by Carol Wyer
She began at a steady pace with Ronnie bounding like an excited kangaroo beside her, delighted at the new regime. She decided to stick to paths and roads rather than fields where she might turn an ankle, and ran lightly down the driveway, hoping that the exercise would help quell the nausea she was still experiencing. She’d have the run, follow it with a shower and then go and tell Eleanor she wasn’t going to the event. She’d miss the people from the events but hopefully she’d still see Sean and Jacqueline regularly, and Ed of course. It wasn’t the end of the world if she didn’t go again, although a small voice inside told her she was letting herself down.
‘Chloe!’
She kept running but looked around at the sound of her name. The momentary turn of the head caused her to stumble over Ronnie who’d nipped in front of her, and she clattered to the ground. Ronnie danced about her as she lay dazed, then ran off to greet the man racing towards them.
‘Shit! I’m sorry. Are you alright?’
Alex’s face swam in front of her.
‘I think so.’
‘It was completely my fault. I shouldn’t have shouted out.’
His muscular hand was under her armpit lifting her and he gently placed the other under her other arm to ensure she was stable on her feet.
She checked herself over. There were no rips or any evident damage to either her new outfit or her body.
‘I feel so bad about it. You sure you’re okay?’ His eyes were filled with concern.
‘I seem to have made a habit of falling at your feet.’ The comment eased the tension and his lips pulled into a small smile.
‘If you’re sure.’
‘I’m sure.’
‘I wanted to have a quick word with you. I saw Sean on Saturday and he told me what happened with William.’ His lids lowered briefly and he fought for words. ‘Look, I was wrong about you having feelings for William. I wanted to say sorry for jumping to conclusions and for behaving pettily. It wasn’t very mature of me.’
‘You weren’t petty.’
‘I stormed off. Same thing. It was childish. I wanted to clear the air before this afternoon. Eleanor’s persuaded me to come to today’s event.’
‘I’m not going.’
‘Why not?’
‘Don’t feel too good. Think I’m getting flu.’
One eyebrow lifted. ‘Really? Why are you running then? You ought to be in bed or taking it easy.’
Her shoulders drooped. Tiredness flooded every muscle in her body and she had a longing to relieve herself of the burden she carried. Alex could judge her accordingly. He was off in a couple of months, so what did it matter if he knew? She explained her disorder in a few brief sentences.
‘So that’s why I couldn’t take up your invite to the ball. I can’t face crowds. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to go out with you.’
Alex nodded gravely. James the carpenter yelled Alex’s name but he didn’t acknowledge the man. Chloe searched his face for a sign of disapproval. There was bound to be one. Ronnie suddenly began scratching an itch and rolling on his back, wriggling side to side growling playfully. Alex laughed at his antics then spoke.
‘Don’t pull out of the event today.’
James shouted again and Alex yelled he was on his way before looking deep into Chloe’s eyes. ‘Please don’t.’
She found herself reeling in confusion as he jogged towards the barn where he was needed. Had he comprehended after all? She checked her Fitbit was working and set off again at a gentle pace. Maybe she could manage this afternoon after all.
* * *
Eleanor was dressed in a yellow jumper with huge yellow earrings and blue trousers that matched her hair colour. Fairfax had opted for a jazzy waistcoat teamed with jeans and a white shirt. Both were like excited toddlers and by the time they’d arrived at the venue, Chloe was a bundle of nerves. Alex had kept quiet the whole journey, but given that Eleanor hadn’t stopped talking, it would have been difficult for anyone to interject. They’d found out that the event was based on the games from a popular television show called The Taskmaster, but since neither Chloe nor Alex watched the programme they were none the wiser.
‘They’re here!’ Eleanor’s voice had risen several octaves.
Chloe spotted the van with ‘ITV OUTSIDE BROADCASTING’ written across it.
‘It’ll be fine,’ said Alex his voice fur-soft. ‘If you can face twerking on Instagram, this will be a walk in the park.’
