Clouds Below the Mountains

by Vivienne Dockerty

  “Bet you wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  “Well, it would be nice if I had a dishilly handsome man to walk along the promenade with.”

  “Someone like Uwe?” Lesley said recklessly.

  “Fat chance. I wish, but I probably won’t ever see him again.”

  “But surely he and Heiko will visit on a regular basis, checking that every thing’s in order for the comfort of their clientele?”

  “I doubt it. They’ll probably install a pretty young fraulein and I’ll feel really jealous that she’s in daily contact with them.”

  ***

  “Where did you lot get to last night,Tina?” asked Sonya, when she went to pick Evan up from the Kid’s club later. “ I was sitting on my own until Mikey finished, as Lucy had an early night.”

  “We were out with Susanne. Keep it under your hat, but she’s flying back home to Denmark tomorrow. Her mother sent her a bank draft for her ticket, so she treated us to a farewell meal at that new Chinese restaurant that’s just opened in the Mall.”

  “So what will Mikey do for a replacement? It’s a bit short notice, don’t you think?”

  Tina shrugged. “ None of my business, I just get on with my own job and let him get on with his. Anyway, got to go, here’s your lovely Evan. He’s made you a card for Mother’s Day, although it’s a little way off yet.”

  ***

  “Have you heard how Kath is?” asked Lucy, after she had got through to Robert on her mobile phone. Perhaps her supervisor had made a miraculous recovery and she’d be assured of her day off after all.

  “No word,” Robert replied. “She’s probably tucked up in bed as we speak, Lucy. Anyway what can I do for you?”

  “I’m ringing to let you know how the bookings went at the Welcome meeting. Our allocations for Loro Parque, Santa Cruz, Aquapark and Mount Teide have all been taken. Two couples, not sure yet whether they will join the excursion to Los Gomeras and one couple debating whether to go to Raffles next Sunday.”

  “Haven’t you done well?” came Robert’s voice sounding rather impressed. “ Those are the best numbers you’ve come up with from the Valia Hotel. Go to the top of the class, my dear. Let me get my pen and I’ll take all the names and room numbers. See, my faith in you has been rewarded, but don’t let it go to your head.”

  Lucy finished her phone call with mixed feelings later. It had been great to take the praise and acclaim, but it hadn’t got her what she had wanted in the long run. There was to be no let up for Lucy, until Kath was on her feet again.

  ***

  “I’m looking forward to the coach trip to Mount Teide on Wednesday, Terry,” said Jim, as he sat with his son at lunch time, eating their starters. “ I’m glad you decided on the half day tour, because I don’t think I’m up to sitting in a coach for longer than a couple of hours.”

  “That’s why we chose it, Dad. I hope you don’t mind me and Bryce going to Santa Cruz together on Monday, but we think there’ll be a lot of walking about, according to the excursion brochure.”

  “I told you, Son. I’m happy you’ve found a pal to gad about with. All I want is a bit of sunshine to warm these old bones of mine and I can see to meself while you’re away.”

  “Well, I’ll make sure you’ve got some newspapers and a book to read and I’m sure one of the staff will help, if you need drinks or assistance with anything.”

  “Where is Bryce anyway, I thought he’d be coming into lunch with us?”

  “He’s had to wait for a phone call in his bedroom. You know, Dad, this business of his doesn’t seem to be a tin pot organization, he’s in the middle of taking over an existing company in Newport Pagnell. That’s what he was telling me anyway. He could be useful if I ever decide I want to leave my job in Manchester.”

  “You mean when I’ve popped me clogs, Terry?” Jim looked sorrowfully at his plate of fish goujons.

  “No, Dad, I didn’t mean that. I meant he might have connections if I wanted to move on.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with working at Mealors. They’re a good company and they’ve treated you well. Not many firms would put up with…well, you know what I’m talking about.”

  “Dad, this is 1995, we’re not living in the Dark Age anymore. The world has moved on since people like me were prosecuted for not being “ normal.” He put his hands up and tweaked his fingers to show his emphasis on normal.

