Leg-End

By Robert A Whippey

Following the death of his mother, Andy Wilson is sorting through her things when he discovers that his father, the man who brougt him up  wasn't his biological father! Even more astonishing  is the fact that it seems that his biological father was a member of a 70s Welsh Rock Band! Andy decides to travel from  his home in Wiltshire to Wales to find out the truth. His journey is sometiimes sad, but often hilarious!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert A Whippey
• Release date: Jan 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393791225

Book preview

1

IT'S A VERY STRANGE feeling to discover you are not who you think you are. That your life was based on facts that weren’t true. Shocked doesn't really start to describe the way I felt after what I discovered that day.  That morning when everything changed I was at my mother's house, going through her belongings, feeling like a thief,  looking  at her private possessions. She didn’t hoard very much, which made my job easier. Finally, all that was left was the dressing table in her bedroom. Most of the drawers contained the usual ladies items, underclothes, that sort of thing. The last drawer was the one with the big surprise, however. At first it didn't hold Anything out of the ordinary. Rings, photos, earrings,  £200 cash, the type of stuff we all collect over the years. The problem was that when I tried to replace the drawer it just wouldn't go back into its slot in the dressing table. No matter how I tried it just wouldn't fit. The reason became clear when I turned the drawer over. An envelope was stuck to the underside.  Or rather it had been stuck to the underside of the drawer, until the sticky tape holding it lost its adhesive properties, as it always does, and prevented me from replacing it in its usual place. There was nothing written on the envelope to give any clue as to its contents, so I opened it. It wasn't sealed, inside I discovered three items. An old single record, a photograph of what appeared to be a rock band, posing for the camera with the word LEGEND in large gold letters on it, and another envelope, smaller this time, again with nothing written on it. Mysterious!, I thought. Carefully, I opened the envelope, and inside found a single sheet of paper, obviously now a letter to someone.

Hi Gorgeous,

How are you? I hope you are well. I have a surprise for you, a pleasant one I hope. You are a DADDY! It's true! You are the father of a beautiful baby boy.

Before we go any further, I don't want you to think that I am writing this letter to get money off you, or anything like that. My husband believes that Andrew, that's what we've named him, is his son, and I don't want to cause him any pain by revealing the truth.

I just wanted you to know that you have a son, a fabulous son. He was born on 28th of August, 1973, so you can celebrate his birthday if you want every year. I don't know if you want to contact me at all, perhaps it would be best for everybody if you don't, but if you do, we'll keep it low key.

Anyway,  my darling, I just want you to now I'll never forget the fabulous time we had together. Although it was only a short time, I'll cherish those few days forever.

Good luck with your music,  I'll bek listening out for you on the radio every day. I'm sure you'll make it big soon.

Love you forever,

Mary.

XXXXX

STUNNED,  I READ THE letter again. And again. And again. I realised, of course, that I didn't matter how many times I read it, the facts remained the same. My name is Andrew. My mother's name was Mary. I was born on the 28th of August 1973!

2

IT WAS DARK WHEN I arrived home. I can't recall the journey, I was driving on auto pilot. Before I left my mother's house I'd sat on the bed, looking at the photo of the band. Was it possible that one of these guys was my father? It was difficult to see any likeness between any of them and me. Of course, they all had shoulder length hair, and facial furniture; beards and moustaches, which I assumed was the fashion at the time, making it difficult to see their features clearly, except for one of them, who had very short hair, almost a crew cut, and looked quite respectable compared to the others.

I put the car in the garage, had a bite to eat then settled down to look again at the photo, record, and letter. The label on the record informed me that on one side was the song Please Come Back, and on the other side Evil Eva. Not having a record deck, (who has these days?) I couldn't play it to get any idea whether LEGEND as a band were good or bad.

I fired up the computer, and searched for LEGEND, rock band 1970 to 1980. Nothing came up on Wikipedia or any other sites, so I tried the record charts for the same years, and after reaching March 1972 found Evil Eva had entered the top 100 in 11h position on 2nd of March but dropped out a week later. One hit wonders obviously, but they made it to the charts. Not many bands do. It's all a matter of luck really, being in the right place at the right time. It would of course explain where my musical ability came from, always a mystery to me and my parents. My father wasn't musical, neither was my mother. Genetics do play a part in our inherited talents I suppose. Anyway it was getting late and I was feeling tired after what was a traumatic day. Sleep was probably out of the question, but after a couple of relaxing shorts I decided to to lie down and rest anyway. It took me a long time to drop off to sleep, but I did manage a few hours rest. The question going round and round in my head before I did finally drop off, was, "what do I