Annie's Lovely Choir By The Sea

by Liz Eeles

  Fiona shifts next to him, her mouth drooping at the corners.

  Slightly shaken, I carry on with the rehearsal, very aware that the Cornish pirate who came to my rescue is now sitting directly behind me, watching my every move.

  ‘Will you come again next week?’ I ask Cyril when the rehearsal is over at last and people are gathering up their belongings.

  ‘Might do. It depends.’ He pauses and waits for Jennifer to sweep past in a fug of Diorissimo.

  ‘We all hope you will join us again. I could ask someone to call in for you on their way here if you like.’

  ‘That won’t be necessary. I’ll either be here or I won’t.’ He suddenly grabs my arm and pulls me closer. His clothes have the sour smell of being left too long in the washing machine. ‘Don’t let Arthur upset you,’ he whispers. ‘He was a jumped-up know-it-all, even as a child.’

  Kayla sidles up while I’m watching Cyril shuffle away. There’s a cigarette burn near the neckline of his jumper and his trousers are only staying up thanks to his belt. The grey bristles on his chin show he could do with a shave too. What a shame he has no one to care for him.

  ‘Not. Your. Responsibility,’ murmurs Kayla. ‘See you in the pub.’ She scuttles after Chloe who’s linked arms with Ollie and is dragging him up the aisle.

  Call it sixth sense, but I don’t need to turn round to know that Josh is standing right behind me.

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘For what?’ he asks.

  I’ve pulled my hair into a short ponytail and can feel his breath warming the back of my neck. ‘For rescuing me from Arthur’s third degree.’

  ‘No problem.’ He steps in front of me and our fingers brush when he hands over a pile of sheet music he’s collected.

  ‘And thank you for keeping your mum happy by coming to our first two rehearsals. Your duty is now done,’ I say lightly, dropping the music into the tan leather briefcase that once belonged to my grandfather. Alice found it in the cellar and insists that I use it.

  ‘I might need to come to a couple more just to keep Mum happy, if that’s OK with you.’

  Josh folds his arms and watches me while I take in the news that Marion Pawley is harder to please than expected. What does he expect me to say? ‘Get lost, I don’t need you,’ probably. But I did need him this evening when Arthur was having a go at me, and he didn’t let me down. So maybe having him at a few more rehearsals wouldn’t be too awful.

  Hang on a minute – ping! That’s the sound of a Brilliant Idea flashing into my brain.

  ‘If you’re going to be around a bit longer, perhaps you could help out by conducting now and again, seeing as you’ve had some practice.’

  Josh seems surprised by the suggestion but doesn’t dismiss it out of hand.

  ‘I’ll think about it,’ he says, as everything slots into place in my mind.

  I have a problem: how can I head back to London without leaving the choir in the lurch? And now I have a solution: encourage Josh Pasco to follow in his father’s footsteps and become the next conductor of Salt Bay Choral Society. That’s how.

  Chapter 21

  Two days later I’m in the pub at lunchtime – drinking lemonade, I hasten to add – when Kayla calls across the bar.

  ‘Hey Annie, what are you doing this weekend?’ She finishes polishing the wine glass she’s holding and stands on tiptoe to place it on a high shelf.

  A medley of Take That songs is playing on a loop in my head and I blink rapidly to try and shift it. ‘What did you have in mind?’

  ‘You’ve never been to Salt Bay beach so I was thinking I could show you how to get down there.’

  ‘That would be brilliant. It’s not too scary, is it?’

  ‘It is a tiny bit hairy but no worries, there’s a sneaky little track that winds down the cliff and it’s fine if you know what you’re doing.’

  ‘Which she does,’ interrupts Roger. ‘What with her being practically a local these days.’

  Kayla beams with delight and gives Roger a huge hug. ‘Aw, you’re not so bad for a grumpy bastard Pom.’

  ‘Gerroff,’ growls Roger, going pink but looking pleased. ‘You’re daft as a brush.’

  ‘I’m only working evening shifts this weekend so why don’t we head down there tomorrow? I think the weather’s going to be good. Hang on, let me check the tides.’ She peers at the tide timetable which is tacked to the wall. ‘It’s low tide around noon so we could go mid-morning. You’ll love it: Cornwall at its best and totally emmet-free.’

  ‘Just you and me?’

  ‘Just the two of us; we can have a girls’ outing.’

