The Tango

by Cain Hopwood

  The Goats then had one of those sudden flashes of cohesion that are usually only seen in a professional side. In a textbook play, the fullback moved up and created an overlap just at the very moment that Daryl received the pass.

  The ball was slimy, and the footing treacherous, but the Goats captain plucked the pass out of the air as if his hands were made of velcro. He then danced through the gap created by the overlap and put on a prodigious burst of speed.

  “Jesus, he can move,” Simon said.

  “Can’t he what,” Jade said.

  Daryl flew down the field toward the try line with just the Bush Pigs full back between him and a try. Behind him another Goats player was powering downfield to catch up so it would shortly be two Goats against one Pig.

  Daryl slowed for just a second, stealing a glance over his shoulder to sight his team mate. The bush Pigs fullback also slowed, realising that if Daryl passed the ball, he'd have to tackle a different player.

  Daryl took two more steps then twisted and threw the pass. Everyone, including the bush Pigs fullback, took their eyes off Daryl and looked to where they expected the ball to go. But Daryl had dummied. He still had the ball, and while everyone else was looking at his teammate, he ghosted past the bush Pigs full back, took a few more strides and dove over the line.

  The crowd erupted in a frenzied roar and Daryl punched the air, soaking in the adulation.

  As the screaming around him abated, Simon scribbled a few notes down in his notebook. He looked at his watch and realised that the game was in the dying stages of the fourth quarter. Despite Daryl's effort the Goats were still down by a couple of tries. At this point it would take a miracle for the Goats to get the tries they needed to win.

  “So what’s the game plan?” he yelled, leaning in toward Jade so he could be heard above the roar.

  Jade turned to him and frowned. “How should I know, I’m not the...” she paused and then smiled. “Gotcha, different game. How long till the full time whistle?”

  Simon looked at the scoreboard. “Not more than five minutes. And they’ve got buckleys of winning.”

  Jade followed his gaze. Then a small smile escaped one corner of her mouth. “So there’ll be some commiserating, and the players may need a little...”

  “Comforting?” suggested Simon.

  Jade’s smile widened. “Yes, comforting,” she said looking around the tent. “Now the question is should I try to waylay him at the door, or wait till he gets to the bar?”

  Simon looked across the marquee and gauged the possibilities. “He’d be a moving target at the door.”

  ”But he’d be surrounded by the time he gets to the bar,” Jade said, following Simon’s gaze. ”He also may not even make it to the bar, someone could stop him before he gets there.”

  They both stopped talking and surveyed the scene.

  “Y’know,” Simon said. “You could be that someone.”

  “Exactly what I was thinking,” she replied. “And If I had a beer for him, he’d have no reason to continue walking.”

  “Clever. A babe with a beer, how could he resist.”

  Jade grinned. ”That’s the idea. But, I’d better get two fresh ones now cos there’ll be a rush as soon as the whistle goes.” With a single smooth swallow she finished the beer she was holding. “Wish me luck,” she said and headed for the bar.

  Simon looked down at his own beer. It was still half full and while it was a little warm, and more than a little flat, he was driving so he decided just to hold on to it for now. From where he was standing he could see the door and the bar so had a good view of what was going to be an interesting show. He'd taken enough photos during the course of the afternoon to populate both the sports and social pages for the coming week, so there was no reason not to kick back and relax at this point.

  As he'd predicted, the game ended a couple of minutes later. Neither team scored again. Despite the home ground advantage and the near rabid support of the crowd, the Goats had lost. Not having any kind of dressing room the Goats players headed straight for the beer tent with Daryl at the head of the pack.

  Simon craned his neck to try and spot Jade. It took him a couple of moments to pick her out in the gloom of the tent. She was a third of the way between the bar and the door, and was watching the door like a hawk.