‘How did you know about that?’
‘Sean told me. I didn’t see the video but I wished I had.’
‘What video?’ demanded Eleanor.
‘Nothing. It was taken down.’
Eleanor lost interest in the subject and, spotting a figure she recognised as a presenter, beetled off to introduce herself.
Alex dismounted and joined Chloe while Fairfax and Eleanor chatted animatedly to the camera woman and presenter. ‘Doesn’t appear to be onerous, does it? One camera, one presenter.’
Chloe clenched her jaw to prevent her teeth from chattering. It would be swiftly followed by a full body shake if she didn’t do something to distract it.
‘Chloe, about social anxiety disorder. I don’t know much about it. I did a quick internet search and it can be quite debilitating, can’t it? I had no idea.’
She somehow managed to coax her lips apart. ‘I’ve been trying to beat it.’
‘And done a bloody good job so far.’ Alex’s smile lit his eyes and made the edges of them crinkle. ‘I was over-sensitive when you turned me down. It’s taken me some time to get over somebody and I think I half-expected rejection, but when you said no it was like a body blow. It had taken a bit of courage to ask you.’
A cloud scudded across the sun scattering beams of light. Chloe got the impression he wanted to say more but two cars arrived simultaneously and Neats, Kaisha, Tim and Rob all poured out of one and Sean and Jacqueline out of the other.
‘Is this my best side? Or this?’ asked Rob loudly, turning his head left and then right. Neats punched him lightly on the arm – a friendly gesture that made him smile.
‘Never been on telly before. It’s pretty exciting. My mum is tuning in to watch. She’s invited half the estate to our house to watch it. Hope I’m actually on film at some stage or she’ll be bitterly disappointed,’ said Tim who was wearing a Superman sweatshirt and jeans.
They gravitated towards Alex and Chloe and hung about like a group of teenagers, surreptitiously glancing at the camera woman as she hoisted the apparatus onto her slim shoulder and aimed it in the direction of the bald-headed man, Nick Hanson, well known for his half-hour news broadcasts that looked at interesting regional stories and one-off specials that usually hooked the nation.
Ed arrived, not on his bicycle as usual, but in William’s BMW. William with hair slicked back and in a stylish shirt and dark chinos swept everyone with a wide smile. ‘Looking good. Anyone would think we had a film crew here. Oh, we have! Is that the Nick Hanson? He’s the presenter? Crikey, I feel like a celebrity already.’
His comment received some chortles and he greeted each member with a peck on the cheek or a handshake as if he were hosting the event. He stopped before greeting Alex and Chloe and asked, ‘They started filming already?’
‘Looks like he’s doing an introduction,’ Rob replied. They watched as the presenter, holding a fat, black-topped microphone, shook himself, stared directly at the camera lens and spoke as if addressing a small audience in front of him.
Eleanor and Fairfax approached the group and in hushed whispers directed them down a path away from the filming.
The path led through some trees and opened out onto a wide space. The group burst into laughter at the sight of giant yellow rubber ducks lined up against a wall.
‘This is a Taskmaster event based on the hit show. If you’ve seen the show, you’ll have a good idea what’s expected of you. There are several rounds based on Taskmaster games. Obviously, you’ve seen the ducks we’re using for
one round but we have other games set up too, some inside the hut.’ Fairfax pointed at the wooden structure. Eleanor took over from him smoothly.
‘And Fairfax will be the taskmaster. You don’t think he brought out his best waistcoat just for the cameras, did you?’
Fairfax stuck his thumbs in the pockets on the coat and spoke again. ‘You’ll be divided into two teams and for each round you will nominate somebody from your side to go against a contestant in the opposing team. At the end of all the games, we’ll add up the scores and the overall winners will get these wonderful little rubber ducks as prizes.’ Eleanor held up a colourful duck bearing a cheeky grin.
‘What about the filming? Is the presenter going to talk to us?’ asked Kaisha.
