by Hildy Fox
Lahra's eyes burst open, and she was greeted by the bedroom bathed in early morning light. She was aware of her heart beating fast in her chest, and she lay there waiting for it to subside. When at last it did, she became aware of the pounding in her head. Judging by its intensity, she would have to wait considerably longer for it to go away. It seemed she was to carry a physical reminder of her foolishness the night before through most of the morning.
She turned her head and looked at the photograph of her parents beside the bed. It was hard for Lahra not to think if she would ever find a happiness like they had shared. Would there ever be a moment in her life like the one in this photograph? Would she ever feel the breathlessness of a kiss dedicated to a lifetime together?
No answers came. There was only the dull thud of too much wine.
She sat up slowly, wincing at the day, and ran her fingers through her hair. The bright sky beyond her window beckoned. She slipped her glasses on and went to the window, and the clear, bright morning washed over her. It took a second or two for her eyes to adjust fully to the light, and when they did the river was the first thing that drew her attention. Or not so much the river, but the man swimming in it.
Instinctively, she stepped to the side in case he happened to look up and see her there. She slowly peered around the edge of the large window and trained her eyes on him. It was the same as yesterday. The long, slow stroke against the current in water too cold for Lahra to imagine. Just seeing him there made her shiver, and she pulled away, clutching herself. A hot bath to start the day was what she needed. Aspirin, too.
Fifteen minutes later, submerged in a sea of steaming water, Lahra finally began to feel a little more together. Last night had ended as a complete fiasco, and she didn't know where to start when dishing out the anger she felt at herself. How stupid of her to begin acting like a flirtatious schoolgirl. She must have had 'eager to please' written all over her. And as for the wine, the most she ever usually drank was two, maybe three small glasses. Try as she might, she simply couldn't fathom her ridiculous behaviour. But the thing that hurt most, that had her wishing desperately that she could go back in time and do the whole night again completely differently, was that she had opened up to him as she had to no man before. And look where it had got her.
She couldn't clearly remember the tirade that had led to her pushing Marcus out the door, nor the ensuing pain that had transcended the emotional into the physical. But it wasn't these things that disturbed her. Out there in the freezing cold river was a man whom she had let see inside her, who had had a glimpse of her usually well guarded inner sanctum. The same man who intended to destroy the thing that meant most to her in Riverbank. How could she have been so cavalier, so careless? All she wanted to do was sink her head beneath the steamy surface of her bath and not come up.
And what on earth was she going to say to Wally? She was supposed to meet with him this morning to discuss the impending Miracle Cinema demolition. She couldn't possibly mention what had happened between her and the man who was the lynchpin in the Miracle's predicament. Obviously she'd have some serious editing to do when she related her acquaintance with Marcus Dean. If only it were possible to edit one's life as easily.
"What's wrong with you?" she thought aloud. Here she was sitting in a bath wishing she could just hide from the world. Even now Marcus was making her act like a teenager. It was about time she took control. Things weren't going to solve themselves, on a personal level or any level. She would have to shake off the brain-scattering after-effects of last night and set her mind on the situation at hand. She had to get to the bottom of Marcus’s intentions, and to do so meant only one thing.
In a decisive leap, Lahra was out of the bath and drying herself. She said goodbye to the schoolgirl once and for all. It was time to pay Marcus Dean a visit.
*
Now that she was much closer, she could see that the old Taylor house had changed considerably. The overall effect was the same, but the details, glossy and precise like they never had been, told a different story. As she drove up the long driveway towards the house it became increasingly apparent that the days of the old house were well and truly over.
She parked and jumped out, glancing back over the river at her house. So close, yet she'd had to drive fifteen minutes to get here, via Valley and Mountain Bridges. Seeing the house there reminded her of what Marcus had said about waving to each other of a morning. A shiver ran up her spine like the scuttling of baby spiders.
At the front door she went to reach for the knocker, but saw that it had been replaced by what looked like some sort of intercom system. She pressed the button and hoped that something had happened inside, because she didn't hear anything outside.
There was no answer, and Lahra thought that she should perhaps just get back into the Jeep and drive away. But she pressed the button again and waited. A few seconds later, Marcus’s voice came over the in-built speaker. "Hello?"
"Lahra Brook," she said plainly.
There was silence on the other end, as if his mind had been surprised into action. Then finally, "Just a moment."
Lahra crossed her arms, decided that was too defensive, then put her hands behind her back, but decided that was too open. The door opened suddenly, and her hands found their way into her jacket pockets just as Marcus appeared in the door. "Well, good morning," he said.
He was dressed in suit pants and white shirt. His hands were busy knotting his tie beneath the crisp collar. Lahra tried not to notice any of this. In fact, well aware of the effect that his eyes and smile were capable of, she was desperately trying to look at him without actually seeing him.
"I thought I'd better come over and straighten a few things out about last night," Lahra said stiffly.
Marcus regarded her as he straightened his perfect knot. "Sure. Come in."
