Ellie Elmore A Life Touched by Gods & Men

Episode 1 … First Encounter First Impression-4

‘Yeah! I get it!’ agrees Mee, swaying along with Ellie as Johnny and Madge just look at each other, nodding their heads in agreement.

Today has seen an exciting start to this newfound friendship, and, having the deal done, everyone is happy, even Johnny, well almost.

‘Shall we go inside now?’ asks Madge, gesturing towards her house. ‘We can start making arrangements to get this project underway while I make us all a refreshing drink.’

‘Sure,’ replies Ellie, following Madge, and, as ever, the boys follow Ellie, making it all the more apparent who the leader is of this young trio.

Ellie and Madge chat as everyone walks towards her house, and they are still chatting as Madge puts the hot drinks on a tray inside her kitchen, before carrying them through into her back room where the boys are sitting looking out over her back garden.

As everyone sits with their drinks, Ellie explains her ideas, mainly to Madge, about her old shed becoming their music studio. Ellie’s ideas flood out, and the boy’s only get a word in edgeways when Ellie stops talking.

‘This is going to be some studio!’ says Ellie.

‘So, you young people create your own music then?’ asks Madge, feeling a certain camaraderie with Ellie and the boys right now.

‘Yes, we do, Madge. Mee and I write and produce our music, and we’d like to turn your shed into a little music studio for ourselves after we’ve fixed it up for you,’ replies Ellie.

‘How wonderful,’ says Madge, thinking her hunch is getting hotter all the time.

Madge is warming more and more towards Ellie and the boys as they spend more quality time together. And there’s some female bonding going on as the boys sit quietly, unable to get a word in edgeways as they flick their eyes back and forth between Madge and Ellie as they chatter away like old schoolmates.

‘Ellie, I’d like to back you all the way on your project,’ says Madge as they talk. ‘And I’ll help you however I can with your ideas.’

‘Madge, you are part of our team from now on,’ replies Ellie, flashing a knowing look towards Mee. ‘And thanks for giving us the space we need to create our music. It’s good of you, isn’t it, boys!

But Johnny and Mee are sitting in a kind of trance, just holding their drinks and looking at Madge and Ellie.

‘Isn’t it, boys?’ repeats Ellie a little louder and making both boys snap out of their daze.

‘Good … er, yes, great!’ says Johnny, seeming unsure as to what he agrees to, and making Madge laugh, almost spilling her drink.

‘Sorry, boys. We girls do go on a bit, don’t we,’ says Madge, gathering herself and setting her drink down on a small table.

‘Yeah, you sure do,’ agrees Johnny.

‘Anyway,’ continues Madge, ‘you and the boys are welcome to use my shed, but before you do, you’ve got some work to do!’

‘We’ll have your shed spotless in no time. Won’t we, boys?’ says Ellie rolling up her sleeves and laughing as the boys nod in agreement.

‘Oh sure, no time!’ reply Johnny and Mee together.

‘And we’re not getting paid,’ adds Johnny.

So, with the deal making now over in this first meeting between Madge, Ellie, Johnny and Mee, the teenagers leave Madge’s house, with Madge standing on her front doorstep to wave them off.

Right now, Madge feels good. In fact, she feels better now than she’s felt in a very long time. Because, as she sits in her favourite chair, she can sense a new lease of energy and well-being run through her veins along with an incredible new tingling sensation racing around her entire body, making her feel like a young, energetic, twenty-year-old woman again.

***

Ellie and the boys are also feeling a new phase of excitement enter their lives because this new experience has brightened up their slightly mundane days, and they talk excitedly about their meeting with Madge all the way back to Ellie’s house, where she lives with her dad, Jack.

Jack Elmore is an Englishman. He’s about five feet nine inches tall in old measurements and has mousy brown hair. He’s a little thin because he drinks more than he eats, but apart from that, and his slightly shoddy appearance, he’s an average sort of guy all round, with no real distinguishing features.

Jack met and married his wife Eleanor back when they were both young, and Jack was in good physical shape. But Eleanor died some years back in a hit-and-run road accident, which left Jack on his own to bring up Ellie, without any real family to help him.

The pressure of losing Eleanor and having to bring Ellie up alone have turned Jack to drink, because he spends most evenings down the pub drinking with his mates, leaving Ellie alone at home without any parental guidance as to how she spends her free time.

Now, you might think Ellie would go off the rails, but no, Ellie is far from daft. She uses her time wisely, and she also washes, cleans, cooks and looks after her dad and the house, because Jack is all she has left in this world, and because she loves him more than anything or any other living person in her lonely life.

Ellie’s mother Eleanor had a tremendous strength of character, and Ellie has inherited a lot of it. Every day after finishing school, Ellie does all her chores. Then she puts all her spare time and energy into her lyric writing and singing, because her mother used to adore music, and this has rubbed off on Ellie more than anything.

Eleanor used to sing to Ellie as she grew from a baby into a young girl. Ellie can still remember her mother singing to her at an early age because Eleanor was a happy-go-lucky type of woman and a very loving person. In fact, Ellie can’t remember a time when her mother wasn’t happy. Even when Eleanor felt unwell, she would always put on a brave face for Ellie. So, Ellie always remembers and keeps happy thoughts of her mother at the forefront of her mind.

