Hopes & Dreams

by Claudia Carroll

  Everyone at the station is lovely, just gorgeous, full of enthusiasm and energy and if anyone does remember me from my days on Jessie Would, they’re all far too tactful to say it. So much so that, almost on an hourly basis, I can feel my own buzz slowly beginning to come back to me. The longer I’m here, the more I remember why it was that I fell in love with broadcasting in the first place. Now, the money isn’t great, in fact it’s not all that much more than I was making at Smiley Burger. Put it this way, I won’t be moving off the spare bed in Sharon’s room any time soon. But at least I’m able to pay my way at home a bit more now. Properly I mean, instead of borrowing all the time.

  My accountant is thrilled too, because she negotiated a deal with the good people at Visa so exhaustive you’d need about five days and a minimum of six barristers to comb through the paperwork alone. Anyway, she came up with a repayment plan whereby I can at least start giving them back some of the dosh I owe, on a weekly basis. It’s so little that I think I’ll be paying off my debts till I’m about eighty-seven, but, hey, at least I’m solvent again. Oh, and not going to debtor’s prison either. Always a bonus.

  In fact, the only person who counselled me against taking the job here was, ironically, the one person who I thought would be happiest for me. Emma. ‘Oh, sweetie, are you sure this is a good move for you?’ she said anxiously when I called to tell her the news.

  ‘Why would it not be a good move?’ I asked, puzzled.

  ‘Come on, Jessie, to go from a primetime TV show to a late-night radio gig on a small local station? It’s a backward step for you career-wise and frankly I’d be worried about the press getting hold of this and having another go at you. Last thing you’d need. Isn’t it best for you just to lie low?’

  She was only trying to protect me, I know, but from where I was coming from, anything that got me out of Smiley Burger was a minor miracle to be grabbed at with both hands. I was just a bit surprised by her reaction, that was all. Surprised and if I’m being honest, a bit disappointed.

  Meanwhile, Sharon has her first date with Matt the actuary, with a second date lined up before they’ve even met, as he’s insisting on taking her dog racing later in the week and she’s already agreed. Said they’re getting on so well online that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. All against my better judgement, it had to be said, as I’m always a bit wary of things moving too fast, but then, given my unspectacular relationship history, who am I to lay down the dating law?

  So, early in the week, as my training finishes at about 6 p.m. and, as Sharon’s on a day off, she and I arrange to meet in town at 7 p.m. and I walk her right to the door of the Insomnia café on Dawson Street, punctual to the dot for her very first meeting with him. I even offer to linger around the shops to wait for her, but she waves me away, claiming she already feels like a five-year-old being walked to school.

  Gotta hand it to the girl, she’s looking well, the makeup (all mine) is flawless, the dark bobbed hair is sitting perfectly and she’s wearing yet another new outfit that the two of us went shopping for last weekend, a summery floral dress this time. She didn’t want to, but I strong-armed her to buy it, because she looks good in dresses. Very casual and feminine yet kind of sexy too. All part of the image overhaul and I couldn’t be more proud of her.

  ‘Want me to come in with you?’ I offer as she has a last fag on the street outside before heading in.

  ‘No. But thanks. I’m nervous and I’d only end up biting the face off you. Besides, suppose we both meet him and I like him but you don’t?’

  ‘Sharon, I am without doubt the worst judge of character in human history as I think I’ve already proved. Why would my opinion even matter?’ Nice though, that she thinks it does.

  ‘Suppose he has breath like an autopsy?’ she asks, fiddling with her hair and starting to sound a bit edgy.

  ‘Then, when I ring you in exactly half an hour with the emergency get-out call, you get out. Simple as that.’

  ‘Suppose he takes one look at me, then runs faster than … than a ladder in my tights?’

  ‘In that case you sit there, calm as you like; you sip your coffee, flick through a magazine and then you leave, head held high. It’s only half an hour. Thirty minutes, you can do, hon. Now do you need anything before I go? Fags? Money? Pepper spray?’

  She just looks at me blankly.

  ‘That was a gag.’

  ‘Oh, ha, ha. Very droll. Look, are you sure I don’t look like I’m wearing one of Ma’s shower curtains? You’d tell me if I looked crap, wouldn’t you? Last time I wore an actual dress was to my First Holy Communion.’

