No going back - 24. Concert

We didn't see that much of each the week after because we both found ourselves tied up in work. But there was one meal together mid-week, and we still went to the usual take-away. Colin was also busy for another reason; the choir had a concert on the Saturday. It was an afternoon thing, at the Methodist Church and there was no way I was going to miss it. I’d mentioned it to Mhairi and, a little to my surprise, she and Joe announced that they were going to come along. Neither had that much interest, I think, in music per se, but Mhairi said that they wanted to come and support my boyfriend. After all, she dryly commented, that Colin had done a lot to support me when I was ill so whilst going to a concert was hardly on a par with cooking, redecorating and such, it seemed the least they could do. And then she had spoiled the effect by saying that besides, the local brass band was playing too, and she loved a good brass band.

Colin spent the time at home, rather than with me, because he was worried that his preparations, practising and such would disturb me. I rather suspected that he was too embarrassed to actually practice with me around. Evidently, they had recordings which they sang along to, and I rather liked the idea but kept that to myself. From what I'd heard, Colin had an attractive light tenor voice, but no doubt I would find out more at the concert.

In fact, Friday ended up being a long work day, somehow a series of projects where I was waiting on other people all came together, so work was hectic and I spent rather too much time on the phone or on video calls. But we got there, and late in the evening I managed to settle myself down with dinner, not a take-away but a frozen pasta dish that Colin had made for me, insisting they would be better for me, and now that I had a decent sized freezer (one of the benefits of planning the kitchen from scratch), I could stock up. We had a phone call, which moved from flirty to downright dirty. I'd never considered phone sex but being suggestive with Colin seemed to come naturally and he responded. I had commented to Mhairi that he was coming out of his shell, and this was true, though I did wonder whether body-image had something to do with it. On the phone, there was just his voice. I was determined that I was going to get Colin comfortable with celebrating his size, not being embarrassed by it.

There was also a late phone call from Joe. I was worried that something was wrong with Mhairi, but no, Joe wanted to know if I would join them for a picnic in advance of the concert. The weather for tomorrow was going to be nice and warm, so a picnic seemed an interesting idea. But I'd got nothing in that could be said to be a useful contribution. Joe dismissed this; it was to be his treat. His? He went quiet and simply reiterated the invitation. Fair enough. I accepted; I hope graciously. Joe doing a picnic, what on earth were we going to have. As far as I knew, Mhairi did all the cooking and trying to remember what I was like when I was 15, I hadn't the slightest idea about food. Sandwiches were about all I would have managed.

Part of the old Minster yard had been turned into a sort of park; the remaining gravestones lined up around the edge. They were all made of local stone, which was soft and soon decayed in the weather, so few were legible, and many were barely recognisable as gravestones. The park had been designed by a famous gardener as part of some TV project I vaguely remembered, and though it was a few years old, someone was clearly still keeping it tidy. I arrived to find Mhairi sat on a seat in stately splendour as Joe was sitting on the ground with an array of paper carrier bags around him and a nervous smile on his face.

"This all looks very splendid".

"You can sit on the seat with Mum, or I've got another cushion if you want to sit on the ground", he gave an embarrassed smile, "I figured it wasn't a proper picnic unless we were sitting on the ground".

I took the proffered cushion and sat on the ground and smiled at Mhairi, "in the expectation of soggy cheese and ham sandwiches".

She laughed, "Made with slimy white bread".

"And the injunction that we had to eat everything, because there were starving Africans who wanted to eat them".

"And you said that the Africans were welcome to them, and that the sandwiches were disgusting".

Joe stared at the pair of us, as if we'd gone mad. I laughed and put a hand on his shoulder, "Sorry. Your Mother and I had some rather memorable picnics whilst we were growing up."

Joe looked at us, "Memorable as in not nice?"

"Yep. But this is going to be good, I can already smell good things. What's the occasion?"

"Well, Mum didn't do anything for her birthday", Joe shrugged, "she never does. And I thought it'd be fun, and I wanted to say thank you."

"To me? What for?"

He immediately looked embarrassed, Mhairi took over, "Being around, making him, making us welcome, and I think Joe's rather enjoyed his time helping Colin with your house."

"Great. I know Colin appreciated your help and was impressed with your painting skills." Joe sort of bobbed his head in acknowledgement and then started unpacking his bags.

It was quite a feast. It seems that one of his mates at school came from a family that owned a local Indian restaurant. Joe was a bit vague as to where the family came from, blithely referring to them as Indian when I knew that it was probably more complicated than that. So he had arranged to get a picnic from them. There were warm, crisp bhajis, tandoori chicken legs and lamb chops, various types of warm, spicy bread, dips (one of which really packed a kick) and more. Mhairi had laughed and said that we'd need to sit at the back, because we'd be breathing garlic all over everyone. There had seemed to be a ridiculous amount of food, but we ate most of it.

As we ate, we chatted about the Summer and holiday plans. I admitted that I had talked to Colin about holidays, and we planned to go away, but I had done little about finding somewhere to stay. Mhairi was in a similar position, with Joe tied up with the acting course, she had no reason not to go away but simply had no idea. She had lost the habit of holidays, apart from Church events, and had never really been alone. It gave me an idea; I would need to speak to Colin.

