by Allie Burns
‘The Olympic team coach is here. He’s come back!’
Through the porthole window she saw the coach was indeed on the terraces. He looked serious, his nut-brown face concentrating on his notebook.
‘I must go and make him a cup of tea.’
‘Natty, this is it. This is it. I’ve been given another chance.’
‘Don’t overcomplicate things this time. Keep it simple and he will be impressed.’
He nodded. If he just stuck to letting his natural talent shine through, he would be fine.
‘Jack.’ She seized her moment. ‘I saw Toots yesterday.’
He broke eye contact to examine the black lid, before he regained his composure. ‘Do we have to talk about this now? I’m making the most important dive of my life in less than an hour.’ He injected a jaunty air to his tone. But he knew he’d been caught out and was stalling for time.
He held out his crooked arm for her to take. Despite everything, the brilliant blue of his eyes and the sharp blond of his hair halted her in her tracks. But she had made up her mind and she pressed on, ‘Actually, I don’t mind that you didn’t tell me everything about Toots because the thing is this. I can’t marry you.’
She’d said it, fired the words at him, and now she watched them pierce his skin. He flopped into the office chair, leaning forwards to rest his forearms on his thighs.
‘That’s all right, if you want to wait. Lots of couples have long engagements these days.’
‘No.’ She slid the ring from her finger and held it out to him. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘I did tell you about Toots and I,’ he said. ‘But if you knew we’d been engaged your conscience would have got the better of you. It was over as soon as you and Delphi arrived. That is the truth.’
‘It’s more than Toots. Much more. This is about what I want and what you want. You want to make things better for people and that’s an admirable quality. I have a tendency to do the same myself, but that doesn’t mean you have to marry them.’
‘But…’ He finally took the ring from her. ‘I don’t suppose it does, no.’ He placed the ring in his pocket.
‘You don’t really want to marry me.’ Part of her wished he’d deny it, tell her they would make great companions, but she wouldn’t settle for conventionality at any cost.
‘I wanted to help. I know with Mother how it feels to be trapped and you would have been trapped too if your brother had got his way.’
But I wouldn’t have been free with you either. I wouldn’t have been lonely but I would have been alone – sensible, but alone. Perhaps he’d understood that all along.
‘You want to dive, Jack. You have a big year ahead of you. The coach has come to see you for the second time in a season. This has to be it. Besides, if you aren’t worrying about me, you can do more for Delphi. You can’t think what’s happened to her here is right.’
He shook his head. ‘And what about you? ‘What does Natalie Flacker want? Or I suppose I can guess.’
She didn’t answer, didn’t dare discover if he knew what she really wanted.
‘It’s all right, you know.’ She touched his arm as she spoke. ‘Your mother will get over it and you can blame it on me if you like,’ she said. He raised an eyebrow, ran his fingers like a wide-toothed comb through his hair. ‘I’ve caused too much trouble. I’ve hurt Delphi. I’ve hurt you. I’m going to go.’
‘What about the diving coach? The gala? You might be right about the engagement but I need you here, Natty. Don’t run out on me now.’
‘I don’t think I can bear it. I’m sorry. Good luck with the scout, Jack. I hope I read about you in Berlin next summer.’
*
Her suitcase was packed and beside her on the bed, where Delphi had sat the night before. She slumped against the windowsill and sobbed, her head bobbing into her chest until Mrs Curtis knocked at the door.
‘Young man downstairs for you,’ Mrs Curtis called without waiting for her to open the door. Mrs Curtis had been sweet, hadn’t pried when she told her that she had to go back to London alone, hadn’t asked about Jack.
‘I’m going to miss you,’ she’d said, ‘no matter how it’s ended up. You’ve a good heart.’ Mrs Curtis’s kindness was nearly too much. ‘And I never did show off my fancy diving to you.’
She stood with a start, wiped away the stray tears and straightened her skirt and her hair. Jack had come to persuade her to reconsider and perhaps she should listen.