  “Shush, keep your voice down. Do you want people to hear our business, Terry? Any road, we’ll say no more about it, let’s finish this then help me to the buffet. I’ve a mind to try what that woman’s eating, it looks good from where I’m sat.”

  Chapter Twenty Three.

  The Sunlight Bar began to fill up, as the guests finished their evening meals and sought after dinner drinks to aid their digestion. Juan was busy behind the bar, leaving Miguel and Rachael on duty in the restaurant, where a few stragglers remained taking their time. Mikey tested his sound system, before announcing it was Mini disco time to the impatient youngsters.

  He had just been told by Susanne that she was catching a flight home the following morning. The knowledge of this did nothing to improve his temper, it meant that he had no one now to delegate the boring jobs to. Damion couldn’t or wouldn’t be pushed around, in the same way that the Danish girl had been. The lazy tosser did nothing much to earn his weekly pay.

  “Did you and Anna know that Susanne was leaving?” he asked, as Tina danced by with one of the children. She nodded, then stopped as he glared at her. “Why, didn’t she tell you, Mikey?”

  “No, she didn’t. She came by before and said that as the agency had paid her her wages yesterday, there wasn’t any need for her to work this evening. That she’d only done the stretching this morning because she needed the exercise. How long have you known?”

  “Only when she invited me and Anna out for a Chinese meal last night to celebrate her leaving. I’m sure she said she’d told you,” she lied.

  “Well, she’s really left me in the shit. I’m going to have to take over the stretching, the aqua aerobics, all the D.J work, besides all the other daytime activities. It’s no good relying on Damion, I don’t know where he is half the time.”

  “You’re the senior entertainer, Mikey, you’ll have to sort it then, won’t you?” Tina said, as she danced off again with a smirk.

  ***

  “Can I do anything to help you tomorrow, Lucy?” asked Lesley, homing into the rep’s despair that she wouldn’t be getting a day off that week.

  “I suppose you could do my washing,” she joked, sipping on her first vodka and tonic of the evening, appreciating the sharp taste of the slice of lemon as she licked it with her tongue.

  “Oh, I didn’t think you’d want me to get personal with your smalls, but perhaps I could sit in the rep’s area, while you get some things washed at the launderette. If anyone wants a word with you, I could jot down a note.”

  “Would you, you know you’ve turned into a really good friend, Lesley? I’m going to miss you when you go.” She leant over and gave Lesley a hug, leaving the girl with unshed tears and a dull ache in her throat.

  ***

  “I’ve decided that for the last few nights of our holiday, I’m going to look after Evan,” said Greg to Sonya, taking the opportunity to let her know, while Kate was visiting the Ladies. “You and your mother can enjoy yourselves on the dance floor.”

  “Are you sure, Dad?” she asked in surprise, but feeling relief that she could party a little longer.

  “Don’t you and Mum want a boogie? It seems unfair to you both, especially as you were going on about me not spending enough time with Evan?”

  “Thing is I’m getting bored with the same routine every evening. We have our meal, sit in here, make inane conversation with people we would never bother with back home and to be honest, I’m on countdown to our flight back to Manchester. I’ll be quite happy to sit in the bedroom and read. I’m starting a new book by Clive Cussler, I found it in the swa
p box when I walked past the rep’s desk. I’ll have it finished by Monday night and I can put it back again.”

  “Well, it’s O.K by me, but what about Mum, how will she feel about it?”

  “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask her, but that’s what I’ve decided to do.”

  ***

  Two of the stragglers in the restaurant were Uwe and Heiko. Like the gentlemen they were they, had assisted Isabelle with changing the tyre on her small Toyota, which had developed a puncture on the way back from their tour. Apologetically, she had rushed them back, but by the time they had showered and changed for dinner, Lucy and Lesley had finished their meal and gone to the Sunlight Bar.

  “So, Heiko,” Uwe said in German, after he had finished his minestrone soup that he and his friend had chosen for starters. “ Do you have a game plan for this evening, or are you going to wait and see how things develop?”

