Clouds Below the Mountains

by Vivienne Dockerty

  The owner walked on, signaling that he was in a hurry and Lucy continued writing down the further excursion bookings onto her list for Kath.

  She looked at her watch, it was eleven o’ clock. The bookings had been brisk that morning. Two couples wanted to go to the Raffles Cabaret on Sunday, one family to the Jungle Park, one man wanted to go on the trip to Mount Teide.

  A nice man, Mr Wilkinson, Lucy thought. It seems he was a widower, lost his wife to cancer just over a year ago. He wanted to revisit Tenerife where he had happy memories of the holidays they had taken together. Her heart had gone out to him, as she had listened to his story. He had no one now, as they had been childless. Life wasn’t fair, thought Lucy, as she wondered if Kath was going to make an appearance that day. Thinking of Kath, made her want to nip across to her apartment and see which of her other two blouses didn’t smell as whiffy as the one she had on. This one would have to go into soak, because she couldn’t live with the strong smell of deodorant that she had liberally sprayed herself with.

  ***

  The Cooper family set off for their walk towards Playa de las America’s. When Paul had produced the business card for the car hire place, Dania, the duty receptionist, had said that the place was very near the train station. Keep to the walk way at the sea front, though be careful near the puerto or they could easily get lost if they didn’t ask for more directions, but mostly it was a straightforward route.

  “Though it sounds as if it is a long way for the children to walk,” said Paul, zipping up Jack’s coat and pulling the hood up, as a chilly wind met them as they came out of the hotel. “If the man doesn’t let us take a car today, we’ll come back in a taxi. I heard at the Welcome meeting that they are reasonably priced.”

  “What are you thinking of hiring, Paul?,” asked his wife. “ Did Greg or Steve say they wanted to come in with you?”

  “No, I don’t understand them,” Paul replied in a subdued tone. “I was willing to share the driving, let them take a turn at the wheel, but without even any discussion on the matter, they said they preferred not to.”

  “Oh well, it’s their loss. I know that Steve and Fiona are only here for a week and probably just want to confine themselves to this area, but Greg and Kate have two weeks here and I’d say they’ll get very bored.”

  “He’s a funny bloke though, that Greg,” said Paul. “He doesn’t act as though he’s an owner of a manufacturing place. Doesn’t say a lot, keeps himself to himself and from what I can see, he’s very dominant with his family. Jack, don’t run ahead, come back here and hold hands with Annabelle.”

  ***

  Jenni stood outside a shoe shop window, in one of the tree lined avenues that boasted a row of well filled stores, selling anything from souvenirs to clothes and electrical equipment. She looked at a pair of cork bottomed gold trellis work sandals, with envy, wishing she had the money to purchase them. Although Lucy had promised to give her some money on account of her father’s bank transfer, the pesetas had not been forthcoming that morning and Jenni had been loathe to ask her. Still, the shoes would probably still be there tomorrow, when Lucy would go to her cash point and check that the transfer had cleared.

  She wondered fleetingly what Simon would be doing, would he be moping around at home or gone back to work? She knew though, that her name would be blackened to anyone who cared to listen to his woes.

  ***

  Kate got out of bed, picked up her book that had fallen on the floor when she had slipped off into a bit of a doze, then went into the bathroom to wash her face and clean her teeth again. She stared into the mirror at her reflection. That look was back again, that anxious, apprehensive look that haunted her face sometimes, taking her unawares. She supposed it was lack of sleep, or because she was in a strange bed in a foreign land, away from the comforts of home, or was it because she was on holiday with Greg again?

  Come on, you fool, she said to herself, it’s the life you’ve gone and chosen. You had your chance and you didn’t take it, so you’ve only yourself to blame.

  ***

  Lucy stood at the washbasin hand, washing her blouse and a couple of pair of knickers.

  She would dry her underwear on the towel rail and her blouse would be left to drip on a hanger outside.

  It had seemed to Lucy, as she looked up at the sky while she was walking back to the annexe, that the clouds looked thinner up above and there was a bit of blue coming in from the sea. That would please the guests, she thought, a little sun and everyone felt happier.

