“They can’t do nothing, can they?”, Simon appealed to Greg’, as the truth hit home of what might be happening to him.
“I suppose they can,” Greg said, shrugging his shoulders. “If the waiter or the young girl wants to press charges, you’ll be in a spot of trouble, I’ll be bound.”
“But I’m British,” he shouted, after the two policemen suddenly turned from speaking to the night porter, walked over to say something to the security guard and found himself being gripped by each arm and taken through the automatic doors.
His cries of alarm were silenced, as he was flung into the back of a waiting car, while Greg and Lucy stood on the hotel steps wondering what to do?
“That’s going a bit too far,” Greg voiced his objection to Lucy, as the police car was driven out of the hotel grounds, with Simon looking as if his world had caved in. But as neither of them spoke Spanish, they were helpless to interfere.
“ I’ll do something about it in the morning,” Lucy promised. “ There’s no point now, there will only be an Ansa machine on at the office. I’ll speak to Kath. Yes, I’ll speak to her about it, Kath always knows what to do.”
They walked in silence from the foyer together, then Lucy complimented Greg on his swift intervention.
“Have you had much experience in this sort of thing, Mr Lewis?”, she asked, thinking that perhaps he was in the police force or he’d had army training.
“When you’ve got a factory with young apprentices in it like I have,” he grinned. “You’d be surprised how many skirmishes break out. There would be murder done if someone didn’t jump in and stop them.”
“Well, thanks for helping, shall we go back and see how Jenni and Miguel are? I’ll probably take Jenni back to my apartment for the night, she won’t want to be on her own.”
“That’s a thought. What is going to happen to her if her boyfriend ends up in clink here?”
“We’ll worry about that in the morning, shall we? See if the police want to prosecute.”
By the time Greg and Lucy had got back to the Sunlight Bar, the entertainment was in full swing, with the girl singer belting out a song by Whitney Houston and her male partner accompanying her on his Yamaha.
Greg and Lucy said goodnight at the door, as Lucy was heading for the quiet bar. It seemed to Greg that all eyes in the room were staring at him, as he took his place next to his wife.
“I’ll tell you later,” he said, when she started to question him and with that she had to be content.
***
“What’s going to happen to Simon?,” asked Jenni in concern, as soon as Lucy found her sitting next to Tina and Anna, sipping a glass of brandy which seemed to have calmed her down, though her hand shook a little as she held the glass.
“Thrown into prison and the keys flushed down the toilet,” said Anna unhelpfully, feeling quite annoyed on behalf of Miguel, who she had developed a soft spot for.
“There was nothing I could do, Jenni,” said Lucy. “The night porter had ‘phoned the police and they took him away. They’ll probably keep him overnight, then bring him back to the hotel in the morning.”
“Oh no, poor Simon,” Jenni said, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. “Could I not go after him and tell the police to let him go, he just made a stupid mistake?”
“I’d leave it until tomorrow love,” Lucy said gently.
“And Miguel might want to press charges,” cut in Anna. “He and Juan have gone off somewhere. The poor man might have had to go to bed.”
“I doubt he’s gone to bed, Anna. He seemed all right to me when I left you all in the entertainment room. Talking of beds, Jenni. I have a spare one in my bedroom if you’d like to crash with me.”
***
“So what happened,?” asked Kate when Greg had come back from the bar with a double whisky and the Candelaria duo were on their break.
“Yes, we wondered,” said Paul, moving his chair closer so that he could listen, without Greg having to share the news with the rest of the guests, who were still glancing over at him.
“He got taken away by the police, probably for being drunk and disorderly, though he soon sobered up when they put him in the police car.”
“Gosh what a drama,” said Cheryl, her eyes gleaming. “And weren’t you brave wading in like you did? We just sat and watched and did nothing.”
“I would have done something if Greg hadn’t,” said Paul stoutly, feeling a little annoyed with her. “It just happened to be that Greg saw what was going on, before I did.”