"No, that's alright. I won't be that long. Firstly, apologies for my behaviour at the end there. I went off the handle a bit."
"More than a bit, I'd say!"
"Well, anyway," Lahra continued, wishing he would just let her talk so that this didn't have to be any more awkward than it already was, "I have reasons for my outburst, and I need to talk to you about them."
"To me?"
"Yes. I found out about the Miracle Cinema from a friend of mine who works there, Walter Dymple. Or should I say, used to work there. That was him on the phone last night. He found out that it was you who had bought the cinema."
"Wait a minute," Marcus interrupted, holding up a hand. "If this is about him getting the... being retrenched, then you can be assured that when the new venue opens he and anyone else who loses work because of the changeover will be at the top of the list when we begin hiring. There'll be plenty of new jobs to choose from. Cash clerks, bar attendants, cooks, maintenance, security, administration. Riverbank is about to get one of the best new entertainment complexes in the state, so he needn't fear that there'll be any shortage of work. I'll personally guarantee it."
"Did you say entertainment complex? Like a pinball parlour?"
"Listen, Lahra, this is all very confidential. When I first presented the proposal to the partners at Stone Rowbottom to buy the old cinema and replace it with a state of the art facility, they impressed upon me the importance of keeping a low profile. The quieter we get in and do our business, the more successful it will be. We can't afford any rival developers to catch wind of what we're up to and start slicing into the marketplace. This is my baby, and it's a step up on the partnership ladder when we pull it off. So what I'm saying to you is between you and me." He hesitated. "I do like you, Lahra. I trust you.
"In answer to your question, no not like a pinball parlour. It's much, much more. We're going to build an ultra-modern entertainment complex, with everything from digital arcade games to full virtual reality experiences. The advances being made in interactive entertainment is really amazing! There'll also be two restaurants and a bar. And, you’ll be pleased to know, not one but three cinemas, with
stadium seating. Riverbank is a young town, Lahra. It's a university town. Fifty percent of residents are under thirty. The market is ripe for something like this. And by building it on the site of the old cinema, we can revitalise that whole end of Main Street—create a whole new focus."
Lahra watched Marcus growing more excited as he spoke. His eyes glinted with a vision that she in no way shared. Hearing it coming from his lips, the same lips that had pressed against hers just last night, was almost surreal.
"You don't understand, Marcus," Lahra explained, as if to a child. "Wally being sacked is just the beginning. He's been a part of the Miracle Cinema for longer than you've been on this planet. It's his life. And it's a life that he's shared with me since I was a child." She could feel her temperature rising as her voice became more urgent. "The Miracle Cinema isn't just some old movie house. It's a part of the heritage of this town. It's a part of Wally, and it's a part of me. You can't just come along and decide to pull it down for some hi-tech pinball parlour. You can't seriously tell me that you impressing your bosses is more important than the decades of enjoyment the Miracle has given Riverbank. And you sure as hell can't expect to try any of it without a whole lot of resistance from the people who care about the history of this town."
"Oh? So where are these people each night that the Miracle Cinema opens its doors? Lahra, the Miracle has been losing money for years now. It's not good business. The new cinema complex at Riverside Plaza is where it's all happening, and ours will be a step up from that. I appreciate your concern for the past, but that's just what it is. The past. Things change. Life goes on."
Lahra's fists were clenched in her pockets. She kept them pushed deep inside for fear of what they might try to do were they let out. "Marcus, I have to ask you to reconsider your position on this."
"Reconsider my..." And then Marcus laughed. A laugh like the blaring of a hundred BMW horns. "Lahra, the Miracle Cinema is not negotiable. The contracts were finalised yesterday. Mr Perkins made it all official. Stone Rowbottom & Partners now owns the Miracle. And we have major plans costing us quite a lot of money to implement. Believe me, if you think that any of us are going to suddenly reconsider our position because of some misplaced sentimentality, you really are in need of a miracle."
The same smug grin from the bridge yesterday morning was back on his face. The trembling inside her mounted, yet all she could think about as she looked at him there in the doorway was the way he had looked at her in front of the fire the night before. It was like a different man. The pressure inside her was almost too much to bear, and she knew that if she didn't leave soon there could be a repeat performance of last night's embarrassing action.
"There's no way I'm going to sit back and watch you demolish that cinema," she said through her teeth. "I don't care what it takes. I'm going to stop you."
She didn't give Marcus the chance to respond. She turned and got into the Jeep, spinning gravel into the air as she slammed down the accelerator. She reached for the mobile phone and dialled.
"Wally? Meet me at Gen's in twenty minutes. We've got a war on our hands."
*
Gen's Cafe was a warm little establishment specialising in focaccia and exotic coffees, directly across the road from the Miracle Cinema. Lahra sat pensively at one of the window tables, looking out at the Miracle, toying with a salt shaker. She could make out her reflection in the glass, and was surprised at how composed she looked. Her insides were a knot of determination and fury, and every time Marcus Dean's face appeared in her mind the knot tightened. And every time she made a conscious effort not to think of him, it backfired. Like a fish snared on a line, the more she tried to distance her thoughts from him, the more he reeled her in.