But when she flung back the lounge door, Jack’s usual space on the settee was taken by Catkin. Sitting beneath him on the floor, tickling the cat’s belly and avoiding his claws, was George.
‘Jack says you’re not coming to the gala?’
She smiled. It was wonderful to see him. ‘I’m afraid I can’t, no.’
‘Why’s that then?’ This was the problem with getting involved with children: they were so direct, left no hiding place.
‘It’s not really my place to be there any longer.’
‘But I’m counting on you. Mother is and all her friends. You know that?’
‘Yes, and I’m sorry.’
‘Edith is bossy.’ He pouted and – unguarded – she laughed. Edith’s head had swelled now she’d discovered her latent diving talents.
‘I knew he wasn’t coming back, you know.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘My father. Deep down inside here.’ He pointed to his chest. ‘But it’s all right.’ He paused, his tiny top lip quivering. ‘I thought I might show off that dive you taught me…but if you’re not there…’
‘I’m…’ her voice caught ‘…I’m terribly sorry, George, but I’m not going to be able to help you any longer.’
‘Mother seems to like you again now you’ve helped the pain in her legs. You don’t need to be afraid of her.’
‘I’m not. There’s nothing more I can do for you now.’
‘So you’re leaving me an’ all?’
Mrs Curtis was singing in the kitchen, but she hadn’t brought in a tea tray this time.
‘I am really sorry. But I don’t think you need me now anyway. You’re a terrific swimmer; you can even dive…’
‘Mother was right about you first time around.’ Tears smudged his face.
She fought back her own tears now. She didn’t want the boy’s last memory of her to be one of weakness. She’d love to see him dive from the high board and lead out the children’s gala, but she had no magic wand. She wasn’t the fairy godmother he’d been looking for. She couldn’t even put things right for herself. She’d been wrong to let him think she could do anything for him.
‘Sometimes we have to do things even when we really don’t want to.’
‘Mother said you were teaching me because you were lonely. That you did it for yourself, not me. I’ll have to tell her she was right all along.’
The anger had cleared away his tears. He squelched his nose with the backs of his hands.
‘You remember what a special young man you are, won’t you, George,’ she said.
But he didn’t acknowledge her; instead he left without saying goodbye. And she let him go.
Chapter Seventeen
Handstand dive
The diver performs a handstand facing either forward or backwards. Dives may include somersaults and twists in the pike position.
Rivulets of sweat were trickling down her back by the time she reached the station. She rested her suitcase on the concourse at the back of the queue for the ticket booth and mopped her forehead.
Holidaymakers poured off the trains and into the station. According to the timetable Mrs Curtis had handed her, she had fifteen minutes until the next train departed for London. The queue was snaking across the concourse. It was so long and typically the queue for the booth next to her seemed to be moving faster. Damn, I chose the wrong queue. A guard blew his whistle on platform three. She counted the number of people in front of her. Surely she would make it.
‘You aren’t really going to desert us, are
you?’ The French accent caught her attention and made her turn around.
‘Yvonne! What are you doing here…and George, Betsy…’ The muggy air had flattened her hair to her sweat-sheened face.
‘Keep moving, miss,’ a gentlemen behind her reminded her and she lifted the suitcase and shuffled along a few steps. Barnie and Edith were with them, all in their shorts ready for their gala display.
‘I suppose this is your work, is it, George?’
‘I told Mother you were going to clear off without saying ta-ta and she got really cross.’
‘It just seemed best if I left quietly.’ She apologised to each of them around the arc they’d formed on one side of the queue.
Another customer vacated the ticket booth and she moved herself and her suitcase closer.
‘We need you at the gala today, Natalie,’ Yvonne said.
‘Of course you don’t need me. You’ll do just fine. We’ve rehearsed the routine, it looks splendid and Jack can take your display, George. Please, girls. I don’t want a fuss.’
‘D’accord,’ Yvonne continued. ‘Let me be clear. We don’t need you there; we want you there.’
