Lonely This Christmas (3 page)

It was coming up to Christmas 1974, and over two months before she would be given that first real valentines present of the Charlie perfume and teddy bear. It was two whole weeks before the City High School Christmas disco and Judy was over at Elaine’s house for the evening, for a full dress rehearsal. They were practicing their dance routines for the party, because everybody knew that you had to have a well polished dance routine for each and every record. It was long before the advent of the CD player, and only the most advanced household even owned a cassette player.

Elaine’s parents had stretched to buying her a record player to keep in her bedroom. It was small, lightweight, and came in its own case. With
its built in speaker it would never provide the same level of volume of the school record player. The school record player had huge speakers and was designed to drown out the sound of chattering children whenever necessary. If you turned up the sound too much on Elaine’s record player, it would distort the music and the internal speaker would vibrate wildly; but it was good enough to perfect the dance steps they had carefully choreographed. Nothing could compare to the large wooden monstrosity that was housed in the school hall, but then again such a beast would never have fitted on Elaine’s small dainty dressing table.

“
Eeh Judy, only fourteen sleeps till the Christmas disco, and nineteen sleeps till Christmas day. I can’t wait. Come on then, let’s see your outfit.”

Judy pulled out her outfit from the black shopping bag, and Elaine squealed with delight when she saw the colorful creations. The canary yellow wide legged trousers were all the rage and the black long sleeved V neck had flecks of golden
Lurex running through the body.

“It’s amazing, Judy, I love it. Wait till you see mine,” Elaine babbled excitedly.

Reaching under her bed Elaine produced a carefully folded shopping bag, and placing it onto the bed she pulled out the contents. A pair of electric blue wide legs trousers and a canary yellow bell sleeved blouse.

“Oh, Elaine they’re gorgeous, they must have cost a bomb,” said Judy in a tone of genuine admiration.

Both girls squealed with delight as they held up their outfits and danced around the bedroom.

“I’m wearing these black platforms, if I can get used to walking in them without falling over before then. I had to literally beg my mum to let me get them. What shoes are you
wearing?” asked Elaine, as she lifted up the black patent platform shoes with three inch block heels.

“Mine are pretty much the same as those. I’ve been practicing walking in them when I’m in the house, but I guess we should be practicing dancing in them too. If we don’t master the art of these platforms, I can see us ending up flat on our backs; and you can imagine how much that would please Yvette
Sparnon.”

“You’re so right, Judy,” responded Elaine in a moment of realization, “OK that settles it. From tomorrow night until the night before the disco we will practice the dancing in our shoes. We will not fall down at the disco; we will not give Yvette
Sparnon something else to taunt us about. We will conquer the shoes and we will leave the Christmas school disco with our dignity intact.”

Waving her shiny new platforms in the air Elaine finished her speech like Emily Pankhurst at a suffragette meeting. When Judy clapped furiously and cheered loudly, the two girls fell about laughing. There was a lot resting on the school disco, and Judy hoped that after it neither of them would be left disappointed. Little did either of them know, but the forthcoming disco would be the event that would change Judy’s life forever.

When Judy opened her eyes and checked her watch she was astonished to find that it was just going on to 9.45pm. She had been relaxing for several hours, and yet it had only seemed moments ago that she had closed her eyes. She realized that she was smiling to herself, and it was as though she was looking forward to the school reunion every bit as much as she had looked forward to that Christmas disco she had just been reminiscing about. Whereas back in ’74 there had been feelings of trepidation mixed with the excitement, today she had no such anxieties. She didn’t worry anymore about not looking perfect and she wasn’t afraid of falling foul of the school bullies either. If any of them were at the reunion she’d hold her head high and not let them spoil her night.

As she flicked the TV channels, Judy could not find anything to take her interest. Switching off the TV she decided to have an early night, because tomorrow she had a late start at the store. She was meeting up with Elaine in town, before the start of her shift, so that they could go shopping for an outfit for the City High Christmas school reunion. She had a few ideas in mind, but Elaine could be quite persuasive and would probably encourage her to choose something just a little bit crazy. She half expected Elaine to suggest that they searched for something in canary yellow, but that would definitely be out of the question.

Just as Judy was turning off the living room light, her eye caught the photograph above the fireplace. It looked as if Bruce was smiling directly at her, and as she walked across the room it was as though his eyes were following her. She was suddenly overwhelmed by panic and a mixture of other emotions. Even though Bruce seemed to be smiling at her, she was suddenly overcome by a feeling of guilt. Guilt, that she was really looking forward to exciting times ahead, that he was no part of. Right then, she wished so very much that the crash hadn’t happened, and that Bruce was still alive.