“Well Greg has some experience with brawls,” said Kate kindly. “He has some apprentices at the factory who need splitting up now and again.”
“Oh,” said Paul suddenly very alert, though he had drunk quite a lot that evening. “ What does your factory do, Greg?”
“We make things from rubber,” he replied diffidently. “The apprentices learn how to cut around the templates for the product. Then the pieces are sent to the sewing room for stitching. After that the articles go to Packing and they are sent off all over the world.”
“You mean like Mail order?”
“Yes, I suppose you can call it mail order, but we do have contracts as well for certain goods and some of our products are sold in the high street stores as well.”
“Like hot water bottles?”, asked Cheryl.
“Or those gloves you wear in the kitchen?”, asked Paul.
“Those as well,” laughed Kate “ and he sometimes has orders for naughty items, don’t you Greg?”
“The less said about that, thank you Kate,” Greg said, smiling broadly.
***
The duo came back on again and the dark haired girl singer launched into “Will you still love me tomorrow”, by the Shirelles.
“Oh, I love this song,” said Mavis to Fred. “Do you remember all those songs that came out in the 6o’s? Our girls used to play them, on that record player you bought between them one Christmas. Doesn’t it seem a long time ago?”
“Yes, love, it does,” he said, taking her hand in his. “Makes yer sad though when yer see that young fella me lad, kicking off at that little girl before. He don’t know how precious it is to have someone to care for you, like she seemed to do. Bloody young fool.”
***
“Ooh, I’m feeling tired,” said Jean, stifling a yawn as the three women sat listening to the singer. “Would either of you mind if I got off to bed when this has finished?”
“No love,” Doreen replied. “I don’t know about you, Milly, but I think we’ve had enough excitement this evening.”
“I wonder what happened to that young bloke after Security took him out?”, asked Milly. “That tall chap over there came back without the rep’ , so perhaps she’s stayed and sorted things out.”
“They’ve probably made it up. They’ll be like a couple of lovebirds as we speak,” said Doreen.
“You know what the young ones are like, one minute they’re friends and then they’ve fallen out.”
“It looked a bit more serious than just a tiff,” Jean remarked. “That waiter had to be helped out and the young girl looked a nervous wreck.”
“Ah well, it will all come out in the wash,” said Doreen, as the flashy looking keyboard player began to sing “Save the last dance for me.” “Let’s drink up, shall we, and make for the door after this.”
***
Lucy switched the light on in the apartment, then stood back for Jenni to come through the door.
“Welcome to my little abode,” she said, trying to keep upbeat for Jenni’s sake, but wanting to crawl wearily into bed.
“This is nice,” said Jenni, looking around the small dilapidated room that served as a sitting room, with a kitchen area at the back and two doors off leading to a bedroom and bathroom. “Does this go with the job or do you have to pay rent for it?”
“I have something taken out of my salary each month, but poor Anna and Tina have to pay money to the hotel to live next door, as they work for an
employment agency. I think the hotel was quite glad to have these places occupied, because they wouldn’t dare put a guest in here.”
“Well, it only needs a lick of paint and maybe some new plaster on that damp patch,” said Jenni, thinking how happy she would be to have a place like this to herself. “Can I use the loo? I was getting a bit desperate with all the drink I’ve consumed tonight.”
“Help yourself, do you want to get changed in there? I can let you have a nightie. It’s clean, though it’s like a long T shirt, I don’t go in for frilly things.”
“Anything will do, I’m just grateful that you’ve allowed me to come here. I wouldn’t know what to do if Simon came back and I was asleep in our bedroom. Did they take the key off him at Reception, do you know?”
“I didn’t see the night porter doing that, but when the police bring him back, it will be up to the owner whether he’ll be allowed back to stay in the hotel.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.”
***
“There seems a lot of clouds on those mountains,” said Jean, as she sat on the third bed in her long blue nightdress looking out of the window, as she waited for her turn in the bathroom next morning.
