Say it with Sequins

by Georgia Hill

  “Bob, I really think it’s time we opened it.” It had been another thirty minutes. Merry had been in the sarcophagus for nearly three hours. Daniel was past caring about what threats Bob could carry out. He knew something was wrong. He just knew.

  Bob looked at the clock, ratcheting up the money. “Just another two minutes.”

  “Bob!” Daniel said, warningly. He had threats of his own in mind if the producer didn’t comply.

  “Oh very well. Ten, nine, eight, seven…are the cameras rolling? Right, get into position everyone, we’re about to open it up!” Bob waited for the signal from Sandy, Hank and the team and then heaved open the door to the case. “Meredith, the fantastic news is you’ve raised thirteen thousand pounds!” He peered into the gloom. “Meredith? Are you in there?”

  Daniel shoved past him and almost tripped over Merry who was curled on the floor. She was very still. And unconscious.

  With difficulty, Daniel manoeuvred himself inside so he could scoop her up and carry her to the medic’s room. “If anything, anything happens to her,” he yelled at Bob, “I will tear your miserable body limb from fucking limb. Now get out of my way!”

  Once Daniel had laid Merry on the couch in the medical room, the first aid team ushered him out of the way. He was back on the outside again. Back to pacing.

  It seemed like hours before Daniel was allowed in. When he was, he wanted to run straight back out again. Merry was strapped into some kind of breathing equipment. She had a mask over her face, but still had a deathly pallor that terrified him. She was sitting up though. And apparently, had been arguing with the medics.

  Tom, the doctor in charge, explained. “She really should go to A & E to get checked out more thoroughly. I’ve told her but she won’t go.” He looked at Daniel. “Can’t force her.” He shrugged at his patient. “I’ll leave her with you then, done all I can. Perhaps you could see she gets home?” He nodded to the nurse. “She can take the oxygen mask off now. She won’t need it anymore.”

  “Is she - ?”

  “She’s fine,” Tom pre-empted Daniel’s question. “She’ll just need a couple of days rest. Make sure she’s not left alone, will you?” He looked from Daniel to Merry. “I’ll leave you two together, then. You know where I am if I’m needed again.” He smiled at the nurse and left.

  After the breathing mask had been removed and the room tidied, the nurse, too, disappeared.

  “Merry?” To Daniel’s annoyance, his voice came out ragged.

  Merry eased herself up. “I’m okay. Honestly.”

  He came to sit on the edge of the couch. He wanted to take her hand but didn’t quite have the courage. “Why the hell didn’t you come out sooner?”

  Merry rubbed her face where the band from the oxygen mask had dug in. “I tried to get out but the door was jammed or something.”

  “You know it was. Bob locked you in.”

  “No, I mean the secret door Sandy told me about. She showed me how to get out if or when I needed to.”

  Daniel was mystified. “Then why didn’t you?”

  “I tried but the handle wouldn’t turn, not how it was meant to. I was stuck. I shouted but I couldn’t make anyone hear. I was stuck,” Merry repeated. She began to tremble and tears spilled.

  It was so unlike the Merry he knew to break down, that at first Daniel didn’t know what to do.

  “Everything alright in here?” Bob stuck his sweating face round the door. “Ah good, I see you’re back in the land of the living, Meredith.”

  “Get out,” Daniel snarled and gathered Merry in his arms.

  Bob raised his hands in a placating gesture which was cancelled out by the smug grin on his face. “Only asking, Dan. If Merry needs anything, you only have to say.”

  “I said get the fuck out.” Daniel mouthed the words over Merry’s head but they were no less effective.

  Bob disappeared.

  Merry drew back from Daniel and gazed up at him. “My hero” she said with a little of her old spirit. She sniffed. “It was him, wasn’t it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It was Bob who locked both doors.”

  Dan nodded. He couldn’t trust himself to speak.

  “He got his own back on me, didn’t he?”

  “Oh yes, babe. He did that alright. But the worse thing is -”

  “What?”

  “The bastard’s got it all on tape. He kept the cameras rolling the whole time. Even when I was carrying you in here.”

