But the new, improved, ‘cool’ side of him knew he should be screaming “No!”
In the end, and so as not to hurt his mum’s feelings, he played safe and just said, “Er, yeah, maybe, thanks, Mum.”
However, he did want to watch it. Calamity Jane was one of his all-time favourite musicals - but to be perceived as cool he had to deny himself such simple pleasures.
Yet the very fact that he wanted to watch it meant the nerd side of him was still alive and kicking and lurking just beneath the surface. Much like Captain Scarlet it was indestructible and the best Gordy could hope to do was conceal it so that no one - Pippa in particular - would ever be exposed to it.
However, conceal it he obviously had because Pippa had already noticed him - in a really good way. Somehow he had successfully managed to hide his inner nerd from her, somehow she had seen only his new cool exterior and that was all that mattered.
So what if Daisy had kissed Frazer? Gordy didn’t care (or, at least, that’s what he forced himself to believe), because The Cool List had worked. Pippa liked him, she had even given him a kiss! Pippa, Pippa, Pippa - not Daisy bloomin’ Flynn.
By carefully following The List, Gordy had very nearly fulfilled it’s purpose - which was to get Pippa to go out with him - and as he scooped out the last remaining Sugar Puffs from his now empty bowl he reached a momentous decision which would hopefully, at last, reward his efforts.
When he returned to school next week, dressed in his non-regulation school uniform, modelling his newly feathered haircut and wearing his prized pair of polished jam tops, he, the new, improved, spectacle-less, slimmer Gordy Brewer, was going to ask Pippa Wilson out.
Now that really was cool.
Chapter Thirteen
The following few days were strange to say the least. Things between Gordy and Daisy were frosty and awkward, particularly on Monday morning when they saw each other for the first time since the roller-disco.
When Gordy arrived at Bailey’s Bandstand Daisy had already opened up and was busily sorting through a stack of newly arrived 45s - this weeks’s Top Ten. She looked different to the way she had on Saturday night - different even from the way she had looked in all the time Gordy had known her, and the change was staggering.
She looked beautiful. She was stylish and cool, too, in her Brutus jeans and new Falmers cheesecloth shirt with patch pockets; both emphasising her previously unremarkable but now surprisingly impressive figure.
Yet rather than tell Daisy this, as he knew a friend probably should, he instead became rather surly and aggravated by her new appearance, particularly when Frazer came in at lunchtime and gave her a kiss.
Gordy did his best to appear nonchalant and waved his hand dismissively when Frazer approached him out of Daisy’s earshot and asked if he was ‘cool with him going out with Daze’.
“Yeah, course,” Gordy said, “No problem mate - why wouldn’t I be?” which alleviated his new friend’s concerns whilst doing little to assuage his own bad-tempered feelings of irritation and peevishness.
Daisy, too, felt a prickle of irritation when Gordy entered the shop on Monday morning, the image of him hugging Pippa on Saturday night suddenly flaring in her memory.
She could barely bring herself to look at Gordy when he muttered “Hi,” and just continued sorting through the latest singles as she replied with a “Hi,” of her own.
Conversation was stilted all morning and both were thankful of the Thorn Ultra as they continually fed it with a mishmash of random records that filled the silent void between them with loud music.
Genre: Jumbled. Customers: None.
However, when Frazer came in at lunchtime, Daisy made a show of giving him a kiss and being much more affectionate towards him than she actually felt. In fact, inside, she was wondering how the hell she could disentangle herself from the situation with the big punk and why on earth she had made such a big deal out of kissing him in front of Gordy.
Just two days earlier she had been completely in love with Steve Cool; he had been the centre of her world and the fact that he had called her a ‘lezzie’ should have all but destroyed her but it didn’t. It embarrassed her certainly and hurt her a little but it mattered far less to her somehow than Gordy hugging Pippa which seemed extremely odd to her.
And now she was going out with Frazer. What the hell had happened in the last forty-eight hours to change things so?
