Chapter 6

The thing that was disastrous for everyone was that the country was put into another lock-down from the first week of January. This time it was as restrictive as the worst of last year. This was getting very tiresome.

The four of us were back on the road again, now with forms to prove that we’d been vaccinated. We were doing morale building shows from January until July, when restrictions were lifted for, we hoped, the last time. The politicians were starting to show cracks, with talk that it may have been too hard for too long. For us, it was getting to be usual. We four were on first-name terms with the security of four military airfields and the commanding officers. The planes kept flying and the country had been kept safe during the pandemic.

In late July, we went back to our shows in the indoor venues, dropping Fairford and Marham. My first show back was a big band dance at the Bob Hope, similar to my first time there. Christine and I worked the turntables, with our vintage dresses out of the wardrobe again. We were embarrassed when Brendon and Chuck made a special presentation to the two of us. A beautiful glass vase each, engraved with the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack, with our name underneath and the words, ‘For devotion to duty, raising the morale of the military personnel, 2020 – 2021.’ With all the squadrons and wings that we had entertained listed on the reverse.

We were told not to tell the other two, who would get theirs at the next show at the Page Centre in Lakenheath. I have to admit that we stopped in a layby on the way home that night, to have a good cry. We were getting ourselves together when the car was illuminated by a flashing blue light and there was a knock on each of our windows. Christine put hers down and I followed.

“Good evening ladies. Is there anything wrong? Do you need help?”

Christine took a deep breath to settle herself.

“We’re all right, officer. It’s just that we were given wonderful gifts at the show on the base tonight, and just had to stop so that we could let our emotions run rampant.”

“You say you’ve been on the base? Can you both show your identifications, please.”

We both still had our lanyards around our necks, so we both took them off. She passed hers to the officer on her side and I turned to pass mine to the officer beside me. He had the brightest smile as he took it and stood up. The two of them moved to the back of the car to confer, and then came back. The one on the drivers’ side gave Chris hers with a smile.

“Thank you, Miss. We were just worried that there may have been a problem, seeing that it’s near midnight.”

The one on my side held mine out to me. As I went to take it, he smiled again.

“Miss Novak. I wonder if you could spare some time tomorrow. I’m visiting my mother at St. Peters Care Home in Bury. They all listen to your show and love the old music that you play. It would be a real treat for them to meet you. My name is Randall.”

“I can do that, Randall. I’ll be outside the radio station. What time?”

“About eleven. They’ll be gathering for lunch by the time we arrive.”

“I’ll be ready. Thank you for thinking about them.”

He let go of the ID and gave me another smile. I was putting up the window as Chris pulled out of the layby, laughing like a madwoman.

“You’ll be ready! Do you fall at the feet of every handsome man?”

“He had a nice smile.”

“I was a very nice smile. Even I noticed it when I was at school and still a boy. Randall Chivers was in first year when I was finishing. His father runs the Football Club and is quite well known. His mother, so I’ve heard, is a few years older and if she’s in St. Peters, she’s likely in early stages of dementia.”

“You’re quite the font of knowledge.”

“I wanted to play when I was in my teens and spent a bit of time training with the team. That all finished when I realised that I would rather be a girly than a goalie.”

She dropped me off, still giggling, and I went in to get some sleep, clutching my vase in its presentation box.

I showed my hosts the vase on Sunday morning and told them that Christine had another. They were amazed at it, with Jaunty going through the list of flights and squadrons. It was a lot longer than I had thought it should be, and he explained that a lot of the RAF ones were support units at the two stations. I told them that I was going out for lunch at St. Peters in Bury and Jaunty hooted.

“They’ve sent us flyers, along with all the other nursing homes. With Maude on the list of handicapped, they all think we should be paying them big money to be ‘looked after’. We’ll be here until they carry us out.”

Maude, of course, wanted to know who was taking me. I explained our meeting the police last night.

“That Chivers boy would be a good catch. His father runs the football club, but his main business is the franchisee of a big sports store in Cambridge. The lad denying his family and joining the police was a shock at the time. That was about the time that Chris had finished transitioning. I was his English teacher in primary, before my legs decided that they were revolting. He always had such a nice smile.”

“He still has. It was the smile that made me accept his invitation.”

I went upstairs to get ready. I had a shower and put on an outfit that was close to the one in the station celebrity photo. I took a lot of care with my make-up, wondering why I was doing this. He wasn’t to know that this would be my very first date with a guy. He probably thought that I had a string of boyfriends. He looked as if he had left dozens of girls in his wake.

I was standing outside the station when a bright red hardtop MGA came down the road and stopped beside me. He got out and gave me that smile.