Just remembering her mother’s love for her, and her love of music, gives Ellie all the zest she needs in life, and the harder life gets for her, the more Ellie writes, sings, and remembers her mother’s love. And when times get extremely hard, Ellie always thinks of her mother and says ‘A Troubadour’s Kiss’ out loud before blowing a kiss towards the heavens for her dear mother. By doing this, Ellie never forgets her mother’s love and keeps herself strong when she feels down.

And if Jack Elmore weren’t so drunk all the time, he’d be able to see what a fine young woman Ellie is becoming. And if he were sober right now, he’d see just how excited she is about the meeting she and the boys have just had with Madge.

‘Jack! Jack!’ shouts Ellie, bursting into her house with Johnny and Mee hot on her heels.

But Jack’s flat out on their settee, drunk and asleep. Ellie can even smell the stench of alcohol hovering above him, and so can the boys.

‘You’ll just have to tell Jack about Madge and the shed tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll be happy for you, Ellie,’ says Mee, seeming to try and soften the disappointment for his friend.

‘I’ll see you guys tomorrow,’ says Ellie, looking disappointingly at Jack and then towards the boys.

‘See you tomorrow, Ellie,’ reply Johnny and Mee together, knowing that’s their cue to leave.

With the boys now gone, Ellie makes herself something to eat and then spends the early part of her evening revising for her last GCSE maths exam, which is at school tomorrow morning, and a subject which Ellie doesn’t like.

Later that night, Ellie lies on her bed to ponder her ‘impossible dream’ while cuddling her favourite soft toy, a small hand-sized character she calls ‘Toto’, which her mother bought for her when she was very young.

For the most part, Ellie’s impossible dream is a dream she and Mee share. It’s a dream concerning their music, and Johnny plays a big part in their dream too.

As usual, Ellie confesses her thoughts to Toto as if talking to her mother, mainly because her favourite soft toy always reminds Ellie of her mum, which in turn makes her tingle with pleasure as it puts a smile on her face.

Ellie tells Toto all about her meeting with Madge, about the shed being their private music studio, and about her ideas and plans she has for the shed’s new makeover. Then she finally falls asleep with Toto by her side.

***

The next morning, Ellie ventures downstairs to make breakfast and finds Jack still fast asleep on their living room settee, still lying in the same position she’d left him in last night. So Ellie heads for the kitchen to make breakfast, where minutes later she hears Jack moving and groaning as he starts to wake.

‘Come on, Jack; you’ll be late for work. Go and have your shower,’ shouts Ellie from the kitchen, and calling her dad by his first name, which she’s done from her early years.

Jack stumbles to his feet and heads off upstairs without even replying to his daughter.

Today’s a typical workday for Jack but a school exam day for Ellie, and, as normal, Ellie helps Jack by making his breakfast and sandwiches, then, when he’s ready, she sets him off for his usual walk to work, which normally helps him to sober up.

As Ellie eats her breakfast, she flicks through her maths revision papers before getting herself ready and leaving the house to go and meet Johnny and Mee for their walk to school. Ellie’s in a bright and breezy mood this morning, and she feels good, despite her disappointment concerning Jack last night.

‘Hi, boys,’ says Ellie on meeting up with her friends. ‘Who’s all excited then?’ she adds, noting Mee’s guitar case on his back.

‘Excited? I’ll tell you who’s excited! I am!’ replies Mee. ‘I couldn’t concentrate on my maths revision last night for all the excitement running through my head.’

‘Me too. I was thinking about that shed all night,’ adds Johnny, punching the air before clenching both fists and doing his favourite boxing pose. ‘I could hardly sleep, and now I’m excited big time.’

‘This shed project is gonna be exciting for all three of us, and I can’t wait to hear the music you two create as a result of working in it once it’s finished. I can smell your renewed enthusiasm. I can taste your freshly mashed passion from a mile away,’ continues Johnny, dancing around on his toes and shadow-boxing like a professional.

‘Ha! You crack me up,’ says Ellie, laughing out loud at Johnny. ‘Do your boxer pose again. Go on, do it again!’ she asks.

Johnny gladly obliges, making Ellie chuckle even more, because his favourite film of all time is Rocky, which he watches over and over again because he loves boxing and all the physical stuff that comes with it. Plus, he loves the film’s soundtrack.

‘I’ll phone Madge after our exam this morning and ask if it’s okay to start cleaning up her shed this coming weekend,’ says Ellie, regaining her composure and changing the subject.

‘Good idea. The sooner, the better,’ replies Mee in full agreement. ‘And don’t forget the little jamming session we promised Jody, Jordan and Sam,’ he adds, tapping his guitar over his shoulder.

‘Oh, I haven’t forgotten!’ replies Ellie.

Ellie and the boys arrive at the school with time to spare before their last exam starts, so they find a quiet room and decide to test each other with maths questions. Then, before they know it, they, along with the rest of their school friends and colleagues, are ushered into the exam hall to start their dreaded exam.

Mee leaves his guitar at the back of the exam hall next to a teacher who’s helping police the exam, and then he joins the rest of the pupils in finding their allotted seats. After everyone sits down, the hall falls into a dull, eerie silence, and the only sounds Ellie can hear are the people either side of her breathing heavily in anticipation.

The school’s headmistress steps onto a raised platform in front of an unusually quiet school hall, and all her pupils gaze at her. Then, in a booming voice, and with a half-smile etched across her face as if she’s been waiting for this moment for years, she starts the pupils on their last exam, before going to sit back on her chair. The maths exam is now underway and carries on for just over one and a half hours, with Ellie and the boys frantically scribbling down their answers with their pens nestled in their sweaty, clammy hands.