Nonetheless, Monday afternoon dragged by uneventfully and the dialogue between Gordy and Daisy was kept to a strict minimum.
Tuesday was equally awkward - Genre: Jumbled (again). Customers: None (again) - but on Wednesday - Genre: New Wave. Customers: Five - there was a slight improvement as both began to feel a little more at ease in the other’s company and over a stack of freshly delivered 12” singles (in varying shades of coloured vinyl) they started talking once more.
Daisy desperately wanted to tell Gordy about her parents’ decision; about how very shortly she might be going back to Africa and how she might not ever see him again. But the moment never seemed to arise as the pair of them tentatively resumed their friendship after each having put the events of the roller-disco behind them.
Indeed, Daisy hadn’t told anyone of her possible move back to the Dark Continent with the Mad Missionaries - not even Frazer who had been a regular at Bailey’s Bandstand every lunchtime since Monday - which now irritated Daisy much more than Gordy who had come to enjoy the big punk’s visits; their friendship blooming.
Nevertheless, now they were talking again, Daisy resolved to tell Gordy of her return to Africa when she got to work on Saturday at the shop. It was important for her to tell him before the start of the new term on Monday, because somehow, deep down, she suspected that when they got back to school, his attention would be focussed not on her but on Pippa.
When Mr. Bailey came to the shop on Wednesday evening to collect the days takings (a meagre £4.50) and help shut up the shop he looked tired and run-down, his face worry-worn and his eyes a little red around the rims. Gordy suspected that Mrs. Bailey’s illness had perhaps taken a turn for the worst and felt terribly sorry for the tall, friendly man who had trusted them with the running of his shop over the Summer.
As Gordy watched Mr. Bailey close up, he was filled with sadness for him, although couldn’t help but be pleased that he and Daisy were back on good terms again.
After Mr. Bailey locked the door, Gordy said goodbye to them both, assuming that he would see them there again on Saturday morning and every subsequent Saturday morning thereafter now school was resuming - he and Daisy now unable to work in the shop on weekdays due to the compulsory continuance of their studies at Poplar Park.
Not for a moment did Gordy suspect that he had just completed his last ever shift at Bailey’s Bandstand.
***
The telephone call came on Thursday night during The Sweeney. It was quite late, almost 10 o’clock, and ‘Jack Reagan’ was just in the process of pinning a particularly villainous ‘slag’ up against a wall and growling victoriously “You’re nicked!” (much as he did at the denouement of most episodes usually after a thrilling car chase involving his Ford Granada and a criminal’s old Jag over some muddy East End wasteland) when the phone started to ring, prompting both Alan and Barb to say in unison, in rather disgruntled tones, “Who on earth is that calling at this time of night?”
Gordy was too engrossed in the goings on of the ‘Flying Squad’ to care, except to feel slightly annoyed that someone was calling during the finale of one of TVs most gripping shows. Didn’t they have a telly for God’s sake? And, if they did, why weren’t they watching it now instead of phoning them?
Gordy felt even more annoyed when a less than happy Alan reluctantly hauled himself up out of his comfy settee and passed in front of the TV en-route to answer the telephone, chuntering under his breath about how ‘this better not have woken Izzie,’
who was supposedly fast asleep in bed upstairs.
Alan snatched up the telephone in the hallway and snapped in rather less than his usually pleasant yet business-like tone, “Yes?” Preparing to follow this up with a curt ‘do you know what time this is?’ but instead just said, “Oh, hello Mr. Bailey.”
Immediately Gordy’s ears pricked up and suddenly the congratulatory post-nicking repartee between ‘Reagan’ and ‘Carter’ faded into the background as he listened in to his father’s conversation - or, at least, the one-sided version that he could hear.
It went like this:
Gordy’s Dad: “No, that’s quite alright, no problem at all. How can I help?”
Pause.
“Oh dear, you poor chap. I’m so sorry—”
Pause
“Yes, I know she had. I can’t imagine how awful it must have—”
Pause
“Oh well that’s a blessing, at least she didn’t suffer too much at the end.”