  The players came through the door in dribs and drabs, not in the jubilant rush of a win. But even though Daryl had led the team off the field he wasn't in the first couple of groups of players through the door. Simon looked out the front of the tent to see where he'd gone and noticed that old Charlie had pulled Daryl aside. Judging by the body language, hunched shoulders and pats on the back, it looked like Daryl was getting a 'better luck next time' kind of chat from the old player.

  Back in the tent Jade was starting to fret. She must have known that all the players were in by now and that she'd either missed her target, or he wasn't coming in. She started looking around the tent and Simon waved to attract her attention.

  “Where is he?” she mouthed silently.

  “Any second now,” he replied, exaggerating so she could lip read. He stole another quick glance outside and saw that Charlie had put his arm around Daryl and was leading him towards the door.

  “Move Up!” he mouthed, pointing at the door and making hurry along hand signals.

  Whether it was her lip reading, or his gesticulating, Jade got the message and moved toward the door.

  Charlie and Daryl appeared. Jade straightened up and pulled her shoulders back. Then disaster struck.

  Two young girls appeared, as if out of thin air, right beside Jade. They screamed and bolted for Daryl, literally throwing themselves at him, leaving Jade standing there holding her two beers in shock.

  Simon realised that some damage control would shortly be needed. He dropped his half empty flat beer in a bin and moved towards Jade as fast as he could go. It didn’t take him long to get to her, but by the time he made it the blondes each had one of Daryl’s arms in theirs and they were leading him to a group of players.

  “Jade,” he said, pitching his voice to carry. He took one of the drinks she was holding, “Thanks for the beer, I’m parched.” He followed her gaze to the trio, as if noticing them for the first time, and in a quieter voice added, “Are they?”

  Jade’s voice could have curdled milk. “The Melia sisters.”

  Simon frowned. “I thought they were...”

  “Still in school? Yep, well one of them is.”

  Simon appraised the two girls, still clamped like limpets to Daryl’s side. They were wearing short shorts and Goats rugby shirts that were so tight they’d have fit the under eights kiddies.

  “They sure grew up,” Simon said. This drew a dark look from Jade so he took her by the arm and shepherded her towards the door.

  “Sluts,” whispered Jade taking a look over her shoulder at the two girls.

  Simon could hear them laughing and giggling all the way across the tent. “They look like they’ll be there until closing. C’mon the show starts in an hour, you don’t want to miss that.”

  Jade sighed and turned away, “I can’t compete with the possibility of an eighteen year old threesome.”

  “I doubt it’ll get to that,” he said. “They’re just stringing Daryl along. Besides, their dad is watching, and you can bet that he will make sure that Daryl gets really drunk.

  “So it won’t happen?” asked Jade with a hopeful look in her eye.

  “Unlikely,” Simon said.

  They left the tent with a nod to the doorman and walked outside. Even though the game was just over there wasn’t much left of the crowd. There were just a few people packing up picnics and some underage teenagers loitering. The teenagers had probably failed to get into the Galah pub and were likely thinking that they’d stand a chance of some illicit beer in Charlie’s tent.

  “Looks like more rain,” Jade said pointing up at the sky. Thunderclouds were gathering and there was a smell of ozone in the air. �
�Do you think it will affect reception?”

  Simon looked up and frowned. “It could,” he muttered.

  Jade grunted, “Even with Bruce’s setup it’s not as if we ever see much of the damn dancing anyway.”

  Simon just pretended not to hear her and unlocked his car. It was just in time too, because, as he fishtailed his way out of the paddock, the first fat drops of the oncoming storm started thunking onto the windscreen.

  Chapter Two

  By the time they pulled into Bruce and Betty’s driveway, the raindrops had turned into a deluge that thrummed on the roof of Simon’s car. Bruce lived about fifteen minutes drive out of town at the foot of the valley in which Galahgalone nestled. His driveway itself was nearly a kilometre of greasy dirt road with a couple of treacherous turns and a small creek crossing.

  “Are we going to get out of here tonight?” asked Jade, looking concerned as Simon’s car splashed through the creek.

