Read Online Martha's Girls by Alrene Hughes - Free Book Online

the pretty dark girl with the good legs from the City Hall to the music shop where she worked and chanced his arm a couple of times, enough to get her interested. He’d waited, sheltering in a doorway across the road, for her to finish work and been disappointed to see her emerge with the old man. The thought that he might be her sugar daddy crossed his mind, but he figured it was unlikely, given the space between them as they walked round the corner to his car. No, they were going somewhere together he was sure, but where? Then he remembered the poster in the window. What had he to lose? Maybe they were heading for the Grosvenor Hall. Even if they weren’t, he’d nowhere better to go for a few hours until the card school got going down Sandy Row around eleven.
*
‘And now, ladies and gentlemen, a real treat. With some wonderful singing, please welcome The Goulding Sisters!’
They came on in a line and bowed quickly to the welcoming applause. Peggy settled herself behind the piano and Pat, Irene and Sheila made a half-moon shape towards the front of the stage. Peggy played the introduction to ‘Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart’ a little livelier than Martha, Pat thought, but it felt good and she began to sway in time to the beat and Irene and Sheila did the same. Her voice was the strongest of the sisters and they followed with harmonies where she led. Sheila seemed unfazed by the audience and was doing brilliantly. Peggy added a little extra of her own between the verses. At the end of the song the applause was wonderful. They were doing it! Singing in the Grosvenor Hall!
The applause died down and they stepped forward again for the second song ‘The Mountains of Mourne’. They waited for the opening bars. Come on Peggy, thought Pat, keep up the pace. The opening notes began and she realised they were from ‘ Whispering Hope’, the third song on the programme. What was Peggy doing? Had she made a mistake? Pat took a deep breath, ‘Whispering Hope’it is then. She prayed it hadn’t thrown Sheila. The song was melodic and so uplifting that Pat always let some of the emotion she felt when singing it creep into her voice. The slower pace and the fact that she had sung it hundreds of times meant that she could listen to her sisters. Sheila was doing well, exactly like they’d rehearsed. Irene was Irene; her voice was never strong, but it was tuneful and well-rehearsed. Peggy, too, was singing and she could hear the extra voice lift the sound to fill the huge hall.
Loud applause followed and the girls looked at each other in amazement at the sound of cheering. It would have made a great finale. Now for ‘ The Mountains of Mourne’ , thought Pat, but Peggy had other ideas. She began to play and Pat realised it was something else entirely. She looked quickly towards Irene and Sheila and the panic in their eyes told her they had no more idea than she had. She missed the cue … what she was expected to sing? Peggy seamlessly picked up the opening bars again, giving them another chance to begin. Pat had only a few seconds to recognise it before the audience would surely realise something was wrong. Of course that was it! Pat raised her head, heard her note and swung into the opening of ‘T’aint What You Do It’s the Way That You Do It’. They’d sung it plenty of times at home; Irene and Sheila gave it everything. At the front of the stage they clicked their fingers and swayed in unison. Peggy improvised as only she could. The audience were swaying too and clapping along. On the last high note, it felt like the roof, cornices and all, was lifting off. They took their bow, all four of them holding hands at the front of the stage to thunderous applause and cheering, then ran off waving and smiling as the curtain closed for the interval.
‘What on earth were you doing out there,’ yelled Pat. ‘In front of all those people you want me to guess the tune?’ A rash of pink had spread over her chest and up her