Free Tiger Bay Blues by Catrin Collier

to go, just because we’re sending the children to bed.’
    ‘It’s a long drive back to Butetown, and as it’s my van we’re using and I have to be up early tomorrow to take services; it’s high time we left.’ Micah Holsten picked up his saxophone case.
    ‘Take services?’ Harry questioned.
    ‘Micah is the Lutheran pastor at the Norwegian mission,’ Jed explained.
    ‘But we Catholics forgive him because he makes our kind of music,’ Tony joked.
    ‘And, as good Catholics, we also have to be up early. The wife insists on all of us going to first mass.’ Jed slipped a protective arm around Judy’s shoulders. ‘Thank you again for hiring us, Mr Evans.’
    ‘Thank you for making Bella’s day special. It certainly went with a swing.’ Lloyd shook Tony’s hand before slipping his hand into his pocket and pulling out an envelope. ‘There’s extra in there to replace Miss Hamilton’s dress. I’m sorry our cook stained it.’ He repeated the story he, Sali and Jed had concocted to explain Judy’s change of outfit to the rest of the band and the guests.
    ‘There’s no need –’
    ‘Yes, there is,’ Sali said firmly. She kissed Judy’s cheek.
    ‘I’ll send this frock back.’
    ‘Please don’t,’ Edyth pressed. ‘It looks much better on you than me, and to tell the truth it was getting too tight for me.’
    ‘Too many of Mari’s chocolate puddings, miss,’ Joey teased. ‘Well, we all know where to come the next time we need a band.’ He stretched his hands above his head and yawned.
    ‘From the look of everyone, it’s just as well tomorrow’s Sunday.’ Rhian lifted Ruth from Joey’s lap.
    ‘I can’t see anyone in this house getting up for early mass or church,’ Lloyd commented.
    Edyth didn’t contradict her father. But as she said her goodbyes to the musicians, and her uncles, aunts and cousins, she was already planning the outfit she would wear to the early church service at St Catherine’s in the morning.

    Chapter Four
    Judy Hamilton woke with a start the next morning when the church bells started ringing out over Tiger Bay. She threw back the bedclothes and shot out of bed. Hating mornings, especially after late nights, she’d taken the precaution of laying out a clean uniform, shoes, stockings and underclothes before she had left for the wedding the day before. Scooping them from the rickety wooden chair next to her bed, she ran down the uncarpeted wooden stairs into the kitchen.
    Pearl, her grandmother, was up, dressed in her flowered work overall, and mixing oats in the porridge pan. The smell of soda hung, nose-stinging, in the air, the flagstone floor was damp from its morning scrubbing and the range gleamed with newly applied black lead.
    ‘Morning, Gran.’ Judy dumped her clothes on the only easy chair in the room.
    ‘You’ll do yourself an injury rushing around like that.’
    ‘I’m late.’
    ‘No, you’re not,’ Pearl contradicted. ‘It’s not half past seven yet. What time did you come home last night?’
    ‘A reasonable hour,’ Judy answered evasively.
    ‘I heard you and Jed talking at the door after midnight. But seeing as how Sunday’s your half-day, I suppose you can have a nap later.’
    ‘I will, Gran.’ Judy kissed her grandmother’s wrinkled cheek and went out the back. The family referred to Pearl King’s garden as a ‘cultivated wilderness’. The sprig of jasmine she had planted next to the
ty bach
    when she had moved into the house as a bride over sixty years before now covered the roof of the outhouse as well as the walls. Knee-

Chapter Four
    Judy Hamilton woke with a start the next morning when the church bells started ringing out over Tiger Bay. She threw back the bedclothes and shot out of bed. Hating mornings, especially after late nights, she’d taken the precaution of laying out a clean uniform, shoes, stockings and underclothes before she had left for the wedding the day before. Scooping them from the rickety wooden chair next