Clouds Below the Mountains

by Vivienne Dockerty

  “Not for all of the day,” advised Uwe, “ because Lucy must stay at the hotel. Isabelle has volunteered to take us on a trip up Mount Teide. Sanchez arranged this last night, remember?”

  “Oh yes, we drank a lot of wine. Pardon me, Lesley, but perhaps we can spend our final evening together. Lucy?”

  “Yes, that would be very nice, you can listen to the resident band, Candelaria. They come to entertain us two or three times a week. Shall we go to the buffet now, as I don’t want to be late starting the meeting?”

  Lucy got up from her seat, feeling really annoyed with the way things had turned out. That blooming Kath. Yesterday morning she’d been really looking forward to spending the whole time with the Germans while they were here, and now here she was trapped in the hotel on duty! She wouldn’t put it past her supervisor to be throwing a sickie.

  ***

  “Do you want to go to the Kid’s club, Evan?” asked Sonya.

  “Is Jack going?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, love, shall I go and ask his mummy?” Evan nodded.

  Cheryl was at the hot buffet helping herself to baked beans to put on toast. She was looking very summery in a white strappy top, blue cotton trousers, gold pumps and her sunglasses perched on the top of her long auburn hair.

  “Your sun tan’s coming along well, Sonya, “ she commented, added a slice of fried tomato to her cooked breakfast as the girl ambled over. “ How’s things?”

  “Okay. Evan was wondering if Jack was going to Kid’s club?”

  “Oh, we haven’t made our minds up yet. Annabelle wants to take her new friend Jade, but her mother wants to take her to the Welcome meeting, which is putting Annabelle out somewhat. We really want to hang around in the sun today, because we’ve been missing valuable tanning time with all the too-ing and fro-ing we’ve done. Tell you what, we’ll put Jack in the Kid’s club and Annabelle can take Jade in when the meeting’s finished. That should suit everyone, I dare say.”

  ***

  “So why were you in so early last night, Greg?” asked Kate, after Sonya had wandered off. “ I thought you’d be strutting your stuff with the gorgeous Anthea.”

  “No, strangely enough, Kate I felt very much the outsider yesterday. They’re a bit like butterflies, they flit onto your shoulder then fly off somewhere else.”

  “You mean they’ve got cosy with Charles and Judith?”

  “Got it in one. I was sick of hearing about the hospitality industry last night. We had it all before that Meggie woman’s act and then they started up again after. I left them to it, I just sat there like a lemon.”

  “And did they seem put out that you left so early?”

  “Not that I noticed. Charles just stopped talking mid sentence and then they all said goodnight.”

  “Poor you, you must be feeling gutted. You probably won’t be getting an invitation down to Bournemouth now.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean, I must be feeling gutted?”

  “You work it out,” Kate replied, smirking inwardly.

  ***

  “Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for attending Periquito Travel Welcome Meeting,” said Lucy, a little nervously. “ It has been designed for you to get the best from your holiday by explaining our health and safety procedures and informing you of the excursions we have organized for your enjoyment. You should all have a Welcome pack that my assistant Lesley, distributed amongst you and I hope you have all put your names on the list that we provided by the door. Thank you, Lesley,” she said, as Lesley brought over the sheet of paper with the guests’ names on. An innovation Lucy had come up with when she had realized she hadn’t a clue who anybody was.

  “I would like to also welcome two special extra guests to our meeting,” she said, looking over to where Uwe and Heiko sat and giving them a shy smile. “ I must add that you are all special to Periquito Travel, but these gentlemen are visiting from Germany on a fact finding tour. Herr Schroeder and Herr Rennsburger.”

  All eyes in the room fastened on the two men, (one of whom seemed to be making notes on his computer), in the direction of Lucy’s hand as she pointed at them. No one knew whether to applaud or not, as who were these German men to them anyway? So everyone just smiled at each other politely.

  “She’s very good,” said Uwe in German to Heiko, as Lucy went through the leaflets that had been put in the welcome packs. “ Have you written down all the safety procedures?”

