Clouds Below the Mountains

by Vivienne Dockerty

  “Well, I might just be persuaded to give up my singledom for Harry,” said Doreen. “What a charming man, I bet he made his wife a good husband.”

  “I’m just wishing I was single,” said Milly. “ Seems a shame to be married to someone like our Bert, when there’s Harry just waiting to be nurtured.”

  Jean said nothing. One man in her life had been enough, even if this one had made her heart flutter a bit.

  ***

  “Right, that’s the Bingo out of the way,” said Mikey, pocketing his share of the money which had been creamed off from the ticket costs and the winnings. “I’ll just go through these Karaoke billy-doo’s and see whose up for making a fool of themselves. Susanne, you go round the tables and see if there’s anyone else who can be encouraged to come up as well and Damion you check the sound system for me. I don’t want it playing up again like it did when I was calling out the numbers.”

  “Right ho, Boss,” replied Damion, who knew that Mikey got very worked up when the clients kept interrupting his flow, if they wanted him to repeat the Bingo numbers. “Deaf sod” was his usual muttered reaction, or worse if Mikey had consumed a few early evening beers.

  Mikey noticed that someone had written down “ I Had A Dream” by Abba, on one of the pieces of paper he had provided with the Karaoke folders. Sonya, he thought, that’s the girl who was sitting with the waiter the other evening behind one of the pillars. A blue eyed judy, with the right colour hair for playing the part of Freida in his coming Abba production. If she was any good, he would ask her how she was fixed for helping them out on stage next Tuesday night. There was no chance of getting that snotty Anna now and she probably didn’t know any of the tunes. He wondered how far Juan had got with the Freida lookalike? It was common knowledge amongst the staff, that the waiter was only after a shag when he started to chat up a girl. Not that he himself wasn’t guilty of taking advantage if the girl was up for it, but the lucky tosser already had a fiance back home.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen,” Mikey shouted, as he bounced up onto the stage carrying a handful of slips in his hand. “Tonight is Karaoke night and already I have many singers queuing up to entertain you.” He looked quickly at the slips and selected another one, besides Sonya’s, that had caught his eye earlier. “Please would you put your hands together and welcome, Kate!”

  A burst of applause began as Kate, rather unsteadily some thought, began to weave her way through the watching audience to the stage.

  “I don’t need the words,” she said to the spiky haired Mikey, dismissing the Karaoke machine that Damion was positioning near to her. “Just the microphone, thank you.”

  “O.kay, so this is Kate. Where are you from Kate? Manchester, oh not far from where I come from.

  May I say, you’re looking stunning, Kate, all those sparkles on your top remind me of Dolly Parton.

  Though I think you’ll agree she has more to put in a top than you.”

  Mikey waited for some sort of reaction, a laugh from the audience maybe or a giggle from Kate. He got neither. Someone shouted, “ get on with it” and Kate looked ahead blankly. The introduction to her song began and suddenly there was hush in the room.

  “Wise men say only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you.”

  She sang the words to “ Can’t help falling in love”, by Elvis Presley so beautifully and with such feeling, that many of the women listening had a lump in their throats or a tear in their eye when she had finished and stepped down from the stage. All hands began to clap her performance in genuine praise.

  “So,” said Mikey, taking the microphone from its stand and talking into it, “ the lovely Kate. Beautifully sung if I may so. So Kate has set the standard for our Karaoke singers, let’s now have Alf on the stage. Alf is going to sing “ Wandering Star” by Lee Marvin. He tells me that it’s from a film called “ Paint your Wagon.” A bit before my time I think, Alf, as I’ve never heard of it.”

  ***

  “You did really well there, Mum,” said Sonya, as her mother came to sit beside her. “I hope I’m on after this, because I don’t want Dad thinking I’m pushing it.”

  “Have we time for another drink?” asked Kate, who had suddenly gone cold after her rush of adrenaline had gone. “I’ll go and get a brandy from the bar, do you want anything?”

  “No, you’re all right, after I’ve done my song we’ll get off, as I’ll need my wits about me if Evan should wake in the night.”