  Her mobile rang as she rinsed her clothing, she wiped her hands on the towel and went to her handbag where she kept it. It was Kath, trying hard to keep the panic from her voice, but there was no doubt that Lucy’s superior was rattled.

  “Which child, Kath? Oh, a Hollins child, the eldest. The family we dropped off at Mountain View. How long has he been missing? Just over an hour. Where were they? On the seafront. Which part? By the kiddie’s park. Do you want me to come down and help in the search? Well, give me a ring if you hear anything.”

  Kath rang off, leaving Lucy wondering where the child had possibly got to? It appeared that Brandon Hollins, aged seven, had been playing on the slide with Frankie, his younger brother, while the twins had been digging on the shore. Jackie and Eric, their parents, had been having a drink at one of the beach hut bars and had only been keeping their eyes on the twins, because Brandon had the job of looking after Frankie. About fifteen minutes into their drinking session, Frankie appeared crying his eyes out, saying that his elder brother wouldn’t take him along with him, because he said he was too young. They had questioned the tearful little boy, but could not get an answer, other than Brandon wouldn’t take him because he was too young.

  An adventure somewhere?, thought Lucy, then forgot the problem, as she hung her newly washed blouse outside.

  ***

  “There seems to be some kerfuffle going on over there,” said Doreen, as they sat on a bench looking out to sea. “Look, to the right of us, over there by the headland. There’s a police car and a group of people waving their arms about.”

  “Your eyesight must be good,” said Jean. “ I can’t see that far, can you, Milly?”

  “No, I think I need to get some glasses though, I’ve got a pair at home that I got when I was on holiday in Cyprus once, but I didn’t like wearing them. I’m thinking of trying them disposable lenses when I get home.”

  “I wear disposable lenses,” said Doreen. “ Have you not noticed my packet of little pots peeping out of my cosmetic bag?”

  “I don’t make a habit of looking in other people’s cosmetic bags, Doreen, but are they comfortable to wear? Did you have much trouble getting used to them?”

  “No, I had a free trial. The man showed me how to put them in and take them out, gave me a week’s supply and I got on with it.”

  “Well, I don’t know how you can, manking about with your eyes like that,” said Jean with a shiver.

  “I’d be frightened of sticking my finger nail in my eye and not being able to see again. Anyway, how do you manage with those long talons?”

  “You learn to put them in, so that the lens pops in without a nail going near your iris. I have had the odd tear and I’ve had to throw one away, but that was because I wasn’t concentrating.”

  “Well, I might go and look into it, Doreen. Shall we walk some more or are you still watching that ferry, Jean, going off to the island?”

  ***

  “I want to go in that little park, Daddy,” said Annabelle, running back from near the headland, where a netting enclosed area sported a Wacky warehouse style climbing frame with curly slides and a ball pond. “ Jack said he wants to go in there too.”

  “But we’ll never get to the car hire firm, Annabelle, the way you are carrying on. Already we’ve had to go and buy you that sparkly handbag you wanted, a laser mouse for Jack and two ice creams from the kiosks on the way. What about Mummy and Daddy, it’s their holiday too?”

 
; Annabelle though had run ahead with Jack, assured that her Daddy wouldn’t deny her. Her Daddy loved her and she could have anything she wanted to.

  “Those parents must be beside themselves with worry,” said Cheryl, as she and Paul sat on a bench, watching their children jumping up and down on a trampoline they’d discovered, throwing themselves into the ball pond and sliding quickly down the gaily painted slides. “Whatever would we do if a child of ours went missing, I’d be hysterical I’m sure?”

  “Well, I can’t see how they would go missing, darling,” said Paul confidently. “ They’re watched like hawks when they are with us and at nursery and Annabelle’s school have security measures in place. I was listening to some people talking as we were passing the police car, it seems that the parents were drinking beer at one of the beach huts. They’ve only really got themselves to blame.”

  “Still, whatever the circumstances, there’s a little boy gone missing, Paul,” said Cheryl, feeling close to tears. “I do hope they find him soon.”

