And Your Girl Can Sing

Chapter 61: Back In Dear Old Liddypool, Again

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    Downtown Liverpool, Matthew Street with its cinema and bookshop and Cavern Club—NEMS was only a block away from the Cavern, and still I hadn't gone in yet, always finding some reason or other not to. The rain had stopped, and I glanced ay my watery reflection in its storefront glass, and I gazed back, surrounded by the latest records. Vintage 1961 vinyl! Ha! I continued my walk until I caught sight of Kathleen across the street.

    "Cora!" she flew into my arms and we hugged right there on Matthew street amongst the shoppers. "Ooh, how I've missed you! You look exactly the same."

    "It's only been a few months," I grinned at her. "Your hair got longer." It had, her honey colored bob had grown out until it hung a couple of inches past her shoulders. It went with the dark brown pants and tweed blazer she had chosen to wear. "You look fantastic."

    "As do you." She playfully swatted me on the sleeve of my houndstooth dress and let her hand linger, draping it round my shoulder. "Hope ye have some sort of job. Manager's hired someone new—bird called Mabel." Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "She's awfully sappy. I tried talking to her at lunch hour but all she prattles on is about her boyfriend. You have one too ye know and you don't let the whole world know about it."

    I listened to the office gossip, absentmindedly checking out the windows on Matthew Street and watching the people go by. Kathleen caught me off guard when she said, "Are you going to Ringo's tomorrow?"

    "Yes," I said, feeling like everyone knew about that party but me. "How do you know about that?"

    "Oh, Ringo and I go back," Kathleen laughed, reaching into her pocketbook to retrieve some bobby pins. I was surprised. "What a coincidence."

    "Yes... grew up in Dingle, went to the same primary school. And now I'm here, a secretary for a stationary company." She spread her arms wide, her hair neatly pinned to the back of her head. "Not particularly what I wanted to do, but that's life. Oh, John says he's coming too to Ringo's."

    "John says...?" I started in confusion.

    "Ran into him yesterday," she said. "Actually, I was in Mendips."

    "What for?" I couldn't help but ask.

    "I wanted to borrow a book from... John..." she trailed off, now seemingly starting to realize the situation. "Sorry, love, I wasn't thinking."

    "No need to apologize," I told her. "It's not a crime for you and John to be friends." She seemed to relax at that, closing her mouth from its previous state of hanging open in a questioning glance at me. We entered the bookshop but I still felt on edge. Was this how he felt when I talked to other boys? But the difference was I didn't go to their houses to collect books. That was what the goddamn library was for, I thought as I picked up a book and examined the back of it: Mastering the Art Of French Cooking.

    "Want to get some nosh after this?" Kathleen asked and I put the book down, harder than I'd intended to. "Martin said he might meet us at the usual cafe. Ooh, French cooking? I didn't know you were interested in that!"

    Kathleen's innocence was something to behold. Like a child, like a kitten, not knowing any better. She stood before me, holding a stack of three books in her hand. "Found them in the sale section, except for the top one—a new release. Fifty percent off the others though! I suppose it'll give me something to do while Mabel talks at lunch hour."

    I nodded, taking in the book on the top of the stack: The Wretched Of The Earth by Frantz Fanon. "I read that in secondary school," I commented, trying to keep my attention off of John. There was nothing wrong.