Flights of Angels

by Victoria Connelly

  Claudie closed her eyes. How could someone so full of life be dead? It just seemed so absurd. It was no wonder people turned to religion at times like this, and began believing in an afterlife. It was the only way to remain sane - to imagine that someone hadn’t stopped living at all but merely changed form and been absorbed into another dimension.

  Opening her eyes, Claudie peered up at the abbey which loomed darkly over the church against the silver sky. Finding a bench, she decided to sit down. She watched the boats coming in and out of the harbour, listened to the shrieking gulls, and followed the path of the white horses out at sea.

  It was true what they said about life going on, but there was no comfort in the phrase or the reality. The seasons, with their cruel predictability, seemed to taunt her as they rolled into one another. She’d hated autumn for replacing the summer when Luke had died, and had detested the winter which had brought the first Christmas without him. Now, spring was threatening to break, mocking her with its beauty: a palette of pale colours that Luke would never see.

  She closed her eyes against the world for a moment, and lost herself in blissful blackness. It was a familiar pattern. So often, when the world became too much for her, when her eyes were too sore from crying to stay open any longer, she would try to lose herself in sleep. She felt as if she could fall asleep right there on the bench too, despite the bitter cold, but something was stopping her. She could see a little figure dancing and spinning round in her mind until she felt quite dizzy, and it wasn’t Jalisa. It was a man, dancing a beautiful, effortless dance. His face was bright and smiling, and he looked as if he’d swallowed sunshine or had starlight streaming through his veins because he danced with his whole being and then a little bit more.

  Claudie watched with mesmeric intensity. One moment, his movements were elegant and easy, the next raw and raunchy. It could only be one man.

  ‘Gene?’ Claudie started, her eyes opening to see a man in a sailor suit sitting beside her on the bench.

  ‘Hello, Claudie,’ Gene Kelly said, his bright eyes crinkling at the edges.

  ‘Is it really you?’

  ‘It’s really me,’ he smiled, briefly lighting the leaden Whitby day. But his smile soon vanished. ‘Gee, Claudie. I hate to see you looking so sad,’ he said, his voice quiet and sombre.

  ‘But what are you doing here?’ Claudie asked in astonishment.

  ‘I came to see you. Thought I might be able to cheer you up,’ he said, shrugging his shoulders. ‘You looked as if you could do with some company.’

  ‘First, I find angels on my table, and then I get Gene Kelly sitting next to me in a graveyard!’ She tried not to laugh in case she appeared ungrateful. ‘You’re not another angel, are you? I mean, I wouldn’t mind if you were.’

  ‘No!’ he smiled. ‘I’m not an angel.’

  ‘I didn’t think so. You’re a little bit bigger than Jalisa and the gang.’

  They were silent for a moment. Claudie just gazed at him, her mind a perfect blank. What exactly did you say when you found yourself sitting next to your idol? Was now the time to list her favourite films to him? Could she ask him who his favourite leading lady was? And did she dare to ask him to dance with her?

  ‘You’re not having an easy time, are you?’ he said.

  Her mouth parted slowly and she could feel tears threatening to spill. All she could do was shake her head. ‘I’m trying - I really am, but it’s not easy.’

  ‘Aren’t the movies helping?’

  Claudie met his eyes. ‘They are,’ she said, ‘but the grief floods in again once the screen goes black.’

  ‘Movies don’t last forever, do they?’

  ‘No,’ Claudie said, shaking her head. ‘And then you’re left wondering where all the music and colour vanishes to. Where does it all go?’

  Gene looked out across the sea for a moment. ‘Into your heart? So you can carry it with you.’

  Claudie looked at him. He sounded so sincere that she desperately wanted to believe him. ‘I sometimes find myself rewinding and replaying, over and over again, just to prevent that awful black screen. But there’s no rewind button on life.’

  ‘No, there isn’t,’ he said slowly.

  ‘I thought I’d found my happy ending, Gene. Just as sure as Gaby found Miss Turnstiles in On the Town, and Joe found Aunt Susie in Anchors Aweigh.’

