Tiger Ragtime

by Catrin Collier

  ‘I had a huge tea in the store, but thank you for asking. I’m not cramping you and Micah’s style by coming here, am I?’ he asked when he heard Micah’s step on the stairs.

  ‘Far from it. And I’d like you two to get to know one another better.’

  ‘He’s a good bloke.’

  ‘You never said that about Peter.’

  ‘I never thought Peter was a good bloke.’

  ‘He wasn’t a bad one, either,’ she said seriously. ‘But he was no good for you, Sis.’

  ‘I hope that’s not me you’re talking about,’ Micah said as he walked in.

  ‘Who was it that said, “Eavesdroppers never hear any good about themselves”?’ Edyth left her chair and kissed Micah lightly on the lips. ‘Hungry, thirsty?’

  ‘I could murder a glass of beer and a smoked pork sausage.’

  ‘The beer I can manage, the sausage I can’t.’

  ‘But I can.’ Micah pulled a packet from the pocket of his evening jacket. ‘One of the sailors brought it in this afternoon. His mother made it and it tastes like heaven. Hello, Harry, good to see you.’ Micah shook Harry’s hand.

  ‘It’s good to see you too. I take it this sausage is already cooked?’

  ‘No, we Norwegians like our food raw and bloody, didn’t Edyth tell you?’

  ‘Enough teasing! Beer and sausage, Harry?’ Edyth asked.

  ‘It will make an honorary Norwegian of you, and give you special Scandinavian powers,’ Micah joked.

  ‘If it will help me to persuade David to be sensible, give me the smallest of small portions please, Edyth,’ Harry answered.

  ‘This dressing room is fabulous, the best I’ve ever seen.’ Mandy laid out sticks of greasepaint on a marble slab. ‘And I’ve played the London theatres. Not that I ever had a dressing room of my own, ever, and none of the shared ones were a patch on this. But I visited the star quarters for cast parties. And no matter how big the name they were never given a sitting room, a walk-in wardrobe for their costumes, or a bedroom – and as for a bathroom with plumbed-in hot and cold water – that is real luxury.’

  ‘This suite is identical to Mr James’s office suite next door. Perhaps it was just as cheap to put in two as one.’

  ‘I can’t see that. The bath, toilet, and washbasin alone must have cost a pretty penny without all those fancy tiles.’ Mandy tied a silk kimono over Judy’s dress to protect it. ‘Sit down and I’ll start on your make-up.’

  Mandy picked up a stick of base foundation just as there was a knock on the door.

  ‘You girls decent?’ Aled called.

  ‘I can’t imagine what you think we’re doing, Mr James,’ Mandy answered.

  Aled opened the door. He looked at the few inches of white silk showing beneath the black kimono. ‘You decided on the white Grecian classical dress, Judy?’

  ‘It was the one you suggested I wear on opening night,’ Judy reminded him.

  ‘You don’t have to do everything I say. Keep your robe on over your dress, there’s something I’d like you to see in my office. Mandy, fetch some more vases from the storeroom, will you? I’ve a feeling the ones here aren’t going to be enough to take all of Judy’s bouquets.’

  ‘Certainly, Mr James.’ Mandy disappeared down the corridor. Mystified, Judy followed Aled into his office. There was a window behind his desk and he had angled the Venetian blinds in front of it so he could look outside without being seen. He beckoned Judy forward.

  ‘You see those people trying to get in to the club.’

  Judy was already nervous and she began to shake when she saw the size of the crowd queuing to get in. ‘There’s hundreds.’

  ‘I didn’t bring you here to see the size of the crowd. But those people, there, on the right, with Aiden and Freddie. Recognise them?’

  Judy saw half a dozen men and four women who appeared to be arguing with Freddie and Aiden.

  ‘That woman seems familiar,’ Judy murmured.

  ‘She should do. She refused to serve us in the first department store we went in when we were buying your stage costumes. She and her colleagues are now getting a taste of what it feels like to be on the receiving end of discrimination.’

  ‘You saw them trying to get in and sent Aiden and Freddie out to stop them?’

  ‘No. I asked Aiden to make a note of the names of everyone in senior management in the store.’

  ‘I remember.’ She looked at him.

