Marianne left them watching the remains of the fire and Julia took advantage of the relative quiet to explain the history of Up Helly Aa and some of the more bizarre traditions which had precious little to do with the remnants of Viking culture after all.
‘So in reality this is just one big excuse to dress up, drink all night and go crazy once a year?’
‘Pretty much. It’s kind of like celebrating that the worst of the winter is over. The days are getting noticeably longer now.’
‘Well, I loved it, even if there is only a tenuous link to authentic culture.’
Julia nodded and smiled.
‘I love it too. I wish my boys had been able to come back for it. But they’re both working today and couldn’t get away. So I’m glad you came for a visit.’
‘I shall come back again one day. I love it here. I can see why you wouldn’t think about leaving Shetland. Even in the bitter cold of winter, it’s still delightful.’
Julia took his arm and they headed up the hill towards the Town Hall. The streets were almost deserted again, as people had left to get ready for the next stage of the Up Helly Aa celebrations.
They were too early for the party, but Julia persuaded the doorman to let them in, promising that they would go and do something useful in the kitchen while they waited. Julia found Marianne in the kitchen wearing her long white pinny, buttering bread for sandwiches.
‘Ah great, more helpers,’ she said.
Julia put down her rucksack that contained bottles of wine and whisky. There was no bar, so guests had to bring their own drinks, but there would be plenty of food available to keep everyone going all night.
Julia went over to the large cauldrons of soup that were simmering on the hob. She stirred them, as she introduced Tony to the other hostesses, who seemed star struck and quiet in the presence of a celebrity. However, Tony soon put them at ease, making them laugh with his interpretation of Up Helly Aa.
Marianne sidled up to Julia.
‘He’s quite a catch; aren’t you tempted?’
‘Don’t be daft; we’re just friends.’
‘Well he seems like a very nice friend to have.’
‘He is, isn’t he.’
They left the kitchen to go upstairs to the hall just before the doors were opened to the rest of the guests. Julia grabbed two seats in the centre and while Tony guarded them Julia took the drinks bag out to one of the ante-rooms and handed it over to a steward in return for a cloakroom ticket. She returned to her chair carrying two glasses of wine and handed one to Tony.
The room filled up quickly and there was a rush for the best seats close to the dance floor. The band had taken their places on the stage and were tuning up. Tony was quiet as he watched the scene. Julia could see he was taking it all in, probably storing it all away for future use in a book; the laughter and the snippets of conversation in dialect or English. A party of young people occupied the seats immediately behind Julia and Tony. They spoke with a variety of accents, mostly Australian or New Zealand. Two young women were speaking in Italian and Tony turned round instantly and introduced himself.
Julia watched with amusement as he turned on the charm with the young women who were surprised to meet someone who spoke their language.
‘They’re all on a coach trip – haggis tours, or something like that. Sounds like a blast. They visited a whisky distillery in Orkney yesterday. They have Up Helly Aa today and then on Thursday they’re flying over to Edinburgh to tour the castle and go drinking in the city,’ Tony explained to Julia when he turned back to speak to her.
‘Sounds exhausting!’
Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the first squad. They watched in bemusement when the cast of Star Trek marched into the room and did battle with an evil alien, which turned out to be the Chief Executive of the council.
Tony laughed along with the audience, but seemed mystified all the same.
‘What was that about?’
Julia shook her head, smiling with amusement at him.
‘The council always comes in for a lot of ribbing at these occasions. I can only guess that someone saw the latest Star Trek film and took their inspiration from that.’
The band started to play and the cast of Star Trek, who on closer inspection looked a little less glamorous than the Hollywood originals, circulated around the room looking for dance partners. Lieutenant Uhura, in real life a butcher with a bit of a paunch, approached Julia and asked her to dance.
Julia grinned at Tony and then stood up to dance with the man.
‘I’ve never danced with a man who had bigger boobs than me.’ Julia said, tapping the man’s plastic décolleté.
‘I’m not sure I should wear such a short skirt with my legs,’ he replied in a camp voice, ‘but I do like the wig.’
Julia danced a Boston Two-Step with the man and then made her excuses after the dance and returned to Tony.
‘That’s made my day already,’ he said, as Julia sat down beside him, ‘a short fat white man, dressed up as a black woman in a Star Trek uniform. Madness!’
Julia managed to avoid being asked to dance again and instead talked Tony through the etiquette of Up Helly Aa and the dancing. He said he would watch a few more dances before he gave it a try.
They watched a few more squads come and go. They watched a sketch about the Pope’s resignation, with a comedy Prince Charles trying to persuade his mother to abdicate too, only for him to die of old age, immediately after. One act produced some fine juggling skills, the humour provided by the fact that the men were dressed as old women.
‘You’ll have noticed that dressing up as women is a bit of a recurring theme,’ Julia said, ‘which is why today is sometimes referred to as Transvestite Tuesday.’
Tony nodded and then turned round to the two Italian girls and translated that for them. They both roared with laughter. Julia turned and smiled at them. They had only just sat down after being dragged around the dance floor by two young men who were dressed as women. The women looked flushed and happy and Julia was delighted they were enjoying themselves. She turned and looked at an older couple of tourists who sat watching in stone faced silence, clearly bemused by the whole event, but possibly not really enjoying it.