  “I am not sure that I understand your meaning?” Heiko replied seriously, but knowing full well that Uwe was referring to Lesley.

  “Well, is this the fond farewell or are you going to ask her for her contact details?”

  “I could ask the same of you, what is your plan over Lucy?”

  “I like Lucy immensely and in a different situation I think that we could fall in love, but I think she would not welcome my attention, as I believe she is a true professional.”

  “Say you, who cannot see that the young woman in question has a crush on you.”

  “That may be, but perhaps she has because she admires me for being hard working and successful in my labours. She will understand, that we could only be associates while we work in the same industry.”

  “Rubbish, Uwe. If you really wanted a relationship with Lucy, none of these things would matter. You are just being your usual self and not approaching her because of the fear of rejection.”

  “Ah, that hurt, you are talking about Fraulein Wasmuth, who turned down my invitation to take her to dinner. I admit, I thought she may be interested in me, but I obviously misunderstood her body language.”

  “Then may I suggest, my friend, that you study Lucy’s carefully.”

  ***

  “This makes a change, Betty, sitting in the audience instead of being up there entertaining,” said Meggie, as the two women waited for Nobby to bring their drinks from the bar.

  “Is it true that you’d never been abroad before?” asked Betty, who had really got to like this Meggie, after spending most of the day in her cheerful company.

  “There never seemed the need to go abroad and my old man was never keen. He used to say that there was nowt wrong with sleeping in your own bed at night and was always suspicious of foreign food. So we usually went on day trips, Blackpool, Lake District or Morcambe and suchlike. His biggest treat was sitting on a bench by the seaside, eating fish and chips.”

  “Yes, we enjoy doing that, or packing up a load of egg butties and coffee in a flask.”

  “Aye, things have changed since we were young uns,” said Meggie, thanking Nobby for the gin and tonic, because if she had ordered it she would have had to pay. “ Do you remember the Wakes Weeks, when all the factories shut up for a fortnight and we all traipsed off on the chara’s or if yer dad could afford it, a week away? We usually went to Blackpool, as me dad was a foreman in the cotton mill, so we managed to afford a boarding house. That’s where I first saw a show on one of the Piers, me dad loved Variety and the comedians there did make us chuckle. He entered me one year for a Junior Talent Show and I won a doll with eyes that could open and shut on their own, but he never had the brass to spare for singing lessons. So I kept me singing for parties or weddings, that’s why I was so late then going on the circuit.”

  “And what made you decide to entertain for a living then?” asked Nobby, who thought that this woman could write a book about her life story.

  “It was our Suzie who persuaded me, you know I told you I had a daughter. After my husband died I got a job as a barmaid, only a few hours at the weekend ‘cos I was on the Social, but sometimes if an act didn’t show, the gaffer got me to sing instead. So here I am, fame at last, at least in Tenerife that is.”

  ***

  “Hey, Roz, do you and Jade fancy going to Aqualand with us tomorrow?” asked Paul, as he brought drinks over on a tray, as the waiter at the bar seemed rushed off their feet.

  “Oh Daddy, are we going to Aqualand again?” squeaked Annabelle, pleased that she could show off the Espace to her new friend.

  “Well, I’ve been thinking about it, as Mummy doesn’t seem very interested in going to have a look at the apartment again.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Cheryl sharply, tipping Jack off her knee as he began to sip his orange juice through the blue and white straw he’d been given.

  “I’m only saying, that perhaps we should arrange to go somewhere for the kids tomorrow and you haven’t said that you wanted to visit the apartment again.”

  “Well then,” said Cheryl, who was slowly simmering, because in the back of her mind niggled the thought that Paul had pushed her into buying the holiday home. She didn’t really want to look for a job, when she got back home to Bury. It would be too intrusive on her time with friends and horror of horrors, there’d be no time for shopping and lunching in Manchester.

  “Thanks for the invite, but I’ve already booked to take Jade to Aqualand next Tuesday. Had I known you were going, it would have saved us the booking fee.”