  ‘That’s the movies, Claudie. It’s all part of the magical of the musical. Life, I’m afraid, is a bit more complicated.’

  ‘That sounds like something Kristen would say to me.’

  They were quiet again for a moment, watching as a little boat chugged out of the harbour.

  ‘I don’t like being a widow, Gene,’ Claudie said suddenly. ‘Especially a widow in Whitby.’

  ‘Sounds like the title of a musical. A Widow in Whitby!’ he said, making her smile. ‘I can see the line up now,’ Gene grinned, a hand stretched out in front of him as if he really could see a cast of stars instead of the dull grey sea. ‘Judy Garland. Me, of course,’ he winked and turned to Claudie. ‘Anyone else you’d like?’

  ‘Luke?’

  Gene shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Claudie.’

  ‘No,’ she said, ‘you’re right. He’d be terrible. He had a voice like a blocked drain.’ Claudie’s lip trembled and the tears she’d hidden from her idol for as long as she could started to fall now. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said as the view over Whitby wavered in watery bands.

  ‘Don’t apologise,’ Gene said.

  ‘I shouldn’t be here today. I should be at work, but my boss thinks I need some time out. It’s ridiculous!’ Claudie cried, pulling a tissue from her pocket and blowing her nose. ‘I’m fine!’

  ‘You’re a great kid, Claudie, but I think your boss is right.’

  ‘You do?’ Claudie dabbed her eyes and looked up at Gene.

  He nodded.

  ‘I suppose you would say that. If you can’t be glad and merry, lock yourself in solitary. Isn’t that what you sang to Jerry the mouse in Anchors Aweigh?’

  ‘You know all my movies, don’t you?’

  Claudie blew her nose again. ‘But I don’t want to be on my own. It makes me feel so -’ she wrung her hands together in desperation.

  ‘Lonely?’

  She gave a little smile. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Sometimes, we have to take a little time to be by ourselves. It’s the only way to seeing ourselves as being part of the bigger picture again.’ He paused. ‘You’re a swell kid, Claudie, and you’ll be fine, believe me. It just takes a little time.’

  Claudie closed her eyes again and, when she opened them, he was gone. She felt as if a cloak of loneliness had been wrapped around her, and a cold chill shook her body as she stood up. There was no point wandering round in the cold so she returned down the steps and walked along a little alleyway that would lead to home. When she looked at her watch, she was surprised to find that it was after five. She must have been gazing out to sea for longer than she thought. Soon be time for a movie. It would definitely have to be a Gene Kelly tonight. Preferably with him as a sailor. On the Town or Anchors Aweigh?

  But the decision was taken away from her as she rounded the corner to her cottage.

  There was a man sitting on her doorstep and, after Gene Kelly, it was the last man she’d expected to see in Whitby.

  ‘Hello, Claudie,’ he said. She’d know that grin anywhere. It was Luke’s younger brother, Daniel.

  Once the initial shock had worn off, Claudie had managed to fumble for her key and let him in. She’d put the kettle on and he’d wandered through into the living room to dump his enormous rucksack.

  He’d then come back through, given her a kiss on the cheek and opened the cupboard above the sink in search of food. Typical Daniel, she thought, as she opened a can of soup and threw a baguette into the oven. He was always very good at making himself at home.

  After eating, she followed him through to the living room. He hadn’t said much throughout tea and, after finish
ing his soup and bread, he’d fried two eggs he’d found in Claudie’s fridge and finished her pizza from the night before.

  ‘So, how did you get to Whitby?’ Claudie said, knowing the trains were a fierce price from London and that Daniel never had any money.

  ‘I hitched.’

  ‘Daniel! Don’t you know how dangerous that is?’

  ‘I think drivers are more scared of me than me of them.’

  Claudie smiled. With his American footballer shoulders and long black hair, he was rather something to behold. ‘It’s a wonder you got a lift at all.’

  ‘So what were your plans for this evening then?’ he asked, sinking heavily into Claudie’s favourite chair.

  She didn’t want to confess to an evening at the musicals, so just smiled as she sat opposite him in the chair with no springs.

  ‘You got home early,’ he pointed out.

