“I’m sorry for being so late! I’m home, Danny!” Lucy cried. He turned his head a little and smiled at her.
“No, it’s okay. I was late too, I had to visit… someone before I came home.” Danny explained, not wanting to say who he visited. Lucy looked relieved when he said that.
“Me too,” Lucy said, sounding like she was about to pass out. Like she’d been running. She sat down on the couch and sighed. “I’m sorry that there’s no supper, I could make something right now if you want?”
“Nah, I can make it. Vinnie’s already asleep, but chances are he’ll wake up in an hour complainin’ about how hungry he is.” Danny said, with a small laugh.
“You’re gonna make supper?” Lucy asked, sounding very confused. She’d never seen a man offer to make supper before. Well, this was probably for the best, she was an awful cook anyways.
“Unless you really want to. I wouldn’t take it away from you if you wanted to.” Danny explained. Lucy nodded, turning around to walk towards the bedroom
“I’d love for you to make supper. I’m going to write a letter to my father now, call me when you’re finished.” Lucy explained. “Is this room the bedroom?” She asked.
“Yeah, see you later then,” Danny said, getting up and heading towards the kitchen. He started making a beef and vegetable stew, which was by far his favorite thing to make. He was waiting for some water to boil when he heard someone crying. He almost thought it was Lucy, but it sounded more like a child. It didn’t sound like Vinnie either. He checked outside, looking out of his back door.
He didn’t see anything, which was pretty confusing. He looked around outside but still didn’t see anything. Huh. He suddenly remembered the cooking and ran back to the kitchen. The crying was still there, but it sounded more like it was coming from inside now. The water was boiling though, so he put in a few of the ingredients. He looked around the kitchen for something or someone, but he couldn’t seem to find anyone.
He looked in a cupboard, around where the crying was the loudest. That’s when he found a young child, curled up in a ball. The child looked familiar to him. Wait was that…
“Jack?” He asked, looking the child in the eyes.
“What..?” He sobbed back.
“Are you going to come out of there? How did you even sneak in?” Danny asked, holding a hand out. Jack was one of his very young cousins, actually his youngest cousin. His Uncle James had remarried to a very young woman after his first wife died. They had Jack a few months later. Everyone was convinced that he had been conceived out of wedlock.
“The door was unlocked…” he muttered, crawling out of the cupboard.
“Okay, okay, sit on the couch. I have to make supper.” Danny explained, and Jack agreed and sat over on the couch, his lip quivering. Danny felt bad, but he didn’t want to burn supper for everyone else. supper was finished eventually, and he sat next to his cousin. “What’s wrong, kid?” He asked, finally.
“...Pa ain’t been feedin’ me. So I was hopin’ I could come here and get somethin’ to eat.” He explained.
“What?! You’re thirteen, how dare he not feed you-“ Danny interrupted, but Jack just continued to talk.
“He said I was pansy… I didn’t know what to do… so I came to you."
“What do you think he meant by pansy?”
“...that I was weak, I guess. Can I just have some of your supper? It looks real good… and I’m hungry, you know...” Jack said, smiling at Danny. He sighed and nodded.
“Yeah. You can have some supper. You’re always welcome here, just so you know, but I’m gonna get Vinnie.” He got up and knocked on Vinnie’s door, waking him up. He came running out a few seconds later, looking prepared for supper. Danny looked down at him for a second, before crouching down to his level.
“We have a guest over, son. Be on your best behavior, I’m gonna go get Lucy now.” He explained, getting up after explaining it.
“Okay Uncle.” He said, running off to the table. Danny gently knocked on the bedroom door, trying to get Lucy’s attention. She came out after a few minutes, looking a little sad. She sighed and went to the dinner table. Danny followed behind her, but she looked confused when she saw Jack. She didn’t say anything though and just sat down.
“So this is my cousin, Jack. His father ain’t bein’ too kind to him currently, so we’re gonna feed him and let him stay over whenever he needs to.” He explained. Lucy seemed to understand now, and Vinnie was already getting antsy, just wanting to eat. “That’s all, y’all can eat now.” He said, and everyone started eating except Jack.
“Ain’t we supposed to say a prayer?” Jack asked, looking very confused and concerned.
“Well… I guess we don’t really do that, Jack.” Lucy explained. “My family has never done that, at least. I guess I didn’t think about it.”
“Oh. Well, I’m sorry, I’m just gonna get to eatin’-“ he said, basically shoving it into his mouth afterward. Lucy & Danny started to eat after that, and Lucy smiled suddenly, perking her head up to look at Danny.
“Danny, this is delicious! I wish I could cook like this- in fact, you can cook from now on.” She exclaimed, very happy that she wouldn’t have to be cooking every day now. Danny smiled back at her and nodded.
“Well, thank you! I guess I will, then.”
“I didn’t know men could cook like this, Danny,” Jack said, but he quickly went back to shoveling the stew into his mouth, and his bowl was beginning to run low. He stopped when he realized this. “Can I have seconds? Maybe? Sorry for eatin’ this much, I’m really hungry…” Jack explained.
“It’s okay. Danny has made plenty.” Lucy explained, smiling at Jack. He smiled back and got some more stew for himself. Vinnie seemed to be out too but didn’t get any more. He seemed to be sitting there, waiting for the rest of them to be done.