‘Nick said to try and ignore the camera. Concentrate on the games and he’ll just be observing. He’ll only interview people at the end of the day. Danielle isn’t here today but there are still ten members so we can have five a side. All your names are in here.’ She held up a plastic tub. ‘Ah, Nick, just in time, could you pull out the first name please? These will be team captains.’
The pleasant faced man approached with a smile and said hello to the group. He dipped his hand into the tub. ‘William.’
‘William, you can captain team A.’
‘Neats.’
‘Neats, you captain team B. Okay, William, here’s your first teammate.’
Nick again fumbled for a piece of paper and read the name on it aloud. ‘Kaisha.’
Chloe rubbed her hands against the legs of her trousers. She didn’t want to be on William’s team. She’d had enough of him. As if reading her mind, he cast a cold look in her direction. Her knees threatened to buckle.
‘On team B we have Sean.’
Her heartbeat quickened. Alex nudged the back of her hand with his own. He was making sure she was okay without drawing attention to her anxiety. Gratitude flowed through her veins and she almost didn’t hear her name. In spite of her prayers, she was on William’s team. Thankfully, so were Alex and Jacqueline, as well as Tim.
The first game was inside the hut and Fairfax prepared them. ‘This game requires somebody dexterous and who isn’t colour-blind.’
‘What does dexterous mean?’ asked Tim.
‘Nimble-minded,’ William replied confidently.
‘Or nimble-fingered,’ said Chloe absent-mindedly, and immediately wished she hadn’t spoken.
William sneered. ‘We don’t all eat dictionaries for breakfast. Why did Fairfax say choose someone who isn’t colour-blind? Has anyone here watched the show?’
Tim nodded. ‘I saw a couple of episodes. The taskmaster sets a fun challenge and the team who completes it successfully wins. It’s really funny but I don’t recall anything to do with colour.’
‘Since you know what dexterous means, why don’t you go first, Chloe?’ said William.
‘I don’t think I can,’ she stammered.
‘Why not?’ William gave a wide-eyed innocent stare.
‘I might mess up.’
‘That doesn’t matter, does it? We’ve got other rounds. None of us know what the task is and the others might be better suited to different tasks. We don’t want to play the wrong player.’ His logic had resonated with the others who nodded with the exception of Alex who narrowed his eyes.
‘I… the camera…’ Chloe began to shake her head side to side.
Alex spoke up. ‘I’ll go first. It’s a bit daunting with the filming taking place. It’s understandable you’re a bit nervous but once you get into the games, you’ll forget the camera. They won’t show all the footage they shoot anyway, so there’s every chance you won’t even be on it.’
William maintained his smile, even though his eyes had turned flinty. ‘Alex will do this game then.’
With contestants chosen, they headed inside the hut where large bowls heaped with coloured Smarties were waiting for them. Beside each bowl was a pair of boxing gloves. Alex stood behind one bowl and Ed behind the other.
Fairfax tugged at his waistcoat. ‘Wearing the boxing gloves, each contestant must separate all the blue sweets from the sweets in the bowl in front of them.’
Ed’s lips twitched in amusement and as he tried to put on his gloves, he began to snigger and finally burst out laughing, proper belly laughs that set off the rest of his team. The woman with the camera appeared out of the shadows and seemed to zoom in on his face. Chloe shivered and moved closer to Jacqueline.
* * *
The game had been a terrific icebreaker, a close match with Ed losing by only one sweet, and most of the singletons had forgotten about the filming, keen to choose a player for the next round.
‘We need somebody with a good eye and a steady hand. Chloe, I reckon that’s you. You performed well at the archery game so, as captain of this team, I nominate Chloe.’ William might have appeared earnest but she recognised the glitter in his eye. Alex couldn’t step up again to take her place. She had to do it and William’s face was the catalyst to make her rise to the challenge. He’d thrown glares in her direction at every opportunity during Alex’s challenge, but instead of reducing her to a trembling mess as he might have done in the past, she had concentrated her attention on Alex as he dived about searching for blue sweets with his gloves and triumphantly managed to balance one between the heels of his hands and drop it into the smaller bowl. He’d winked in her direction as the sweet clattered lightly into the porcelain bowl and the singletons roared their approval. These were silly, fun-filled games, played by people she knew and liked. William could get screwed.