She turned out the living room light and walked into the hallway to check that the front door was locked. As her hand touched the handle, she was instantly taken back to that fateful night almost exactly ten years ago.

It was a dark December evening and the children were already in bed. Judy looked out the window to see if there was any sign of Bruce. He had gone to a meeting to drum up some new business in the afternoon, and was going to do a spot of late night Christmas shopping before returning home. It was pitch black outside, but there was a thin layer of snow on the ground which was sparkling under the street lights.

There was no such thing as 24 hour opening in those days; but most of the larger stores in town were open until 10 pm at the latest, in the weeks leading up till Christmas. That time had come and gone, and there was still no sign of Bruce. Anyway, Judy knew that Bruce wouldn’t want to stay out any longer than necessary. He had promised to be home no later than 8.30 that evening, and that deadline had passed hours ago. Bruce should have been home by now. They had agreed that she would pop a casserole in the slow cooker and eat together when he got home. The smell of the lamb and vegetables was making Judy’s stomach rumble uncontrollably, but she wanted to wait until Bruce got home before she ate. Noticing that the contents of the slow cooker were beginning to over thicken, with a deep sigh Judy switched off the wall socket.

As the hands on the clock ticked, the noise appeared to be growing louder with each passing second, and Judy was becoming more and more anxious. Surely Bruce would have rung home if the car had broken down or he’d bumped into an old friend?

When she heard a car pull onto the driveway, Judy breathed a sigh of relief and waited for the sound of the key in the door. However, after what seemed like an eternity there was still no familiar voice calling out to her. Unable to wait any longer, Judy rose from the sofa and headed for the hallway. She hadn’t even made it into the passageway when she heard the front door bell ring.

“What’s up, forgot your key again?” Judy laughed as she reached hold of the handle to open the door. She unknowingly took a step back when she opened the door to see two uniformed persons standing there.

“Are you Mrs. Judy Simpson, wife of Bruce Simpson?” inquired the male uniformed stranger, as he removed his hat.

“Yes, that’s me. What’s happened, tell me what’s happened?” cried out Judy, noting that they were uniformed police officers.

The audible panic was rising in Judy’s voice, as the female officer with the short cropped hair stepped forward and took hold of Judy’s arm gently.

“Would you mind if we came, Mrs. Simpson?” asked the female in a soft spoken voice, “we really do need to talk to you.”

Judy opened the door wide and stood back from the doorway to allow the two strangers to enter her home. She hadn’t asked for ID, but something in their faces told her this was no ruse. They were here because something serious had happened; she’d seen it countless times in TV dramas and movies, but this was no drama this was for real.

“Just along there, first door on the left,” Judy pointed along the hallway.

Closing the front door quietly, so as not to wake the children Judy took a large gulp and followed the officers into the living room. Quickly inviting the officer’s to take a seat, she noticed that after the female tapped the other officer on the arm she pointed to the family portrait above the fireplace. The two officers then nodded to each other but didn’t say a word. After a moments silence the burly male officer cleared his throat and began.

“Perhaps you had better sit down, Mrs. Simpson.”

“No, I don’t want to sit down,” Judy whimpered. Every time a policeman said those words, on TV, they gave someone devastating news. Perhaps if she remained standing, Judy thought, then she wouldn’t receive devastating news.

“I really do think it would be better if you sat down,” the officer repeated, but this time with more insistence in his voice.

Realizing that remaining standing was simply delaying the inevitable, Judy perched herself on the edge of the seat and waited for the bombshell to drop.

“Your husband was involved in a serious road accident earlier this evening.”

Without knowing it Judy was soon blurting out the same old stuff she’d heard time and time again in those works of fiction.

“Where is he; what hospital is he in; is he seriously hurt?”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Simpson, but your husband is dead.”

“No, it’s not possible, he can’t be. I’ve cooked lamb casserole, it’s his favorite. Sophie’s school Christmas concert is next week, she’s performing a solo. Bruce is really looking forward to going to it; we’ve got the tickets and everything. No, I’m sorry but you’ve made a mistake.”

The shock was hitting her hard and now she was rambling. Her mind was racing; how would she tell the kids, they worshipped their father.

“Is there someone we could call to come and sit with you?” asked the young female officer whose eyes were now glazed with tears.