“I’ll give you a hand to get in. I’ve read that these are a bit difficult in a skirt.”

He opened the door and held my hand as I sat and swiveled. He closed the door and got in, driving off.

“Something you read, or something your girlfriends have complained about?”

He laughed.

“I can honestly state that you’re the first girl to sit in that seat. I only finished the restoration during the last lock-down, it was something to fill the off days. I suppose that Christine has filled you in on my reputation.”

“She just told me that you had a nice smile in high school, but I was told by your primary English teacher, at breakfast, that you had a nice smile even then.”

“That was nice of them. I’ve been listening to your voice on the radio for a couple of years, and now I’m lucky enough to have the voice, and the lovely person, sitting beside me. What was your award for, last night?”

“Keeping up the morale of the personnel of four air bases over two years of lockdowns. We were hosting dance nights for them, every week. We had our van, now tricked out as a mobile disc jockey station. It was fun, but a lot of hard work. Anita and Mark will be getting theirs tonight, when they’re at Lakenheath.”

“Was there anything that stands out about doing that?”

“The venues at these bases were away from the runways, though we could hear the take-offs. What was different was when we started to go to Marham, which is an active RAF base, and we’d be playing the songs as an F35 would taxi on the other side of the party and we could see the take-offs from the van. That never got old.”

“I can understand why Christine would have liked it, but you?”

“Yes, Randall, me as well. Tell me, Maude was surprised that you joined the police.”

“Ahah! The old diversionary tactic. The short answer was that I wasn’t cut out to be a salesman in a sports store all my life. As well as not wanting to run around on a football pitch for a living. I disappointed my father, but my mother understood me.”

“So, a gentler disposition with a desire to do good in the community.”

He laughed.

“You’ve either trained as a trick cyclist or you’ve been there yourself.”

“Been there, done that. My family run a big electrical store in Colchester and I’m a qualified electrician and TV repairer. I was lousy in the store and the repairs had got boring. I did three shows a week on the Colchester Hospital Radio, as a volunteer, for seven years before coming here.”

“So, a qualified tradesperson who likes planes. There’s something that doesn’t gel with the lovely lady beside me.”

“If I say that Christine and I have a lot in common, are you going to turn around and take me home?”

We carried on for a while longer as he thought. Then he glanced over to me.

“Pre or post?”

“Still pre. It should have been completed last year but the operation isn’t likely until the backlog is cleared. It wasn’t my choice; I can tell you. I had a body that was heading the wrong way from years ago. Some things have been removed for my own good.”

A little way further on, he had made up his mind.

“OK. I was a mixed-up child. I didn’t like the things that a lot of other boys did. I had a lot of friends in school who were girls, but never wanted to be one. Some of the boys called me Randy Mandy. Until I had a growth spurt, I was bullied. I joined the police because it was one job where I would be trained in all sorts of self-defense and had authority that my normal self never had. The odd thing is that I’m good at what I do, and I like it. A bit like yourself.”

“All very much like myself, Randall. Shall we start over again, both knowing our secrets?”

“No need to start over, Carol. I’m happy with where we are at the moment. Did you pick your own name?”

I laughed.

“My name is what got me here. I was on the hospital radio as Karol Nowak, with a K and a W, which is Polish for Charles Newman. It was Christines’ husband, Andrew, who thought that it was Carol Novak.”

“So, what’s your license in?”

“My real name. I’ve been ferried around a lot since I’ve been here, and when I drive, it’s very carefully. My own car had only been down to Colchester a few times since I got here.”

We were getting into the outskirts of Bury St. Edmunds, and he concentrated on the extra traffic as we went to the home. He parked and turned off the motor, looked at me and smiled.

“Ready for your fans?”

“I don’t know about fans, but I do know that we have a lot of listeners.”

He got out, came round and opened mine, holding out a hand for me. I swivelled and took his hand as he helped me stand. It may have been the devil in me, but I swayed close to him and put my other hand on his chest. He smiled and stepped back to give me room. I reached back into the car to collect my bag and he closed the door and locked the car. As we walked towards the entrance, his hand was floating around, so I grabbed hold of it to keep it safe.

While he was signing us in, I was looking at the pictures on the notice board in reception. It looked to me as if they liked to party. He took my hand as we went into the building, and we ended up in a communal dining room. Every table was full, with the men and women sitting with drinks in front of them. Randall led me over to a table where four ladies were looking at us, one with a cheeky smile on her face. I could see where he had got his from.

She stood and he went forward for a hug.

“Hello, son. Who is this lovely lady?”

“Mum, may I present Carol Novak, the voice of Zack FM.”

She looked at me.

“Go on, give us your intro.”