‘Actually I do need you there,’ Betsy interrupted. ‘I’m going to show that husband of mine today. Arthur reckons you have to be built like a beanpole to dance properly. I need you to be there to kick him in the shins when he’s rotten about my wafting.’
‘Ahem.’ The gentleman behind her nodded to the space in front of her.
Betsy held her arm. ‘I’ll promise to wear my bathing costume if you come.’
‘Come on, Natalie, just for the afternoon.’ Edith looked her straight in the eye. ‘Join your friends. We want to say thank you for everything you have done for us and to enjoy the last day of summer. Don’t worry about what’s happened with the Mulberrys; it will be all right.’
‘Hear. Hear,’ the others chorused.
It was her turn next at the ticket booth. The man behind her had his notes ready for his fare. She checked her watch. There were still a few minutes in which to catch her train.
‘I don’t want to let you all down. I’m sorry but it’s all been so upsetting and I feel I must go.’
She turned to the ticket assistant.
‘You know that Jack’s put Sid in charge today.’ Of course he has. This is Sid’s big day too. ‘His face was as white as my Arthur’s legs when we left him. Arthur was shouting at the top of his voice for you to come and organise those bathing belles. What a handful they are.’
‘When he heard you were gone, Arthur said also, no bathing belles contest without Miss Flacker.’ Yvonne projected her voice up and out in an imitation of Arthur’s boom, her French slant on the words clashing with her attempt at Arthur’s accent.
‘And Jack had his head down the WC with nerves about the diving coach,’ Barnie added.
‘Miss, are you going to buy a ticket or not? My train leaves in a few moments.’
She hesitated.
‘Come on, love,’ Betsy said. ‘We all need you at the Lido today.’
She stepped aside, let the gentleman through.
‘We’ll come and put you on a train after, promise.’ Betsy took her arm and Yvonne took her suitcase. ‘Come on then, Natalie love. We’ve only got an hour until the whole things starts.’
*
On their way back to the Lido, Natalie had an idea and took them all on a detour to Arthur’s hotel.
‘You do know this is our busiest day of the year, don’t you?’ Winifred, Arthur’s elderly secretary huffed when Natalie explained that she urgently needed her to find a guest’s room number for her.
Prunella’s Aunt Norah opened the hotel room door, recognised Natalie and promptly closed it again in her face.
‘Why are you here?’ Norah called through the door.
‘Please.’ She knocked again. ‘We shan’t go until I’ve seen Ms Stack.’
A bellboy pushed an empty luggage trolley down the hallway, watching her and the girls behind her with interest. She knocked again and was met with silence.
‘I’ve left the education establishment. I’m not here to deliver another lecture.’
Still nothing. The bellboy turned the corner and took the opportunity of another discreet glance at the strange woman hollering at a closed door.
‘I’ve read your mother’s book, Building the Body Beautiful, and I thought it was really rather interesting.’
More silence followed.
‘I have some potential members for your new centre with me. They are very keen to put on a demonstration for you today.’ And then came the sound of the door being unlocked from the inside and it opened, just a few inches, wide enough for Prunella’s head and for Natalie to see she wore a satin dressing gown over her League uniform.
‘What can I do for you?’ Prunella’s smile was a tight, unfelt version of the one she’d used earlier on stage.
‘Ms Stack. I suppose you remember me from Olympia?’ Natalie asked.
‘I’m afraid I do, yes.’
‘And the Sunday Times, of course. You helped me gain notoriety in my field. Oh, and a dismissal.’
‘Oh dear. I am sorry to hear that. You did say there would be no lectures?’
‘You did me an immense favour as it happens.’
‘I did?’
‘I wouldn’t have met these girls…’ she introduced them all to Prunella one by one ‘…if I were still at the college.’
‘Delighted to meet you all.’ Then she addressed Natalie. ‘In that case, you should know that you inspired me actually. Meeting you at Olympia took me back to my dalliance with boarding school and you caused me to reflect just what I had learned from it that I could use with the League. And here we are now, expanding and touring.’ She held out her hand. ‘So perhaps I should be thanking you.’