  “Yes, everyone, though we can take the information leaflets back to Hamburg with us.”

  “It is better that we have a backup on your lap top, Heiko. These things can get lost and we will then have a disk for our office as well.”

  Heiko nodded, his partner being equally attentive to detail as he was.

  “It is a pity that Lucy does not have a command of our language, Heiko,” Uwe continued. “ She would make an excellent in-resort representative for our reiseburo.”

  “There are language courses she could attend, but my money would be on Lesley,” said Heiko eagerly. “ She has a very good understanding of German and speaks it quite well. Of course I am only talking theoretically, as I do not think that Lesley would give up her teaching profession to work in the travel industry and perhaps we should employ one of our own.”

  “You must try to convince the young woman that her life will not be complete unless you are in it, Heiko. Or the way I see it, you will never see her again.” Uwe said it quite brutally, knowing that for the first time his friend might just be in love.

  ***

  Lucy sat quietly at the table, looking at the list that the guests had written upon, trying to put a few names to faces. This was the time that she enjoyed the most, seeing them in animated discussion with their friends or partners, as to whether they should sign up for that trip or maybe not. She felt she had given a thorough account of the excursions she had been on and tried to describe with the help of the brochure photographs and the guest’s imaginations, on the ones she had not. Hopefully they would all be clamouring in front of her table in a moment, signing up to every one, which of course was every travel rep’s dream. Normally she would have to split any commission earned with her supervisor, but she didn’t think that Kath should have a look in, if she wasn’t there that day.

  The first couple to sign in had been Toby Bundi and Laura Farnworth. A strange name “Bundi”, Lucy thought, so it must be the dark skinned young man and his blonde haired girlfriend, who were sitting on their own near the bar. They had their heads together as they pored over the map and brochures, where they chuckled occasionally at something one of them said or patted each other on the arm affectionately. Love’s young dream, thought Lucy and wondered why a stab of jealously hit her, as she gazed wistfully at them.

  She hastily averted her eyes to a family unit. The little girl with a brown basin cut hairdo and blue patterned calf length dress must be Olivia Davies, who was sitting quietly with a stern faced father and gentle looking mother, named Rhys and Samantha Davies. Sitting at the same table but a little apart, was an older couple who must be Frank Brookes and his wife Linda, the child’s grandparents.

  They looked kindly people. Frank with his sparse covering of white hair and a bit tubby round the tummy area and Linda, whose hair was salt and pepper and was of a rotund appearance too.

  Charles and Judith Wilson, a couple in their fifties, sat in the armchairs nearest her table. Charles was long legged with sandy coloured hair and a rather aquiline nose, whilst Judith, who was peering through white framed glasses at one of the brochures, was small and dainty. Her hair was dark brown and cut into a fashionable wedge, with streaks of blonde highlighting her fringe.

  It looked as if Judith was in charge of the plans they were making, as now and again Charles would nod in her direction and agree that they would go. Lucy wondered if this was the couple who were celebrating their twenty fifth wedding anniversary. She had remembered that Kath had left a note in the day-to-day diary that they shared.

&
nbsp; Three men sat together in a corner, sipping occasionally on the glasses of Buck’s Fizz that the waitress had brought over from the bar. Two of them were father and son, Lucy decided. James Hunter, a bald headed gentleman in his seventies by all accounts, who was wearing dark sunglasses on his rather bulbous nose, quite a heavy beige sweater and fawn trousers with large brown sandals over white sports socks.

  His son, Terence Hunter had short blonde hair, was of stocky build, with large brown curly lashed eyes in a soft skinned rounded face. He was wearing a pale blue stripey, short sleeved shirt with navy shorts, a pair of Adidas trainers and navy tinted sun glasses sat upon his head.

  Next to him and seemingly in collusion over what excursions were being chosen, was a rather commanding chap in his thirties, that Lucy presumed must be Bryce Lennox. Commanding because the clothes he was wearing shouted quality. The pink checked short sleeved shirt he had on looked bespoke and his jeans were definitely not ten pounds ninety nine off the market and the brown loafers he wore looked handmade. He had a restlessness about him, Lucy decided. His large frame fidgeted and occasionally his long thin fingers tapped on the table before him, he crossed and uncrossed his legs and ran his hand through his floppy brown collar length hair. A handsome man, with a firm jaw and a clean looking image, but a bit intimidating as far as she was concerned.