  ***

  Jenni, sat for a while on a bench looking out to sea. It was still a bit chilly, although there was some blue amongst the white clouds up above. The island in the distance was covered in a mist, the sea seemed to have worked itself up into a lather and the black sands looked very uninviting to Jenni.

  People were wandering about in hooded tops and shorts on and children played in the water, some with swim wear on. She shivered in her long sleeved top, trackie bottoms and lavender coloured jacket and decided to walk a different way to get back to the warmth of the hotel.

  ***

  Susanne walked up and down the perimeter of the swimming pool again. She was looking for guests who wanted to partake in aqua aerobics this time. She shivered in her black swimsuit and wondered what she was doing there?

  This time last year, she had applied for teacher training at a college in Esjberg, but had decided to have a gap year before she started. Being employed in the sun appealed to her, when she had seen the website advertising for young people to work abroad. It was an agency that placed you, with no formal interview, just e’mail a C.V to them and they’d take it from there.

  She had been working at the Hotel Valia since Autumn, when the weather was warm, the guests were happy go lucky and a hard working spirit existed amongst the team. She hadn’t even minded the accommodation she had been allocated. A dingy, sparsely furnished room that she shared with a girl from Germany, though she had to admit the rent was very cheap. Things like that didn’t matter when she was having the time of her life, so different from the strictures of living at home with her parents.

  Then the enthusiasm for it all had gone, when the two people she had been working with, Pierre from Lille in France and Marie Anne, his girlfriend, had decided to go back home at Christmas. It had gone down hill from there on, as the two men who had replaced them were apathetic and chauvinistic, taking great delight in taunting her, which had produced a lot of resentment within her. She had no one she could appeal to, as the man who came with their wages each Friday didn’t speak English, there was only a mobile number for the agency and she had a feeling they were international anyway. So here she was, sticking it out until she had enough saved for her fare back home to Denmark. Meanwhile, didn’t anyone want to do aqua aerobics?

  ***

  Lucy’s mobile rang, just as she was walking into lunch with Jenni. It was Kath, so she asked Jenni to excuse her and walked into the lobby to take the call.

  “Oh, you’ve found him, great. Where was he? Gone on the pirate ship to see Captain Hook and Peter Pan. How did he get on the pirate ship? Oh, because he pretended he was with a family and the chap didn’t count heads. Well, that’s a relief. It’s a good job the ship had a radio or the parents would be out of their minds by now. They are out of their minds, the mother has gone to hospital with an asthma attack and you’re waiting with the other children by the harbour, for the ship to come back again. Oh, poor Kath, do you want me to come and help you? Are you sure now? Well, if you change your mind, give me a ring and I’ll come along.”

  Lucy sighed with relief as she walked back to sit with Jenni. That was another trauma over with, though she couldn’t imagine Kath, with a trio of whining kids.

  Chapter Eight.

  Greg walked along the road that lead out of Costa Adeje, following a sign that he had seen for Playa del Duque. It wasn’t too far away from the hotel and he knew he could be back in time to pick his grandson up from the Kid’s Club. He passed the Casa del Duque, which looked to be an old fortress on a promontory jutting out to sea, then sat down at a wooden table in a cafe that overlooked a beach, which was covered with a top layer of yellow sand.

  It was peaceful there. There were only a few locals, or people who owned property in the area, passing by as they walked their dogs and the chirrups from the green and yellow canaries, that fluttered about on the branches of nearby palm trees. He needed that peace, to get his head around things, as last night in the hotel bedroom, he had realized that he didn’t love Kate anymore.

  When had that happened, he wondered? He had been her husband for thirty years this summer and to not love her had never crossed his mind. There had been other women in his life of course. Being the owner of a manufacturing business, being a member of the Rotary club and the Golf club, gave unlimited opportunities to dally with the fairer sex, but he had always been loyal to Kate. Flirted, teased, chatted women up, yes, he’d hold his hand up to that, but never once had he crossed the line and been unfaithful to her. The realization that he wasn’t in love with her, had come crashing into his mind last night.