‘These girls here have really embraced the League’s ethos, along with my own twist of course.’
‘Would you all come and see our demonstration today at the beach? Aunt Norah,’ she called over her shoulder, ‘do you have a pamphlet?’
‘It’s about that actually. Your demonstration. I wondered, we wondered…’
‘Yes?’ Prunella asked with just a hint of exasperation.
‘The beach is rather unsuitable for a demonstration, those uneven pebbles and the jellyfish today etcetera…’
‘You aren’t going to criticise again?’ Prunella pushed the door towards the frame.
‘No!’ Natalie wedged her foot into the door.
‘Aunt Norah,’ she called again, ‘would you mind awfully dealing with this? I ought to prepare…’
‘Would you like to hold the demonstration this afternoon at the Lido?’ she spat out before she was shut out.
Prunella released the pressure on the door. ‘The management at the Lido didn’t reply to my letter.’
‘I know. That was my fault, again, I’m afraid. Can we wrap that in with my previous apology?’
‘I see.’ She pulled her gown close. ‘I suppose you are trying to make amends. And it would be far more appropriate. There are a lot of jellyfish washed up on the beach today. But you definitely have the authority?’
‘I have the authority and I have these girls here to follow your display with a finale.’
Prunella chewed her bottom lip. ‘It is a shame that you ignored my letter, but the Lido does have a super top deck with a view over the sea. It would be ideal,’ she went on, ‘and you ladies seem charming and just the sort who could inspire others.’
‘Wonderful. We’re all agreed then. Tell your musicians to arrive from two o’clock.’
Chapter Eighteen
The half-corkscrew dive
The diver twists her outstretched body before entering the water.
The good weather was breaking. As the afternoon had progressed the blue skies had been carpeted with heavy mushroom-coloured clouds, but the temperature was still in the late eighties. There was no breeze and the atmosphere was so charged, so heavy, it cons
trained her like a straitjacket.
On top of that, a three-tiered storm cloud travelled along the mid-point between the horizon and the shore. She’d seen the lightning zigzag its staff down to the sea from a heavy patch of dark grey cloud, then the water was pummelled into a darker shade as the rain hit.
She pushed past the queues for the Lido. The stream of new arrivals flowing from the train station joined the queues. Hatty and some of the other girls from the cafeteria were helping out in their absence, faces glossy from the heat, cried out in relief at the sight of them.
‘The jellyfish have driven everyone off the beach. It’s been bedlam.’
She left the girls to resume their places on the turnstiles and continued along the concrete concourse, the scratch of her heels echoing back at her.
Everywhere she looked people had a feverish sheen. What they all needed was a visit from that storm. It would shock this stillness out of its torpor and sweep in some lighter, fresher air. But if the storm hit during the gala they’d have to close up.
It was a comfort to find Sid in the office, putting handfuls of crumpled notes from his holdall back into the safe where they belonged. He was no thief and he definitely didn’t deserve a tarnished reputation.
‘What a relief to see you,’ he said. ‘Please say the girls persuaded you to come and help?’ So he too knew that she’d absconded. He closed the safe door and zipped up his empty bag.
‘Do you think Jack will mind if I help?’
He held a pile of posters and a bucket of glue paste that needed posting up on the prom.
‘He’s only ever got one thing on his mind.’ Sid shrugged.
‘Diving,’ they both chimed and laughed.
‘Sorry to be blunt, Natalie, but it’s the truth. He’s been on that high board most of the day, save for a few breaks to the WC to talk to himself in the mirror.’
She told him about the Women’s League of Health and Beauty’s display. It would come after George’s swimming demonstration and the Miss St Darlstone final.
Sid stopped before he closed the door behind him. ‘No Delphi I suppose?’
‘They’re playing bridge at the Palm Court apparently,’ she said. ‘I made discreet enquiries on my way to the station. She’s much improved the concierge told me, but strictly no visitors.’