  ‘Come on, Sharon, you look stunning. Now go in there and knock him dead. And remember, it’s just a coffee date. That’s all. Now what’s the worst that could possibly happen?’

  ‘Yeah, you’re right,’ she nods, perking up a bit and sounding a bit less jumpy now. ‘And I mean, as Ma said to me on my way out this evening; it’s not like I’ve a cold sore on my lip and a couple of kids at home, now is it?’

  I give her a big bear hug and watch my girl go inside. At this stage it’s just after 7 p.m. and, as promised, precisely half an hour later I phone her with the standard ‘air bag get-out’ emergency call. But she doesn’t answer, which I take to be a good sign, so I hop on the bus and head for home.

  By 9 p.m. there’s still no word from her. So now I’ve turned into the world’s most over-protective mother hen, constantly texting her to check if she’s OK, pacing up and down the hallway, worried out of my mind that Matt the actuary turned out to be some serial killer who lured her to the boot of his car and then on to her doom.

  Anyway, all my worry was for nothing, because Sharon eventually staggers home at about midnight, stewed off her head, but saying she had a great night. Apparently they hit it off immediately, neither one wanted the coffee date to end, so he suggested going to a movie, then a few drinks afterwards.

  ‘He definitely isn’t a core shaker,’ she says drunkenly getting into bed while I glare furiously at her, arms folded. ‘In fact he looks a bit like … well … like you’d expect an actuary to look. Short guy too, only five foot five, but says he likes big women. Jeez, wait until he gets a load of Maggie.’

  ‘And would it have killed you to have rung and let me know you were OK?’ I demand, with my face like thunder, effectively doing Joan’s job for her. ‘I’ve been pacing up and down here, worried sick about you …’

  ‘Jeez, come on, Jessie. Can’t you just feel what I want you to feel?’

  ‘Which is what?’

  ‘Jealous.’

  *

  Two nights later, Matt takes her dog racing. Even offered to pick her up at the house, which I actively discouraged. Waaaaaay too early to meet the Munster family yet.

  With Sharon out and about and Joan hardly ever home anyway, it’s just been Maggie and me on our own together a lot lately and it’s not been pleasant. What’s worse is that, ever since my chat with Sharon the night we watched the documentary, I’ve been trying, really trying to make an effort with her. Complete waste of time though; if I as much as initiate a conversation, all I’ll get is a grunt in return. If I’m lucky and she doesn’t just ignore me, that is. So most of the time we don’t speak at all.

  Until the night Sharon’s out on her second date, that is. Maggie and I are watching a re-run of Frasier when out of nowhere, she turns to me with poison in her eyes and Bulmers on her breath.

  ‘Not happy until you’ve waved a wand and changed all of our lives, are you?’ she almost growls at me from her armchair, holding the fag in her hand like it’s a dagger.

  I just look at her, determined not to rise to the bait. Trouble is, I’ve had two tins of Bulmers as well, so if she wants to pick a row with me, I’m just sozzled enough to make a stand against all her bullying and low-level passive aggression. No, on second thoughts, make that her full-blown naked aggression.

  ‘These days, your nickname should be Pollyanna Rockefeller, not Cinderella,’ she says, glar
ing at me with the flinty eyes. ‘Personally, I preferred it when you were acting like Cinderella though. You were mildly less irritating.’

  OK, I know I shouldn’t rise to the bait, but I do. Can’t help myself. Sorry, but I’ve had enough of her sniping at me and it’s time to draw the line. What can I say? There comes a time when you get tired of being treated like the antichrist.

  ‘Maggie, when are you going to stop being so angry all the time?’

  ‘On the day that I get married,’ she sneers back at me. ‘That’s the answer you want to hear, isn’t it? The only answer a dolly bird like you would understand. So you can give me a makeover too, send me out of here looking like a dog’s dinner and force me on dates with complete strangers too. Because in your eyes you’re not validated unless you’re in a couple. For feck’s sake, I think that to a vacuous bimbo like you, the feminist movement was just something that happened to other people.’