The Methodist Church was a rather unlovely 1950s building, but it evidently had the advantage of a large church hall, in case the rain prevented the post-concert jollification outside, and, as I learned later, came relatively cheap. We were sold a ticket by an elderly lady at the door, who was also chatting to one of the choir members. These were all dressed in black shirts and trousers, red belts and matching red bow ties. Was Colin in this get-up? He was.

He appeared briefly and beamed at us. If it was a novelty for me to be at the concert and see him perform, it seemed that it was equally a novelty for him to have someone who wanted to come and see him perform. I wondered about the guys in his firm, did they come, then it struck me. Did they know? I wouldn't have put it past Colin to keep this particular pass-time something of a secret.

"Don't any of the guys at work come to see you perform?"

"I've never told them."

"Why ever not?" He frowned, shit, not a good topic of conversation just before the concert. "Sorry, look it's none of my business. Let's chat later."

"It's OK. Mum and Miles were never interested, and I didn't want to let people know if they were going to think it funny."

"Funny?"

"Yeah, some people do."

"Well, not this one. Right. And Mhairi is really looking forward to it, though I suspect it was the brass band that did it." He gave a nervous smile and that did it. I leaned up and gave him a kiss, "Right, off you go. Warm up those vocal cords and slay them".

It most definitely wasn't my style of music. Some of it was real American close harmony stuff, and there were arrangements of Gershwin songs and that sort of thing. There were pieces I didn't recognise, and folk-song arrangements that felt a bit soupy for my taste, but which went down well with most of the audience. In one, Colin even had a small solo, and he'd not said anything about that. He was quite serious, dutifully following the conductor and seemed not to look at his music much, presumably all that practising with his recordings. He was one of the younger men, whilst there were a couple much younger the majority of the choir were a lot older. But they were having fun. They finished off with a series of American train songs, you know the Andrews Sisters style stuff and whilst it wasn't the most sophisticated performance in the world, it was clear that they were all having fun. And you know what, so were we.

After an hour we got outside to find the some of the women had set up stalls, with drinks and cakes and the like, and there was music from the brass band. The band wasn't quite what I had expected; anticipating dour middle-aged men, I was rather surprised to find that nearly half the players were women and there was a good mix of ages. It seems that brass banding was certainly diverse. Mhairi was well away, listening to them playing.

We had all congratulated Colin and I had given him a hug. Well, I was there as his boyfriend so what the hell. I was introduced to some of Colin's fellow tenors, Rhys, a little fat Welshman with a big smile and equally large, and delightful, wife, Norman who was tall, willowy and in late middle-aged but with a lovely dry sense of humour. We chatted for a bit, as Mhairi went off to listen to the band and Joe went in search of cake, then I saw someone approaching. He had far less hair and far more jowls, but there was no mistaking the eyes.

"Bloody hell, Owain Hargreaves. Where the hell have you been and what brings you back?"

Neil looked at me with those intense, tiny dark eyes. Even as a kid he'd been rather podgy, and the unkind nickname piggy had rather stuck. I didn't dislike him, but he was nowhere near a mate.

"Father died earlier this year and I decided that it was safe to come back. I've been working in London and my firm has opened an office in the new business park".

"Nice one. Your Dad. He was still a member of the Brethren?"

"Yes, how the hell did you remember that?"

Neil went a bit thoughtful, "I could hardly forget, he gave me a lecture a few times."

"Sorry, I've rather wiped all that from the memory. Too much I wanted to forget."

"You disappeared pretty sharpish after the end of school, and I've not seen you about before now."

It was a statement but really a question. Did I really want to talk about this? I sighed, "Long story short. I got chucked out by my parents as soon as school ended, and I was never welcome back."

"Chucked out", his eyes were all eagerness now. Oh yes, I remembered now. Piggy was always one for gossip.

"They found out I was gay. It's a definite no-no amongst the Brethren."

Neil simply stared at me, luckily Colin appeared, and I was able to introduce him as my boyfriend. I could tell that Colin was curious, after all I'd never mentioned any of my school pals and now here was one. Colin's appearance got things moving, we talked about more general stuff, doing up houses and that. Finally Neil went off, saying we must meet up. Colin looked at me full of curiosity, yet clearly a bit unwilling to press matters.

"He's called Neil, but I remember him as piggy."

"Piggy?"

"Yes. He was slimmer then but still had a podgy face with those two small eyes embedded in it and you know how cruel kids are. He was an inveterate gossip, loved learning secrets. I'm half inclined to think that his finding out I was gay, just now, was a big blow as he hadn't realised." Colin laughed. "He was never a mate, and I don't think I ever want to see him again."

"You ever seen any of your other school friends!

"Not friends. I really only ever had one school friend and we lost touch completely after I left. The rest", I shrugged, "Not sure I'd recognise them if we bumped into each other. So no, I haven't and I'm happy that way."

"That bloke, just talking to you, he looked vaguely familiar", Mhairi had come over and brought us both a slice of excellent cake, as if we hadn't had a big lunch.

"Neil, hell I forget his second name. I know, Chambers. But we all called him piggy."

"Him!" Mhairi laughed. "Time has not been kind to him. I remember piggy. Nasty, nosy little boy, always keen to find out things, make his eyes light up."

Blimey, I wonder what had happened there!