Julia noticed one of the ushers open the door to the hall and glance out. He shut the door again and motioned to the band leader. The Jarl Squad had arrived. When the dance finished, the music stopped and the floor cleared. There was a ripple of excitement around the room, even from the tourists who weren’t really sure what was happening, but had gleaned that something special was imminent.
The doors opened again and this time the Jarl strode triumphantly into the hall, followed by the rest of the squad. The audience all rose to their feet and clapped, as if Royalty had just arrived.
Julia pursed her lips together as she watched the Jarl Squad do their customary march around the room as they sang their anthem. She scanned the faces looking for Cameron, but in truth, what she really wanted to see was her husband. She brushed aside the rising panic that accompanied her feelings of grief and concentrated on finding a friendly face. She was rewarded a moment later by the wide grin on Cameron’s face as he marched past.
‘Is that the man?’ Tony said, nudging her.
‘Yes.’
‘He has the look of a protagonist.’
‘A what?’ Julia replied, turning to look at Tony.
‘The main character of a novel; the hero.’
Julia laughed and pushed him gently.
‘Don’t be silly.’
When the singing and grandstanding by the Jarl Squad had finished, the Vikings began to mingle with the crowd. Julia watched as Cameron was ambushed by a group of tourists who wanted his photograph. He gamely posed with the young women, and then he made his way through the crowd to Julia. She hugged him before introducing him to Tony, who in turn introduced Cameron to the two Italian women who had pushed forward in order to get a closer look at his amazing outf
it.
Julia smiled at Cameron as he passed his axe and shield to the women who exclaimed excitedly over it, and giggled as they posed for photos with the weapons. Julia noticed that Tony had sat down and looked a little tired; either that or he wanted to give Julia some space with Cameron.
The music started up for the St Bernard’s Waltz and Cameron took off his helmet and set it down next to Tony, then took Julia’s hand for a dance. As they headed for the centre of the dance floor Julia noticed that one of the Italian women had asked Tony to dance. He smiled and stood up hesitantly; as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to try out his Scottish dancing skills with someone who probably didn’t know the steps either.
Julia soon forgot about Tony as she was whisked into the arms of Cameron who expertly steered her around the crowded dance floor.
‘Did you know that you’re the first woman I ever danced with?’
‘Tonight?’
‘No, I meant ever.’
‘Really?’ Julia caught her breath as they whirled around at the edge of the floor, conscious of Cameron’s hand firmly on her back, holding her close.
‘Don’t you remember those awful dancing classes at school, where we were forced to dance with each other? We would have been about thirteen. I was the one with the hideous acne.’
Julia laughed. ‘Oh God, I remember now. All the boys tried to get out of the classes, using any excuse possible.’
‘I didn’t. I quite liked learning to dance. I knew it would come in handy one day.’
The music stopped and they stood for a moment, still holding hands as they waited for the band to play a different tune. Julia looked over to where she had been sitting and saw that Tony had sat down again. He looked out of breath and she grinned at him when he looked up, although she realised he hadn’t seen her. He seemed lost in thought.
The music started and they began dancing again.
‘How’s your day been?’ Cameron asked; his voice heavy with meaning.
‘Oh, so so. I’m glad Tony has been here. He’s kept me so busy I haven’t really had time to mope around. There was a moment earlier in the day when the pipe band was playing the same tune that was played at the funeral…’
They circuited the room one more time, almost like bumper cars, trying to avoid other couples. There was a sudden pile up of people in the centre of the room, and Julia heard a shriek of fear above the noisy chatter and music. The dancing stopped and people stood watching something that was going on at the side of the dance-floor. The music stopped in the middle of the tune, and a panicked call for help made Julia’s heart skip a beat. She couldn’t see what was happening so she pushed through the crowd expecting to see someone had fallen over.
She found Tony lying on the floor, with one of the Italian women kneeling down beside him, tapping the side of his face, trying to wake him.
‘Let me see. I’m a nurse,’ Julia said, indicating for the woman to give her some space.
Julia fell to her knees beside Tony, quickly feeling for his pulse in his neck, and not finding one.
‘Call an ambulance. He’s not breathing!’ Julia yelled, as she bent down to see if she could feel any breath. She opened Tony’s mouth to check for obstruction and then started chest compressions.
She heard someone calling for an ambulance and was vaguely conscious that members of the Jarl Squad were guiding people downstairs to give them some space. Julia had snapped into her professional nurse mode and was trying to block out everything else. A young man came over and knelt down on the other side of Tony.
‘I’m a first aider. Can I help?’
Julia nodded breathlessly and let the man take over, seamlessly carrying on the rhythm of compressions and breaths.
‘Come on Tony. Don’t do this to me. Stay with us, please,’ she implored. She looked up and saw that the two Italian women were still sat in their seats, holding hands and praying. Julia smiled in sympathy.
‘The ambulance is on its way.’
Julia felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up and saw Cameron standing beside her. She held his hand briefly and then took over the CPR from the other first aider.