Silently Judy tried to gather her thoughts. Could she call Elaine? No, her kids would be in bed and she couldn’t bother them at this time of night. Could she call her mother? No, that was out of the question. Although Judy loved both of her parents with all her heart, her mother was no good in a crisis. She’d just run around like a headless chicken and then Judy would end up having to take care of her instead. No, she would just have to deal with this alone. After all, she would have to deal with everything alone from now on.

The living room door swung open and a loud voice broke the silence.

“What’s going on Mum? I heard you shouting. Why
are the police here, Mum? What’s happened,” Sophie screamed hysterically.

“What’s all the noise about?”
came another voice a few seconds later. Nicholas entered the living room rubbing his sleepy eyes, hair like a scarecrow.

“Can you tell them please?” pleaded Judy as she stared at the officers.

Observing that the female now had tears streaming down her face, Judy passed her a paper handkerchief from the box on the coffee table. Turning to the strapping male policeman Judy offered the task to him without saying another word. As he spoke Judy could tell that even he was finding it difficult to deliver the solemn news.

This wasn’t like on TV movies at all, Judy would later reflect. On TV the police officers didn’t show a shred of emotion, as both Bruce and Judy had often commented.

As the masculine officer delivered the news, his voice waivered and cracked in places, and before he had even finished speaking, Sophie’s wails echoed through the house. Nicholas just stood in disbelief, mouth wide open, eyes staring into space.

This was the night that the remaining members of this family felt like their world had ended.

Now that the front door was secure, Judy berated herself as she climbed the stairs, for dwelling on such tragic events so close to bedtime. Now she wouldn’t be able to sleep and she would surely spend the night tossing and turning, if not having nightmares. Only a few hours earlier, Judy had been reminiscing about some of the happiest times of her youth. Now all she could dwell on was the worst period of her entire life.

As she pulled back the sheets Judy decided she wouldn’t turn out the bedside light just yet. Instead, she would attempt to divert her thoughts back to happier events. It took a little effort, but once she was tucked into her warm and comfortable king sized bed she had moved her thoughts to memories. Judy was now reliving the evening of the City High School Christmas disco 1974; the monumental event that both Elaine and herself had eagerly been waiting for.

The dance steps had been perfected, the new highly fashionable outfits were on, and the makeup was done to perfection. Elaine and Judy entered their high school, faced each other, and flicking their eyes up and down, checked each other’s appearance. They needed to look their best, and after they had taken it in turns to smooth out their locks with Judy’s pocket hairbrush, they nodded to each other in silent approval. The skinny brunette and her honey blonde best friend were ready to face the world; or more precisely ready to face the 1974 City High School Christmas disco.

Arm in arm, they tottered nervously in their new platform shoes. The almost inseparable twosome had just about mastered the skill of walking on what Grandma Brown affectionately called their ‘Stilts’. They giggled and whispered as they climbed the staircase to the second floor where the school hall was situated. Sauntering along the spooky dimly lit school corridor their voices echoed.

“Do you think we are early, or is everyone else late?” asked Elaine quietly, “I can’t hear a thing except for us, can you?”

Both girls listened carefully, walking on their toes to stop the echo of their clicking heels on the hard concrete floor. As they continued to walk they began to hear the distant sound of voices and music; the former trying to rise above the latter. By the time they finally reached the double doors of the school hall the volume had increased significantly.

On entering the usually drab school hall, they were met by a throng of gaggling teenagers. The dimly lit room had been transformed especially for the party, and it was now festooned with mistletoe, balloons, and colorful disco lights. The room reeked of
sandalwood, ginseng, and other assorted cheap aftershave’s and perfume’s. Not one boy in the room had the remotest sign of facial hair, but aftershave was a sign of their masculinity and therefore essential.

Sipping fruit punch from cheap white plastic cups, no one seemed to notice when the two girls made their entrance. Perhaps that was just as well as Yvette
Sparnon was standing only yards away, surrounded by her usual selection of hangers-on. If she noticed them she’d be sure to make some sarcastic comment which would ruin their evening before it had even begun.

