Page 99 of Dancing Fools and All That Jazz
I think I drink a little too much champagne and when Hazel makes her speech, I find myself close to crying.
Fay, she turn to me after the speeches and she say to me, ‘Well, Hazel has certainly given us food for thought.’
I smile at her, repeating her words in my head. ‘I like this idea, Fay. Food to fatten up thoughts…’
‘Interestingly enough, the idiom originates from theFrench revolution when people started to reject traditional beliefs with a fresh diet of ideas. It began the era of reason.’
‘A French phrase for meal in Paris with French food.’
‘Precisely. And both a delicious meal and a delicious phrase.’ Fay hiccups.
‘How is your leg?’
‘I think I have possibly anaesthetised the pain. Hic.’ Fay raises her flute before draining the last drop of her champagne. ‘But thank you for asking, Ingrida. You are a kind soul.’
At the hotel, I help Fay to change in the bathroom and she sits on the toilet seat to brush her teeth. Her leg is swollen so I slightly loosen the Velcro of her airboot.
‘You need to rest your leg on a few pillows tonight, to raise it high. Fay, did the hospital give you injections for the thinning of the blood?’
‘What? Oh… I can get those when we get home.’
‘They did not give you Heparin or similar medicine?’
‘Ingrida, it will be fine. They are only a precautionary measure.’
‘Is very important you have this medicine. It is anticoagulant.’
‘Quite… is it not splendid we are in the finals? I shall miss dancing with you all…’
I know Fay, she deliberately change the subject and I suddenly feel very tired. I rub my eyes and a sigh, it escape my mouth.
Fay looks at me with questions in her eyes. ‘Ingrida, I could see you were not your usual self tonight. And I could not help overhearing Bonnie refer to your condition. Doyou mind me asking, are you expecting?’
‘Ne. I am not. I am not pregnant.’
‘Oh dear, another of Bonnie’s gaffes. What then? I am a very good listener.’
I sit on the side of the bath and my worries bubble to the surface.
‘I will never be pregnant. I have cancer when I was younger.’
‘How terrible. But you now have three lovely stepchildren?’
‘Ja, but Neil, he does not tell Rita and Terry we are married.’
‘Maya’s parents?’
‘Ja. And now my uncle, Kazimieras, he is not a nice man, he is in the United Kingdom, and he say I must give him money but I do not have any and…’ I start to speak quickly as my troubles, they pour out and only when I finish do I realise I have been saying the words in half-English and half-Latvian.
Fay nods her head and I think she is comprehension what I say.
‘So, you are going to meet this Kazimieras next week?’
‘Ja.’
‘I can come with you if you like? If you need some moral support.’
I look at the big hospital boot on Fay’s leg and I think of her in a wheelchair next to me when I meet Kazimieras. Then I think of his huge muscles and how he make many threats. It is a very big contrast and the thought of it bringsa smile to my face.
