The reckoning for Rhiannon came in circumstances she did not expect. Every time she walked on the footpath outside her Tea Drinking Club she thought of M2 taking out the Problem Tea Drinker. Every time, without fail. It haunted her. There were a couple of days where she could not bring herself to go to work. Every subsequent day got harder and harder to go to work.
A small record store in her neighbourhood had a job advertisement posted on the store window. Rhiannon approached the store owner and said she would like to apply for the job, even though she had no previous experience working in a record store or in retail. Mrs 40Something Record Store Owner said she was not troubled by that apparent lack of experience. The two women spent quite a bit of time talking about music.
Mrs 40Something: If you are prepared to come back here tomorrow, just before closing time, I will show you what is required of the job, once the store is closed. If that works out, the job is yours.
Rhiannon: Thank you. I will be here.
The meeting ended and Rhiannon left the record store.
The following day Rhiannon returned to the record store, as arranged. She was hopeful, rather than confident. Mrs 40Something was welcoming and patient. Meeting number two went surprisingly well and at the end, Mrs 40Something said to Rhiannon: “The job is yours, if you want it.”
Rhiannon: I definitely want the job.
Mrs 40Something: Welcome to the music industry. You can start Monday morning at 8:30 am.
Rhiannon: Thank you.
As Mrs 40Something closed the record store door behind Rhiannon, Rhiannon could no longer hold back her tears. She was not concerned about the modest pay that came with the job, Rhiannon had what she needed, a chance of a new life.
This was the best Rhiannon had felt for some time.
When she started her record store job, Rhiannon had fewer problems than she thought might be the case. The small store and modest customer base helped Rhiannon acclimatise to her new job. Two weeks into that new job, Rhiannon contacted her Tea Drinking Club and informed them she would no longer be working for them.
The Minor Key Café
On a Saturday morning three months into her new job, Rhiannon walked past the Minor Key Café and saw Nicky Parsons apparently dining alone. Rhiannon made haste to her record store, which was located not all that far away. She purchased a copy of the 1961 album by The Miles Davis Sextet, Someday My Prince Will Come and hustled back to the Minor Key Café.
She entered the café and made her way to the Nicky Parsons table.
Rhiannon: Do you mind if I join you?
Nicky Parsons barely interrupted her eating, but gestured to a seat at her table.
Rhiannon sat in that seat.
Rhiannon: How are you?
Parsons: Still doing my dirty job.
Rhiannon: How is M2 doing?
Parsons: Really? How is M2 doing?
Rhiannon: Yes. I want him to be OK.
Parsons: Perhaps you should have given greater credence to those thoughts when you first met him.
Rhiannon: I have something I would like you to give him from me.
Parsons: Haven’t you done enough damage?
Rhiannon: It is a record of the 1961 album by The Miles Davis Sextet, Someday My Prince Will Come from the record shop where I now work.
Parsons: Someday My Prince Will Come?
Rhiannon: I no longer work at the Tea Drinking Club. I now work at a small record store not far from here. My new employer was kind enough to not ask questions about my past.
Parsons: A convenient transition to a new life for you.
Rhiannon; Not an easy one. The epiphany could not have occurred without meeting you.
I want M2 to be OK. Can you give him the record, please?
Parsons: You ask a lot. I am not sure you give much in return.
Rhiannon: If you will not give M2 the record, keep it for yourself. The gift is sincere.
I will now leave you to your meal.
It is good to see you, Nicky.
Rhiannon then got out of her chair and just before she turned to leave the café, she said to Nicky: Someday My Prince Will Come, Nicky. Someday My Prince Will Come.
As Nicky Parsons watched Rhiannon leave the café and then she finished her meal, Nicky was not sure what to make of Rhiannon. She left the record on the table while she finished her meal and she took it home with her when she was finished.
Harriet Goes To The Rhiannon Record Store
A few weeks later, early on a Tuesday afternoon Agent Harriet wandered into the Rhiannon Record Store. Harriet and Rhiannon were the only people in the store at the time.
