Body on the Stage

by Bev Robitai

  “Anyway,” he said, getting back on track, “I’ll see you in the morning then. Six-thirty. Great.” He waved her away, then looked at his watch. Best he go home to bed pretty smartly if he was to be up so ungodly early next morning. His new life was turning out to be full of novel experiences.

  When his alarm went off at six am, he rolled over, thumped the snooze button and buried his face in the pillow. He zoned out for a few minutes, drifting back towards sleep, until the thought of Cathy unlocking the gym and being rushed by two thugs sent a jolt of adrenalin through his system. He levered himself upright and padded off to the bathroom, rubbing his face and fighting to wake up.

  He arrived at Intensity at six twenty-five, yawning hugely. The street appeared deserted. As he pulled in to the kerb he saw Cathy arrive on her racing bike. She took off her helmet, shook her mane of red hair free and beamed at him.

  “You made it then,” she laughed as he locked the car. “I was wondering if you’d manage it.”

  “No worries.” He took a deep breath. “Ah, isn’t it fresh at this time of day? I love the smell of oxygen in the morning, don’t you?”

  “It’s all right, Dennis, you don’t have to be quite so brave. Here, come on inside, I brought coffee for you. I thought you might need it.”

  “Oh you wonderful woman,” he said fervently. “You’re a life-saver.” With the lure of strong, hot coffee in his nostrils he almost forgot to check out the street for unwanted thugs. At the last minute he stopped in the doorway and looked around. No other pedestrians walked the streets, and the few vehicles that were moving at that hour of the day drove straight past with no air of menace about them. He relaxed and bounded up the stairs in search of his reward.

  He found the coffee made a big difference to the level of his workout, with a boost of energy that sent the heaviest weights skywards almost effortlessly. He rowed two kilometres in under ten minutes, feeling terrific all the way.

  At seven o’clock the little old lady he’d met in his first week came in and began her workout. As he went past her he angled a look at the weight she was lifting on the adductor machine and was pleased to see it was less than he was currently working with. At last, he’d caught up with the septuagenarian! She took his smile as an invitation to talk.

  “You’ve done very well since I saw you last. Good for you!”

  “Thank you. It’s all Cathy’s doing really. She’s great, isn’t she?”

  “Somebody taking my name in vain?” Cathy appeared behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Ruthie, I don’t think you’ve met Dennis, have you? Dennis, Ruthie is a three-time triathlon champion, training for an Everest expedition.”

  His jaw dropped. “Really? That’s amazing! No wonder you’re able to lift such weights. Now I don’t feel so bad at being such a weakling when I first started.” He smiled deprecatingly. “You made quite a dent in my male pride, but I can live with it now that I know you’re an elite athlete!”

  “You keep working on it, Dennis,” she said. “We’ll make a muscle-man of you yet, won’t we Cathy?”

  “Oh, I think he’s pretty much right already,” said Cathy with a grin. “Shaped to perfection just the way I like.”

  Dennis looked from one to the other. “Hello - I’m right here, ladies.”

  “Well you shouldn’t be! Stop standing around chatting and go finish your workout!”

  “Ha! You tell him, Cathy!” The old lady chuckled, winking at Dennis. He knew when to beat a strategic retreat and left them to their conversation.

  After his workout the hot shower felt wonderful. He let the powerful spray wash all the sweat away and ease his aching muscles. It was a good sort of tiredness and he knew he’d feel the benefit from the early session all day.

  As he was towelling off afterwards he heard loud voices coming from outside the locker room. They sounded male and very threatening. His heart pounding, Dennis eased the door open a crack to see what was going on.

  The two heavies had baled Cathy up behind the reception desk and were leaning on it, shouting and thumping it with their fists.

  “We want to know! You’d better tell us right now or things will start getting broken – and not just windows.”

  Dennis closed the door silently and looked around for any kind of weapon. Cathy was in danger and he intended to protect her, no matter how unlikely a hero he might be. An abandoned towel hanging on a peg gave him an idea. He grabbed it, wet it under the shower, and rolled it quickly into a pointed shape. He tried a few flicks against the wall and was pleased to see the impact it made. Outside the door the villains’ threatening shouts were still resounding through the building.