  * * *

  Saturday dawns clear and unseasonably warm; one of those lovely bright February mornings when you pull out your spring clothes, only to pack them away the next day when the temperature plummets. But the weather holds so I risk cotton trousers, red jumper and thick blue sweatshirt on top for my trip to the beach. I throw caution to the winds and don't take a scarf.

  Kayla and I have arranged to meet by the clifftop cemetery at eleven o’clock. Kayla’s easy to spot with her flaming red hair as I get close to the rendezvous point, but she’s not alone. Ollie is like a beacon with his blonde mop, and there’s Chloe wearing more make-up for a beach walk than I would for a night out clubbing. There’s also a young lad in surfer shorts, a woman I don’t recognise, and Josh Pasco. My stomach does a weird little flip when Josh half raises his hand to wave at me and then folds his arms, as if thinking better of it.

  ‘Hey Annie, there you are.’ Kayla rushes over and gives me a hug. ‘You know Ollie, Josh and Chloe, and this is Ben, Chloe’s brother, who doesn’t feel the cold. This is Felicity, Josh’s friend, and that mad dog over there is Dodger, who belongs to Ben.’ A black and brown collie is running round in circles, barking and nipping at wheeling seagulls, but I’m too busy staring at Felicity to pay him much attention. Felicity is gorgeous – model-tall and slim with golden-blonde hair that curls at the nape of her long, white neck.

  ‘Hi Annie. We haven’t met.’ Felicity flashes me a dazzling Hollywood smile. ‘I hear that you’re related to Mrs Gowan. I’ve only met her once but she seemed lovely. I hope you don’t mind me gatecrashing your first trip to the beach.’

  ‘No, of course not.’ I have to say that because she’s being all friendly, but I remember what Josh told me about her. Is she here because they’re back together? He’s staring out to sea looking all Poldark-moody, with his arms crossed.

  ‘Sorry to spring it on you,’ hisses Kayla out of the corner of her mouth while Dodger is distracting the group. ‘I thought it would be nice if Ollie came along so I invited him but Chloe heard and invited herself along. Bloody cheek! Then Bonzer Bum heard and said he’d come along too and he’s brought Felicity with him. I didn’t tell you ’cos I didn’t want to put you off. I know you think Josh Pasco is a knobhead.’

  I glance at Josh anxiously, praying he didn’t hear. We seem to have forged a fragile peace so I don’t want to upset him, particularly as I seem destined to bump into him all the damn time.

  ‘It’s fine, honestly. Don’t worry about it.’

  ‘Come on.’ Ollie grabs Kayla’s arm and pulls her perilously close to the cliff edge. ‘I’ll show you where the path down to the beach is, though I’m surprised no one’s shown you it before. Follow me everyone.’

  When people start disappearing over the cliff top, I shuffle forward and peer over. No feckin’ way! A narrow track runs down the cliff, though it’s less a path down to the beach and more a stony death-slide onto the jagged rocks below.

  ‘Are you coming, Annie?’ yells Ollie, who’s leaping gazelle-like from tiny ledge to tinier ledge. ‘Last one down’s a sissy.’

  ‘Of course.’ I take a deep breath and gingerly lower myself onto the path, scuffing stones which clatter down, down, down and woomph into the sand. This is chuffing terrifying! The sun is scattering diamonds across the churning waves far below as I edge along and wonder what it feels like to
die.

  Almost at the bottom already, Chloe is squealing and hanging on to Ollie, with Kayla following disconsolately behind. And Dodger is already on the beach and careering across the sand. He runs in and out of the shallow waves, barking joyfully.

  Josh, who’s just ahead of me, turns round at a particularly hairy stage where the path narrows to little more than the width of my trainer.

  ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘Fine.’ I try to smile nonchalantly but my face is tight as a drum.

  ‘Just take it easy and don’t rush. The first time is always the worst.’ The first and last time in my case. Felicity is ahead of Josh and clambering elegantly down the cliff face like an experienced climber. I edge along at snail’s pace, humming Mum’s favourite music hall tune frantically, like a protective mantra.

  It takes me three times as long as everyone else to reach the beach but at last my wobbly legs are on firm sand. ‘Phew, made it.’ I look back up at the crumbly brown cliff. Balls. I’ll have to scramble back up there later, but I won’t worry about that now.

