Rose's Rush Hour.

Chapter Twelve.

Callum and I took a coach to the park, which he paid for. The celebrations were to begin at the wide clearing which marked the entrance to the park.

A platform had been placed in the centre to act as the stage for the designated choir. Right after the clearing was the Town Hall, which was designated for the dances that would happen later. The Hall was used for functions like large meetings, weddings and the like; and for Establishment Day, it was the chosen dance hall.

I noticed that the choir had already arrived. I recognised the faces of the members of the church choir amongst the merry chattering crowds that were scattered all across the clearing. Thank goodness they didn’t wear uniform, otherwise my plan to sneak in would be a bust.

Those who did wear uniform were the authorities. The uniform consisted of a burgundy jacket with white buttons in a diagonal fashion, burgundy trousers with a white stripe at the sides of each trouser leg, black boots plus a burgundy and black police cap with the country’s coat of arms at the front. Some of the officers carried musket guns, and all of them wore white gloves.

The celebrations always began with a performance from the choir. They sang the country’s anthem, the tribute song to Richard Barrington, a song of prayer and blessing, a song of praise, and two more common folk songs.

The Inspectors would then lead the officers in a choreographed march and once their muskets were fired, the people would disperse further into the park for the dramatics, dancing, food and so on, until midnight.

Callum and I talked while we waited for the choir to take the stage. I let him know that Ed would be with Inspector Raphael for the day.

“As a date?” He was amused.

I laughed. “Since the authorities are on security, she purported to join them and stick to Inspector Raphael. Don’t be surprised if you see her in uniform.”

“Hello, hello? Speaking about me behind my back?” Ed’s husky voice chanted from behind me.

I spun. “Oh please, like you heard anything.”

“I don’t need to use my ears to know you’ve been talking about me because you’re always talking about me, Nkwanzi.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Already missing my company for the day?” She teased, lightly bumping me.

Ed and I had always spent this event together since we were thirteen. Previously, I would go with Mother and Jerry but like the other girls, I started to seek out dates once I turned thirteen. Unsurprisingly, nobody asked me and nobody asked Ed, so we went together and did everything together.

We used to have such a great deal of fun dancing together even in the waltz. A lot of people frowned upon us, but we didn’t care.

“A good evening, Mr. Callum,” Ed snapped me out of my reverie as she tipped her burgundy fedora to my date.

Besides the hat, she had worn a white button-up shirt and burgundy trousers with braces, plus black boots. A burgundy bow tie was round the shirt collar.

She’d basically worn the police colours.

“A good evening, Miss Ed,” Callum tipped his hat to her as well.

I parted my mouth to comment about her attire, but gasped when I saw the choir members filing onto the stage.

“I have to go!” That’s all the warning I gave before sprinting off.

The crowds were still inattentive to what was happening so it was easy for me to slip through unnoticed by Gareth, the choir master. He stood facing the stage with his arms down in front of him; one hand clasping the wrist of the other. In his hand was his conductor’s baton.