  “I’d say so,” Simon said with a shrug, though he didn’t take his eyes off the track. “Even when it rises this creek doesn’t run for long. Worst case, we can get a ride home with one of the others in a four-wheel drive.”

  “Preferably one with a snorkel,” Jade said looking over her shoulder at the gravelly creek bed which was already starting to fill with water.

  Simon just smiled. For all its faults his old Honda dealt with water really well. He remembered a time when he’d come through that very creek bed with his headlights shining out from under the water of the bow wave his car was pushing. He’d mashed his foot down and kept moving so the engine didn’t suck in any water.

  Thinking back he realised that it can’t have been that long ago, a few months at the most, it was one of the first trips of what was to become a weekly pilgrimage to Bruce’s house. All for the sake of a TV show.

  “Looks like everyone’s here already,” Jade said as they stopped at the front of the house.

  A jacked up ute and a four-wheel drive were parked haphazardly next to the small wooden fence that surrounded the rambling old house. Bruce’s place was a farmhouse. It had originally been a bustling dairy. Years ago, and long before Bruce had moved in, the land making up the bulk of the dairy had been divided off and bought out by an expanding neighbour. All that was left now was the original homestead with just enough acreage to run a couple of horses. Which, as Bruce frequently told Simon, were more than enough trouble.

  Simon and Jade dashed through the rain to the verandah so that they could join the others.

  “Hey Simon, no-one’s answering the door,” Fay said. Fay was a fit woman in her early forties who ran one of the town’s two dance schools. It was the one that Jade, and occasionally Simon, worked for part-time.

  Simon grimaced. “Sorry I forgot to tell you. Bruce is down the coast with Betty for the weekend, but I’ve cleared it with him so go in.”

  Fay looked at him and frowned her hand hesitating on the door handle.

  “It’s OK,” Simon said putting his hand on hers and opening the door. “We’re also under strict instructions from Betty to ensure that we record the show. She needs it for an article she wants to write.”

  Simon led them all inside and down the hallway to the living room where, neatly arranged on the coffee table, was a teapot, six cups, and a plate of homemade biscuits covered in cling wrap. On seeing this obvious welcome Fay visibly relaxed. Simon picked up the teapot and gave it to her. “Will you do the honours?”

  “Of course,” she said. She went into the kitchen while the rest of them settled in. “I hope earl grey is all right,” she called out a little while later over the sound of the kettle.

  A chorus of ‘sure’ and ‘yeps’ replied.

  It wasn’t long before she returned with a steaming teapot. Meanwhile Simon and Jade had given a quick recounting of the afternoon’s activities at the footy field. Jade was completely open about the incident with Daryl and the Melia sisters, which initially surprised Simon. But when he realised that he was the only guy in the room and he’d witnessed the event first hand it made sense that she’d want to talk tactics with her girlfriends.

  “Well, what can you expect from those two,” Fay said as she poured the last cup of tea. Settling back into her chair she took a sip. “No mother, and a father who’s always working. And I can’t imagine that they’d draw any sense of proper conduct from that dance school in Berooma.”

  “I’m pretty sure that the Melia’s only do hip-hop there Fay,” Wendy said. She was a tiny Asian girl who’d grown up dancing in Fay’s school and was one of Jade’s best friends.

  “Well that explains a lot,” Fay said in a tone that pronounced the matter closed.

  Everyone laughed. It was common knowledge amongst the group as to what Fay thought of hip-hop, which was to say, not very much.

  While the girls were chatting away about the afternoon’s activities, Simon had turned on the television and checked that the recorder was tuned to the right channel. As far as he could tell everything was ready to go. Next he had to adjust the antenna to get the best reception. But, this wasn’t a just a case of tweaking a couple of telescopic rabbit ears atop the television. Bruce’s antenna was mounted on top of a forty foot pole that was held up by so many guy wires it looked like a giant spiderweb. And perched at the top of this monstrosity was the antenna itself, which had more in common with a tipped over denuded Christmas tree than a traditional TV antenna.