  Kate walked over to the bar and sat on one of the stools next to where Lucy and Jenni were sitting together, as Miguel was on the bar until midnight and couldn’t leave his post.

  “Very good, Mrs. Lewis,” said Lucy smiling, “ sounded very professional to me.”

  “Only practice,” Kate replied blushing a little, “ and I usually have to have a few drinks before getting up on the stage.”

  “Don’t we all?,” Lucy sympathized, “ but the good thing about being on holiday is, you never have to see the people you’re performing before again.”

  “My daughter should be on in a minute, she’ll be singing one of the Abba songs. She usually does. That’s what happens when you have a father who’s a fan. Poor Sonya has had to listen to Greg singing, since she was a babe in arms.”

  “Have you got anything planned for tomorrow?” asked Lucy, switching on to her holiday rep’ role.

  “No, we haven’t , me and my husband that is, but Sonya and Evan are going with the Coopers to Loro Parque.”

  “Oh, they’ll love it there, it’s one of our most popular excursions. Enjoy your day then. Goodnight.”

  Kate took her drink over to their table, just as Mikey announced that it was Sonya’s turn to sing. She settled back in her chair to listen to her daughter’s favourite tune.

  ***

  “So he asked me if I’d be willing to sing with them on Tuesday night, Mum,” said Sonya, feeling quite delighted as they got into the lift that would take them up to the third floor. “I told him that I know most of the Abba songs and he wants me to rehearse on Monday afternoon. That will be my day again for looking after Evan, do you think Dad will mind if you and him do the baby sitting?”

  “I can’t speak for your father,” Kate replied, “ but I won’t mind, as you well know. Anyway, we’ll not tell him now, we’ll just settle Evan into your bedroom and then get some shut eye. Paul didn’t say what time they were leaving, but I think you should be breakfasting by half past eight.”

  ***

  “Well, thank you for your company this evening, ladies,” said Harry courteously, as the Karaoke finished and Mikey announced that the disco would be starting in ten minutes.

  “Perhaps I’ll see you around the pool tomorrow afternoon. I’m off on an excursion in the morning.”

  “Anywhere nice?”, asked Doreen, then could have kicked herself, when a shadow came over Harry’s face.

  “Just up to Mount Teide,” he answered bravely. “One of the places that my dear wife and I visited when we used to come to Tenerife.”

  The three ladies looked embarrassed, so Harry said his goodnights and left.

  ***

  Kate slipped in the bed besides Greg, who having delivered his grandson to his bed next door, was trying to get comfortable again. She lay for a moment on her back considering whether she should turn over and get some sleep, or cause a confrontation now that Evan was not sleeping in the same room with them. The five vodka and tonics and one brandy had made her feel quite mellow, but also a little resentful on the state of their sex life. The last time that she and Greg had made love, was when they had stayed in the villa in Cyprus. The one that she had really wanted to buy off the owner, but Greg had been so difficult about it. Even then his love making had been perfunctory. He’d done what he’d had to do, then rolled off her. But at the moment any attention would be better than no attention, thought Kate and snuggled up closer to him.

  “I’m tired, Kate,” said Greg moving away a little.

  “You�
��re always tired, I think you should go and see the doctor.”

  She stayed where she was and didn’t move closer.

  “Don’t you fancy me anymore?”

  There wasn’t any answer from Greg.

  “So you don’t fancy me anymore. I spend all this money on clothes, hairdo’s and beauty treatment and it’s all a waste of time, is it?”

  There still wasn’t an answer, but Kate could feel Greg tensing. Was he ready for a fight with her?

  “I just think that at our age, having sex isn’t as necessary as it used to be when we were younger,” he said in a muffled voice.

  “Necessary. So us having sex when we were younger was necessary, but not now that we are older?

  “Yes.”

  “Right. So am I to assume that we’re going to live like brother and sister for the rest of our married life?”

  “I don’t know. Kate, do we have to discuss this now? I’m tired and I just want to get a good night’s sleep. Perhaps we can talk about this when we’re on our own tomorrow.”

