photo Chris Sharley The Presbytery
The Parrot
There were already a number of girls in the music room when I arrived. Miss Franklin the music teacher was busy interviewing Tamsin. I remember thinking at the time this does not bode well for Miss Franklin or Lulu her nickname, unbeknown to her.
The interview was still young. I overheard Miss Franklin ask “Well Tamsin have you decided on an instrument?”
“Yes Miss. I would like to play the banjo” replied Tamsin.
“This is a string orchestra we are forming, Miss Lacey”.
Tamsin then explained a banjo has strings and that she had always been fascinated by the banjo.
Miss Franklin said, “We are forming a college string orchestra, not an Appalachian mountain band - strings, think strings”.
Eyes raised, Tamsin queried “a guitar Miss?”
I realized where this guitar thing originated. It was a brief interlude she had with the Rickmansworth Folk Club in the high street and her introduction to sea shanties, including a brief fling with Nathan someone or other, a somewhat ungifted guitar player, a member of said folk club.
Miss Franklin who was beginning to lose her patience said sharply “Tamsin try a viola, cello, a double bass, or maybe a harp. No, on second thoughts stick with the violin”.
I thought Miss Franklin handled that very well.
In no time at all it was dinner time. The large dining hall buzzed with anticipation of the weekend break, meanwhile Miss Pringle, the dining hall monitor, watched over the girls with an eagle eye.
One could not complain about the food at Denham Hall. It was salt-free, fat-free, additive-free and preservative-free. All the veggies were homegrown in the college allotments.
While we are discussing food I was reminded that at the Rickmansworth Folk Club in the High Street Nathan, whose only musical repertoire was a number called Kumbaya, and badly played at that, told Tamsin that when blended, green tree frogs make an excellent energy drink containing 92% of recommended daily vitamin intake, preferably taken with no added sugar or preservatives.
I warned Tamsin not to try this concoction until I had double-checked with Miss Pringle because of my unease I had over this Nathan person as whenever I saw him he gave the appearance of being an interstellar visitor.
The French classes over, science classes over, also intermediate Latin classes over and it was tea time. The buzz in the dining hall was elevated due to the excitement of the students again going over their plans for the weekend. Many were picked up by their parents. I was to go home the following weekend and had invited Tamsin to stay for the weekend.
Although it was only 5pm, being the middle of summer the sun was still shining brightly. After tea, I and Tamsin walked down to the town and headed for the canal at Batchworth Lock.
Approaching the Lock Tamsin pointed out she had seen a brightly colored bird or something high up in the tree. She said she thinks it’s a parrot.
“Sparrows, robins, crows, chaffinches, blackbirds, blue tits but not parrots. This is Rickmansworth, not the Congo”.
“No Bridgette, it was on telly the other evening about this lady that had lost her bird. It was a parrot, a raptor or something”.
“So what was special about this parrot that it was on tele?”
“The lady said it could whistle or sing the French National anthem, the Marseillaise”. Pausing she added “come to think of it, it would have to whistle it because unless it understood French it wouldn’t be able to sing the words would it?” giggled Tamsin.
“Yes very droll but how do we get it down?”
“The lady said it was very tame. You only have to call it”.
“Call it what? We don’t know its name”.
“We could ask the lady” suggested Tamsin.
“Now look, I have better things to do than spending the afternoon traipsing back and forwards delivering messages to and fro from this parrot to its owner. This is nonsensical”.
It was then Tamsin informed me that the owner said on tele she was prepared to pay the finder £500 for its return that I suddenly decided, after all, it was not that much of an imposition relaying messages, but instead of being intermediaries between the pair we could just go and tell the lady where her parrot is.
Anyway, she would know its name. It would not be a coincidence if she named it in the first place and in any case, our finder’s fee is quite safe. In the best-case scenario, we could also be on tele; another first for the girls of Rickmansworth Ladies College.
I rang the TV station and informed them we had found the parrot but we're not letting on its location in case they claimed the finder’s fee. I hinted that the vicinity was near the Red Lion Pub at Chenies, quite a few miles north of its actual location and could they give me the telephone number of the parrot’s owner, hinting this could be lead story on the television evening news but I could not guarantee them anything.
The owner was contacted, names were exchanged and £500 assured. There was no way I was going to get into a discussion with Tamsin how she intended spending her £250.
I rang father after tea to find out the news from home and was informed mother is holding another séance instead of her usual bridge parties at the weekend. He said Beecham and Andrew, the stable boy had been fussing over a new horse that had just been purchased and asked if I was coming home to Inveraray Castle next weekend and, if so, was I free to bring Tamsin.
I inquired of father, who was mother looking for on the ‘other side’. He said she is not looking for anyone in particular. She just wants to know if there is ‘another side’. That makes sense I suppose. I asked who the medium was. She said it’s the mad lady living next to the gatehouse. I worry mother might be in a permanent state of depression if she were to discover there is no one or nothing on the ‘other side.’
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