  ‘Well, earlier than usual,’ she said. ‘My boss has given me the week off.’

  ‘Has he? Well that’s perfect!’ Daniel said enthusiastically. ‘We can spend it together.’

  ‘You’ve got some time off too?’ Claudie asked hesitantly.

  ‘You could say that.’

  ‘You’ve not-’

  ‘Yep,’ he said, shrugging his shoulders in the same way Luke used to.

  ‘Again? How many’s that now?’

  Daniel pretended to count on both hands. ‘A lot,’ he conceded.

  ‘It is, isn’t it! How on earth do you make ends meet?’

  ‘I get by,’ he said. And Claudie guessed that he spent most of his time dossing on friends’ sofas and looking for handouts. Would he ever change? She adored Daniel, but he’d never learnt to take the world seriously.

  So what was she going to do with him for a whole week? They’d never really spent that much time together and she felt at a loss as to how to occupy a whole week with him. But, before she could say anything, his eyes alighted on the shelves in the corner of the room.

  ‘Shit! Are they all films?’

  Claudie nodded. ‘Welcome to my secret world.’

  ‘You must have hundreds.’

  ‘You can watch one if you like,’ Claudie said, knowing full well that he’d decline.

  ‘Great. Have you got Blade Runner?’

  ‘Er - no.’

  ‘Police Academy?’

  ‘No. I don’t think so.’

  Daniel got up and scoured the shelves. ‘I’ve never heard of any of these. Hey! You haven’t got Reservoir Dogs, have you?’

  Claudie shook her head again.

  ‘Look! The Wizard of Oz. Now I have seen that one.’

  Claudie watched as he read the spines, his head on one side, hair dangling over his shoulder in a dark curtain.

  ‘What do you recommend then?’

  ‘All of them,’ she said, hoping that he wouldn’t suggest they watch The Merry Widow. She wasn’t quite ready for that one.

  ‘But I mean to watch - tonight.’

  ‘Are you serious?’

  He turned round to look at her. ‘Sure. Why not?’

  ‘You’re having me on, aren’t you?’

  ‘No, come on, Claudie, I really want to watch one.’

  Claudie bit her lip. Luke had known about her great obsession when he’d first gone out with her, and used to have fun teasing her, but he’d never actually sat down and watched any of her beloved films with her. But Daniel sounded quite serious.

  She walked over to the shelves and her hand extended up to pull out a familiar tape.

  ‘They’re mostly musicals, you know.’

  ‘So I gather,’ he said, nodding his head. ‘Well, I’m into new experiences.’

  Claudie grinned. He had no idea what he was letting himself in for, did he? she thought, as she ejected High Society from her video and pushed in.

  ‘Are you sure?’ she asked again, watching as he got himself comfy on the sofa, his long legs stretched out across the living room floor.

  ‘’course I’m sure.’

  ‘Okay!’ Claudie sat down and hit play on the remote control.

  It was the strangest experience Claudie had ever had. As far as she was concerned, she was the only person to have watched Summer Stock. Never mind big stars, big budgets etc, when Claudie watched a film, it always seemed as if it had been made for her and her alone. So it was a strange feeling to share it with someone.

  But Daniel was brilliant. He laughed at all the right moments, sat in silence during the dance sequences, he even tapped his foot along to Judy Garland’s Get Happy number. It was quite a revelation, and not at all what Claudie had expected. She’d once got Kristen to watch Cover Girl with her, but the whole experience had been a disaster. She’d laughed at all the romantic moments and talked through all the songs. But Daniel was the perfect audience.

  ‘Shit! I’ve never seen anything like that in my life!’

  ‘You liked it?’ Claudie couldn’t help but be mildly shocked at the fact that she’d persuaded a man who normally watched B-type horrors or X-rated adult movies to watch something staring Gene Kelly.

  ‘I liked the lady in it. Who was she?’

  ‘Judy Garland,’ Claudie said, trying not to ram the name down his throat. Had nobody heard of her? Perhaps she should run an evening class in musicals.