  I slump back into the sofa, take another gulp of cider and abandon the fight before it even begins. Poor Matt the actuary though, I think, feeling sorry for him before we’ve even met.

  Imagine being introduced into this?

  Next day, when I come home from Radio Dublin, there’s about half a dozen cardboard storage boxes lying in the hallway waiting for me. Joan’s there too, in thunderous form.

  ‘I almost lost the heel off one of my good shoes tripping over this mountain of rubbish,’ is her greeting to me, as I let myself in. ‘I’m warning you, Jessica, this pile of crap better be cleared out of my sight by the time I get home.’

  ‘This is all mine?’

  ‘No, Pope Benedict’s. Who do you think it belongs to? Some girl called Amy dropped them off when you were at work. I mean it, I want it all gone by the time I’m back from my soirée tonight.’

  Shit, I’ve had so much else on that I completely forgot. She means Amy Blake, the runner on Jessie Would. So sweet of her. Anyway, before I start shifting all the boxes to the safely of the garage, I stop to give Amy a quick call and to apologise for not being here when she called. She answers immediately.

  ‘Hey, it’s so good to hear from you!’ she laughs cheerily and for a moment it’s just like old times. She chats away, telling me she’ll be working on Emma’s new talk show soon, so she’s all buzzed up about that. ‘Won’t be the same without you though, Jessie. We all miss you so much. You’ve no idea. The place is dead without you. No one treats the runners like you used to.’

  ‘Aw, thanks Amy. And look, I owe you one for going out of your way to deliver all those boxes. I really do.’

  ‘Not a problem. I’m sure most of it is for the bin anyway, but I thought I should at least let you decide. I found Emma shredding everything in the entire production office right after the show was canned, so I salvaged as many of your things as I could. You never know, there might be something in there that’s of use to you.’

  I thank her again and as I hang up, we promise to meet for coffee soon. Bit odd, I think as I start shifting boxes. Emma shredding documents in the production office, that is. I mean, apart from anything else, why would she be bothered?

  *

  Come the following Saturday and things are on such a sure footing with Sharon and Matt, that not only does she want to invite him to the christening at Hannah’s later today, but says he’s even insisting on collecting her at our house, so he can give us both a lift there.

  Steve made sure I knew that all the family were invited, but Joan is, surprise, surprise, heading off to the Swiss Cottage, this time she claims for a ‘business meeting’. She even whispers the word ‘business’ as if it’s all top secret and Donald Trump is waiting in the pub’s upstairs room to invest in whatever this mysterious project is. I just smile at her, presuming this is another euphemism for ‘wine tasting’ but no, she says, it really is business and that she’ll tell us all about it ‘once the business plan is finalised’. Honestly, there are times when I wonder why she bothers talking everything up with me. I washed her knickers, for God’s sake; we have NO secrets.

  Anyway, I arrange to meet Steve at Hannah’s house that evening, as it’s family only at the church bit; the neighbours are only invited to the knees-up afterwards. I’m actually a bit nervous about seeing Hannah after all these years of not being in contact. And I’m even more eager to finally get a look at Matt the actuary.

  Under strict orders from Sharon, he arrives to our house punctual to the dot of 6 p.m. and, as Sharon herself is still upstairs drying her hair, I’m charged with letting the poor guy in and entertaining him until she’s good and ready to come down. This, by the way, is all on account of some self-help book she read which advises that if a guy calls to your door to collect you, then you should keep him waiting as long as possible, at all costs. Ho hum. Just wouldn’t have thought that daft rule would apply in this particular house, but there you go.

  Anyway, I trip downstairs and open the door to say hi. Sharon’s right, Matt isn’t tall, but round and bald with black-rimmed glasses and dressed in an immaculately pressed suit. Hard to tell his age, but I’m guessing that he’s looking down the barrel at about forty.

  ‘Good evening. You must be the lovely Jessie, I presume?’ he says, holding out his hand.