  Around me is a wide expanse of curved, golden sand, dotted with rocks and seaweed-fringed pools. Two tall rock stacks are standing a few metres out to sea, and plumes of foam are leaping into the air as the waves pound into them. Maybe it’s my recent near-death experience but everything looks magical, and I half expect Cornish pixies in tiny Speedos to emerge from the water.

  ‘OMG!’ squeals Chloe as Dodger rushes over to us and shakes his whole body. Freezing droplets of seawater, like tiny beads of glass, fly in all directions. ‘He’s always doing that,’ she complains, pressing herself against Ollie’s chest. ‘Bad dog!’

  Ollie laughs. He doesn’t put his arm round Chloe, though he doesn’t move away either.

  Kayla’s mouth sets into a firm line. ‘Perhaps you shouldn’t have brought Dodger with you.’

  ‘Why? You’re not frightened of dogs, are you?’ asks Chloe uber-sweetly.

  ‘Hardly. Where I come from we’ve got spiders the size of dogs and every bit of wildlife wants to kill you.’

  ‘That sounds terrible. No wonder you’ve moved here.’

  ‘Actually, Australia is brilliant. Just a bit’ – she searches for the right word – ‘venomy.’

  ‘I think it sounds amazing,’ says Ollie.

  ‘Yeah, terrible and amazing at the same time,’ gushes Chloe, with her eyes on Ollie’s face.

  Josh raises an eyebrow. ‘Why don’t we show Annie the caves?’

  ‘Must we?’ Felicity peels off her shiny pink jacket to reveal a skin-tight jumper that hugs her impressive curves. She looks magnificent. ‘I was going to sit in the sunshine. You could join me, Josh.’

  Before Josh can answer, Chloe grabs hold of Ollie’s arm and simpers, ‘Caves sound really exciting, though you’ll have to hold my hand because it’s very dark in there.’

  Kayla rolls her eyes and stomps off towards the cliffs on the far edge of the cove, with all of us following behind except for Felicity. When I look over my shoulder, she’s throwing her jacket back on.

  Wow! Just where the cliff meets the farthest curve of the bay, there’s a huge archway in the rock and a high, wide cave beyond it. The sunlight only penetrates a few metres and then there’s nothing but blackness.

  Inside, the sand is wet and clumpy, and the temperature has dropped, making me shiver. The walls are worn smooth and damp when I put out my hand and brush them with my fingers.

  ‘Awesome, isn’t it?’ Josh’s voice is close to my ear and I can feel the warmth from his body. ‘It was used by smugglers back in the 1700s who used to hide contraband here, to avoid paying tax.’

  ‘One of the earliest tax avoidance schemes, then.’

  Josh gives a deep laugh. ‘Something like that. There are a couple of chambers higher up in the rock at the back of the cave that are usually above the water mark, even at high tide. We used to play in them when we were kids. I mistimed it once and spent several hours in there with the waves pounding the rocks close by. I’ll never forget it and my mum almost killed me when I finally emerged at low tide.’

  ‘I bet. She must have thought you’d drowned.’

  Why did I say that? The poor woman had to cope with a real drowning not so long afterwards. I’m mentally kicking myself in the head when Felicity suddenly sidles up and cuddles in to Josh.

  ‘I thought I’d take a look at the caves after all but it’s really chilly in here.’

  What’s her game? She ditches Josh when he’s at a low ebb and now she’s back and all over him. There are squeals and frenzied barking from further inside the cave.

  ‘Come on you lot,’ yells Kayla from the darkness. ‘Get your backsides into this cave.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am!’ Felicity does a mock salute and links her arm through Josh’s. ‘Have you brought a torch? I bet you’ve got one about your person.’ She laughs and pushes her other hand into his jeans pocket, which is such an intimate gesture I feel like a gooseberry. ‘Aha, I thought as much.’ She pulls out a slender silver flashlight and waves it triumphantly.

  ‘What can I say, once a boy scout… and I thought we might end up doing some caving.’ Josh takes the torch, turns it on and points the beam ahead of us. Yellow light scatters across the dark walls, casting black shadows where it can’t reach.

  ‘You’d better lead the way, like you did the first time you brought me in here.’ Felicity smiles up at him flirtatiously and I guess he smiles back. I can’t tell because he has his back to me, but most men would smile if Felicity was flirting with them. Hell, I’d smile if Felicity was flirting with me. She has a very smiley face.