  Daniel got up and stretched his arms above his head. They almost scraped the low ceiling. She watched as he went to look at her colourful collection of videos again, and couldn’t help but smile. Was he for real or was he buttering her up? It had already become obvious that he had no intentions of booking himself into a hotel for the night. The rucksack had been placed at the side of the sofa, but there was no need for him to pretend he wanted to watch another film.

  ‘What’s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers like?’ he asked, head cocked on one side.

  Claudie looked at him, his profile sharp and handsome. Just like Luke.

  ‘Perfect,’ she said.

  Chapter 13

  ‘What the hell is Daniel doing in Whitby?’ Kristen bellowed down the phone.

  ‘Kristen! Shush! He’ll hear you.’

  ‘I wouldn’t care - the good for nothing…’

  Claudie held the phone away from her face as Kristen’s tirade ensued, and counted silently to ten, putting it back to her ear just as Kristen was winding up.

  ‘He’s the devil, Claudes. The devil!’

  ‘Isn’t that going over the top just an intsy bit?’

  ‘Do I have to remind you where he placed his hand at your wedding reception?’

  ‘Come on, Kris - it’s traditional for the best man and chief bridesmaid to get on.’

  ‘Yes but that doesn’t follow that I wanted to get off.’

  Claudie rolled her eyes. She was in no mood to hear all that again.

  ‘Where is he now?’ Kristen asked.

  ‘He’s asleep on the sofa.’

  Kristen sighed. ‘Just watch out, Claudes, you know what he’s like. He’ll be lodging with you - rent-free - for as long as he can. I bet he’s already eaten all the food in the house?’

  Claudie tried not to think of the supper he’d prepared at eleven o’clock. But she would definitely have to go shopping today.

  ‘Claudes? Am I right?’

  ‘Kristen - you’re always right. But let me handle this my own way, okay?’

  ‘So what were you doing last night?’

  ‘We watched a couple of films.’

  ‘You’re joking?’

  ‘No - Summer Stock and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.’

  There was a pause on the other end of the line whilst Kristen digested this piece of information. ‘Just so long as he doesn’t think that you’re one bride for two brothers.’

  ‘Kristen! What a thing to say.’

  ‘I just wouldn’t put anything past him. He’s no good, Claudes. He’s a freeloader. He’s probably on the run from someone too. He’s-’

  ‘He’s Luke’s brother,’ Claudie interrupted.

 
There was another pause. ‘Just don’t let him take you for granted. That’s all I’m saying.’

  Claudie listened and said yes and no in all the right places, knowing that otherwise there’d be no getting rid of her. Finally, Claudie thought of a way to finish the conversation. Kristen was sounding rather breathless, which could mean only one thing.

  ‘Kristen?’ Claudie interrupted her flow. ‘Are you smoking?’

  When she put the phone down, she felt like blowing a huge raspberry, Jalisa fashion. She loved Kristen, but she sometimes treated her as if she were a child.

  She walked through to the living room and dared to draw the curtains an inch, letting in a sliver of spring sunshine.

  ‘Morning!’ Daniel said from underneath the covers on the sofa.

  ‘Sleep well?’

  ‘Like a baby,’ he said, pushing the covers down to waist level. Claudie averted her eyes quickly but not before getting an eyeful of a red and green snake heading south from the base of his throat.

  ‘I’ll get some breakfast going,’ she said, speeding out into the kitchen.

  Kristen wasn’t at all surprised that Daniel Gale had landed in Whitby. She only wondered what had taken him so long.

  She sighed. Had she been forthright enough with Claudie on the phone? Had her message really got through? Claudie could be stubborn sometimes, believing that she could look after herself, but she couldn’t.

  ‘Jimmy!’ Kristen’s mouth dropped open at the sight of him out of bed before eleven in the morning. And it wasn’t even May yet.

  ‘Don’t look so surprised!’ he said, shaking his head in disapproval.

  Kristen snapped her mouth shut. ‘Cup of tea?’

  ‘If you’ve time,’ he said, looking at the clock, knowing she’d have to leave for work soon. ‘Who was that on the phone?’

  ‘Claudie.’

  ‘Bit early, isn’t it?’

  Kristen nodded. ‘She’s got a guest staying with her.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Daniel.’