The Boy who wouldn't be King

  Toby returned to the table with a tray of drinks.

  'Lime and lemonade for Sally, small red for Hilary...'

  'Small?' she queried.

  'Doctor's orders, H.  Sip it slowly and make it last.  I don't want to be in trouble with your other half for leading you astray.'

  'I'm sure you don't and anyway, that's his job!'

  'Don't we know it!'  Toby laughed.  'G 'n' T for Vaughan, rum and coke for Paula, rum and coke - without the rum - for Deepak, cranberry and orange J2O for Tricia, non-alcoholic pish masquerading as lager for me...  Your good health, comrades!'

  'Cheers!'  A small wave of lime and lemonade splattered the table as Sally joined in the toast.  'It's great to see you all again.  Shame they've spoilt it by playing Cliff Richard!'

  'This isn't as bad as that other one of his,' Tricia said.

  'I don't know.  I used to get wall-to-wall Cliff at Christmas - my mum's his number one fan.'  Sally grimaced.  'So this is a sort of Christmas memories song, but not in a good way.'

  'Strangely, the other one - Saviour's Day - is my main Christmas memory song,' announced Deepak.

  'Commiserations, dear boy!' Vaughan said sincerely.

  'You really are a young fogey, mate!' Toby added.

  'It's not that I like it...'

  'It doesn't matter if you do.  Don't let them tease you.'

  'Seriously, Hilary - I don't like the song.  But I do like the memories from school that it brings back.'

  'The back-of-the-bike-sheds sort?'

  'Really Toby!  You are the limit!'

  'Not that sort at all,' Deepak answered shyly.  'I was only eleven.'

  'That was old enough at my old school!' Paula laughed. 'But go on, Deepak - tell us your story.'

  'And tell it loud enough to drown out Cliff,' Sally encouraged.

  'It's about our school nativity play, which finished with the choir singing that song,' Deepak explained.  'We lived out at Bishop's Waltham when I was little and, as the only Asian kid in the class, for two years running I was one of the three kings.  But in the final year I stood up for myself and, rather than be a king again said I wanted a proper grown-up reading to do, like the other top stream kids.'

  'Wicked!' Tricia cried.  'As the brightest kid in class I thought I was a shoe-in for the Virgin Mary, but I ended up as a shepherd.  No such thing as colour-blind casting back then!'

  'They always picked a pretty blond girl in my school,' Hilary said.  'Which is quite illogical really, isn't it?'

  'I was always an angel because I was tall and had a loud voice,' said Sally.  'I got to order the kings and shepherds about, which was excellent, and to tell Mary she was pregnant, which made her cry .'

  'You made Mary cry?  Oh my God!'

  'I didn't mean to, Paula, but a little while before my mum told me having babies was really painful - she was trying to put me off getting involved with boys - so I decided I had better warn Mary.'

  'You must have made a pretty kick-ass angel, Sazza,' Toby laughed.  He turned to Deepak.  'But what happened to the boy who didn't want to be a king?'

  'That involves a kick-ass angel too, actually.  When I stamped my feet and refused to be the king with the gold, I was marched along to the Deputy Head's room.  I thought I was going to be in trouble but Miss Ford was really kind.  She told me that my teacher was trying to be thoughtful by not giving me a reading in case my parents were unhappy, what with us being Hindus.  "If you are sure, I think I have just the story for you," she said.  "It's the very last reading."

  'I took the sheet of paper home and practiced it in my room all week, so I knew it by heart, because I knew that being small, if I had to look down at the paper while I read, nobody would hear me.  When we practiced in the school hall I was very nervous and I got some parts wrong, so on the afternoon when all the parents were there, including mine and my grandmother too, I had the most dreadful butterflies in my tummy.  I watched the whole story unfold and when the three kings arrived, thought how much better I would have been as the Gold King than Neil Sidney.  But I had no time to dwell on that, as it was time for my reading.  Looking back now, it was only a few sentences but, as a child, it might have been Hamlet!  I can still remember them.'  Deepak raised his voice.  '"Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.'  And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt."'

  Deepak fell silent.  The whole pub seemed hushed, except for the dying chords of Mistletoe and Wine.

  'Bravo!' Vaughan applauded.

  'Fancy you remembering that!' said Tricia.  'I think our navity play finished with the three kings bringing their gifts.'

  'If the angel was as scary as Sally, I'm not surprised Joseph did as he was told!'  Toby said.  'But I don't remember anything I had to learn at school.'

  'I had a special reason for remembering my lines,' Deepak explained.  'After the play, Miss Ford came up to me and told me I had spoken up well, and she said, "Remember, if ever anyone is ever nasty to you because your family weren't born in this country, that Our Lord was once a refugee."  I promised I would remember, even though I didn't know what a refugee was then.  When I got home, I asked my mum and dad, and they told me about coming to England as children when their parents fled from Uganda, and I told them that the same had happened to baby Jesus and asked if my grandfathers had been told what to do by angels.'

  'Had they?'

  'Apparently not, Sally.'  Deepak smiled.  'It was a crucial moment for me, learning about my heritage.  I think that was when I realised I wanted to contribute something good to this country that had given my family safety and a fresh start.'

  'But then you got a job with the DWP!' said Toby.   'And that was the end of that!' 

  Hilary cleared her throat.  'Some very good people have worked for the DWP, haven't they, Toby?' 

  'And some still do,' Deepak answered quietly.