  There was a dear little girl sat with her mummy, obviously in charge of choosing the excursions, Lucy thought. They must be Ms. Parker and her daughter Jade. Ms. Parker was of slender appearance with her brown hair tied up in a pony tail. She wore beige calf length pants with a blue strappy top and gold criss cross wedge sandals. Her sharp featured countenance was lit up with happiness, as her dainty heart shaped faced daughter told her which trips she would like to go on. It was obviously quite a list, as Lucy could hear the lady explaining jokingly, that what her daughter had just chosen, would cost her ten years of her weekly pocket money.

  ***

  So, there were fourteen of the twenty three new guests, who had decided to attend her meeting. Not bad, Lucy supposed, considering it was sunny outside and a lot of people had only come on holiday to escape the rotten weather in England. It was freezing cold back there. She had heard one of the newcomers telling a guest at the breakfast buffet, who was going home on Tuesday. The wind chill factor there was below zero. Talking of chilled winds, reminded her she had better remember to ring her mother this evening, from the pay phone.

  ***

  “Do you think you could sit beside me, Lesley and take the money?” she asked, as her friend wandered over, after she had asked the guests if anyone would like another drink from the tray of glasses that had been left on top of the bar.

  “Perhaps you should take charge of the money and I’ll book down any names instead ” Lesley replied good naturedly. “I’m not very good with pesetas, you’ve had more experience than me.”

  “I suppose,” sighed Lucy, “ though it’s not as if we’re inundated!”

  ***

  “Hello,” said Olivia, as she sidled up to stand by Jade, while her father was giving in the booking form to Lucy. “My name’s Olivia, what’s yours?”

  “Oh,” said Jade, looking at her mother for assurance that she could speak to the girl who had broken in on their animated discussion. “My name is Jade.”

  “I saw you at breakfast time this morning. Are you going to the Kid’s club later?”

  “I think I am, didn’t you say that Annabelle was going to take me there later, Mummy?”

  “Yes, Jade, but I’m sure that Olivia could go too.”

  “I have to go back to my daddy now, so see you later.”

  Olivia dashed back before it was discovered that she had left her parent’s side.

  ***

  “So is it agreed between us that we invite Charles and Judith down to Bournemouth, then?” asked Brian, as he and Anthea came back from their early morning walk.

  “I think so. It would be complicated to pursue a relationship with Kate and Greg. Their marriage isn’t stable as far as I can see and what we would be suggesting could push it over the edge. We don’t want a re-occurrance of what happened with that other couple.”

  “Don’t remind me,” Brian said, shuddering at the memory. “ She was like a limpet, couldn’t seem to get the message that it was all a bit of fun. All those letters, declaring her undying love.”

  “Water under the bridge, Darling, we won’t make the same mistake again.”

  ***

  “We must go now, Lucy,” said Uwe, coming up to her table whilst she and Lesley were dealing with the first of the clients who were clutching their booking forms.

  “Oh,” she replied, looking a little confused for a moment, wondering where he and Heiko were going, when she saw them standing before her with their trench coats over their arms.

  “Isabelle has arrived to take us to Mount Teide?, he said, pointing to Sanchez’s daughter, who was by the door dressed in a pink patterned sweater and white jeans.

  “Oh yes, hope you have a nice time then.”

  “We will see you at dinner,” Uwe replied, seeing that her mind was taken up with the job in hand,

  “Auf Wiedersehen.” She nodded absentmindedly, as he and Heiko walked away.

  “Well,” said Lucy, as the last guest walked out of the Sunlight Bar intent on visiting the swimming pool area, their bedrooms to change or to take advantage of the All Inclusive drinks that were now available at the pool bar. “ I don’t think I’ve booked so many excursions since I started work here. Head Office will be pleased when they get my list.”