“Do you mean the ‘Welcome to Anything Goes, the songs from the shows’, or the ‘Tonight we’re taking the A-Train to the world of big bands, big names and big appeal’.”

At that, the other three women stood to join in with a group hug. His mother went to hug her son.

“I knew that one day, you would find someone nice. I feel as if I’ve known Carol for ever. When did you meet?”

“Would you believe that it was checking a parked car, last night. The Sarge and I were on patrol and Carol and her friend were parked in a layby close to midnight, near the Mildenhall base.”

“What were you doing there, dear?”

“We had just played the music for a vintage dance in their Bob Hope Centre.”

“What, in the base?”

“I’ve been playing shows on the bases for over eighteen months, throughout the pandemic.”

“But I was listening to you on the radio!”

“We pre-record a lot these days, because the three of us main announcers have been out doing shows to keep the morale of the servicemen up. I’ll be actually on air in person a lot more now, unless we get another wave of the virus.”

While we were talking, a couple of ladies added another table to theirs and brought out two chairs. I thanked them and we sat down again, now as six. Randall sat next to his mother, and I was on the end, next to him. As we were served, I was asked if I was the Carol Novak from the radio and his mother insisted that my voice was unmistakeable. We had a nice, but fairly plain meal, and the main server called for quiet at the end.

“Guests, we have a visitor today who you have all heard on the radio. Please stand, Carol. I present Carol Novak, our favourite radio personality with her shows of old-time music.”

There was polite applause, followed by a half an hour of nurses being asked to go to rooms to get phones and a concentrated selfie session. Randall and I standing together for one with his mother. At one point, he was off in the toilet, and she stood with me.

“I may be losing my mind, but I can tell you that today has been wonderful. I’d almost given up on my son meeting a nice girl. It’s taken a while, and I’m glad that he managed to do so before I can’t recognise him any longer. I look around at my companions in here and realise that that will be me in a few years.”

I gave her a hug.

“Mrs. Chivers, you’ll always outshine them, even when you don’t know why.”

“Would you call me Mum, just once.”

“I’ll be glad to, Mum.”

Before we left, she was starting to talk about something totally out of context, and about forty years in the past. We both gave her a hug, said our goodbyes to the others and the staff, and Randall took my hand to leave the building.

“What now, Carol.”

“It’s your back yard, what do you suggest?”

“It’s still early, there should be a lot of stalls left at Stonham if we hurry.”

“I’m in your hands, Randall.”

There was an odd look in his eyes as we got to the car. He unlocked and helped me into the seat, then we were off to a place that I’d never been, with a guy I hardly knew, but it was all good.

At Stonham, there were still a lot of cars in the parking area and quite a lot of stalls still set up. We walked around, hand in hand, looking at the bric-a-brac, the cheap imports. Mainly, we admired cars, because it was the Sunday of the Volkswagen Beetle Show.

“You knew this, you naughty boy!”

“I have to admit to having the idea that it was today. It could have been a day that they have live music. I picked up a lot of parts for my car before the pandemic shut things down. It’s really good to be here, and out the other side, with a pretty girl who knows the difference between a split window bug and the others. It’s a lot of fun when they do re-enactment days. They did Vikings, the Civil War, all sorts, and a lot of people used to dress up to suit.”

When we left, I had bought some records from a stall, mainly for the covers, as I doubted that they would be good for playing. After we left, we stopped at the Little Wellington, in Stowmarket, for dinner. We looked at the menu and both chose cod and chips, with a glass of Bishop Nick 1555 beer. It was very strange to feel so calm with Randall. So far, we had been walking around holding hands and had laughed at the same things. When he stopped next to my car, we sat for a few minutes. I turned to him.

“It’s been a lovely day, Randall. Your mother told me that she felt that she had known me for years, and wanted me to call her Mum, while she could still appreciate it. If you like, you can take me to Stonham one Sunday, early, when the market is going full bore.”

“I’d like that Carol. I suppose that this is goodnight.”

“Not until those smiling lips kiss me.”

I leaned in and our lips met. It sent shivers down my spine. Our second kiss was longer, but not closer, as the gearstick got in the way.

“Come in and say hello to Maude and Jaunty. I’m sure that they’d love to see you.”

He got out, helped me out, and we stood beside the car, arms around each other and kissed for some time. I then led him inside for the inevitable cup of tea and a talk, before we had a quick kiss at the door, and he left. I went back into the kitchen in a daze. Maude was grinning.

“You look like Chris after her first date with Andrew. He’s grown up to be a fine man, and his smile is still the best in town.”

“I’ve seen a lot of it today.”

“I bet. He’s smitten, as my old mother used to say. Does he know?”