  “Oh.” Merry quivered and laid her head on Daniel’s comforting shoulder. “Oh shit.”

  Step Fourteen.

  There was, however, little time to dwell on how much footage Bob would use. She and Daniel had a final to prepare for. He’d camped out in Venetia’s sitting room, sleeping on the sofa for a few nights, obeying Tom’s command that she should not be alone. They lounged in front of the television, late into the night after rehearsals, mulling over Bob’s actions, drinking too much and eating rubbish.

  But when Daniel announced they were to learn two new dances, Merry told him he’d gone mad.

  “The others are all reprising dances they’ve done before!” she said in a panic on Monday morning. “We’ve got just over a week before the final show’s recorded. I can’t possibly learn two completely new dances in that time.”

  Daniel spread out his hands. “Merry, calm down. You didn’t hear me properly. Yes, of course you could learn two new dances but that’s not exactly what we’re going to do.”

  Merry pointed her water bottle at him. “Explain yourself then, dance boy,” she said sternly.

  Daniel grinned. “We do one show dance and one free dance. Right?”

  “Right.” Merry nodded.

  “The show dance has elements of all the other dances we’ve done before. Some waltz and salsa steps, some story telling from our tango and Paso and we’ll put in a couple of show stopping lifts.”

  “Okay,” Merry said cautiously. “That sounds do-able. I think.”

  “And, for the other, we incorporate some of our quick step into a -” he left an ominous pause.

  “A what, Daniel?”

  He winked. “A Charleston.”

  “Oh. My. God.” Merry collapsed onto a giant exercise ball. It wobbled like jelly and she slid off it to lie on the floor, spread-eagled. “I can’t believe you’re going to make me do a Charleston,” she said to the ceiling. She sat up. “Me. Great hulking heffalump me!”

  Daniel came to crouch beside her, a concerned look on his face, all humour instantly gone. “Meredith Denning, don’t ever, ever say that about yourself.”

  “Blimey Dan, this must be serious, you’ve used my full name.”

  “I am serious.” He came to sit alongside her, the neon green from the exercise ball casting an incongruous glow over his features. “You must stop putting yourself down like this. You’ve been doing it ever since Evil Bob announced his intention to show the film of you in an extra-long special.”

  Merry concentrated very hard on the floor of the dance studio. It was sprung and a light beech colour, she noticed. There was a scuff mark by the door where Daniel had skidded when misjudging a lift.

  “Merry?”

  When she lifted her gaze to his, she had tears in her eyes.

  “Oh Merry.” Daniel took the bottle of water she was clutching out of her hand and put it on the floor. He hugged her to him, fiercely. “Don’t let him get to you like this.”

  “I’m trying not to.” She gulped. She was not the crying sort, she told herself, she really wasn’t. But ever since she’d begun this daft, exhilarating TV programme which had completely taken over her life, she’d cried more than she’d allowed herself to do in years. “It’s just that, I keep picturing myself in that stupid Egyptian costume, big bum in the air, thighs wobbling all over the place, all five feet ten of unconscious claustrophobic wimp.”

  Daniel was shocked. He’d never heard her refer to herself in such a derogatory way. “Meredith, you do no
t have a big bottom, or wobbly thighs. Yes, you’re big but you’re toned and fit. And you looked sexy as hell in that costume,” he added.

  “I’m a size sixteen.” Merry said it in scandalised tones. “Roxy has to find extra fabric for my dresses. She told me.”

  Daniel harrumphed. “And – as you’ve quite correctly pointed out to me, you’re nearly six feet tall. How stupid would you look if you were a size ten?”

  “Casey’s a size six,” Merry added, in a small voice.

  “Well, agreed, her brain is tiny. Fake boobs though.”

  Merry looked up at him and giggled. “Really?”

  “Of course they are, babe! How could someone as small as Casey naturally be a double D cup? Have you ever seen the girl eat? She’s so unhealthy. Starves herself to be the size she thinks she needs to be, undergoes painful surgery to supplement what little she has up top and under all that make-up she’s as grey and unappealing as a motorway services’ pasty.”

