be on the south side of The Mall, on the edge of St James' Park, directly across from the steps that lead up to Waterloo Place and the lower end of Regent Street. There was to be a big screen placed there, at the spot where The Mall met Horse Guards Road, so that those waiting could watch events in Westminster Abbey and elsewhere. It would also be a short walk back through the park to Victoria station afterwards. It had been confirmed that there were to be extra early morning mainline trains, and that the Underground would open an hour early too, so getting there would be no issue. It was just a question of being there early enough to nab a good spot…