  “It’s the way yer sell ‘em,” joked Lesley, feeling happy for Lucy that she had got through the meeting without mishap and had obviously made a good fist of things. “ Shall we tidy up here, then relax in the sunshine, I think you deserve a little break?”

  “Sounds good,” Lucy grinned, delighted that the morning had gone so well. “I’ll take fifteen minutes unwinding time and then I’ll get over to the rep’s desk and phone head office. Which reminds me, I usually have Sunday’s off. I wonder what will happen tomorrow with Kath being off sick?”

  ***

  “That Mikey was around bright and early this morning, Sonya,” said Greg, as the pair of them lay on their sun loungers topping up their tans, Kate having joined the stretching group.

  “Oh was he, Dad?” she said, feigning casual interest, though her heart started beating a little too quickly. “ It’s possible he stopped over after finishing late. I believe there’s a room somewhere in the hotel that the management allows you to sleep in.”

  “That’s very accommodating of them, they seem to treat their staff well, then?”

  “I haven’t heard any complaints from Mikey. I think he’ll be sad to leave when his contract ends.”

  “Does he know what he’ll be doing in the future? Will he stay in the entertainment business?”

  “Don’t know, Dad, I’m not really interested.”

  “Well, as long as he doesn’t turn up on our doorstep.”

  ***

  “Ah, three young ladies come to help with our collage,” Anna said to two boys, who were painting a blue background onto a large sheet of paper, as Annabelle, Jade and Olivia walked into the room that was used by the older children. “We’re going to make lots of little sea creatures to swim around a coral reef. See, William has already made a start with all this pretty tissue paper.”

  “I’ve brought my friend, Jade, with me,” said Annabelle, ignoring Olivia who was standing in the doorway, hesitantly.

  “She’s coming to stay in my new apartment that we bought yesterday.”

  “ Oh,” said Anna, “ pleased to meet you Jade and who is this other young lady, who has come to see us?”

  “That’s Olivia,” said Jade. “ We met at the Welcome meeting, she’s new like me.”

  “Olivia won’t be coming to stay in my new apartment,” said Annabelle jealously. “ My mummy says I can’t invite everyone.”


  “Of course you can’t,” Anna replied pleasantly, sensing rivalry in the air, “ and as you’ve been coming to Kid’s club longer than the other’s, Annabelle, you can choose which sea creatures that we’re going to make for our collage”

  ***

  “Well, that certainly got my blood flowing,” said Denise a little breathlessly, as she came over to the kiddie’s pool, where Vicky was dangling a giggling Chantelle before her.

  “A nice group of women too, all like me worrying that they’re putting weight on with this All Inclusive.”

  “You will be putting on weight if you keep eating all that fried stuff at breakfast,” Vicky replied seriously. “ Anyway, shall we go for a walk after I’ve dried Chantelle off, she’ll be due for a sleep in the next half hour.”

  “She’s a little monkey,” smiled Denise indulgently. “ What time was it this morning? Six o’ clock I heard you moving about, making her bottle. It’s a good job we bought that conversion plug on the sea front, so that you could heat up the bottle warmer in the room.”

  “At least we’re not disturbing the other guests. That was one thing I worried about before we came away, but up to now we’ve only had folk smiling at us. It’s a friendly hotel, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, love and you’re beginning to lose your weary look. I knew that this break was going to do us good.”

  ***

  “Every seat we’ve been allocated has been taken up on the excursions,” Lucy enthused to Lesley, as she sat checking her paperwork at one of the tables near the pool bar. “ I hope Head office will be pleased. What am I saying, they’ll be pleased as punch and it will be a feather in my cap as far as I’m concerned? I’m going to ring them them when I’ve finished my orange juice and while I’m about it, I’ll check that I’m getting my day off.”

  “What do you normally do on your day off?”

  “Wash my clothes at the launderette, that’s after lying in bed until lunch time of course, hang around here on the sun lounger and read a book if the weather is good, or take a walk along the promenade. Same as, week in week out.”