  ‘I sent them complimentary tickets to the opening, to make sure they’d come.’

  ‘You invited them just so you could turn them away?’

  ‘Yes.’ He saw the troubled expression on her face.

  ‘You don’t approve?’

  ‘No, I know just how humiliated they feel. And they won’t know why they are being turned away.’

  ‘Yes they will.’ He closed the blinds. ‘I told Aiden and Freddie to tell them exactly why they are being turned away. I also told them to tell them that their complimentary tickets will be honoured on the day they start serving coloured people in their store and not before.’

  ‘And you think that will make them change the store’s policy?’ Judy smarted at the memory of the supervisor referring to her and Aiden as ‘people like that’, but it still didn’t make what Aled had done right in her eyes.

  ‘I thought it was worth a try. You’re obviously not so sure.’

  She bit her lip. ‘No, I’m not.’

  ‘It was probably childish of me to want revenge, but from where I’m standing,’ he flicked the blinds again so he could see out, ‘it not only feels good, it feels right.’

  ‘My grandmother used to say two wrongs don’t make a right.’

  ‘She was undoubtedly a wise woman and more generous and forgiving than me.’ He looked at her. ‘I’m sorry. I should have known you’d disapprove.’

  ‘You’re my employer. It’s not for me to approve or disapprove of anything you do, Aled.’

  ‘I wish you’d stop thinking of me as your employer,’ he said seriously.

  ‘That’s difficult when you pay my wages.’

  ‘You’re going to open with “You’re Driving Me Crazy”.’

  ‘I am.’ She smiled, happy that he’d changed the subject. He kissed her forehead. ‘Go out there and kill them.’

  ‘Break a leg, you mean,’ Lennie shouted through the open door.

  ‘Come in, Lennie,’ Aled invited. ‘I was just about to open a bottle of champagne.’

  ‘I drink after a show, not before, thank you, boss.’ Lennie came in and gave Judy an enormous hug. ‘Not nervous, are you, darling?’

  ‘A condemned prisoner waiting for the hangman couldn’t feel any worse,’ Judy admitted.

  ‘After all the rehearsing you’ve done, you could do your act in your sleep,’ Lennie encouraged her.

  ‘Then why have I forgotten all the words to my songs?’ Judy asked, suddenly panic-stricken.

  ‘We’ll go through them while I finish your hair and make-up,’ Mandy said, coming into the room with a bouquet of two dozen roses. ‘And while you recite them you can smell these. They’ve just arrived.’

  ‘You’ve already filled the dressing room with white lilies and roses,’ Judy reproached Aled.

  ‘These are nothing to do with me,’ Aled said. ‘And my congratulatory bouquet won’t be delivered to you until after the performance – and on-stage.’

  ‘He’s hedging his bets in case you corpse on stage. If you do he’ll save the florist’s bill,’ Lennie quipped. He saw Judy’s stricken face. ‘Sorry, bad joke. You’re going to be fantastic.’

  ‘Here’s the card.’ Mandy handed it to her. Judy opened the envelope and read the message as she followed Mandy back to her dressing room.

  Sorry for all the arguing. If you sing like you did at the carnival, everyone in the audience will love you, including me, David Ellis.

  ‘Two dozen red rosebuds. Best quality.’ Mandy smelled them before handing the bouquet to Judy after she’d sat down. ‘Someon
e knows the way to a girl’s heart.’

  ‘Not really, they’re from a friend.’ Judy returned the card to the envelope.

  ‘I’ve never had a friend send me two dozen red roses. Not an uninterested one, that is,’ Mandy warned. ‘Now, do we use the gold stick on your eyelids or the rich cream?’

  Chapter Sixteen

  Harry waylaid a waiter, ordered a round of drinks for the table he, Micah, and Edyth were sharing with the King family, Helga, and Moody, then looked around for David. Edyth saw him turn his head.

  ‘David’s upstairs.’ She glanced up at the mezzanine that ran around all four sides of the room. ‘What’s he doing up there?’

  ‘The gaming machines and tables are there. David’s been telling people that he’s working the roulette table, but he’s a kind of apprentice. Watching and learning.’ Micah slipped his hand inside his collar and adjusted it.