The middle aged Mr. Kenneth
Keddy and his much younger mini skirted fiancée Miss Mandy Aitken had volunteered to act as the DJ’s for the evening. Most of the time the teachers were forced to rely on the boos and cheers, to signify the audiences feedback on their music choices. However, the intermittent feedback from the microphone forced both of the amateur DJ’s to compete with the ear-piercing racket, which was coming from the large wooden speakers. The very eager Mr. Keddy and his fiancée took turns to impress the kids with their knowledge of music and witty banter, and were soon totally absorbed in their new roles. While most of the room seemed to react to the sound in the same way they did when a teacher used new chalk on the blackboard, Kenneth and Mandy were completely oblivious. Perhaps they were just full of Christmas spirit as they sipped on their fruit punch and entertained their audience?

Elaine nudged Judy, while at the same time she pointed with her eyes to the other side of the room.

“Look who’s here,” she beamed.

Standing there legs apart, hands in pockets,
were the terrible twins. Attempting to look as masculine as possible, the two boys were obviously trying to live down their latest stunt from the week before.

Last Wednesday’s stunt would be etched in the memories of everyone for a long time to come, especially the headmaster’s. As the daily protests for girls to wear trousers had reached its peak, it had been pre arranged that every girl in the school would show up that day wearing trousers. It had to work; after all the teachers couldn’t send every single girl school home, could they? Anyway, Kevin and Ian had got wind of the protest and decided to add their own inimitable magic to the event. The entire female population, minus the teachers of course, presented themselves in the school assembly hall wearing trousers. Mr. Asquith, the headmaster, looked up from his hymn book, his face instantly turning a delicate shade of puce. Before he could pick his jaw up from the floor, the sea of girls gradually parted in the middle; first from the back moving gradually to the front. It wasn’t Moses that had parted the waves, it was Kevin and Ian. Wearing pleated navy skirts which they had borrowed from Kevin’s sister, Kim, they strutted to
the front of the hall. Course dark leg hair protruded from their black school socks, as they walked ungracefully to the front of the throng.

“If they get to wear trousers, then I demand to wear a skirt, Sir,” Kevin shouted above the booming hysterical sound of laughter.

“Me too, Sir,” echoed Ian.

“Get out, get out,” screamed the furious headmaster; nostrils quivering fiercely, steam bursting from his ears.

It was the final meltdown. As the teachers rushed around like ants, ushering the exuberant pupils from the room, Ian and Kevin were each taken undignifiedly by the ear to the headmaster’s office. They were immediately sent home and had only been allowed back into school for this final day of term; and the school Christmas disco.

The school Christmas disco might have been Kevin and Ian’s opportunity to make amends; but somehow Elaine knew as soon as she spotted the troublesome duo that they were incapable of just being ordinary, and so some kind of stunt was almost inevitable. Elaine quite fancied Kevin, and loved his rebellious humorous character. She hoped that at some point he would ask her to dance, but she kept those thoughts to herself.

After helping themselves to a flimsy plastic cup of fruit punch, the two girls were soon rather uncomfortably ensconced on the rigid plastic chairs. It was amazing just how much the backs of the legs suffered when wearing high heels, the girls would later reflect. Once their aching calves had been relaxed, Elaine and Judy hit the floor to show off their new dancing skills.

While the music played and the night wore on, more and more teenagers got up to dance. Carefully rehearsed dance routines were delivered to the sounds of the likes of Alvin Stardust, Slade, Elton John, Queen, Abba, and The
Rubettes. It was strange to see even the most shy and reserved pupils beginning to relax, and teachers who were normally aloof were knocking back the fruit punch and mingling with teenagers.

Most of The Osmond’s hits had already been played, but when Little Jimmy Osmond burst into song with ‘Long Haired Lover
From Liverpool’, there was an instant outburst of laughter, as a large group of boys linked arms and kicked up their legs in time to the music. Right in the middle of the line were the main instigators of this performance; Kevin Walker and Ian Thompson. With their shoulder length hair they were perfectly suited to the song, and their pals didn’t need much encouragement to put on an exhibition.

When the dancing was over the two main stars of the show took a bow, and as both boys glanced over to Elaine and Judy they took a second bow and smiled.

As the first immediately recognizable guitar notes of the incredibly popular ‘Teenage Rampage’ by The Sweet burst through the speakers, the room went wild. A loud cheer went up before everyone hit the dance floor and there wasn’t a single person left in the room that wasn’t dancing, including all of the teachers.

“Come join the revolution, get yourself a constitution, come join the revolution now,” sang the gleeful teenagers loudly in unison as they raised their hands in the air and punched the sky triumphantly with their fists. When the song had ended, the room was filled with a large bunch of hyped up excitable teenagers gasping for breath. They anxiously awaited the next song track.