  Dennis burst out of the locker room with an angry roar, running straight at the smaller of the two men. He lashed out with a savage flick of the towel that caught the man in the face, sending him staggering backwards holding his hands over his eye. He tripped and fell, hitting his head against the far wall, and lay groaning faintly. Dennis spun round and faced the taller man, twirling the towel in readiness for another flick, but he was too slow and it was wrenched from his hand when the man darted forwards and grabbed it. The only weapon left was the towel round his waist. Without hesitation he whipped it off and spun it into a point. The tall man stared for a moment then started to laugh.

  “Oh look,” he sneered, “it’s the naked ninja!” But before he could say any more there was a resounding clang as Cathy swung a fire extinguisher at his head, sending him sprawling on the carpet. He heaved himself to his hands and knees immediately, so Dennis realised there was little hope of subduing him and attempted to drive him out instead. He started flicking the towel deftly along the man’s waist and down towards his groin, causing him to scramble to his feet in a hurry.

  “Get out, you bastards!” screamed Cathy. “I’ve called the police!”

  The tall man hauled his groggy companion to his feet and they both staggered off down the stairs.

  Dennis untwirled the towel and tucked it hurriedly around his waist amid applause from the early morning gym patrons.

  Some minutes later other footsteps echoed on the stairs as two uniformed policemen entered the building. They took in the scene with some confusion.

  “Who called for assistance?” asked one.

  “I did,” said Ruthie. “You took your sweet time getting here, young man. We could all have been murdered on the spot. It’s just as well Dennis and Cathy here were able to subdue the attackers and chase them off – pity you weren’t here in time to arrest them.”

  There followed a prolonged series of interviews.

  When the policemen had gone away, finally satisfied with their answers, Cathy and Dennis sat down in her office to gather their thoughts.

  “Well that was interesting,” said Cathy. “I’m very impressed with your martial arts skills, Dennis. What do you call that – Towel Kwan Do? I wish I’d thought to pick up my camera!”

  “Oh really? That wasn’t quite what I had in mind for my after photo, I have to admit. I think your fire extinguisher made a better weapon though.”

  “No, not as good as your towel,” she giggled. “Honestly, did you see his face? He just couldn’t believe his eyes!”

  “Yes, I get that a lot,” he said with a grin. “That’s how I got to be so good at self defence – I’m forever chasing women off who want to ravish me. There are always queues of them outside my door – it’s such a bore. They just can’t get enough of me.”

  “That’s quite understandable,” she said.

  “Really?” He stood up and moved closer.

  “Yep, really.” She rose to her feet and gazed into his eyes. He felt his thought processes derailing rapidly as she melted into his arms.

  “Um…”

  A few minutes passed.

  “Anyway,” said Cathy eventually, “to get back to more serious matters – what are we going to do about these two heavies who seem intent on demanding information that I just don’t have? Those two cops didn’t seem
particularly helpful, did they? I got the feeling they thought it was a case of disgruntled customers causing trouble, and since there was no damage and no injuries to any of us they weren’t going to follow it up.”

  “Maybe we should tell Jack Matherson. If it’s related to Vincenzo’s case then he’d be interested, I’m sure.”

  “Yes, of course. He’ll want to question them about the murder, they’re such obvious suspects.”

  The opportunity came sooner than Dennis had expected. He found Jack talking to Jessica in the Green Room that night, leaning on the kitchen counter while she dried glass mugs with a tea-towel. Dennis picked up a mug and filled it with cold water at the sink, using it as an excuse to loiter in the area while he drank it so he could join in the conversation at an appropriate moment. Jack was using a very patient voice to Jessica.

  “No, we can’t station a cop at the theatre’s door 24/7, I’m sorry. Not going to happen. We’ll respond as promptly as we can to any emergency calls, but that’s the best I can promise.”