  “Oh,” said Annabelle, looking very disappointed. “ I suppose I’ll have to make do with boring Jack all day.”

  “If you let him get a word in, your father might have something interesting to say,” said Cheryl, snappily.

  “Cheryl,” Paul reproved when he saw his daughter’s downcast face. “ I was only thinking, Pumpkin. We don’t have to go if you prefer to stay here with Jade instead, but maybe it would do us good to go out tomorrow. It can get very boring too, hanging around the pool all day.”

  Speak for yourself, thought Cheryl. I’m quite happy to sit in the sun doing nothing all day.

  ***

  Olivia stood on the edge of the dance floor, watching Annabelle and Jade dancing to the Birdie Song.

  “Come and join in,” said Tina encouragingly, then taking her hand. “ I thought you were friends with those two, why aren’t you dancing with them?”

  Olivia shook her head unhappily and wouldn’t answer, but began to copy the other children who were doing the actions with much gusto. When the music finished, she went back to where she had been standing before.

  “Shall I let you into a secret?” asked Tina, coming back to her, before Mikey announced the next song. “Annabelle is going home on Tuesday, so you’ll have Jade all to yourself.”

  ***

  “Wasn’t it possible for your partner to come up North, when you did?” asked Bryce, after Terry came to join him at a table away from the noise of the children, once he had settled Jim in the bedroom.

  “It’s a long story,” said Terry, not knowing whether to entrust this guy with his secret, seeing he had only met him yesterday.

  “Did your dad not like her? It would have seemed a sensible arrangement to have a woman looking after you both.”

  “I think you’ve missed something about me, Bryce,” he replied, deciding to take the man into his confidence, as he sipped his first gin and tonic of the evening that Bryce had put before him. What did it matter if the bloke was shocked by his admission, he had the option of walking away?

  “I have?”

  “The partner in question was male not female. Can you imagine someone like my father going along with a gay couple living in his house?”

  “No, but your father is from the older generation and it must have been an astounding revelation to him. But I have to say you’ve floored me, aren’t you supposed to have some sort of traits that single a gay man out?”

  “Like walking funny or talking in a precious voice?” asked Terry, a trifle bitter as he was n
ot sure about this conversation, because Bryce seemed to be sitting on the fence.

  “I suppose it’s a general characterization that springs to mind.”

  “I only realized I was gay in my early twenties. Before that I’d knock about with the local girls, but I never wanted to make love to them. Then I met Pete, when I went to Uni’ and we sort of clicked straight away. We shared a flat together and without going into the detail, it sort of went on from there. He had already told his parents that he was gay and they’d just accepted it without a murmur, except for the usual worries of practising safe sex of course. But my Dad blew a gasket when I made up my mind to tell him and told me never to darken his door. It was a difficult time for both of us, as my mum was in hospital and he tried to ban me from her bedside. But I was determined to be with her and I was glad I did, because she died a few days later. I stayed for the funeral, though it was hard because Dad and I were barely speaking, then I took myself off back to London where Pete and I had rented a pad.”

  “So how did you and he heal the wounds, as it were?”

  “Well, to cut a long story short, Dad had a fall and had to spend some time in hospital for a hip repair. The authorities wouldn’t let him back home again, unless he had someone living there with him. It was that or he went into a Nursing Home. In the end he ate humble pie and wrote me a letter, both of us had to swallow our pride and try to get on with each other again.”

  “And Pete?”

  “We split. It was a case of the “you have to choose between us” syndrome and my Dad had been good to me helping me through university, when he could have let me get in debt. It was my duty and we rub along quite well together really, as long as we don’t get into any personal stuff.”

  “Another gin and tonic, you must be thirsty after telling me all that?”

  Terry nodded, pleased to have got it all off his chest. Now Bryce could be a friend for life or be consigned to the bin as a fly-by-night.

  ***

  “I’ve seen these Candelaria’s before,” said Greg, as the Bingo finished and there was a general buzz of conversation throughout the room. “ I’ll go and get Evan and we’ll be on our way. Be quiet when you come up you two.”