Pause.
“Please, Mr. Bailey, if there’s anything we can do, you need only—”
Pause
“Yes, yes. I quite understand—”
Pause.
“A fresh start, yes, I see. I don’t blame you.”
Pause.
“Cornwall? Oh, how lovely.”
Pause
“No, no - I’ll tell him, don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”
Pause.
“Of course, yes. My condolences again, Mr. Bailey. I’m so sorry.”
Pause.
“Yes, thank you. Goodbye, Mr. Bailey - and good luck to you.”
Then Alan replaced the receiver and walked back into the lounge, a sad expression on his face as he looked at Gordy.
But there was no need for words as Gordy already knew.
Mrs. Bailey had died and Mr. Bailey was closing the shop and moving away.
Bailey’s Bandstand and Gordy’s surprisingly enjoyable time there was no more.
***
After a brave and lengthy struggle, Mrs. Bailey had, at last, succumbed to the cancer that had been eating away at her for the last few years. Mr. Bailey, now grief-stricken and alone had made the decision to sell up and move to Cornwall, where he apparently had family, to build a new life for himself away from everything that reminded him of his late wife.
This, of course, included the shop which had not made a profit in years and, latterly, had merely been a distraction from other more important things.
Shortly after speaking with Alan Brewer, Mr. Bailey had made a similar phone call to Glynn Flynn, who broke the news to Daisy.
She, like Gordy, had come to love her time at Bailey’s Bandstand and had felt a certain affinity with it’s proprietor whom she considered to be a ‘fish-out-of-water’ much like herself. When she heard the news of Mrs. Bailey’s death she cried for an hour and felt deeply sorry for the old gentleman who had, inadvertently, provided her not only with a friend but also with the chance to shine.
Nevertheless, with the immediate closing of the shop, Daisy would not have an opportunity to tell Gordy of her impending return to Africa until Monday at the earliest - if, indeed, she had the chance then.
Daisy was afraid that once they were back at school, and Gordy was reunited with all his old friends, that she and him might lose the connection they had made whilst working together at the shop.
Other than Gordy and now Frazer of course, Daisy had no other friends and with a return to Africa imminent it was unlikely she would make more - indeed, what would be the point if she was leaving soon anyway?
Nevertheless, the whole situation weighed heavily. However, what troubled her more, even though she was loathed to admit it, was that once they were back at school, Gordy would be seeing Pippa every day and, unlike Daisy, she didn’t have mad missionary parents who were dragging her off to Africa any time soon.
More’s the bloody pity.
***
Trevor Savoury had been in full on meltdown mode since Saturday night’s roller-disco debacle - most notably by missing not one but two episodes of Here Come The Double Deckers, three Champion The Wonder Horse’s and the first half of Tuesday’s High Chaparral. All were being rerun (yet again - just like every other school holiday) on weekday mornings and even though Trevor had seen them many times before - as he had The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, White Horses, Belle and Sebastian and Casey Jones (which were also Summer holiday stalwarts), he rarely missed an episode.
But since Saturday Trevor had not been himself. He had not read one comic, not looked once at either his prized Luke Skywalker or Chewbacca action figures and had not dressed in anything other than ‘normal’ clothes since that fateful night - his memory of the utterly disastrous ‘Fonzie’ outfit still causing his cheeks to burn hotly with embarrassment.
Not only that, but Trevor had not spoken to Gordy either. He had hoped he would come around to his house on Sunday to watch The Persuaders as per usual, but Gordy had not turned up, leaving the already insecure Trevor feeling all the more rejected.
Then he thought he might see Gordy one night after he’d finished work to talk things through, to reassure himself of their friendship but, again, Gordy was nowhere to be seen.
By the time Gordy did ring Trevor, on Thursday - five whole days after the roller-disco - Trevor was so stressed about saying the wrong thing or wearing the wrong clothes that he feigned illness and told his mum to tell Gordy that he was too poorly to come to the phone.