  “So this is how our tax dollars are spent, is it?” She reached out and tugged at his heavy jacket. “You guys with the defence training and the Tasers get nice solid stab vests, and we poor unarmed civilians have to fend for ourselves.” She shook her head. “Shame.”

  He took her teasing in good part and Dennis assumed he must be well used to it.

  “Actually, Jack – if I might just butt in here,” he said, “if it’s the two guys that came here last night that Jessica is worried about, she may be right.” Jack’s head came up and he fixed Dennis with a steel-blue gaze.

  “Oh yes? Go on, Dennis. What can you tell me?”

  “Well, the same guys came round to the gym this morning. I didn’t hear exactly what they were saying but they had Cathy pretty shaken up, and, well, we had to use a bit of violence to get them out of there. They were very threatening, although I have to admit they didn’t actually do anything.”

  “Interesting. You’d recognise them again?”

  “Oh hell yes! I saw them here last night in the light of the doorway, and got quite close to them this morning.” He smiled thinly. “If you do catch up with them, the tall one will have a striking pattern of triangular bruises along his left side and a lump on the side of his head. The shorter one will have a bruised eye and a bump on the back of his head.”

  Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “Did they inflict any injuries on anyone at the gym? Cause any breakage?”

  “No, they didn’t. But I’m sure they would have, if we hadn’t got them out of there. We thought they might be connected with Vincenzo, trying to re-establish supplying steroids at the gym. They might even be the ones who killed him if their deal went bad or something.”

  “You think they’re involved in illegal drug use and murder? We’ll definitely want to know about that.”

  Dennis shrugged. “It’s just a theory.”

  Jack nodded thoughtfully. “Not a bad one at that. Let me have our guys look into it. There may be a pattern showing up in other establishments. We’ll put our ears to the ground. Meanwhile, try to avoid any more vigilante activity, will you, even if it was in self-defence. It’s the sort of thing that can screw up a perfectly good court case and let the scumbags go free. We don’t want that, do we?”

  “But…” Jessica started to protest but subsided at his look.

  “Will Cathy be here tonight? I’d like to get her side of the story about this morning’s events.”

  Dennis winced at Jack’s question. He’d rather hoped if Jack had to interview Cathy it would be away from inquisitive ears. He really didn’t want the story of his naked towel-wielding exploits to become common knowledge around the theatre.

  “Yes, she should be here any moment. Jessica, do you think they could use your office for the interview so it’s away from the crowds?”

  “Oh that shouldn’t be necessary,” Jack began, but caught sight of the pleading look in Dennis’s eyes. “But actually it’s not a bad idea. That OK with you, Jess?”

  She tucked the damp tea-towel over the oven door handle. “Of course, my love. All yours. Always happy to assist the police with their enquiries.”

  Dennis suspected her comment was a marital code for ‘you’d better tell me all about it later’. He hoped Jack’s professional discretion extended to cover Jessica as well.

  He didn’t get a chance to see Cathy on her own until the evening’s rehearsal was over. He’d had no chance to ask her to be discreet when talking to Jack Matherson, but he hoped she’d used her judgement about disclosing how much he’d revealed in his quixotic dash to her rescue.

  As they were heading for the door, he broached the question.

  “So did you tell Jack about the guys that were at the gym this morning? He said he’d be asking you.”

  “Yes, he took me up to the theatre office for some reason, said it would be quieter.”

  “Good. And, er, what did you tell him, exactly?”

  “Well you were there this morning, Dennis, you know what happened. That’s what I told him.”

  He sighed. She was making this very difficult. “I meant about the towel, and, well, me. I suppose he laughed, did he?”

  “Oh Dennis! Who could possibly laugh at a man brave enough to defend his girl from two gorillas, stark naked and armed only with a towel? That was utterly heroic of you and I only wish I could have told the whole story – but I figured you probably wouldn’t want the entire truth of the tale told so I skipped over that little detail. Oh, not that it was a ‘little’ detail, of course!”

