even if they did, were unlikely to hear the music they loved played
they got to know each other over the next few months of dating
he told her he’d been sent by his Guyanese parents to live in Harlem as a young child, while his newly migrated parents found their feet in Leeds
he was raised by his Great Aunt Myrtle, a magazine journalist, who urged him to work hard at school, even if it made him unpopular with his classmates
study now and reap the benefits for the rest of your life, she told him
meanwhile his mother progressed from Barney’s biscuit and toffee factory at the back of Vicar Lane bus station where it was her job to clean out the vats, to Morrison’s mail order warehouse on Marshall Street where she was a packer
his father progressed from Robinson’s steel works where he worked evenings and weekends to earn a living wage, to Leeds Post Office which offered better hours and pay
once they were earning enough, they sent for him
and had three more children
Lennox returned to Leeds with the belief he could do better than his parents
he was a good student at secondary school but soon understood he was seen as a bad person outside it
an enemy of the nation on account of his skin colour
to be stopped and frisked by the cops, which began when he was twelve and looked fifteen, terrified when these grown men manhandled him in the street in front of everyone, tried hard not to cry, sometimes did
their parting shot, on your way, Sunshine, you’re lucky this time
it was scary, creepy and emasculating, he told Shirley the first time he let his guard down and confided in her, every time it happened I was relieved that I wasn’t beaten up or killed in a police van or cell
I was a good boy who didn’t mix with ruffians or get into fights
I started wearing suits outside of school, even though my mates laughed at me and others thought I’d become a Jehovah’s Witness
I was a good boy who walked to Leeds Central Library every Saturday afternoon to pick up my supply of books for the week because I wanted to be well-read
Great Aunt Myrtle drilled it into me to be a person with knowledge, not just opinions
I decided to be a solicitor, maybe even a criminal barrister
these days when the police try it on, I let them know I’m a lawyer and they think twice about putting their filthy hands where they don’t belong
Shirley had long felt angry on behalf of her brothers who’d also been harassed by the police since they were young
all black men had to learn to handle it, all black men had to be tough
and when the police killed or beat someone, they were allowed to investigate themselves, and exonerated the accused
weekly dating with Lennox escalated to cohabitation in their final year; once graduated, they moved to London together
Miss Shirley Coleman eventually became Mrs Shirley King
Saturday evenings they might catch a film, around midnight a party or club where they danced into the early hours to lover’s rock, reggae, soul, funk
twice a year they shopped for essentials in the sales, she met up with her group of girlfriends from university about once every two weeks
her best friend, Amma, was separate to this arrangement
they’d become friends at New Cross Grammar School for Girls
with its pipeline to the professional classes of Blackheath and the smarter postcodes of Greenwich, Brockley and Telegraph Hill, rather than the sink estates of Peckham
as eleven-year-olds they were subject to the gravitational pull of being the only black girls in their year and standing out because of it
Amma was the shyer of the two and Shirley felt protective of her; by their teens, Amma, whose parents were educated socialists (unlike hers who were neither educated nor political), got involved in the local youth theatre, became confident, went down the maverick route, railed against the system
Amma came out as lesbian to Shirley at sixteen
which was initially quite disgusting
it felt like a betrayal of their friendship although Shirley never let on her true feelings because she didn’t want to hurt Amma
luckily, Amma didn’t start wearing men’s underpants, or ogling classmates in the showers, nor did she try it on with Shirley, who began to feel self-conscious of her body around her friend, and for a while was wary of sharing a bed when they stayed over in each other’s houses
in due course she made the decision that so long as Amma didn’t fancy her (there were no signs that she did), and so long as she didn’t tell anyone, besmirching Shirley’s own reputation as lesbian-by-association, it was sort of okay
fat chance
when Amma left school she started shouting it from the rooftops as if it was something to be proud of
her entire raison d’être was to rail against whatever prevailing orthodoxy she objected to and try to smash it to bits
which was impossible, so what was the point?
Shirley had to put up with her badge-wearing friend or lose the friendship, she can’t not have Amma in her life
she loves her
as a friend
also
Shirley doesn’t meet many new people, her social circles are from university and fellow teachers, whereas Amma makes new friends from the arty world practically every day, who also become Shirley’s friends, of sorts
mostly gay, and while she doesn’t get it or like it, she finds their unconventionality interesting enough to enjoy their company
so long as they’re nice to her, and most of them are
they’re a fascinating, artistic and radical counterpoint to my more practical and responsible existence, she tells Lennox
who accuses her of being over-analytical
Lennox and Amma have a mutual lovefest, he thinks she’s a right character, which makes Shirley feel that she isn’t
he comes more alive around her, sparring, more jokey and extrovert
they tease Shirley for being goody two shoes (as if Lennox isn’t himself), nor does he give a fig about Amma’s sexuality, his Great Aunt Myrtle was in the closet, according to him
she lived for years with Gabrielle, her special friend who died, she kept her photograph on her bedside table
he remembers as a child finding a box in a cupboard when he was snooping, which contained photographs of Great Aunt Myrtle and Gabrielle from the thirties – wearing monocles, bow ties, riding jackets, plus fours, smoking cigars
he thought they were at fancy dress parties
he wishes Great Aunt Myrtle had felt free to be herself, she died not long after he returned to England, if she were alive now, he’d visit and get the truth out of her, tell her he approves, if that’s the right word
Shirley likes his open-mindedness, even if she can’t agree with him
it’s not that she’s backwards or anti-gay, it’s more of a gut response to something that doesn’t feel natural
even when she tries to reason with her opposition to it.
4
over time Shirley became an experienced schoolteacher who remained committed to giving the kids a fighting chance
realizing everything else was against them with such large classes and lack of resources and parents who didn’t have a clue how to help them with their homework
parents who’d left school early to work in a factory or learn a trade or be assigned a bunk bed in a Borstal
she was quite unlike the cruisers in her profession, as she frequently complained to Lennox, who do as little as possible and openly despise their charges as if they’re an inconvenience rather than the reason they have a bloody job
it was bad and got worse when the Thatcher government began to implement its Master Plan for Education
teachers went into meltdown with pay battles and three-day strikes