Rhiannon: Good afternoon, Miss.
Harriet looked at Rhiannon and immediately recognised her.
Rhiannon: This is where I work now. Permanently. You are a friend of Nicky Parsons and Emily Abernathy. Please do not leave, Miss. Please stay and talk to me.
Harriet: Perhaps I should stay here and shoot you.
Rhiannon: You think about doing that, Miss, while I talk to you.
Harriet: What happened to the Tea Drinkers Club?
Rhiannon: I left that job when I got this job. A deliberate choice on my part.
Harriet: You are no longer a tea drinker?
Rhiannon: My tea drinking is now confined to purely your kind of tea drinking.
Harriet: A record store.
Rhiannon: My employer was kind enough to not ask questions about my past. This is my new life. It is a better life.
Miss, Please tell how M2 is. I want him to be OK.
Harriet: M2 is getting better. Still a particularly good shot and quite ruthless. Good qualities to have in our line of work.
Rhiannon: Miss, I could give you any number of gifts and ask you to pass them on to M2 from me. Perhaps you would pass them on, perhaps not. What I would really like is to see M2 again.
Harriet: That is quite some request.
Rhiannon: Perhaps you could invite him to this shop for me. You could come with him. You and your firearm.
Put your firearm away for the time being, Miss. Save it for when you return with M2. If the meeting goes badly, use your firearm and end this misery for everyone.
Alternatively, you could have some faith and believe I only want happiness for M2 and I want to be part of that happiness.
I have made plenty of mistakes, Miss. More than I care to count. I cannot erase my past. I can only try to have a better future.
Please invite M2 here for me, Miss.
Harriet: I will do what I think is best for M2. I have to return to work.
Rhiannon: Thank you for coming into the shop, Miss. And thank you for talking to me. Have a nice day, Miss.
Harriet Takes M2 To The Record Store
One Wednesday morning just over a month later, Harriet went to visit M2 in his office.
Harriet: I want you to come with me to a small record shop in the neighbourhood of Nicky Parsons.
M2: A record shop on a Wednesday morning?
Harriet: Sometimes that is the best time to go.
M2: OK.
Harriet: I have my coat and handbag. Let’s go now.
There was almost no conversation between Harriet and M2 en route to the Rhiannon Record Store, even during the short train ride.
As they approached the Rhiannon Record Shop, M2 said: Would you mind telling me what this is about?
Harriet: It is best we wait until we get to the record shop.
As Harriet opened the door for M2 and her to enter the shop, it was clear Rhiannon was the only other person in the store.
A happy, but nervous Rhiannon greeted them: Good morning, Miss. Good morning, M2. How are you?
M2 to Harriet: Did you know about this?
Harriet: It is why you are here. I will stay here by the door. Just listen to what she has to say. Then we can discuss my punishment.
Rhiannon: Please do not leave, M2. This is where I now work. You can come in and look at and listen to records any time you like. No more Tea Drinking Club for me. I am an ordinary record shop girl now. My boss was kind enough to not ask me about my past. This is now my future. I get to listen to a lot of records.
Please tell me you are OK, M2. Please tell me you are OK and that you will come back to my record shop.
M2 said to Harriet: You knew about this?
Harriet: There were some rules. I would do what I thought was in your best interests. I resisted my initial reaction to kill her. I might be wrong about her. You may have a chance at happiness with her and if that is your wish, I will not stand in your way. If she is shining you on, I will kill her. My desire to kill her is not as important as your happiness.
It is not for me to say what you should do. You choose and I will respect you choice.
There are other record stores around. You do not need to shop in this one, although I could understand why you might want to.
Rhiannon: I can barely stand up right now, M2. Please say you will come back and see me again.
M2: I am not sure what to make of either of you.
Harriet: I can live with your disappointment in me. You would not be the first man I have disappointed. The only way I could resolve this for me was to get you here as I have done, so you two could confront your situation. I could not justify denying you the possible opportunity of happiness, based only on my assessment Rhiannon. You may be more forgiving than me, M2. You are certainly a better sniper.