  The knowing gleam in her blue eyes lit a fire under his slumbering libido and did much to erase the morning’s embarrassment.

  “Well thank you for your discretion – and the compliment.” He could feel his face burning. Half-remembered flames of desire were suddenly licking a pathway around his body. What should his next move be? Oh God, he was so out of practice at all this. How could he move this promising scenario along to the next step? Before he could formulate a cunning plan to arrange some alone time with her, Cathy did it for him.

  “Sweetie, would you mind giving me a lift home please? My bike tyre seemed a bit flat when I rode here and I don’t want to damage the rim riding back to my place.” She turned to face him with an impish grin. “You don’t mind, do you? I could show you a few new…exercises, if you like.”

  “Right. Yes. OK then.” The feelings of heat intensified, but Dennis was torn between straightforward lust and complicated reservations. Was he ready to make this leap? Could he put his previous love-life behind him and try a new partner? Would he be good enough to please her? He wavered for a moment then threw caution aside and let instinct take over. He took a deep breath and spoke clearly and forcefully. “All right Cathy, I’m going to give you a ride.”

  His gung-ho optimism lasted until they were safely at her place and horizontal together on her bed. At that point all the doubts flooded back, tormenting him with unhappy memories. Cathy sensed his change of mood and drew back, studying his face.

  “What are you thinking, sweetie? You look sad. Is there something you need to talk about?”

  He tried to laugh it off. “Just feeling a bit out of practice, I guess. They say it’s like riding a bike, don’t they? Something you never forget how to do. Well they don’t tell you how to ride a different model, or how to get over the fear when you’ve fallen off the last few times.”

  “I’m trying to picture that scenario as related to lovemaking but it’s not making sense, I’m afraid. Why don’t you just tell me what’s worrying you? Let’s get it out in the open.” Her warm, supportive response was exactly what he needed and he began to explain.

  “Louise, my ex-wife, was small and fussy and delicate – a bit of a clean-freak – couldn’t bear mess of any kind. Sex was dirty and had to be accomplished with a minimum of stickiness or transfer of bodily fluids.” He hung his head. “She always preferred to be on top because I sweated and she didn’t want it dripping on her.”
/>
  “Oh that poor, poor woman.”

  He looked up, startled. She’d sounded genuinely sympathetic, but to the wrong person.

  “Eh?”

  “Well she must have had so many hang-ups preventing her enjoyment, and worst of all, she projected them onto you. Gosh, I hope your other lovers were more relaxed about it.” As she studied his reaction her eyes narrowed. “Dennis, do tell me she wasn’t the only partner you’ve had.”

  “Er, well, actually…”

  “No!”

  “Yes. We were high-school sweethearts and never got around with anyone else. She was quiet but strong-willed and she decided how things were. I loved her, of course, mostly because she needed me. I was her protector, and a badge of status I guess, when having a steady boyfriend was a big deal. Later when we got married and I was earning good money I was security and a good provider.”

  “So when did things go wrong?” Cathy’s blue eyes held his gaze and wouldn’t let him hide any more.

  “She realised she didn’t actually need me at all. And that there were other men out there who were smarter, better-looking, and just as interested in her. She found excuses to avoid sex for a few months then she suddenly moved out and told me it was all over.”

  “Hm. I think my sympathy for her just went out the window. What a bitch!” Cathy stroked his head gently. “You poor thing, it must have been devastating for you.” She gazed into his eyes for a few moments, sharing his sadness. Then he could see by the way her eyes lit up that a new thought had entered her head. She bounced upright, sitting on the bed hugging her knees. “Come on, I’ve just had a great idea.”

  “Oh yes?” he said warily. He was in uncharted territory here and didn’t feel entirely comfortable.

  “Your only partner was against messy, uninhibited, playful love-making, right? So you never did anything much besides straight ‘her-on-top’?”

  “Ye-e-es.”

  She grinned wickedly. “Well let me introduce you to your new friends Miss Baby Oil and Miss Plastic Sheet. They’re going to help me show you SUCH a good time!”