  Edyth saw the gesture and smiled. Despite the electric ceiling fans attached to the chandeliers it was even warmer inside the club than outside and all the men looked distinctly uncomfortable in their starched collars.

  Harry rose to his feet. ‘I think I’ll have a quick walk round before the show starts.’

  Micah rose alongside him. ‘I’ll come with you.’

  ‘I’m happy on my own,’ Harry said.

  ‘I don’t doubt you are, but I’m a pastor. It’s my duty to see if any of my flock are here.’

  ‘So you can hold an impromptu service?’ Harry joked.

  ‘I have my prayer book in my pocket.’ Micah patted his dinner jacket.

  ‘I take it Edyth told you about the threat Aled made,’ Harry said as they walked up one of the staircases to the second floor.

  ‘Yes,’ Micah replied shortly.

  ‘And that’s why you’re playing bodyguard?’ Harry challenged him.

  ‘Hardly. Aled wouldn’t dare try to hurt you or David in here. It’s his home territory and far too public. The man’s arrogant, knows who to bribe and operates on both sides of the law, but one thing he isn’t is stupid.’

  ‘As he’s my half-brother, I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or not,’ Harry said doubtfully.

  ‘Good heavens above.’ Micah stopped at the head of the stairs and stared at the array of mechanical and electric gaming machines Aled had installed on the second floor. ‘I heard Aled had imported machines from America. I had no idea he’d brought in this many or that they’d be so …’ He blinked at the flickering coloured electric lights.

  ‘Pretty?’ Harry suggested.

  ‘I suppose some people will think they are.’

  ‘People who can afford to lose money, maybe,’ Harry said doubtfully. ‘But I can’t imagine who they might be in this day and age.’

  ‘People gamble, whether they can afford to or not,’ Micah said flatly. ‘Some idiot or other proves that adage every day on the Bay. There’s David, over by the roulette table in the far corner. See him?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And the Catholic priest is playing at the blackjack table. I’ll remind him that he’ll have to add gambling to his list of sins at his next confession.’

  ‘See you downstairs.’ Harry apologised to a group crowding around one of the electric machines, pushed his way past them and made a beeline for David.

  David saw Harry coming. As soon as his brother-in­law drew close enough for conversation, he snapped, ‘I’m working, Harry.’

  ‘So I see,’ Harry said. ‘I wish I could get a job where I could stand and watch people.’

  ‘I could be operating this table next Tuesday.’

  Not wanting to antagonise David, Harry said, ‘You must get a break some time. Can we talk then?’

  ‘I’m on duty all evening.’

  ‘Afterwards?’

  ‘The club doesn’t close until two o’clock, and then there’s a staff party. I probably won’t get away until three or four in the morning.’

  ‘I’m staying the night with Edyth. Perhaps we could have breakfast together tomorrow in her rooms?’ Harry persisted.

  ‘I’ll want a lie-in.’

  ‘I’m not in a hurry to leave. The trains will be on Sunday service and won’t start running regularly until the afternoon. You have to eat, so why don’t you come to Edyth’s for a late breakfast and lunch combined?’

  ‘I may be busy.’ David moved closer to the table and away from Harry but Harry refused to be deterred.

  ‘If you won’t meet me in Edyth’s I’ll get up early and camp outside your bedroom door. I’m sure Mrs Brown will let me into her house if I ask her. And I’ll stay there for days if I have to.’

  ‘You only want to lecture me.’

  ‘I want to talk to you, not lecture you,’ Harry countered. ‘And you can’t avoid me for ever. The more you try the more determined I’ll become.’

  ‘All right,’ David conceded sullenly. ‘I’ll be at Edyth’s tomorrow.’

  ‘What time?’

  ‘Around midday.’

  ‘I’ll be waiting. And I warn you now, if you’re not there by one o’clock, I’ll come and find you.’

  ‘Success?’ Micah asked when Harry rejoined the others downstairs.

  ‘David’s agreed to talk to me tomorrow.’

  ‘I wish you better luck than Edyth and I had.’

  ‘I remember what it felt like to be David’s age.’ Harry sat at the table.

  Micah laughed. ‘You sound a hundred years old. Yet Edyth told me you’re only twenty-five.’

  ‘Twenty-six, but being married and having two children ages a man. There’s nothing like responsibility to make you take life more seriously.’