A couple of minutes later the paramedics entered the room and as they took over she explained what had happened. She sat down on a chair and let one of the Italian women hug her wordlessly. They watched the paramedics using a defibrillator on Tony and on the second attempt, they got a pulse.
‘Will you be alright?’ Cameron said. ‘Do you want me to come to the hospital with you?’
‘No, I’ll be fine. You carry on. I know this has ruined your night. But please, carry on. I have my phone on me. I’ll text you.’
Julia stood up and hugged Cameron, then grabbed her handbag and followed the paramedics out to the waiting ambulance.
At the hospital, Tony was rushed straight into the resuscitation room and Julia was left in the waiting room feeling shell shocked. She knew so little about Tony she was unable to answer most of the questions the triage nurse asked. She had no idea how to contact Tony’s son or daughter. The nurse managed to retrieve a mobile phone that Tony had in his pocket. To Julia’s relief she found that it was not protected by a passcode and she scrolled through the numbers and found his son. She checked her watch, realising it was well after midnight in Italy. As she dialled the number she realised that she wasn’t entirely sure whether Enzo would even speak English.
‘Ciao Papa.’
‘Hello, is that Enzo?’ Julia said, hesitantly.
‘Si, yes. Who is this?’
‘My name is Julia Robertson. I’m a friend of your father’s. He’s in Shetland with me.’
‘Ah yes, he told me. Is something wrong?’
‘Yes, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but your father is in hospital. We think he may have had a heart attack.’
‘Another one? Oh shit.’
‘He’s already had one before? Can I pass you onto the nurse so that you can tell her about your father? We don’t know anything about any medication he might be on.’
Julia handed the phone over to the nurse and slumped down in the chair again, feeling even less confident about Tony’s situation. The nurse took the phone away so she could relay the information to the doctors. Julia sat with her head in her hands and only looked up when she heard her name. Marianne hurried over and sat down next to her and grabbed hold of her hand.
‘What’s happening? I heard some tourist had been taken ill. I didn’t know it was Tony until Cameron came to find me.’
‘It’s probably a heart attack. The paramedics managed to get a pulse, but it was weak. We managed to get hold of his son; apparently this isn’t his first.’
‘Oh Lord; poor thing.’
They sat in silence for a moment, before Marianne got up and fetched two cups of coffee from a vending machine. She passed a cup to Julia who took it gratefully.
‘I can’t believe this,’ Julia whispered.
‘Me neither. Let’s hope they can save him.’
Julia leaned forward and set her coffee down on a table. She covered her face in her hands and rocked silently in the chair. Marianne put her arm around her shoulders, but didn’t speak.
Nearly an hour later a doctor came to find them in the waiting room. He didn’t smile but there was something about his body language that made them think he wasn’t bearing bad news.
‘We’ve managed to stabilise him, but he’s not conscious yet. We’re keeping him sedated as we need to fly him down to Aberdeen for surgery. I understand you’re not related to him, but will you want to accompany him to the hospital? I spoke to his son Enzo. He’s going to fly over from Rome, but that could take a while.
‘Of course I’ll go with him. We’re friends; he was over here on holiday and staying at my house.’
‘That’s good. We’re just waiting to hear back from the air ambulance but we should be good to go in a few minutes if that’s alright? Have you got any photo ID on you, for getting back home again?’
Julia o
pened her handbag and checked inside her purse and found her driving licence. She nodded with relief.
The doctor hurried off and Julia sat back in her chair and sighed.
‘Oh thank God.’
Marianne stood up suddenly and walked over to the waste bin and threw her coffee cup in it, with a touch of exasperation.
‘It’s not fair though. How did they manage to save him, but not Duncan?’
‘Don’t go there, please.’
‘I’m sorry. It’s just…’
‘I’m glad I was there to help him,’ Julia said firmly.
‘Oh so am I, but...’
‘I need to use the loo. Make sure they don’t go without me.’
Julia hurried off to the relative privacy of the ladies toilet. She could not admit to feeling the same feelings of frustration that Tony seemed to have survived something that her husband couldn’t. She knew that comparisons should not be made as Duncan’s heart attack was not something that anyone could have survived; but even so, it hurt.
She walked back to the waiting room to find that they were waiting for her. She hurried out to the ambulance after hugging Marianne goodbye and promising to ring her with any news.
It did not take long to make the transfer into the waiting helicopter and within minutes they were airborne and on their way to Aberdeen. Julia sat buckled into her seat, feeling ridiculous in her sequinned top. She hadn’t even stopped to get her coat and now she was shivering with cold. One of the crew members noticed her discomfort and handed her a blanket. It was too noisy in the cabin to speak so she simply mouthed her thanks. She looked back at Tony who was lying on a stretcher, with a paramedic sitting beside him, monitoring his vital signs. The paramedic nodded comfortingly at her and gave her the thumbs up.
At Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Tony was whisked away to the operating theatre, and once Julia had answered the bare minimum of questions about what she knew about his health, she was left to wait while he underwent surgery. It was still the middle of the night and Tony’s family would not arrive for hours.
Learning to Dance Again Page 28