  “I think we certainly will discuss it tomorrow,” said Kate in low growl, feeling a mixture of anger where she wanted to kick him out of bed, and despair that their marriage had a plumbed a new depth again. “And perhaps we could discuss that financial separation you were talking about in Cyprus last year.”

  Chapter Eleven.

  “I’m not happy, Gary,” said Tracy Greenfield, as her new husband came out of the bathroom, knowing that if he didn’t get in there first, he’d be cross legged for the next hour.

  “Why’s that, Darling?” he asked, his face puckering with concern. “Didn’t you sleep well after we had made love? I thought from your sighs you were really contented?”

  “Oh that, no, Gary, I’m not talking about our love making. I’m talking about the toilet rolls in the bathroom. I’ve noticed that the paper isn’t soft like the toilet roll we have in England. It’s hard and crepey. I’m sure it will cause me problems down below.”

  “Then we must go into the town later and find one of those pharmacies. Perhaps they’ll have something softer than what they have here.”

  “I thought we had to go to the Welcome meeting at ten thirty. I think we should make an effort to go there or people will begin to talk.”

  “What about my darling, why would people be talking?”

  “You know, they’ll make jokes about honeymoon couples not appearing for meals. Just staying in bed all the time.”

  “Oh, surely not, honey bunch, people are here to enjoy their holiday. They’re not going to be watching our every move.”

  “Well anyway, you can walk into town now, while I have my bath and get ready. Tell the man in the chemist I want something like Andrex, or if they’ve nothing similar get me a pack of baby wipes. I’ll go down to the restaurant for breakfast as soon as I’ve finished and you can meet me in there.”

  “Very well, my darling, but I’ll need some money. May I go into your handbag and take out some of the currency I got from Barclays?”

  His wife nodded, stretched her arms into the air, then asked him to pass her cream satin dressing gown that was draped across the bedroom chair. She waited until he had brushed his hair in the dressing table mirror, fiddled with the navy blue collar on his short sleeved shirt and checked that the flies were zipped in his navy blue Bermuda shorts.

  “See you later then, Darling,” Gary said, when he was satisfied he’d passed muster in his fashion conscious wife’s eyes. “I’ll go to Reception and find out where there’s a pharmacy, so I shouldn’t be away from you for very long.”

  He blew Tracy a loving kiss, then went from the room as she got out of bed.

  ***

  “You don’t look too good this morning, Mum,” said Sonya, as she stood dressed in a white T’ shirt and pale blue shorts at the door of her parent’s bedroom with Evan.

  “I didn’t sleep very well again last night,” Kate replied. “I was probably still on a high from the Karaoke.”

  “Well you should get some rest today, with Evan and I going to Loro Parque with the Coopers. It looks as if the sun is going to shine as there are no low clouds below the mountains.”

  “I’d still take a jacket though for Evan,” said Kate “ and have you got plenty of suncream and a hat for him?”

  “Yes, Mother, here in my basket. Go in and give your granddad a big kiss, Evan and then we’ll go and get our breakfast. I take it you and Dad have been rowing, Mum,” she said in a lowered voice.

  “Surprisingly we haven’t,” Kate said quietly. “Though there’s something the matter with him at the moment that I can’t put my finger on.”

  “Probably feeling a bit stressed over meeting that idiot yesterday and having to face up to problems, when he’s here to have a holiday.”

  “That’ll be it,” said Kate brightly, as she had no intention of telling her daughter about her very frustrating sex life.

  “Have a lovely day, Evan,” she continued, as the child came dashing back to the door. “ Give Grandma a kiss before you go and be good for your Mummy.”

  Evan nodded, kissed Kate on the cheek after she had knelt down to his eye level, then pulled on Sonya’s basket in an effort to get his mother moving, as he’d been looking forward to playing with Jack since he’d opened his eyes that morning.

  ***

  “Cheryl, Darling, do get a move on in the bathroom,” cried Paul, anxious to get down for breakfast, as he didn’t want Sonya and Evan having to hang around.