  ‘I can’t wait to find out.’ Micah saw Edyth’s hand resting on the table and laid his over it. She saw him looking at her and turned away.

  The curtain on the small stage rose. Lennie Lane walked on to an orchestral fanfare. Micah wondered if it was his imagination or if Edyth really was avoiding meeting his steady gaze.

  While Judy was singing ‘What is This Thing Called Love’, Edyth looked around the nightclub. People who had been in the old Sea Breeze before and after the conversion had told her that the place was unrecognisable in its present guise. Given the Victorian layout of the other buildings she had visited in Bute Street, she could believe it. Aled James had ordered George Powell to rip out the centre of the building to create a ceiling that soared four storeys to a new glass done that had been placed over the centre of the roof. Four enormous, glittering electric chandeliers hung from the perimeter, shedding diamonds of light that illuminated the furthest corners of every floor.

  Judy’s voice soared upwards, past the gamblers on the first- and second-floor mezzanines, who were leaning, games and gaming machines abandoned behind them, as they listened, rapt, to her singing, to the revellers who had walked to the topmost floor to view the interior of the club from the highest vantage point. If Aled was concerned that Judy’s performance was affecting business, he gave no indication of it. He was standing on the ground floor close to the stage, his back to the bar, facing Judy and the orchestra behind her, as absorbed as everyone else in the club.

  Every one of the tables was full of meticulously groomed and expensively dressed revellers. And, although Edyth didn’t know many people outside of Tiger Bay, she believed Harry’s assurance that Aled James had attracted the cream of Cardiff society and those who lived in the suburbs beyond.

  Judy sang the last note. The orchestra died into the silence that occasionally follows an exceptional performance, then Micah and Jed rose simultaneously to their feet and began applauding. Within seconds every person in the club was doing the same.

  Lennie Lane walked on-stage, short, rotund, and comic in contrast to Judy’s slender elegantce and classical figure. ‘The Tiger Ragtime’s headliner, ladies and gentlemen, Miss Judy King.’ He held out his arm. The applause escalated to deafening proportions when some of the younger men began stamping their feet and whistling.

  Judy took another b
ow and one of the chorus girls came on-stage with a massive bouquet of white roses. Judy took them and, overcome with emotion, fled from the stage.

  ‘I apologise in advance on behalf of the management, ladies, gentlemen, and gamblers,’ Lennie pursed his tiny button mouth, which was almost lost between his chipmunk cheeks, ‘but you will have to make do with me for the next ten minutes.’ He cracked a dozen or so jokes before ending with a rousing rendition of ‘Tiger Ragtime’; the audience joining in with him.

  ‘Where’s that Tiger …?’

  ‘Who’s that Tiger …?’

  ‘Judy was a success.’ Tony tried to refill everyone’s glass from the bottle of champagne Aled James had sent to their table, but Harry and Edyth clamped their hands over the tops of theirs to prevent him.

  ‘Did you doubt she would be?’ Micah asked. ‘She always was too good for the Bute Street Blues.’

  ‘Speak for yourself,’ Tony reprimanded with mock seriousness. ‘I’m a consummate musician. It’s not been easy all these years making allowances for you lot.’

  ‘You wouldn’t have had to make allowances if you’d been playing the same tunes as the rest of us,’ Jed bit back.

  Lennie finished his song. ‘Our headliner, Miss Judy King,’ he waited for the applause to die down, ‘will return in one hour. Until then, please go upstairs and take a look at the machines and gaming tables – but I warn you, anything more than a look will cost you. For some lucky people that money will be repaid hundreds of times over and when it is, a crate of champagne to be marked “for the attention of mine host Lennie” and sent backstage will be very welcome. If you want a drink, please alert our waiting staff and they will be with you. If you want to dance, grab the prettiest lady next to you because if you don’t,’ he waggled his eyebrows suggestively, ‘I will.’

  Tony left his chair. ‘Which of you gentlemen would like to take a tour of the upstairs with me to admire my carpentry?’

  ‘None of them,’ Tony’s wife May answered for all the men at the table. ‘Because they all know it’s not your carpentry you want to admire, it’s the gaming machines Mr James has had installed.’

  ‘Are you accusing me of lying?’ Tony asked blandly.