Rhiannon: I would prefer that the two of you stayed here, but if you have to return to work, I understand. I hope you will come back again, especially you, M2. More than anything, I hope you will come back again.
Harriet: I am going to return to work. If you want to return independent of me, that is perfectly understandable, M2.
As Harriet left the store she thought it best if she gave M2 some space, so she caught a bus back to MI6.
As Harriet left the store, Rhiannon could see M2 was preparing to leave also. She made her way to the Miles Davis records and selected a copy of Someday My Prince Will Come. She then walked over to M2.
Rhiannon: “Before you go, M2, I have a gift for you.” She then gave him the copy of Someday My Prince Will Come.
“Thank you for coming M2. It has been good to see you. You are a good man. Please come back, M2.”
M2 took the record, said “Thank you, Rhiannon” and left the store. He then returned to MI6.
Some Day Her Prince Will Come
Not 5 minutes after M2 returned from the Rhiannon Record Shop encounter, Nicky Parsons was in his office with the Someday My Prince Will Come album Rhiannon gave her to give to M2.
Nicky: I have been wrestling with this for some time. I have no idea what the correct thing to do is. I have killed a lot of people in my time, a lot of people. Killing people is far easier than this. Rhiannon approached me one Saturday morning some time ago in a café near my home. She gave me this record and asked me to give it to you.
Nicky Parsons then produced the Someday My Prince Will Come album and gave it to M2.
M2 then produced the copy of the album Rhiannon had given him at her record store.
M2: “You women need to better coordinate your approaches. I have just returned from the Rhiannon record store, with Harriet, where Rhiannon gave me this copy of the album.
I hope I am never part of a mission you planned that is this uncoordinated.”
Nicky: Oh. This is embarrassing. I do not profess to be an expert at this. Like I said earlier, killing people is much easier. Rhiannon said she wanted to see you again. My immediate reaction was I should just kill Rhiannon, but I resisted that temptation.
M2: That is the story Harriet told me in the Rhiannon Record Shop about two hours ago when she had her earlier encounter with Rhiannon.
Nicky: I am much more comfortable advising and planning on killing people than doing this.
I have no idea what you should do. We do a dirty job. It takes its toll on us. If you can find happiness, that is worth pursuing. If Rhiannon can bring you happiness, I have no intention of standing in your way. Killing her solves a problem, but it may not be the correct solution. You have done a lot for Queen and Country. Do this one for you. Do what you think is best for you.
M2: Not sure that was the advice I expected to hear from you.
Nicky: The best I can realistically offer you is, if it goes wrong, we will kill her.
Do what you think is best for you, M2. You deserve to be happy.
M2: Probably a good idea I did not kill you the day I gave you the Mission Report. It was very tempting.
Nicky: I certainly appreciate you exercising restraint on that occasion.
You are a good man, M2. Do what you think makes you happy.
I am going to return to my office.
The following day, after a thoroughly unproductive work effort, M2 left work early and made his way to the train station. Records were on his mind. When he got off the train at the Nicky Parsons stop, he made his way to a café near the Rhiannon Record Store.
He watched the store as closing time approached. M2 watched Rhiannon put up her Closed sign, as he walked across the road towards her shop. As Rhiannon stepped on to the footpath, M2 was on the footpath outside her record store.
Rhiannon could not contain herself when she saw M2: “You came”, she exclaimed, with not a care in the world that anyone might hear her. She then essentially threw herself at M2.
With Rhiannon in his arms, M2 was not concerned at all about what anyone else might think.
Rhiannon: I have something very important to tell you, M2.
Rhiannon then put a big smooch on his cheek.
Eventually M2 returned to the café across the road from the record store with Rhiannon, where they stayed until closing time demanded they leave.
Rhiannon had been given her second chance. It was up to her to ensure she did not blow it a second time.
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