“Yes. It came up on the way to see his mother. We talked it out and then put it aside for another day. His mother was lovely, and quite normal for much of the time. She wanted me to call her Mum.”

“She must have seen what I’ve just seen. The two of you look good, a genuine couple of soulmates. Where did you go afterwards?”

“Would you believe that we ended up at the Stonham Barns for the boot sale and a Beetle car show.”

To the sound of her chuckling, I went upstairs with my purchases and sat in my easy chair to think about the day. It had been the best day that it could have been, and I was looking forwards to more in the future, especially more of those kisses.

Over the next few weeks, we were back into the usual groove. We were now doing the indoor shows in the two bases, me and Chris on Saturday, Anita and Mark on Sunday. We had trained up two of the new faces to run the van, parking it outside one of our advertisers’ box store in Norwich, on a Saturday, next to a charity sausage sandwich and pie stall. I went with them to make sure that they interacted with the crowd and didn’t just look glum as they played the music.

Randall and I had the odd outing. I don’t mean that they were odd, unless you thought that car boot sales and a pub meal were odd. Actually, we did go to other places. A few cinemas in Cambridge and Norwich. One Sunday, we went down to Colchester to introduce him to my parents. That was interesting, as my father gave him the ‘what are your intentions with my daughter’ question. Randall told him that his intentions were all above board with his fingers theatrically crossed behind his back. We had a lot of laughs and both of us enjoyed each other’s company.

It was heading for my holiday time, but Randall would be on duty, so I stayed in Mildenhall for the first week, so we could have Sunday out. Monday, I went home for a week and had a visit to my doctor, to talk about the timing for my operation. While I was with her, she rang a few of her contacts.

“Right. We can get you in at the hospital in the third week in July. You will need to give yourself three weeks.”

I went out into the waiting room and rang the station, speaking to Chris.

“Chris, I’ve just spoken to my doctor. She’s told me that I can get in for my op on the third week of July and will need three weeks from then. Can you check with the boss. If needed, I’ll come back to work next Monday to save the week, then I can take two weeks from next year.”

“Sounds good, Carol. I’ll talk to him and call you back straight away.”

I sat for a while and worried. When my phone chirruped, I pressed the button with trepidation.

“Carol speaking.”

“It’s Christine. The boss said that it’s all good. That you’ve done enough to get all the help that we can give you. We’ll see you Monday morning. Randall will be happy to see you on Sunday.”

I waited until the doctor was in between patients and was shown in to let her know. She told me to wait for her to contact me with the official paperwork. I gave her the email address of the station and told her to make it attention to me, via Christine.

“Do you trust her with your secret?”

“She is post-op, herself. I’ve worked with her in high pressure situations and trust her with my life.”

I went home to give Mum the news that I was leaving early and that I would be back, in July, to have my operation. She was sad that I was leaving early, but happy for me that I would be taking the last step.

I drove back to Mildenhall on the Saturday, after calling Randall before he went on the evening shift. He was happy that I would be home early, and he said that he would be around on Sunday morning. On Sunday, when he arrived, we sat with the others in the kitchen. Over a cup of tea, I outlined the likely timeline for next year, barring another wave, that was. By now, most of the country had received their second vaccination, and the government was wary about any more lockdowns.

Maude asked him if he had told his father about me. He took hold of my hand.

“No, Maude, I haven’t. When I went against his wishes, he disowned me. He had heard some of the boys from school speculating about my sexual preferences in the football club changing rooms. He told me that I was only joining the police so that I could meet gays and then organise sex with them. I had disappointed him by not training with the team, and then by not working under his gaze in the shop. I haven’t spoken to him since I left home to do my training.”

“Don’t you think that he should know that you’re getting married.”

“I know what he’ll say, because he’s said it before. He’ll tell me that he’ll only relent when I come home with a wife and a baby, prepared to be undermanager. We all know that, unless we adopt, I’ll only get one out of three. No, Maude, I’m now living my life, on my terms, and if Carol will be my wife, it will be a wonderful life to live.”

I squeezed his hand.

“That’s about the most half-hearted proposal I’ve ever heard, my love.”

“I’ll get a ring, during the week, and do it properly.”

“When you have time off, give me a call and we’ll choose it together. I don’t want you spending too much.”

He grinned and kissed me. Jaunty laughed.

“Not yet engaged, and she has him on the ropes. You really do have it bad, son. The thing is, that in the time we’ve known Carol, we’ve grown to love her, as well. She’s one out of the box. Introduce her to your inspector and you’ll have those stripes on your uniform before the walk down the aisle.”

We walked up to Market Place and had a quick lunch at the KFC at The Precinct. Then we went to St Mary’s Church to have a look inside.

Marianne Gregory © 2026