“Five minutes to grab a drink and get your breath back, everyone,” said Miss Aitken in her usual melodic tone of voice, as she hiccupped and immediately apologized.

Elaine and Judy refilled their plastic cups with fruit punch from the refreshment table, and sipped their drinks slowly as they wandered back to the hard plastic chairs that lined the walls of the school hall.

Elaine and Judy had just got themselves uncomfortably seated, again, when Kevin and Ian appeared in front of them.

“Didn’t you fancy wearing a skirt tonight, boys?” asked Elaine, mockingly.

“I should go easy on the fruit punch if I were you,” urged Kevin as he winked and smiled broadly.

“Why, what have you done to it, Kevin?” asked Elaine in a naïve tone, as she fluttered her thick sky blue mascara coated eyelashes at him.

“You’ll see,” laughed Kevin, “do you wanna dance, Elaine?”

“You bet I do.”

Kevin may have been the school jester, but he had a kind heart. He didn’t care what anyone else thought, and he seemed to like Elaine. Other boys fought for the attention of the couple of girls who were considered ‘perfect’. Kevin appeared to be much less shallow. He probably knew that Elaine had a huge crush on him, and that simply asking her to dance would make her feel a million dollars. Kevin took hold of Elaine’s hand, and her face beamed as the two teenagers walked onto the dance floor.

“How about you, Judy, do you fancy a dance?” asked Ian full of bravado.

“Alright then,” replied Judy as she laid her flimsy plastic cup on the cold plastic chair.

Ian held out his hand, and rather sheepishly Judy took hold of it. They had just reached the dance floor when the music began playing, and Alvin Stardust’s voice filled the crowded hall.

“Ah ah ah oh oh, it’s just my jealous mind,” the kids sang out loudly as they rocked and swayed to the beat.

All of a sudden Judy realized that Ian was staring into her eyes as he was singing. She felt her cheeks getting hotter and hotter; and she hoped that the multi colored disco lights would prevent him from noticing that both of her cheeks were now glowing. It was as though they were the only two in the room, and the experience was beginning to make her feel somewhat nervous. As the song was coming to an end Judy hoped that Ian would ask her to dance again, and before the next track had been introduced by Mr.
Keddy, Ian had already posed the question.

“Well, kids the night’s nearly over, so before our final two tracks, here’s one for the teachers to thank them for the hard work they’ve done organizing this disco tonight. Let’s hear three cheers for the teachers. Hip
Hip,” began Mr. Keddy, as the entire room completed the interjection.

“Hooray,” shouted the kids who were eagerly
awaiting the ‘teacher’s choice’. They didn’t have to wait long, but there were gasps of amazement followed by mournful protestations as the song began.

“I’ll have a blue Christmas without you,” warbled Elvis.

At first there was a collective shout of “Oh no, Sir.” But as the song continued, one after another teenager shrugged their shoulders, as if to say “Why not?” and began to dance along to the music. Before long everyone seemed to be enjoying the melody, and very soon a myriad of new dance styles had been created. Many of the teachers began coupling up and waltzing slowly around the dance floor. It was the moment that Judy spied Mr. Thomlinson the woodwork teacher floating round the dance floor with Mrs. Stokoe the newly divorced cookery teacher, that she realized that teachers were human after all. Waltzing wasn’t Ian’s style, but he pulled Judy close as they smooched on the spot barely moving their feet.

When the song came to an end it was Miss
Aitken’s turn to introduce the final two songs which would be played one after the other.

“First,” Miss
Aitken announced, “we’ll have The Rubettes, followed by the best song of the year in my opinion. I’m not going to tell you what it is, but I’m sure you’ll agree when you hear it. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for coming, and the teachers would like to wish all of you a very merry Christmas. Don’t forget to take your belongings with you, because the school will be closed until after the Christmas holidays. Thank you.”

Miss
Aitken looked rather flustered and was wobbling slightly from side to side. Whilst handing over the microphone to her fiancé' she kissed him on the cheek and moved closer to his ear.

“I love you Mr.
Keddykins,” she slurred quietly, before discovering that the super sensitive microphone was still switched on. The two mortified teachers stared at each other, gritted their teeth and waited for the inevitable humiliating response. Almost immediately there was a chorus of laughter, before one very brave voice shouted out.

“Go on Sir, give her a kiss.”

Mr. ‘Keddykins’ threw caution to the wind and planted a huge kiss on his fiancées bright pink lips. A collective cheer echoed around the room, and the penultimate track began to play.