Personal.
He was asking her to sing because he wanted to hear her.
No one had really ever wanted to hear her before.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded and turned to the minstrels. After a brief discussion, they began to play a lively song and Juliandra began to clap her hands so that the entire hall began to clap in rhythm, too. Because she was at one end ofthe hall and she knew she wouldn’t be heard very well, she leapt off the table and beckoned the musicians to follow her.
“Harry McMerry came totown,
A lady fore toseek.
When Harry McMerry found agown,
He begged her for apeek.
Oh, lady dear, be of goodcheer,
My hand, I offerthee,
I promise to loveyou
Every day of mylife
After I’ve had mybeer!”
The men cheered and lifted their cups, and Juliandra encouraged them to sing the chorus with her.
“Harry, Harry, a man somerry,
A lady fore toseek.
Harry, my Harry, she’s a beautifulpip,
And she’ll give you a taste of herlips!”
Everyone in the hall was clapping and singing now as Juliandra moved around the vast hall with the musicians in tow, singing at the top of her lungs. She wasn’t nervous or reluctant any longer because they were so happy to see her, and so receptive to her singing, that she felt comfortable and flattered. It was quite fun. She ended up over by the table where Kevin was sitting and started to sing the verse again, encouraging him to sing.
“Harry McMerry came totown,
A lady fore toseek.
When Harry McMerry found agown,
He begged her for apeek.”
Smiling, Kevin shook his head, begging off because he wasn’t much of an exhibitionist, but he’d had too much to drink, so he gave in to her pleas and joined in as she sang the last part of the verse.
“Oh, lady dear, be of goodcheer,
My hand, I offerthee,
I promise to loveyou
Every day of mylife
After I’ve had mybeer!”
Unfortunately, Kevin couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, as his friends all knew. He was tone-deaf and off-key, but he sang because Juliandra had begged him to. About four words into the second part of the verse, however, Juliandra could hear his terrible singing and she tried very hard not to laugh because he was making a valiant effort at it.