  He drank the coffee that he had ordered, wincing at the strong taste, as he liked his coffee weak, wondering was this the end of the marriage or did they soldier on?

  He hated those couples that fell at their hurdles and then went on to divorce. That had happened to his parents when he was four and his mother had brought him up alone.

  Not so him and Kate. Their first big hurdle was when their son had left home, eighteen years old and into cannabis when Kate had shown him the door. Well, she had made it clear to Andrew that she wouldn’t tolerate him smoking the stuff and said he must abide by the house rules. Being a stubborn young man, he had packed a few clothes and gone. That had been five years ago and although Andrew had been in touch with him via the factory, he had never once contacted his mother, not even when little Evan was born, which had made him an uncle now.

  Though it had to be said, Andrew was now into the “gay” scene down in London. A fact that Kate and Sonya were unaware of and another factor that would have had his mother in a bit of a state. Because what you got with Kate was black or white. You toed the line or you got out.

  The same could be said over that trouble they’d had with Sonya. The young man had been, in the eyes of Kate, unsuitable for her daughter and the reason that Sonya had moved out too. And yet he had loved his wife for all her traits, he had admired her honest approach to life.

  So when had this happened, when had he stopped loving Kate?

  ***

  “Mum, there you are,” said Sonya, as she and Greg walked along to the pool bar with Evan, who was looking very pleased with himself.

  “Made a hand print, Grandma,” he said, showing her a picture of his little hand that someone had helped him to trace with a pencil.

  “Oh, that’s wonderful,” cried Kate, scooping Evan up and hugging her to him, while his picture flapped behind her head. “You are a clever boy, sweetheart.”

  “Are you feeling better for your sleep, Kate,” asked Greg, looking at her anxiously with his heart full of guilt.

  “Yes, I think I can soldier on,” Kate replied, echoing his earlier sentiment.

  “What about a drink, Mum, Dad? I started before you, as I’ve spent my morning sitting with my feet up in the foyer, reading a book that I found in the swap box. But look, I think the sun might be out this afternoon, we can spend it on the sun loungers if you like.”

&
nbsp; “It’s my turn to look after Evan,” Kate reminded her. “If it’s warm enough I’ll take him to the kiddie’s pool. If not, little man, we’ll buy ourselves a bucket and spade, wrap up well and head off down to the sea front.”

  “Yeahhh!”, shouted Evan, jumping up and down with excitement.

  ***

  Paul and his family rolled up outside the hotel in a Renault Espace. He parked it with a flourish in a space reserved for guests and visitors, looking around to see if anyone was watching him. He had hoped that Greg or Steve would be in the vicinity, so they would see what they were missing out on.

  Never mind, he would tell them later and the price he had paid. It made a mockery of the charges quoted by the rep’ at the meeting, he figured he had saved at least half.

  The chap he had dealt with had been very conciliatory. No doubt hoping that more referrals would come his way and what was more he had been charming with Cheryl and the children, offering soft drinks and coffee and was pleasant in every way.

  “Do you want to go in for some lunch, darling,” he asked his wife, his eyes falling lovingly on her perfect figure, pretty face and beautiful mane of hair that she had loosened onto her shoulders.

  “Just a little lunch I think, Paul, maybe a salad or something. I don’t know if the children will be hungry though, they’re probably stuffed with those hot dogs you bought them on the promenade.”

  “But I really, really wanted one, Mummy,” said Annabelle, listening to their conversation as they walked along. “The smell was gorgeous and we did a lot of exercise in that play area, you know.”

  Paul laughed and ruffled his daughter’s hair. It was something that she hated him doing, so she treated him to a dirty look.

  “Well, we’ve paid for it, so we’ll go and get our money’s worth. Come on, poppet, give me a smile, we are on holiday, you know.”

  ***

  “Oh no, here comes “Mr. Look I’ve Arrived,” said Greg, as Evan hung out of his high chair to wave wildly to his friend, Jack. “Oh dear, he’s coming over, I suppose we had better make some space.”