Anna (Go To Him)

Chapter 39

The level of activity around the Jacaranda in the ensuing week was unbearable. The members of the band were constantly cycling through as Allan made phone calls, sent telegrams, and set up appointments; securing the necessary funds, tickets, and papers to get the five musicians, Allan and his wife Beryl, Lord Woodbine, and a German translator they'd met in London, plus Allan's trusty old green Austin van, to Hamburg via land and sea. I kept my head down and kept the coffee flowing as my heart ached with the pain of being left behind.

Pete passed the audition with flying colours, since there weren't any other real prospects on the horizon, though Paul had tried writing to another drummer who'd posted an advert in the Liverpool Echo, with no response. Stu and John threw a massive going-away party at Gambier Terrace the weekend before their departure. 

I arrived to find the flat mostly devoid of furniture, the landlady having found out about the boys' impending departure and also having been sore about their role in a publicity stunt organised by Allan a few weeks prior where the flat and its inhabitants posed for a series of photographs included in the shocking Sunday People article about the current "Beatnik Horror" sweeping the country. The filthy state of the flat, its unauthorised use in the tawdry article, and the news that John and Stu would be away for multiple months led her to order their eviction, effective the day before their departure for Germany. The boys were unfazed and resolved to go out on the biggest high the shabby flat had ever seen.

I pasted a smile on my face and weaved my way through the chattering crowd to find John. I found him holding court in the kitchen, surrounded by a knot of art college girls, captivated by some story he was spinning. Spotting Cynthia leaning casually against the kitchen counter, her doe eyes fixed firmly on John, I shrank back against the door frame, gripped by the familiar sense of inadequacy every time I was around her and her friends.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I turned quickly to see Stu smiling inquisitively, dark eyes curious behind a pair of actual glasses, clear lenses instead of his usual dark. "Alright, Anna?"

"Oh, hi, Stu. Sure, I...I'm just thinking how much I'll miss you all while yer away." I forced my lips into an apologetic grin.

"Don't worry, we'll write! And you know John, he'll send ye rambling prose every day, detailing the whole journey."

"That's probably true."

"Cheer up, luv. We'll be back before ye know it."

"Unless ye get discovered by some German promoter who wants to make ye famous."

Stu had the good sense to laugh at my silly fear, which I'd tried to pass off as a joke. "Well, if we get famous over there, Anna, we'll lobby to get ye on the payroll as our press agent, eh? How's yer German?"

"How's yours?"

"OK, fair enough. Can I grab ye a drink? Has John not taken care of that yet?"

"He appears to be occupied..." I said drily, gesturing over my shoulder at the women hanging on his every word.

Stu frowned at the sight. "Some bloody host he is, eh? I'll get ye something..."

Stepping around me, he shook a few of the open wine bottles cluttering the small sideboard until he found one that still had something in it. Pouring a measure of the red liquid into a chipped mug, he turned toward the small crowd and called John's name, causing a number of eyes to turn his way. "Join us for a drink, la'!" He raised the mug and inclined his head in my direction.

John looked mildly surprised to see me but he nodded and made some sort of soft apology to the ladies, pushing his way through them to join Stu and I near the entrance. "Heya, Annie. Ye just get here?"