“Oh, they will have cleared off by the time we’ve had our breakfast,” replied Milly, rootling around in her part of the wardrobe for something comfortable to wear. “Though I suppose until we’ve decided what to do today, it would be best not to put on shorts and a T’ shirt. I’ll wear this sun dress instead.”
“The rep’ wasn’t confident that we were going to get good weather. I heard her say so when we were on the coach. I think I’ll wear those black trousers I got from Bon Marche and my brown twin set, that way I won’t have to get changed again after breakfast.”
“Do you want me to get them for you while I’m here, Jean?” asked Milly. “There’s not enough room to swing a cat in this place, is there? Did you sleep all right on that “put you up”, only with me and Doreen being bigger than you, we thought it was only fair?”
“It was fine, thank you,” said Jean. “ I drank more than I am used to last night as you know and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.”
Milly threw Jean’s clothes over to her, then averted her eyes as Jean began to take her nightdress off. Strange that after all these years, she felt uncomfortable with her cousin. When they were little girls’ together she had no such concern. They had been best of pals, as Milly was closer in age to Jean than she was with Doreen. They’d shared their dolls, skipped together, spent their childhood summers running wild, but they’d grown apart as maturity crept upon them and only kept in touch with Christmas cards.
“Your turn, Jean,” called Doreen, wrapped in a towel, as she came out of the bathroom smelling of lavender essence that she had put in her bath. “What kind of day is it going to be, is it perhaps bikini weather?”
“I don’t think so,” said Jean seriously, as she scurried by her. “I think it is going to be a gloomy day, like the rep’s forecast.”
“Then we will make it a bright day,” trilled Doreen. “After we’ve had our breakfast, then gone to the Welcome meeting, we’ll go and have some beauty treatment. I need my nails doing and I’ll mug you to a facial, Jean, if you wish.”
“Oh, I couldn’t accept that from you,” said Jean, peering around the bathroom door. “It would be far too expensive and I could never repay you in any way.”
“Call it your birthday present then. I haven’t got you anything yet for your birthday on Friday, so that will be it.”
“And I’ll treat you to a manicure,” said Milly, not to be outdone.
Jean closed the door quickly, as tears of emotion began to well in her eyes.
“While she’s in there, Milly,” Doreen whispered. “I’ve ordered her a cake and a bottle of champagne to be presented to her in the restaurant on Friday evening. We have to make sure that we are in there for seven o’ clock, because the chef and his team are going to sing “Happy Birthday” to her.”
“Oh, when did you sort all that out?”, asked Milly, surprised.
“I booked it as an extra package on the Internet through Periquito travel, but you know when I went to get an extra towel, I mentioned it to the receptionist and she said she would arrange for the chef and his team to come and sing for her.”
“Wow, I know they do that on cruise ships, but I didn’t know they did it at hotels as well. Is she having 55 put on the top of her cake?”
“No, I just asked for Happy Birthday Jean, I didn’t want to embarrass her. Shh, it sounds as if she’s coming out of the bathroom.”
***
“Eh I’m glad yer remembered to bring the travel kettle, Mavis,” said Fred, as he poured hot water onto the coffee in a plastic picnic mug and added a spoon of dried milk.
“Well, don’t forget to make me one,” replied his wife as she disappeared into the bathroom, “ and there’s some sachets of sugar in that Asda bag as well. I got them from the cafe when we were there last time.”
“It doesn’t look too clever out there,” Fred observed, when Mavis appeared in the bedroom again.
“Let’s hope them dark clouds over there doesn’t mean were in for a downpour.”
“Well if it rains, we’ll be scratting around for something to do, won’t we? That Welcome meeting isn’t going to take all day.”
“Oh, it might change by dinner time and if it doesn’t, we’ll put our macs on and take a slow walk down the sea front,” Fred replied, sipping at his coffee, thinking he should have put some more Coffee Mate in. “ Hey, you’re not going back into the bathroom again, are yer? I need ter sit on toilet. Yer know coffee always makes me want ter go.”