  Merry took a deep breath. “It’s just that, well, I got teased a lot when I was a kid. I was tall even when I was little. If you see what I mean. And Daddy always said if I kept eating like a horse, I’d end up as big as one.”

  Daniel winced. He might have known the delightful Mr Denning had a hand in this. What a foul thing to say to your daughter. He bit back his anger and contented himself with saying: “Well, don’t ever let me hear you diss yourself again. You’re long and lovely, elegant and beautiful. You knock spots off Casey and anyone who says otherwise, is simply jealous.”

  Merry stared at him, open-mouthed. She’d never heard him sound off so passionately about anything. “Daniel, I do love you.” It came out before she had time to think.

  He looked at her askance.

  “You’re such a bloody good friend,” she added, hastily.

  His expression shifted. “Well, yes, glad to be of service.” He cleared his throat and rose, in one lithe movement, from the floor. “Okay then, Merry my friend, hadn’t we better get on with our rehearsal? I’ve decided we’re fucking well going to win this, so we’ve got some hard work to do.”

  Merry held out a hand. Despite all Daniel’s compliments, she was nowhere near as supple as he and needed some help getting up, which he offered. As she stood, she looked up into his face, slightly shocked at his swear word. She knew Daniel well enough by now to know he never swore, unless gripped by some extreme emotion.

  “Then we’d better get started, hadn’t we? Starting positions, Mr Cunningham?” Merry pulled her t-shirt back over her bottom, arched an eyebrow and struck a pose.

  “Starting positions Miss Denning,” Daniel responded with a slightly forced smile. “And drop those shoulders!”

  Step Fifteen.

  Once again, the Artemida Hotel played host to a Fizz TV gathering. And once again, the food was lavish and the wine plentiful. Merry hardly noticed though, as she slid onto a chair on the back row of the conference room, which was set up with an enormous screen.

  They were there to watch a preview of the special hour-long bloopers programme. It was due to be transmitted shortly before the final went out and was always a hit. It was the sort of show that used to be a favourite of Merry’s too, until she became the subject of one. She wasn’t looking forward to it one bit and had a horrible feeling Bob had given her the star billing.

  Daniel grabbed a couple of glasses of white from a passing tray and slipped in beside her.

  Passing one over, he murmured, “It’ll be fine.”

  “You think so? I’ve got money on Bob making them choose the most excruciatingly embarrassing clips of yours truly,” she hissed back.

  “Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.” Daniel squeezed her hand and smiled at Harri and Julia who came to sit immediately in front of them. Harri, along with Suni, were now out of the competition and able to sit back and relax a little. “And the problem is, we can’t do anything; it’s in our contract.”

  “Oh yes. That ruddy contract,” Harri added, turning round with a boyish grin. “Mind, viewers love this sort of thing. Very popular.”

  “Oh great,” Merry said, mournfully. “That means loads of repeats then.” She drank half her wine down in one go.

  “Not all bad news then, babe.” Daniel winked at her. “Think of the repeat fees.”

  “Nah. Bob will have thought of a way round that,” Harri chipped in.

  “Not helping, mate.”

  “Sorry, Dan. Just trying to lighten the mood, see.”

  “I think you’d help more by butting out,” Julia reproved. “Ssh everyone, look it’s about to start.”

  They turned to watch Bob, who was introducing the programme. He droned on about it going out as part of the celebrations to mark a hundred episodes of Who Dares Dances.

  It wasn’t too bad at the beginning, although Merry had a bad moment when the ill-fated sarcophagus flashed up for a second. There was a contagiously funny montage of various people suffering fits of giggles, including Merry and Daniel. This was followed by an equally hilarious sequence of dancers falling over; Merry featured a lot there too. Then she tensed as scenes showing Callum swimming with sharks was shown. She caught her breath as a diver was shown baiting a shark with fish, in order to swim into shot – and failing as the shark glided away. Merry hadn’t thought any footage of the challenges was to be included in the blooper reel. Then there was a close-up of her own face. It loomed enormous and pallid underneath the Egyptian make-up. The shot was out of focus and far too close. Her features took on monstrous proportions. She began to feel queasy, put down her glass of wine and found Daniel’s comforting hand. She clutched on. It was followed by snippets of film, all featuring Merry. In them she was seen falling over time and time again, getting her steps mixed up in the group merengue and gurning at her colleagues.

