The Island of Dreams

by Gregory James Clark

  The questioning continued until all twenty sets had presented their questions. Then The Concierge brought the session to a close:

  “Thank you. That concludes the formal part of today’s proceedings. Let’s now hear a big round of applause for Joan Carmichael, Prime Minister of The Island and its territories. I will now ask you to file past The Deming Memorial and to collect your ballot papers from the table beside it. You may then cast them or not, as you wish, at The Town Hall. My good friend The Reverend is already there and will tick your names off as you collect your papers.”

  With just 240 votes left to be cast the process was relatively quick.

  *

  As evening came the Kammies began to ferry staff and setmates to the station for the train that was to take them to the Royal Palace. The train halted at the Palace Gates station at the foot of the East Garden, where tents and marquees had been erected. At the other end of the Garden a large bonfire had been constructed next to a clear area where fireworks had been prepared. As at Halloween, stands had been placed for the provision of vegetarian hot dogs, crepes, vegetarian kebabs, bubble and squeak, and an assortment of sweet and savoury snacks. Long candlelit tables with punchbowls and salad had been set up on the lawn in the centre of the Garden, the weather still just about pleasantly warm. Nearest The Palace was the gold marquee, where The Queen, her family, The Prime Minister, and other senior staff members of The Island would dine. A few yards from it was the somewhat larger blue marquee, which housed the same brass band that had played earlier at the Colonnade, and had a floor in front that had been laid down for dancing.

  Joanie and the five royals, arrived in the royal coach, dressed in their best evening wear, with The Chancellor, Concierge and Reverend following behind in the Landau. Inconspicuously Sylvia was waiting to take a few pictures. When they were seated and all of the guests had arrived, The Concierge prepared to address the audience from the stand that had been placed outside the gold marquee.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “As returning officer it gives me great pleasure tonight to declare the result of the seventieth Island leadership election. I hereby declare that the percentage of votes issued on behalf of the candidate, Joan Carmichael, Prime Minister of the Island and its territories is as follows: 100 per cent. I also declare that the number of votes cast in favour of the same Joan Carmichael is as follows: 100 per cent. I therefore declare that the said Joan Carmichael has been duly elected to serve as Prime Minister of The Island and its territories for a further year.”

  A loud spontaneous cheer then rang out.

  “Yes, ladies and gentlemen, good citizens of The Island, she did it. We now have, officially, for the first time anywhere in the world, 100 percent votes issued and 100 per cent votes cast in favour of a single candidate, without coercion or corruption. In that regard I would like to thank our international observers, led by our trusted reporter Sylvia Smith, who can be satisfied that this is indeed a genuine world record. Now we can all stand proud and say that we have all played a part in this process, and be proud that we alone have the world’s most popular leader, the one and only irreplaceable, Joanie.”

  He held her hand high as the crowd cheered again and she prepared to speak.

  “Well, I counted them all out and I counted them all back. Fellow citizens. Good friends. True friends. I would like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. This world record is my dream come true, and it pleases me that just as, hopefully, Her Majesty and I have been able to make your dreams come true by bringing you here, so you have repaid in full by securing this most special re-election. I see I have just been passed a copy of tomorrow’s Island Times, hot off the press, with the headlines ‘It’s Official, It’s One Hundred Per Cent at Seventieth Election’. I will, of course endeavour to serve you all as in the past, my dear constituents, and all of the territories of The Island as its leader and political representative. I am proud to have the confidence of all of Her Majesty’s ministers, as well as the continued confidence and respect of all of our citizens and supporters worldwide, who, like myself, continue to dream of making the world a better and safer place, and, slowly, we are getting there.”

  The crowd cheered again.

  “We are all winners here tonight,” she continued. “We stand united as one. Before today you had not chosen me nor I you, but thanks to our One Party Democracy we can all speak with one voice. It gives our Government a power, a strength and a popularity that cannot be matched. As in other aspects of life, The Island leads the way, ahead of every other nation, and you can all feel proud to be a part of it on this our beautiful Island of Dreams. I thank, as ever, my loyal and faithful staff for all of their hard work over the past year, and of course, Her Majesty The Queen, His Majesty The King, and The Queen Mother, for their devotion and dedication to all of our loyal subjects in our territories and beyond. Ladies and gentlemen, Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, I promise to serve you well. I will now ask you all to enjoy the rest of this night. Eat, drink and be merry, and I love you all. Let the display commence.”

  The bonfire lit spontaneously and fireworks were released into the night sky. Catherine wheels mixed with gold and silver sprays, and sparklers were handed out to the setmates, who were invited to approach close to the fire where potatoes were baking, free for the taking along with various fillings. Rockets and roman candles shot up providing a colourful display that lasted for about twenty minutes. At the end an array of golden fireworks displayed The Island logo of Saturn on an illuminated blue background, underneath which was the message ‘The Island of Dreams – 70 years leading the world’.

