SIPS, SLIPS AND SNIPPETS OF LOVE 31

Jane knew her sister was only teasing her, goading her into a reaction, but she could be really cutting sometimes.  Harriet called it wit, but Jane thought it was something meaner really; some nastiness that was inside her that came out when she wanted to hurt someone.  And more and more Jane felt it was her she wanted to hurt.  And she could never think of something to say back to her, until much later when the moment was gone.   She would only say these cruel things to appear clever, and she never kept it up, she would come over and put her arm round Jane’s shoulder and say, ‘Come on Jane, you know I never meant anything by it, it’s just my way.  You know that, don’t you?  Now come on, let’s go down the Mikado and see what new records they have on the jukebox.’  And Jane would buck herself up, put away her tears and follow her.  Harriet always knew she would follow her; she would have followed her to the ends of the earth.

10)     And suddenly they were nearly grown…

Harriet didn’t know why Jane kept going on and on about music all the time.  She was obsessed by certain songs, playing them over and over on the little Dansette they shared until Harriet was so bored she had to leave the room.  Harriet agreed that it was all good stuff but music wasn’t everything, was it?  It was more like a backdrop, a scene-setter if you like.  It was meeting people and making an impression that was the thing for her.  She sometimes had to literally drag Jane out of her bedroom, where she would be sitting cross-legged on her bed reading the lyrics and sleeve-notes as she listened over and over to her latest LP.

‘Come on Jane, let’s go out.’  she would say.

‘Oh, I’m alright here, Harriet.’ Jane would reply, ‘You go and enjoy yourself, I just want to listen to a few records.’

‘You can listen to new records with me.  Come on, I’m meeting a few friends in the Mikado, then we might go on to a party.’  Harriet would suggest.

‘Do you really need me, Harriet?’ as she at last would put the Album sleeve down and actually acknowledge that her sister was in the room.  Harriet didn’t need to ask her all the time, she thought she could have just as much fun on her own.

‘No, I have never needed you Jane, but I would like you to come with me.’  Smiling her sweetest smile, the one she kept for Jane alone, she would drag her sister away from her records and out with her.  It wasn’t that Harriet had to drag her along, but when Jane forgot herself and had a couple of drinks she was good fun, and at least she was an excuse if things got a bit heavy and Harriet needed an excuse to leave.

Jane and Harriet were really becoming something in the tired little backwater.  They were definitely happening; which given that everything seemed at least a couple of years behind London in Suffolk, was an achievement in itself.  But the times were changing fast, with television and radio in every home they couldn’t be as out of touch as their parents must have been.

Harriet watched Ready Steady Go, not for the bands so much but for the girls in the London studio, and what they were wearing.  She noted it all down, and bought all the latest fashion mags too, so she was always one step ahead of the game.  Her father was easy to touch up for a few quid, he couldn’t say no to her, and off she would head to Ipswich and a couple of little shops that were calling themselves Boutiques by now, and she would have the latest gear before everyone else.   She used to pass on her old stuff to Jane, they were practically the same size, and together they would wow everyone at parties and pubs.  Harriet knew lots of older boys in the sixth form and would cadge an invite to parties most weekends, sometimes miles out in the country too.  Their poor father would drive out to pick the girls up all over the place.  And actually Suffolk was such a small place, that everyone seemed to know everyone else, so they were straightaway into the in-crowd.

*  * *

And for Jane it wasn’t just what the Music sounded like that was important in itself, that edge was always essential; when Music settled into complacency, it is always time to move on.  What the Music said was always as important as the sound.  It was that strange conjunction of words and melody that result in Music, or music that matters.  And yes the Beatles lyrics were superficial at first, but somehow even when they were doing covers of American Rock’n’Roll, they had enough edge to overcome the meaningless words.  Their own stuff, the songs they wrote said it all though.  And it was a lot about sex, but not sex as titillation, but sex as a form of rebellion.  A rebelling against the old ways of doing things, it spoke straight to young people, and was so obviously bloody right that they got it straightaway.

Jane wasn’t really aware at first of the sex in their songs, but it didn’t escape Harriet’s attention.  Harriet was crazy about John, but Jane liked them all, and she had the softest spot for George, the quiet one.  She thought he was definitely the sexiest, by a country mile, and being from the country she knew just how long that could be.  And the fortunate time it hit her, when her own body was changing, and she was suddenly aware of everyone else around her, both girls and boys, was the big life-changing force she needed.

She had always been quiet, much quieter than Harriet.  She was such a dominant character, she always had the ideas a few seconds before Jane, or anyone else come to that, that she had fallen into the habit of letting her do all the inventing, the connecting, the talking, the showing off really.  Jane was always reflected in her light anyway, Harriet’s sister she was introduced as, and it became an instant entry into any group.  Everyone knew Harriet, or knew of her, so her sister must be something special too.  And Jane didn’t disappoint them; though quite shy really, when she was with Harriet she was almost as brilliant as her.