“And comb your hair while you’re in there,” said Mavis. “ It’s growing like a brush on top of your head.”
Fred laughed and said, “You’re joking aren’t yer? There’s more hairs on a coconut than there is on me bonce. I’ll see yer in a bit, you’re coffee will have cooled by now.”
Mavis pottered about, making the bed, though she knew it was the maid’s job, tidying up the clothes that Fred had left scattered, then looking in her wardrobe to see which cardigan she was going to wear. She had put on a short sleeved cream coloured blouse with pintucks down the front and a pair of brown light weight trousers, but with the thought that the Sunlight Bar might be a bit draughty, if they had pulled the curtains back for the Welcome meeting, made her decide to take a cardi’ with her just in case.
“Yer know they’ll only be trying to flog excursions at this meeting, don’t yer?”, said Fred later. “It’s a waste of time really for those of us that have been ter Tenerife all these years.”
“But we’ve never done any of them, have we? No, I tell a lie, we once went to that island, what was it called, La Gomera with George and Ethel? Do you remember? Ethel was seasick, it was about ten year ago.
“Aye, yer don’t have to remind me, that’s why we’ve never been since. Any road, we won’t be signing up for anything today, we’ll just go and see what they have to say, eh, Mavis?”
***
Lucy switched off her travel alarm as it suddenly invaded her dreams. She felt she had only been asleep for a couple of hours, as Jenni had been restless in the next bed. Lucy felt mildly irritated, as she was used to sleeping alone.
Jenni murmured something unintelligible from under the covers, then suddenly sat upright as if she’d had a fright!
“Oh, I wondered where I was for a moment,” she said apologetically. “I feel so groggy, I could sleep for another couple of hours.”
“Well, you were very restless Jenni, but you must have managed a few hours at least.”
“I was worrying over Simon, wondering how he was coping in a Spanish jail.”
“You’ll find out this morning,” Lucy said firmly, getting out of bed quickly, as she didn’t want to have to go through a post mortem of the night before.
“I’ll use the bathroom first, because I need to telephone the office w
hen they open at eight o’ clock. Kath will go spare if I don’t warn her about what went on last night.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for causing you problems,” Jenni said, looking very young to Lucy in her borrowed T’ shirt. “I should have gone back to the bedroom and made it up with Simon. It was just, I was so upset over how he treated me.”
“I wouldn’t have gone back if I’d been you,” said Lucy, as she passed her by to go to the bathroom.
“He doesn’t deserve any pity from what you’ve told me. Anyway, get yourself a drink while you’re waiting, there’s a kettle and some tea bags if you look around.”
Lucy left Jenni later, dressed in her uniform once again, but unfortunately with the same blouse she had discarded the day before. Her only time to catch up with her washing, was on her day off and three blouses for six days wear, didn’t add in. She hurried her steps as she crossed the courtyard from the annexe, it looked as if it might rain like she had been told it might. That didn’t usually make for happy holidaymakers.
She had left Jenni looking for something in Lucy’s wardrobe that might fit her, though she wouldn’t hold her breath, because the girl looked to be three sizes smaller. She had instructed her to meet in the foyer at around half past eight, by then Kath, should have made an appearance and hopefully had made a decision on what to do.
“We can always get the master key from Housekeeping,” Lucy had assured Jenni, when the girl had taken a cursory look through her stuff. “Still you look very pretty in your beautiful dress, so that might have to do.”
The receptionist called Dania, was taking a ‘phone call when Lucy dashed in, she proceeded to tell her that the owner was on his way.
“Oh dear,” Lucy grimaced. “I’d better get through to Kath and tell her what has happened. She’ll have to get over quickly if the owner is on his way. Did the night porter tell you what happened?”
“Si, he told me to telephone Senor Sanchez and give him the information. He should be here in around half an hour. You had an exciting evening, I hear.”
Clouds Below the Mountains Page 7