  The sets mingled together as the band played and the floor of the ballroom marquee was opened for dancing. As the wine flowed the setmates, who had by now got to know each other quite well in this somewhat closed community, were able to become just that little bit more intimate, but in a civilised and respectful fashion, quite unlike the environment that Gary had left behind some seven months earlier.

  The Queen and Prime Minister made a point of mixing with the crowd as the evening wore on, taking care to shake hands and circulate with everyone, thanking them individually for their support.

  At half past ten the familiar whistle of the locomotive Prince told setmates that it would soon be time for them to board the train back to The Town, with The Chancellor and The Concierge providing a gentle cue.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Christmas Lights

  One month later.

  Gary and the others were working late in the afternoon at the rink where Jobine was teaching them some new lifts now that they had become more confident in attempting them.

  “Lifts help to teach you how to develop complete confidence in your fellow setmates,” Jobine asserted. “There is a wide variety of lifts that you are likely to encounter with the Kamchatskiy trainers so it’s as well to be familiar with the basic ones. Some, like the straight-arm lift and the frog lift, are couple lifts. Others, such as the shuttle lift that you will be using in your Carnival routine, are designed to involve the whole set. The shuttle lift is one that involves switching or shuttling partners as it is performed. Some of the others involve rotating as the partners are lifted, whilst others, like the spinning lotus, involve a turning action once the girl has been lifted into a lotus position, and passing of the girls round in a circle. However, as the shuttle lift is going to be your centrepiece, and all sets must have a centrepiece, we will try to perfect that one with the others practised just sufficiently for the Kamchatskiy trainers to be satisfied that you have a working knowledge of them.

  I can tell you that your lifting capability has to be improved considerably if you are going to achieve the standard that the Kamchatskiy trainers are going to expect by Mardi Gras. However, I also need to get you used to working with the car as prop.”

  The display model of the new executive Kamchatskiy, The Silver Shadow, was presently driven onto the ice.

  “This is what you are going to b
e working with,” she explained. “It’s smaller than the real-life model, with dimensions that have been specially tailored to allow lifts like the shuttle lift to be performed above it. In order to perform it I need the six men and three girls. I will start with Anne, Connie and Graca. Yvonne I have a special role for you that I will explain later. Now I want two men each to lift one girl by the feet and shoulders so that she clears the roof of the car by half a metre. I then want you to stand in a line so that all three girls are suspended over the roof of the car. I then want the girls to be interchanged between you starting with the rear end girl and the centre girl. The rear girl passes under the centre girl as the first two partnerships are switched. Then it will be the turn of the front end girl who will pass under the new centre girl so as to finish in centre position. When you have had a few goes I will change the girls around so that each gets to practice the move from every starting position. By the time we reach Carnival Night you need to be able to make this complex lift look effortless.”

  The first three girls did as Jobine asked and they were all lifted successfully into position. It was when the interchanging started that the trouble began. Arms flapped and legs kicked as the changeovers faltered repeatedly. Jobine knew, however, that the shuttle lift was going to be a real challenge for the setmates, and that she was going to have to have patience as she had had in the past, so she did her best to be encouraging.

  “Not bad for a first attempt,” she said as she swapped the first three girls for the second, who predictably didn’t fare much better. “Come on lads now you have practised with the first three girls already. It’s all about timing. If you time yourselves correctly you will be able to make it.”

  She put her hands over her face when the boys managed to drop Claudia feet first onto the roof of the Kamchatskiy.

  “Never mind,” she said calmly. “You can allow yourselves one mistake. At least nobody was hurt. Try again.”

  They repeated the move and this time they just about completed it, although it was slow and cumbersome and would never have fitted to the timing of the music.

  “Do you think that we will ever be able to manage that?” Carl asked Jobine at the end of the session.

  “In a few weeks I’m sure,” she replied. “A lot of it is just nerves, and a case of persisting and not giving up. Once you can interchange the girls consistently then we can look at getting the lift sequence fully choreographed.”

  By the time the set had finished at the rink the winter sun had already set over The Island. As the set returned to Angel the Christmas lights were turned on, brightening up the scene, with a distinctive Santa and reindeer flashing so as to bring life to The Colonnade. A large Christmas tree had been placed at the far end of the Leo’s Lake nearest The Gloriette whilst other Christmas themed illuminations had been placed around it.

  “Pretty lights,” Claudia commented, rubbing her hands together as a slightly chilly breeze now rolled in from the sea under the clearing skies.

  “Yes,” replied Anne. “That reminds me. We must collect our Christmas vouchers tomorrow from The House of Cards. Eleven vouchers each the manager said to use as we wish on special gifts from the Christmas section.”

  “What if somebody wants to make a special gift, to another set for example?” Gary asked.

  “I think you can requisition special gifts over the allowances,” said Connie. “As long as they are just a few the system will tolerate it. The vouchers are specifically designed for the set to use so that we all get to give and receive the same number of gifts to each other. That way nobody gets left out I suppose.”

  “Yes, the Government here is obviously very keen to see that no one becomes marginalised,” Michael added.

  *

  The next day after breakfast the set made the finishing touches to the Christmas decorations that Joanie had provided for them. Then Anne keyed in to Commander to check their messages.

