Lady in Grey

‘The young man in blue is singing with me,’ she managed perfectly as he sang, ‘the lady in grey is looking at me’.

‘Cheeky cheek,’ she sang, now taking the tune.

He’d stopped singing and his mouth was wide open now. One of his mates nudged him.

‘There’s nobody here, it’s just you and me. It’s where I wanna be,” she continued. ‘But I hardly know this idiot at my side. I’ll never forget what you did tonight.’

Then they were singing alternate lines, with the real words this time.

Christina noticed the tram coming. She fumbled in her handbag for her business cards.

‘We’re a bit short of basses,’ she whispered, handing him one of the cards as he sang ‘lady in grey’.

‘Young man in blue,’ she sang back, ‘we really need you’.

She was still singing ‘young man in blue’, as she stepped on to the tram. She realised he and his mates weren’t getting on – they were waiting for another bunch of young people who were getting off.

The doors swished to and every single passenger on the tram started clapping. Now, that really was embarrassing.

She bowed slightly and smiled to herself. She looked through the window. He was turning the card over in his hand and scratching his head as he muttered something to one of the gang.

As the tram pulled away a police car stopped in front of the round building that used to be the Central Library. Ah, so maybe the others hadn’t been so apathetic after all. She was thankful for the tram and for her grey hair. They’d probably saved her from being arrested for busking without a license.

I hope they’re kind to him, she thought. You can’t be nasty to someone with such a beautiful voice as that.

Well, she’d be home soon. Friday evenings were never uneventful in Manchester.  And she rather hoped that her young man in blue would show up at the next choir practice.

Gill James writes novels for children and young adults, and short fiction for adults. She is also a publisher. This story more or less happened to her (though the writer in her has elaborated a little. It would be fab if the ‘young man in blue’ read it and got in touch.) http://gilljames.blogspot.com/

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