Page 54 of Dancing Fools and All That Jazz
I have craned my neck to look for any sign of Sheilaand her band of women, quite sure we would hear them before we see them. It is a relief there has been no hint of them so far. Clarissa’s ladies are far superior in both presentation and manner.
Our tour over, we all sit in the smaller and preferable amphitheatre. The warm wooden flooring gives it a cosy feel and we commandeer a section of the black, padded circular benching. We sit and wait for Clarissa, and I quickly calculate our expenses to date.
‘Ahem.’ I stand in front of our group and wait for them all to give me their undivided attention. ‘Before Clarissa arrives, I just thought you should know what we owe Monica so far. I used her card – thank you, Monica – to purchase the three-day Metro tickets for our entire group so with that and the train fares, including the Eurostar, our running total works out to be four-hundred-and-twenty-two pounds each. Of course, we will have the hotel to add to that, but this is, thankfully, a relatively small sum…’
‘Hey, there’s something good to be said for the Smut Hotel, then?’ Ruby mutters, but I ignore her as I notice Ingrida is chewing her lip.
‘Please do not worry. I plan to get back everything we have paid to Janine, and I have taken the first steps towards this.’
‘You said you’d reported it to the police—’
‘Yes, I did, Ruby, and I have no idea why you should look so irritated that I have done so. Someone had to. I went online on the Greater Manchester Police site – I did it first thing when you were all getting dressed. I reported her theft of our Paris money, and I also reportedmy suspicions that Janine had embezzled our lottery money…’
‘You did what?’
‘Really, Ruby, you must let me finish. I did add this was only supposition, and I had, as yet, no proof, whereas I made it clear there was plenty of evidence she had stolen our competition trip money.’
‘Fay, I wish you’d waited until we got back to England…’
I was surprised to find Monica voicing her objection to my actions.
‘It just seems wrong to initiate police involvement before we have found out what happened.’
‘Hear, hear.’ Ruby crosses her arms, but neither she nor Monica make eye contact with each other.
‘I am sorry,’ I say with a degree of frustration I cannot keep from my voice. ‘But we need to be very clear that regardless of Janine’s reasons for stealing from us, she has, plain and simple, committed an offence. She must make restitution for what she has taken and pay the penalty.’
Bonnie and Cath shake their heads and one by one, the ladies turn to each other and talk in low voices about anything other than Janine. When no one responds to me, I sit down, more than a little piqued.
I could have told them that in all probability it will take an age for the authorities to act on my report. One of the questions I had to answer on the website form was whether I was in immediate danger. It made me appreciate there are others who will have been the victims of far worse crimes and that this theft falls more into thecategory of a scam. But if the other women choose not to listen to me, I will not inform them it is unlikely to have the highest priority for the police.
A short blast of feedback resounds from the overhead speakers, making us jump and the theatre starts to fill up while announcements are made over the sound system.
‘Messieurs dames, attention. Nous allons commencer la répétition détaillée…’
‘He say, we are to start the rehearsal,’ Ingrida translates.
‘Afin de déterminer le positionnement et vérifier l’éclairage.’
‘It is for us to check positioning and lighting.’
‘Et nous appellerons chaque groupe à tour de rôle.’
‘Each group will be called in turn.’
‘Veuillez écouter votre nom.’
‘Listen for your name…’
‘Et s’il vous plaît soyez rapide.’
‘He ask us to be prompt.’
‘This is it.’ Asha claps her hands together and we watch the first group take to the stage. There are further blasts of music and feedback and after ten minutes of eagerly anticipating the first performance, nothing has happened. The dancers, a group of eight women wearing bright leotards overlaid with sarongs, stand talking to each other as they wait. The lights flash on and off in strange combinations and the opening bars ofDance of the Knightsby Sergei Prokofiev play in repetitive and tedious snatches.
‘That’s the theme tune toThe Apprentice.’ Cathnudges Bonnie. ‘Do you remember Clarissa’s skirt dance to this?’
‘I certainly do. It was incredible. We did it in the very first Expression contest, when only a few dance groups took part. Do you remember it, Fay?’ Bonnie asks.