  “Two minutes, Darling,” Cheryl called, as she put on her new shiny pink lipstick, then checked that the back of her orange stripey halter neck dress wasn’t lower than her strapless bra’.

  “You didn’t bother ordering lunch boxes for today, did you?” she said, as she came out of the en- suite bathroom looking cool and elegant and smelling of her favourite perfume, which was Chanel No. 5. “Only I thought it would be a waste of food with there being a restaurant there.”

  “No, I felt the same as you that we’d probably throw the contents away and Annabelle will want a hot dog and then so will Jack. I think we ought to hurry to the restaurant now, Cheryl, as I’m sure Sonya will be waiting for us. You didn’t mention a time to her did you, Darling?”

  “I assumed you had made the arrangements with her father. I don’t know why you had to ask her along though, because we could have looked after Evan ourselves.”

  “He’s a little young to be away from his mother, Cheryl. Anyway she seems a pleasant girl.”

  “Hmm, well I hope you won’t be giving all your attention to her instead of me today. I know what you’re like when we’re in company.”

  “You know I only have eyes for you, my darling,” Paul said, putting his arms around her very trim waist.

  “And for me, Daddy,” said Annabelle, who had come into their bedroom from the lounge.

  “Yes, Poppet and for you. Are you and Jack ready? You don’t seem very excited by the fact we’re going to Loro Parque.”

  “It won’t be as good as Disneyland, Daddy. You’ve been promising me for years that you would take me there.”

  “Hardly years,” Paul replied laughingly. “You’re only seven and we’re waiting for Jack to get a little older, as we want you both to appreciate all that Disneyland has to offer.”

  “Well, I hope it’s not going to be too far into the future, Daddy, as already I may be too old to appreciate it.”

  Paul and Cheryl hid their smiles at their daughter’s bumptiousness, she always seemed to want the last word.

  ***

  “Have we any plans today?,” asked Milly, as she and the two sisters sat at the table, contemplating whether to have a full breakfast or not, seeing as they were nursing slight hangovers.

  “We could go for a walk along the promenade again, but this time in the other direction. I suppose we should get some exercise and blow some of our cobwebs away.”

  “If you like,” said Doreen and Jean nodded slowly in agreement, because she di
dn’t want to cause any more aching to her head.

  “The weather looks better,” Milly continued, “ there’s no clouds below the mountains, which I think is a good sign for a sunny day.”

  “I’m glad we didn’t have to get up early like poor old Harry Wilkinson,” said Doreen. “ I felt really sorry for him, with him trailing about in search of memories of his wife.”

  “It was embarrassing though when he told us, wasn’t it?”, said Milly, suddenly getting up from her seat, as she decided that scrambled egg on toast would be likely to be kept down.

  “I never went anywhere much, so that I could go in search of memories,” said Jean mournfully, as she got up to see if there was something to tempt her appetite.

  “Then you’ll have saved a lot in air fares then,” said Doreen tartly, who hadn’t liked Jean’s husband

  very much.

  ***

  “Same as usual?”, asked Lucy, as she and Kath met each other in the Sunlight Bar that morning. “Yes, you start putting out the folders and I’ll go and see if one of the waiters can bring a tray of Buck’s Fizz or orange juice for the guests. I’ll do the talking this morning, then I should imagine we’ll get away quite sharpish, with there only being fourteen guests to turn up. Has everybody settled in do you think?”

  “Well nobody has complained to me yet, unless they are storing it up for this welcome meeting. We did have one lady, who didn’t want to wear the All Inclusive wristband, but her husband coaxed her into wearing it. They’re newlyweds, so I suppose she didn’t want to upset him.”

  “The Gatwick people seemed very nice,” said Kath. “One of the couples had been here before. In fact I remember them from last November and another couple have been coming to Tenerife for years. I don’t think I’d want to keep going to the same place year in year out for a holiday.”

  “Nor me, I hope that one day I’ll have seen most of the countries in the world.”

  “That pre-supposes that you won’t be settling down with a husband and a family then.”

  “Probably not, unless I meet a man who sweeps me off my feet.”