  Formal manners, I think, smiling and shaking hands. Old fashioned. Which is nice, cute and kind of endearing. I make him as welcome as I can, and am about to usher him into the kitchen, when Sharon shouts from the top of the stairs to bring him into the TV room. Where Maggie is watching Deal or No Deal, or some similar Saturday evening crap, all while indulging in her favourite hobby: planning out the rest of her night’s viewing with the TV guide plonked on her lap. Feeling mortally sorry for the poor fella, I lead him in and introduce Maggie, who’s sitting like a sumo wrestler in her armchair, glaring at him with the stony grey eyes. Warming up for the fight.

  ‘And this is my sister, Maggie.’

  ‘Stepsister.’

  Then I offer him a drink. Anything to make the poor fella feel comfortable.

  ‘Coca Cola please, I’m teetotal,’ he replies and I swear to God, Maggie’s frozen non-reaction speaks volumes.

  Then I realise this entails me leaving the room and going to the fridge to get the drink for him, thereby exposing him to Maggie at her foulest, i.e., when her TV’s just been interrupted. So I race to the kitchen as quick as I can, but just as I’m coming back into the TV room, I’m in time to catch her saying, ‘So, Matt. Are you sure you’re not going to try to get me to join a cult? No offence, but you have that look about you.’

  I hand him the drink and of course, overcompensate for her horribleness by patting the sofa beside me and asking him to join me. Like some maiden aunt in a black and white film; all I’m short of is a hairnet, a lace mantilla and a pair of knitting needles.

  ‘So, you’re an actuary?’ I smile.

  ‘Yes, but it’s not nearly as exciting as it sounds, you know.’

  ‘That a fact?’ snipes Maggie from under a thick cloud of smoke, waves of hostility practically rolling off her.

  I think that this is probably the first heterosexual man under the age of forty to have set foot in the TV room since my dad’s funeral, hence her reacting as if she’s about to wave garlic and a crucifix into the poor guy’s face at any minute. But Matt doesn’t seem to even notice. Got a thick skin, obviously. Which augurs well.

  ‘It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Jessie,’ he says to me at one point. ‘It’s not often someone in my line of work gets to meet a genuine household name.’

  ‘Well, well, well. You must be an actuary and a comedian,’ Maggie smiles like a cobra. ‘Because, let me tell you, Jessie is barely a household name in her own house.’

  I don’t want to let the entire Woods family down in front of him, so, like the majority of Maggie’s jibes, I let it slide. More long pauses, then purely from the point of view of filling up dead air (a radio phrase I just learnt), I pass some inane comment about how lucky we are the weather is so fab, considering the for
ecast for today was complete rubbish.

  ‘In actual fact, it’s nothing to do with luck at all,’ Matt explains. ‘It’s a mathematical certainty that weather forecasters are inaccurate forty-five per cent of the time, so it’s perfectly probable that good weather was likely after all.’

  A quick glance at Maggie tells me that the probability of Matt being about ten seconds away from one of her nastier, more cutting comments is a dead certainty, but mercifully, Sharon bounces in just then, looking absolutely gorgeous in yet another new outfit that she bought without me. In fact, with the amount of new gear she’s been bringing home this week, I’m thinking she must have spent her entire wage packet in the boutiques of the Omni Park shopping centre. Dear God, I have created a shopping addict in my own image.

  As we all get up to leave, I make a point of letting Maggie know that she was invited to the christening too and is absolutely more than welcome to join us. On the principle that it’s one thing less for her to bitch about later on.

  ‘I’m not much of a kid-lover,’ is her reply, puffing smoke at me.

  ‘Are you sure?’ I ask, really making an effort here. ‘It’ll be fun.’

  ‘Oh please, fun? At a christening party? If you ask me, I’ve always thought the witch in Hansel and Gretel is a deeply misunderstood woman. She builds her dream home and two brats come along and eat it? Deserved what they got really.’

  Knew it was a complete waste of time asking her. Dunno why I even bothered. Then Matt’s phone rings and as he goes out to the hallway to take the call, Sharon turns to us both.

  ‘Well? Thumbs up or thumbs down? You can tell the truth, ’cos I’m just using him for practice really. My Defibrillator Guy,’ she adds, with a knowing look in my direction.

  ‘Well Sharon, I think he’s absolutely lovely,’ I say, really meaning it. ‘Mad about you too. Couldn’t take his eyes off you when you came into the room!’