‘Okay,’ she replied.
She made her way to the rear of the hut as instructed to discover two basketball hoops attached to the building. She was up against Rob. Fairfax coughed solemnly and then began his spiel.
‘The object of this game to is shoot an egg through the hoop. Eleanor, you have the eggs?’
Eleanor came forward with two boxes of eggs.
‘Oh dear, I neglected to say these are not hard-boiled eggs, so watch out for the splatter! If you break an egg, you must get a replacement. The winner is the person who succeeds with the least number of eggs.’
William decided to give Chloe a pep talk. ‘You can do this, Chloe. Don’t think about the filming, it’s not important that the ITV crew are here broadcasting to national TV. Just concentrate on the hoop.’
His words had the desired effect. The confidence was immediately replaced by shaking, her hands trembling as she took the egg from Eleanor. She was mindful of the woman in dark clothing trained on her every movement. Tonight, viewers would watch Chloe’s hands shake uncontrollably dropping egg after egg unable to throw one through the hoop, and they would laugh at her and comment on how utterly useless she was. As she cast about, her eyes alighted on William obviously expecting her to do a runner or break down. He knew her too well. Somebody shouted, ‘You can crack this, Chloe!’ and a titter rang out.
The shaking worsened and then Sean shouted, ‘Substitution!’
‘I don’t think that’s in the rules,’ William replied.
‘Fairfax?’
‘Nothing to say you can’t substitute,’ he replied graciously.
‘Rob, do you mind if I take over?’
Rob passed his egg to Sean. ‘Go ahead. I didn’t fancy getting yolk all over me.’
‘Okay, Chloe. Fancy making scrambled eggs with me?’ Sean said.
Tears of gratitude rose and she blinked them back. ‘Let’s do it.’
They waited for Fairfax to give them the go-ahead then began launching eggs towards the net.
‘Come on, team, egg me on,’ shouted Sean, rousing everyone into a shouting frenzy that alternated between both sides. ‘I can’t hear you. You need to egg-cite me!’
Chloe raced over to Eleanor and grabbed her fifth egg and launched it high, missing the hoop by a mere centimetre. The camerawoman was invisible again, lost somewhere behind the cheering onlookers who yelled encouragingly. The sixth egg hit its mark and
went through the hoop. At about the same time, Sean succeeded too but Chloe had won.
Sean pulled her into a hug and whispered. ‘Well done.’
‘Thank you. Did you deliberately let me win?’ With Sean’s height he ought to have been able to shoot the egg through the hoop far more easily than she.
‘I certainly did not. You were an egg-cellent player.’
William applauded politely but didn’t congratulate her verbally. She no longer minded. She’d faced up to her biggest fear and won. She had friends – Sean and Alex and all the others who liked her exactly as she was. William had no power over her. She had control. She spared a thought for Nanny Olive who would have been so proud of her.
* * *
The games came to a glorious end with Sean’s team winning. Having performed her challenge, Chloe had no longer bothered about the camera woman circling the contestants, and instead had enjoyed each round, yelling as loudly as the others when William and Neats, both wearing blindfolds, attempted to blow up the biggest balloon and on several occasions burst it.
Nick appeared as the team was collecting their rubber ducks from Eleanor. Up until that point, Chloe had forgotten he was there. ‘Is it okay if I interview one or two of the singletons? We’ll do it behind the hut where the light is better,’ he asked.
‘Anyone in particular?’
‘I’ll start with the team captains, if I might.’
William and Neats wondered outside with him, trailed by the camerawoman. The others chatted cheerfully about the day.