  “That’s good,” she said.

  “What’s that?” asked Lars.

  “Jobine has sent us a message saying that she has completed the editing of the music for our skating routine. Hang on, there’s something from The Prime Minister.”

  When she said this the setmates quickly gathered round.

  “What does it say?” asked Carl.

  Anne read the message.

  “On New Year’s Day, The Island will host its annual fun and games contest, Games Without Frontieres, for all of the finalists from the Island territories. You can see examples of the games on your consoles. To help keep the tradition alive all sets are asked devise their own original game for the event, which will be held on ice at the Non-Olympic Stadium. So whether it be leaping polar bears, dancing penguins or ice and fire, get your creative caps on and start dreaming up the weird and wonderful for our annual day of thrills and spills. Submissions should be made to The Chancellor in the Great Dome no later than noon one week from now.”

  At the rink Jobine was waiting for them on the ice, with the car placed in the centre.

  “You have listened to your edited music?”

  They nodded.

  “Great,” said Jobine. “Now we can use it to complete the choreography.”

  They listened together to the track.

  “So, let’s see how it goes on the ice working with the car as prop. I did say that I had a special role for Yvonne.”

  Yvonne looked at her quizically as she beckoned her to approach her and then asked her to perch herself on the bonnet of the Kamchatskiy.

  “You look very suggestive on that bonnet,” laughed Elena.

  “She does,” added Jobine. “And that’s where I want the routine to start, with Yvonne looking sexy on the bonnet whilst the rest of you admire her. Then the dancing will begin. You have eight seconds of intro. Then you need to be ready for the Silver Shadow piece to begin. Yvonne you will be dressed in silver for the part of Silver Shadow.”

  They took their positions.

  “The beginning needs to be snappy,” Jobine emphasised. “You could start by all holding hands, except Yvonne who will start on the bonnet. Then you need some catchy little moves to get the audience focused. Remember, it’s your car, and you want everyone to be interested in it.”

  The set continued to work out their moves one by one, as they took the music section by section. Small turns and lifts were integrated together into the formation dance interspersed between static poses prior to the introduction of the shuttle lift.

  “It needs to flow smoothly,” Jobine called to them. “And you need to stay perfectly matched. Two or three of you are not in time and not coordinated with the others. Try again.”

  The set changed the sequence of moves about four times before Jobine was eventually satisfied that they had a routine that was adequate to work with as a composition that would form the basis of their first demonstration performance.

  “You have just under three months left in which to get it perfected,” Jobine reminded them. “Along with all the other things. I can see I’m going to have to increase your training schedule.”

  When they returned to their cottage their schedule was already waiting for them. From now on they had to put in a minimum of twenty hours of ice time per week rather than the current fifteen, in addition to continuing with the study modules and lectures for Mitsumoto-san. The schedule was intentionally intensive as Christmas approached, with up to four sets being taught on the ice simultaneously, but that was not to say that Joanie intended sets to miss out on Christmas cheer and festivities. On the contrary, her desire was that this Christmas on The Island of Dreams would be the most memorable of their lives for the setmates. A carefully constructed programme of Christmas shows and parties were therefore laid on so that all sets could enjoy entertaining nights out and happy times together. After all, this was a once in a lifetime experience.

  The sets skated by day and relaxed by night, allowing for a couple of hours of study in between. The lectures were spaced out slightly more to allow for th
e increased ice time, and some morning sessions started slightly later during the Advent season so that setmates could relax a little more in the evenings.

  *

  One week later Joanie was ready to receive the submissions for the New Year Games Without Frontiers contest. Gary’s set was the last to submit, which prompted her to activate her screen and view Gary’s set as the setmates finalised their submission.

  “Everybody loved the penguins last year,” said Lars.

  “I know,” said Anne. “But it’s been done to death recently, just like the polar bears and the sledges. All of the archive footage shows that.”

  “No, we can’t have sledges, or skaters in reindeer outfits, and we definitely don’t want to duplicate any ideas from the other sets,” said Connie.

  “Well, as we are the last set to submit we can at least view all of the others’ submissions now. We need to hurry up and decide though because it’s now twenty past eleven and it has to be in by noon.”

  “I think we should go with Connie’s idea of having ten snow maidens being rescued by elves,” suggested Graca. “No other set has come up with that.”

  “I agree,” said Jose.

  “And me,” said Yvonne.

  “Then we are all agreed we will submit Connie’s snow maiden game?” said Anne.

  The set nodded.

  “I must say I’m looking forward to looking at all these wonderful games,” The Chancellor said. “I have a feeling this will be our best grand final of Games Without Frontieres yet. It gets better every year and everybody loves it.”

  “The teams take it all very seriously,” Joanie said, smiling. “But it’s so nice to see competition made fun, which is why Queen Mary resurrected the concept that was popular in Europe in the 1960s and 70s and decided to adopt it as an Island tradition on that otherwise redundant Non-Olympic Stadium of ours. So, has the council been briefed for the appraisal of the twenty games?”