Gordy tried phoning again on Friday, to tell him about Mr.Bailey’s poor wife, but by then Trevor had convinced himself that he was not cool enough for Gordy and had kept up the pretence of illness so he didn’t have to face him.
Trevor had almost managed to believe he was actually ill so that he didn’t have to see anyone at all until absolutely necessary (his mum and dad not included).
He was suffering a severe crisis of conscience and needed time away from Poplar Park to reevaluate things.
The idea of being ill just seemed to magically pop into Trevor’s head - it was the perfect excuse. If he was ill then he wouldn’t have to go to school, wouldn’t have to face anyone until he had worked things out satisfactorily in his own head.
As it turned out, it was a catastrophically stupid idea.
Nevertheless, when school began again on Monday morning, it was without Trevor Savoury. His parents were very concerned about him as he complained of mysterious pains in his legs (as good a place as any to have pains he thought) which, rather worryingly, appeared to make him ‘pass out’ in agony any time they were accidentally knocked (this, Trevor thought, was an inspired touch which involved him ‘swooning’ regularly and laying in a crumpled heap on the floor with his eyes closed for several seconds before ‘waking up’ and asking ‘what happened?’). But it was an astonishingly simple yet incredibly effective ruse which amazingly fooled everyone.
After several visits to the completely flummoxed doctor’s and two trips up to the hospital for scans and checks, it was decided that Trevor should see a specialist for his strange affliction which no one, so far, had been able to diagnose.
The specialist, too, was completely in the dark as to what was ailing young Trevor and had ‘never seen anything like it before in his life.’
However, until such a time when an answer could be found, Trevor’s parents decided he would be staying at home indefinitely.
This suited Trevor just fine for the time being even though he felt extremely guilty at all the pretence - especially the regular fainting fits which he had originally considered a masterstroke in convincing his parents of his torment but had soon come to realise was the cause of much stress and worry on their part. Yet he was now in too deep, he couldn’t come clean, couldn’t just tell them he was faking, swinging the lead, putting it on - what would they think of him? What would everyone think
of him?
No, he had to carry it on. Yet all the time he and Gordy became more and more estranged - which, ironically, was the very thing he had not wanted to happen in the first place.
Gordy, of course, kept ringing, kept calling but after constantly getting told that Trevor couldn’t come to the door or answer the phone he eventually stopped ringing and calling altogether.
It would be more than six months - well into the Spring term - before Trevor, after a completely pointless stay in hospital where he was treated, more out of desperation than anything else, for sciatica, that he made a ‘miraculous recovery’ and returned to school. Upon his return he would be a much more mature, much less introverted and a far less eccentric young man, with a healthy interest in all the things Gordy had previously discovered before him - music, fashion and above all, girls.
And not a fancy dress costume or plastic action figure in sight.
But by then it would be too late and Gordy would have moved on.
That, however, was all in the future and, for the present, everyone else without a made-up illness would be going back to school on Monday.
Chapter Fourteen
Gordy and Daisy duly returned to Poplar Park on the Monday morning following the closure of Bailey’s Bandstand. Even Frazer, who was now a Fifth Year, put in one of his rare appearances, resigning himself to attending school slightly more often now that he was going out with Daisy.
From the moment the new term began, things were immediately different. Daisy arrived at school under her own steam after convincing her parents that she no longer needed to be driven there in the Bible-bus as she was a ‘big girl now’ - and to her amazement they agreed.
She was incredibly thankful that they had as she was met at the gates by Frazer whose frankly frightening appearance may well have scared the bejesus out of Glynn and Lynn Flynn - especially when he proceeded to poke his punky, pink tongue down their daughter’s pretty, prim throat in a very wet French kiss by way of a greeting (which rather took Daisy by surprise too, particularly as they were directly in front of the school gates in full glare of everyone).
Jam Tops, the Fonz and the Pursuit of Cool Page 16