  Josh and Felicity walk further into the cave with me close behind them. The strong smell of damp intensifies when the passage narrows and the sound of the sea outside becomes muffled. It’s creepy in here but pretty amazing walking under a roof of rock with tons of cliff above you. The torch beam suddenly lights up Kayla, who’s sitting on a boulder in the pitch black, cross-legged like a pixie. There’s a dead-end wall of rock behind her, but she’s completely alone.

  ‘Ta-dah!’ She raises her arms in the torchlight. ‘And for my next trick...’

  ‘Where’s everybody gone?’ I run my hand across the freezing cold rock that marks the end of the cave, almost expecting it to spring open.

  ‘I told you Cornwall was magic. They’ve been spirited away.’

  ‘No, really, where have they gone?’

  Josh points his torch towards the back corner. ‘Through there.’ A small opening, only a metre wide, is lit up. ‘There’s a tunnel you can crawl through. It’s hard work because it goes uphill but it opens out into a couple of small chambers. That’s where the smugglers hid their booty.’

  ‘Dodger went through it – that dog is mental – so the others followed. I didn’t fancy it because I get a bit claustrophobic in really small spaces, only don’t tell Chloe. I thought I’d wait for you instead and I’m in the dark because they took Ollie’s torch with them.’

  Josh hands Kayla his torch, bends down and shouts into the tunnel, ‘Hey, Ollie! Shine a light down here because we’re coming up.’ After a few moments, a faint light spills out of the opening.

  ‘Are you coming, Annie?’ asks Felicity, kneeling down by Josh. I bend over and peer into the tunnel, which is about the height of a small child. Wouldn’t it be awful if my hips got wedged as I crawled through? Rationally I know I’m not as wide as the tunnel, but all the same.

  ‘Nah, you’re OK. I’ll stay and keep Kayla company.’

  ‘If you're sure.’ Felicity starts crawling through the opening, giving us all a brilliant view of her slender hips and pert bottom.

  ‘We won’t be long,’ says Josh, getting onto his hands and knees and following Felicity until all I can see are his canvas trainers, and then he’s gone.

  ‘Woo-hoo!’ Kayla puts the torch under her chin and opens her eyes wide. A halo of light shines around her ghostly white face. ‘What do you think of Salt Bay’s beach then?’

>   ‘It’s beautiful, though I could have done without the death slide down the cliff.’

  ‘It’s terrifying, isn’t it? I almost wet myself the first time I tried it.’

  ‘You told me it wasn’t too bad.’

  ‘I lied,’ says Kayla calmly, waving the torch around and bouncing light off the walls. ‘I can’t help it; it’s genetic. My sister Marie told me giving birth only smarted a bit which was definitely a lie ’cos she reckons she hasn’t peed straight since.’

  Trying hard not to think of Marie’s mangled nether regions, I lower my voice in case it echoes through the tunnel.

  ‘How are things going with Ollie?’

  ‘Not so great.’ Though I can’t see Kayla’s face, I can hear her disappointment. ‘I think he likes Chloe, though God knows why. I suppose she has got great tits.’ She shines the torch on her less well-endowed chest and sighs. I reach out my hand and she tightens her fingers round mine before letting them go. ‘But we Aussies always bounce back and, if all else fails, there’s always a boob job. I think I’ll go for double Ds. Talking of which, what do you think of Felicity, then?’

  ‘She seems nice.’

  ‘Nice? She’s bloody gorgeous. Poor old Ben. His eyes have been on stalks since she arrived but she only has eyes for Josh, which is weird.’

  ‘Why weird?’

  ‘Someone said in the pub that they’d split up.’

  ‘Maybe she regrets abandoning him in his hour of need and thinks she’s made a mistake.’

  ‘Maybe,’ says Kayla, sounding puzzled. ‘I don’t know all the ins and outs, though it sounds like you do.’

  ‘No, I’m just guessing.’

  ‘Hhmmm.’ Before Kayla can interrogate me further, furious barking comes from the tunnel and Dodger shoots out and barrels into the wall opposite. He blinks dazedly when Kayla shines the torch at him and gives a short, sharp bark at the tunnel opening when Ollie’s head and shoulders appear. Ollie crawls out with Chloe so close behind him her head must have been almost touching his bum.