  The reason for all this hardware was to do with a quirk of geography, television transmissions signals, and bureaucracy. While the ABC and one of the commercial television channels could be picked up easily in Galah, as far as the signal from the other two stations was concerned, Galah may as well have been in deepest darkest Africa.

  Ironically, as part of the government sponsored digital TV rollout, all the regional television transmissions were to be relocated to a brand new tower a short distance from town. So, eventually, Galah would bask in the glory of high definition. Of course like most Government ran projects, that particular program was on hold. And already five years behind schedule.

  Every Saturday the group of dancers all made the trip to Bruce’s place at the foot of the valley. Because only there, and only with his forty foot antenna, could they watch a TV show called Celebrity Dance.

  “Ok everyone, hold your breath,” Simon said as he picked up the antenna control, which was really just a box with a knob, and turned it slowly. Each turn of the knob generated a low grinding sound that game from the roof as the huge antenna was laboriously rotated by its long suffering, undersized, motor.

  “That’s it!” yelled Wendy as the picture resolved and a dark suited news presenter appeared out of the snow.

  Simon considered the picture, it wasn’t very good. But it was about as good as Bruce had ever managed to get it so he decided to leave it as it was. “Shouldn’t be long now,” he said as the synoptic chart appeared with a fuzzy blob next to it that might have been the weatherman.

  “What’s the bet they predict rain,” Jade said, which drew a few snickers from the room.

  “Looks more like snow,” Simon said, referring to the quality of the reception, but all he got for responses was groans.

  They sat through the inevitable ad breaks and promos and it wasn’t long before the show started. Celebrity Dance was a reality show that matched up celebrities with professional dancers and was now in its fifth season.

  Not knowing whether a particular couple would deliver a surprisingly good routine, or a complete train wreck made for compelling viewing. For a group of people who were themselves long time dancers, the show had another level of enjoyment again.

  Assuming, that is, they could see it.

  “Is that jive or swing?” asked Wendy

  Fay sniffed. “Either way they’re butchering it.”

  As if to punctuate her dismissal a thunderclap rang out and the picture faded back to static. Everyone held their breath. Just as Simon was about to reach for the antenna control the picture sna
pped back and the lead presenter’s overly jaunty voice filled the room.

  “Well done Todd and Consuella, that was an incredible display of athleticism,” the host said

  “Well mate, it was a team effort, but Consuella here is just incredible,” gushed the celeb who, despite the gyrations and lifts didn’t look out of breath at all.

  “Incredible at what do you think,” Jade said. “Look at the way she’s devouring him with her eyes.”

  “He is pretty yummy,” Wendy said gazing wistfully at the screen.

  Jade chuckled. “What is it with you and cricket players Wendy?”

  Wendy just shrugged and smiled.

  With Todd and Consuella off to the green room for a glass of bubbly, the last couple took to the floor. As the first few notes of the music began everyone groaned. Except Jade, she slid to the edge of her chair and her eyes were glued to the screen.

  “It’s a tango! Hush everyone,” she said. “Damn Simon, why is this reception so shitty.”

  “Sorry hon, it’s as good as it’s ever been. Frankly, I’m amazed we’re getting anything at all in this storm,” he said.

  Jade’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. “Don’t even say it, this dance I need to see.”

  Simon looked around at the others who were all smiling, except Wendy who just waggled her eyebrows and made ‘zip your lips’ motions with her hand.

  To say that Jade loved her argentine tango was to do an injustice to tango lovers everywhere. Jade lived for tango. At least once, and sometimes twice every week, she would drive all the way to Canberra for either a tango workshop or a milonga. There were many things that frustrated her about Galah. But the complete lack of any tango culture whatsoever was by far the worst.

  The funny thing was that there were a few people in town who could tango. Occasionally, a couple would come into Fay’s studio wanting to learn to tango, usually for a wedding. Fay passed them onto Jade, who was only too happy to help out.