Tiger Bay Blues Read Free Page A

would introduce everyone to everyone, but as no one would remember all the names, there isn’t much point.’
    ‘Pleased to meet you. That was some music you were belting out there.’ Harry shook the hands of the three tall Negroes.
    ‘Abdul Akbar on trumpet,’ Toby continued, ‘Steve Chan on drums, and the Bute Street Blues Band’s talented and beautiful singer, soon to be discovered and swept off to the West End, Judy Hamilton.’
    ‘What Toby means is that I’m auditioning on Monday for a tiny part in the chorus of a tour of The Vagabond King. Not that I have a hope of getting it,’ Judy explained.
    ‘And when Ziegfeld sees you –’
    ‘The show’s touring Aberdare and the Rhondda, Toby, not opening in New York.’
    ‘If you won’t dream for yourself, Judy, then I’ll dream for you,’ Toby said blithely. ‘And last but not least, on saxophone, Micah Holsten.’
    Harry shook the hand of the only white member of the band. He was very tall and thin, with startlingly white-blond hair. A pair of wire-framed spectacles was perched in front of his deep-blue eyes but even without them he had a keen, intellectual look. Harry found it difficult to gauge his age. At first glance he’d assumed the white hair was a sign of age; close up he recognised it as an indication of Scandinavian ancestry. Micah Holsten could be anywhere between a careworn twenty or a youngish thirty.
    ‘Pleased to meet you, Mr Evans.’ Micah had the slightest of accents; his English was clear and almost too perfect, as if he’d practised the pronunciation of every single word.
    ‘Please, call me Harry. There’s a buffet laid out in the kitchen for the waitresses and kitchen staff. My parents asked me to invite you all to help yourselves while we’re in the church.’
    ‘As long as you’re back out here to play for us when we return,’ Toby reminded.
    ‘Thank you. Not many people think of the musicians.’ Micah turned when a casement slammed noisily against the wall of the house. Edyth, in her long bridesmaids’ frock and high-heeled slippers, stood balanced precariously on the sill of the open high window set alongside the staircase. She was reaching above her head to the curtain pole.
    ‘Idiot! You’ll fall and break your neck, if not your skull again,’ Harry yelled.
    ‘Toby’s the idiot, coming here before the wedding. Everyone knows it’s unlucky for the bridegroom to see the bride before the ceremony.’ She tugged the curtains across the open window, closing them. Seconds later, two loud bangs and a scream echoed from the house.
    Harry started running. Aware of someone following him, he turned and saw Toby charging in his wake. ‘Edyth won’t be the only one screaming if Bella sees you,’ he yelled, then darted inside. Edyth was standing on the top step of the long, curving staircase, holding a crossbar gold satin slipper in each hand.
    ‘You threw them on the stairs and screamed to frighten me?’ Harry grabbed the newel post to steady himself while he caught his breath.
    ‘I did.’ Her eyes glittered triumphantly.
    Micah Holsten drew alongside Harry. ‘I’m sorry, Harry,’ he gasped. ‘I would never have entered the house uninvited if Toby hadn’t thought you’d need help.’
    ‘My sister, Edyth. Micah Holsten, saxophonist and member of the Bute Street Blues Band. And Toby was right, Micah. Given my sister’s history of breaking her bones, I do need help to cope with her idea of a joke.’
    ‘Pleased to meet you, Mr Holsten.’ Assuming from the intense way he was staring at her that he thought her a fool for playing such a childish trick, Edyth stepped back into the shadows. ‘Be a good best man and keep Toby away from the house, Harry.’
    ‘I’ll try. See you in church, sis.’ Harry turned to Micah. ‘As you’re here, I may as well show you to the kitchen.’
    The women and girls who had crowded into Bella’s bedroom fell silent when Sali draped the veil over her eldest daughter’s head.