  “It’s so easy to forget the cameras are there,” whispered Daniel, at her side. “Don’t worry,” he looked around at the audience, “people think it’s funny, not humiliating.”

  “I’m glad you think so,” Merry responded. She was close to tears. It was as bad as she’d feared.

  The programme dragged on. Merry was given a brief respite, during which a series of scripted moments to camera were shown going horribly wrong and then she was back, firmly as the main attraction. The last segment showed a full shot of Merry during her challenge, the camera lingering on her cleavage, as it threatened to burst out of its snake bra top. It was followed by a supposedly comical sequence of her stuffing her face at any opportunity and finished with a close-up of her behind, enormous and tightly encased in the blue and gold of her Egyptian costume.

  There was loud applause at the end, accompanied by catcalls and wolf-whistles. It was the first time most had seen any footage of Merry’s challenge and its daring outfit.

  Harri gave a long, two fingers in the mouth, whistle. “You go, cariad bach. Star of the show. Where’ve you been hiding that body?” He got an elbow in the ribs from Julia to shut him up.

  Amazingly, his sentiments were echoed by those in the room. Merry got shakily to her feet to be greeted by Scott. He planted an enormous kiss on her cheek. “Knew you were a comedian, darling. Didn’t realise how funny you were!”

  He was followed by the others, who were all congratulating Merry on her comic turn and gorgeous body.

  Merry blinked at them, confused. To her the intentions of the film were clear; to humiliate and link her gluttony to her generous size. And, as she glanced over and caught Bob’s eye, she was certain that had been his intention.

  As he saw her glare, Bob coloured unbecomingly and disappeared from the room.

  “As well you might, Bob the Bastard. It’s back-fired on you, hasn’t it?” She licked her finger and painted a one in the air, then turned to Daniel and gave him a resounding kiss on the lips, much to his surprise. “A point to me, I think.”

  Daniel, relieved that Merry had recovered her usual joie de vivre, slipped an arm round her shoulders. “You did great, babe,” he said, as
he kissed the top of her head. “Just great.” And then left her to be feted by her many admirers.

  Step Sixteen.

  If Bob’s motive had been to demoralise Merry before the final, or to turn the voting public against her, he failed on both counts. She and Daniel went into the final as the hot favourites.

  There was one other couple who had made it; their arch rivals Angie and Scott. Merry had never been so nervous. She ran to the loo every five minutes and fidgeted until it drove Daniel mad. And it wasn’t just the thought of dancing two very tricky routines in front of record audiences (or so Bob said), it was who was sitting in the studio audience.

  Thirty minutes before doors were officially opened, Daniel had grabbed Merry’s hand and taken the opportunity for a last minute rehearsal on the dance floor where they filmed the show. It was rare that dancers got a chance to practice on the actual floor and it was good to measure out their steps in the limited space available.

  Merry and Daniel ran through their routines once or twice and when they’d finished their show dance, they stood, catching their breath. They were startled by the sound of clapping which came from behind them.

  Whirling round they saw three figures emerging from the glare of the studio lights, only one of which they could see clearly.

  “Meredith,” said Bob, with a smirk, “let me reintroduce you to someone. I believe you used to know one another a long time ago?”

  A woman, about Merry’s age, stepped forward. She was small and thin, with a smoker’s prematurely lined face.

  “Meredith Denning,” she said. “Well, well. Long time, no see.”

  Merry frowned, trying to place the woman. “I’m sorry, I—”

  “No, of course you won’t remember me but I remember you so very well. We share an alma mater, Merry.”

  A memory surfaced painfully. There was something horribly familiar about those cold blue eyes. Merry gasped. “Carly?”