“So what did you do today, Vinnie?” Lucy asked. Vinnie perked up and smiled.
“Well, Great Uncle Hamish took me huntin’ for crawfish! That was fun! I was pretty tired from the weddin’, but it was still fun.” Vinnie explained, a gigantic smile on his little face. Lucy, however, looked confused.
“Who?” She asked.
“Oh. Um...Uncle Danny. Sorry, I misspoke.” He explained, suddenly looking rather shy.
“...okay, well, I’m glad you had fun in the swamps.” She said, continuing to smile at him. She didn’t look confused anymore. Danny seemed super zoned out, staring out the window and barely eating his food. He looked like he was on the verge of tears, barely keeping himself together.
“Danny, are you okay?” Jack asked, noticing his facial expression and actions. Danny seemed to jolt upright and nodded. He quickly went back to eating, not acknowledging what had happened. He still looked sad, however. The family stayed quiet for a while after that. Everyone just ate, and Jack finished his seconds and went for thirds, slurping them up at the same speed he had when he first got the food. Everyone else was done by now, just waiting for him to be done.
“Thank you, Dan. It was nice of ya, but I’m gonna go back home. My Pa probably ain’t gonna be happy about this…” he said, with a sigh. Danny stood up from his chair and sighed.
“I’m takin’ you home.” Danny firmly stated. He looked around and no one objected, while Lucy began to clean up the table. Danny and Jack began on their way to Uncle James’ house. Jack looked terrified, but Danny was rather calm. He began to gently pat the boy on his back.
“It’s okay. I’ll keep you as safe as I can, I promise,” he explained, keeping his voice calm. He didn’t want to scare Jack off, after all.
“Thank you…” he said, shakily sighing and looking up for a moment. They soon made it to James’ house, and Danny knocked on the door. There was a short waiting period before Molly, Jack’s mom, opened the door.
“Hello ma’am, this is your boy right?” Danny asked, and Molly looked over at Jack and nodded. She suddenly jumped on him and pulled him into a hug. Jack sunk into his mother's arms, and Danny went inside to confront his Uncle. Because despite seeming very calm on the outside, he was angry. Very angry.
He quickly found James in his office. Danny walked in without knocking and saw James writing something at his desk. He suddenly turned around when the door opened, not even looking up.
“Molly, if you bother me one more time I’m goin’ to-” he started, before Danny walked over and punched the old man in the face so hard his chair spun.
“This ain’t Molly,” Danny said coldly. “You better stop takin’ your damn family for granted. If I see a single mark on the boy or your poor, poor wife I’m gonna knock you harder, you hear me?!” he yelled, before throwing James out of his chair.
“Danny? What’re you talkin’ about?” he questioned.
“Oh be quiet. Feed the boy or I will.” Danny said, before walking out of the office. He saw Jack and Molly softly talking in the foyer, and Danny put a hand on Molly’s shoulder, making her flinch quite a bit.
“You can always come over to my place if you need. Both of you,” he explained, looking back and forth at the two of them. Molly nodded.
“Thank you,” she whispered to Danny before he left the house. He was back at home soon after, but he couldn’t seem to think about much except for that. Even with Lucy laying next to him.
His Uncle James wasn’t who Danny thought he was. Could that be true for anyone else?
Nottingham/London based Folk-pop troubadour Gallery 47 aka Jack Peachy this week announced the imminent arrival of his 9th studio album ‘East Street’, which will be released via AWAL / Bad Production on the 27th March. As a special treat for the ears Peachy has shared new track ‘I Wish I Was’ to spearhead the album. ‘I Wish I Was’ is beautiful Psych-pop ‘Road Trip Anthem’ from 1971 that makes Peachy’s falsetto voice shine through.
East Street is the 9th album by Nottingham songwriter Jack Peachey, known since 2010 by the pseudonym Gallery 47. The album was recorded at Jack's family home over the Christmas period in 2019/2020. The bare bones of all songs were recorded on a Gibson Les Paul Studio through a Vox AC 15 amp on the same day. Most takes were recorded with an AKG C414 condenser microphone, and many songs feature upwards of ten vocal takes double tracked in unison or harmony. There is no bass guitar on the album except for the final song, 'Calm'. One song, 'Dulcimer #2' is instrumental and dates back to 2013. Despite the seemingly melancholic subject matter - many songs touch affectionately on paranoia, disease, addiction and death - the album was written and recorded in a positive state of mind, optimistic for the future.
The album features drums by long-time collaborator Gary Judd, previously of Nottingham group 'Long Dead Signal'. They have recently been joined for practices and live shows by Ben Hellings on Bass, also of Long Dead Signal. The three have become good friends, feeding off each other's moments of cynicism and enthusiasm. They meet on Sundays and are already planning the next album 'Bye & Bye'. East Street finds Jack in the last year of a publishing deal with BMG, Berlin. He has tried to make ends meet in various day-jobs and is pleasantly nihilistic about his prospects in life.
Gallery 47: Online Links
https://gallery47official.co.uk
https://twitter.com/gallery47
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4q7LEmxEAXvNGvDfZX510W
https://soundcloud.com/gallery47official
https://gallery47.bandcamp.com