The bell above the door jingled, awakening her from her daydream, and Lahra looked up to see Wally entering. She smiled, and stood to greet him, then they both quickly sat as the waitress came over to take orders. Peppermint tea for two.
"Thanks for getting here so soon," Lahra said.
"That's okay, Doc. When you tell me there's a war going on I move fast. So what is it? What's the problem?"
Lahra sighed deeply. She'd been wondering how to relate everything to Wally and she'd been going over it and over it in her mind, but it didn't make it any easier to say. "Marcus Dean is the problem."
"Marcus Dean. The guy who bought the Miracle," Wally confirmed with an indignant sniff and twitch of his moustache.
"And the guy who's now my neighbour," Lahra added. She saw the curious look on Wally's face and went on. "I 'ran into' Marcus Dean several times yesterday. To cut a long story short, he bought the old Taylor place about six months ago as a country retreat. Seems he saw the Miracle Cinema and decided it was the perfect location for a high-tech amusement centre. So he came up with some redevelopment plans, presented them to his superiors at the engineering firm he works for, and they gave him the green light to make it work. Apparently he's on some crusade to become a partner and this is his big ticket."
"How did you find all this out?"
"Well, I saw him swimming in the river when I arrived yesterday." The images of Marcus’s naked form sliding through the water filled her head, but she did her best to ignore them. "I went to see who it was and we talked a little. He suggested we get together as neighbours last night, to get to know one another a little better. He seemed nice enough, so I agreed. Of course, at this stage I knew nothing about what was going on. Then when you told me about the cinema and you being fired I just couldn't think about anything else so I didn't bother about seeing him. Only he took it upon himself to drop in." The next few scenes were about to be cast onto the cutting room floor. "We spoke for a while, and that's when you called. Then I duly went crazy and kicked him out."
"You kicked him out?"
"Yep. Didn't even wait for an explanation. So this morning I decided to go over and confront him, to find out what I could. I was naively hoping that there'd been some sort of huge misunderstanding. But he only confirmed the worst. Demolition begins next week, and they're planning to build a giant-sized pinball parlour. I just don't believe it."
"So what did you do?"
"There was nothing I could do. I told him I'd do everything I could to stop him, then left. And here I am and I'm not sure where to begin. I need your help on this."
The waitress delivered two cups and a pot of tea to the table. Wally's grey eyes looked at Lahra, and she could almost see the machinations of his mind behind them. The Miracle Cinema sat silently across the road like a third party in the conversation.
"You say this Marcus Dean works for some company in the city?"
Lahra nodded.
"So chances are they've got an army of lawyers that specialise in all of this real estate development stuff."
Lahra nodded as if to say yes, probably.
"And we've got about three days to figure out a way of stopping them from tearing down the Miracle."
Again Lahra nodded, slowly.
"Boy, you sure know how to pick a fight, Doc," Wally said shaking his head.
"Wally, think about it. I don't have to tell you how important the Miracle is to Riverbank, let alone how important it is to you and me. It's one of the most beautiful buildings of its era. Any building that special should be protected at all costs."
"I know that, and you know that. But I've watched over recent years, and people just don't seem to come here like they used to. It doesn't seem like the people of Riverbank know what we know."
"Wally, you've done everything you could to keep the Miracle on its feet. But with someone like Perkins running it it's no wonder business has been going downhill. At least his father cared about the place enough to maintain it and have a decent program. Perkins is gone, now. If we can find some way to get the people of Riverbank behind what we want to achieve, maybe we can stop Marcus, or at least get him to rethink."
"In three days?"
"I know, I know," Lahra conceded. "But we have to at least try. From what I unders
tand, all of this business has been planned without the town being aware of any of it. It’s all back door deals. If we make it an issue people might sit up and start listening. We have a university full of students! Surely they're dying to protest about something!"
Lahra smiled at Wally, and once again she watched the activity behind his eyes. But this time there was something else. An added spark. An energy.
"I have an idea or two," he said at last in a low, gruff voice. "But if we start this, there's no turning back. No regrets if things don't come out right. If you declare a war, Doc, you have to be prepared to fight."
"Lately I've been surprising myself at my ability to handle confrontations. I can handle it if you can."
Wally's moustache curled up into a smile. "Alright. Here's what I was thinking..."
But Lahra's attention was suddenly elsewhere. Wally's gaze followed hers through the window, into the street. Pulling into a parking space right alongside the Miracle was a black convertible BMW.
"Lahra, what is it?"
Lahra swallowed hard as butterflies sprouted wings in the pit of her stomach and took flight. Until now the concept of Marcus Dean's association with the Miracle Cinema was almost an abstract one. It had been discussed, but little else. Now, seeing him emerging from his car with the Miracle right there behind him, the concept became concrete. Cold, hard and inescapable.
