Clouds Below the Mountains

by Vivienne Dockerty

  They had been surprised to see that Lesley and Heiko were missing from the chairs that they had left them in when they had returned, though Uwe remarked mischievously that perhaps they’d gone upstairs together and not gone their separate ways. Lucy had replied that she didn’t think so, Lesley was not that kind of girl.

  They had adjourned to the Quiet bar. Empty, except for Miguel serving and had a fond farewell in a dimly lit booth out of sight.

  ***

  Paul found himself sitting on a bench looking out to sea. Strangely enough in front of the apartment block where he and Cheryl had bought their place, but he hadn’t intended to walk that far, as it was quite a way from Playa de las Americas. Maybe it was because he had wanted another look at the apartment, to see more clearly in his mind if it was worth all the aggravation that he was sure was yet to come.

  It was peaceful there, watching the fishing boats returning with their morning catches, a fussy looking woman walking her curly coated dog; a jogger looking smug, passing by dressed in stylish sports wear and a man returning from his trip to a nearby shop, reading an English paper.

  “Going to be a lovely day again, mate?” said the slim looking grey haired man in his late fifties, dressed casually in a navy blue track suit and white trainers. “Mind if I sit down beside you, I usually sit there when I get me paper?”

  “Oh, sorry,” said Paul, leaping up as if he’d been scalded.

  “No, you’re all right, plenty of room for two, yer get into a routine you see. On holiday then?”

  “Yes, we go home on Tuesday, we’ll have been here for two weeks then. Well, not here exactly, over in Costa Adeje.”

  “Brought the family with you?”

  “Yes, the wife and two kiddies. I suppose they’ll just be getting up and wondering where I am?”

  “Want to talk about it?” The man looked at questioningly.

  Suddenly Paul found himself unburdening all, the fear of losing his deposit if his wife decided against the place; the overtime he’d have to do as Cheryl wouldn’t want to give up her easy life; the tension they were having, instead of being over the moon that they’d got a holiday home and of how she could wrap him around around her little finger, because he loved her so.

  “I know all about it, mate,” said the man, who had introduced himself as Tommy.

  “That’s why you’re sat here on a bench, at eight in the morning worrying yourself. Been there, done that, got the T’ shirt. Now let me tell you a cautionary tale. Six years ago, my wife and I came out on holiday. It was beginning to get very built up around here, you know, developers grabbing every bit of land they could and sticking a hotel or an apartment block on it? My wife went crazy, she had to have a holiday home, come hell or high water. Well, I loved my wife, I would have done anything for her. I did the markets back home, sold a bit of this and that, had a bit put by out of sight of the tax man and we put a substantial sum down on a two bedroom apartment, over there on that first phase building. We decided to move out lock, stock and barrel and sold our house in Blighty, to fund our new life. Six months down the line she’d had enough. The weather was too hot, she’d left her friends, she said I was becoming a drinker when I’d hardly touched the stuff before and of course we were rowing all the time, because we were always in each other’s company. She wanted to feel the rain on her face, breathe in the congested air of London, shop down Oxford Street, ride the Tube. She was off like a rocket, when I paid her air fare back to Gatwick.”

  “And do you miss her? Because that’s my problem, I love my wife and kids so much that this is all hurting like hell.

  “The way I see it you have two choices,” Tommy said, declining to answer for the moment whether he missed his wife or not, as time had become a healer. “You can lose your deposit, cut your losses and put it down to thinking with your holiday head on, as you wouldn’t have made such a serious purchase at home so quickly. Or you can carry on, get your mortgage, see it as an investment, then rent the place out. Lots of buggers do. And to answer your question about missing my wife. Yes I did when she hopped it back to London, but now I’m in the company of a nice little widow, so I don’t go short of a bit of “how’s your father” now and again!”

  ***

  “Come on, Kate, wake up,” said Greg, shaking her gently by the shoulder. “ I’ve showered Evan and put his clothes on. We’re off down to get a paper, I’ll see you at breakfast.”

  Kate hardly heard what he’d said. Finding it difficult to sleep again last night, she had taken two sleeping pills, which had zonked her out mixed with the alcohol she had drunk. She put a pillow over her head to block the daylight out as Greg had opened the curtains, then slowly drifted off again.

  Sonya, in the bedroom next door, had much the same problem as her mother, but she hadn’t taken sleeping pills. Hearing movement next door and her little boy laughing, had spurred her to get out of bed. She stumbled into the bathroom, fully dressed with the clothes she had been wearing the night before and stared with distaste at the furry white thing she called a tongue.

  Oh boy, had she drunk some, she thought, as she put back her tongue and looked at her face with the mascara streaks and caked foundation. She wondered what had happened to Mikey, everything had been a blur from about one thirty? Still, here she was, still in one piece, she’d have a shower and do her face.

  ***

  “Where’s Daddy gone?” asked Jack, as he came into the bedroom to ask if he could switch on the T.V.

  “Isn’t he in the living room?” asked his sleepy mother, forgetting for a moment that she’d rowed with her husband last night.

  “No, but his slippers and dressing gown are. Perhaps he’s gone for a paper, that’s what Evan’s granddad does.”

  “Yes, that’ll be it. If Annabelle’s awake, get her to put the plug in.”

  ***

  “So what happened to you last night?” asked Lucy, as she joined Lesley at the table at breakfast.

  “We said our goodnights and we went to bed. Separately”, Lesley replied, looking at Lucy with slight puzzlement. “ Why?”

  “Oh, I thought maybe you’d have a lingering drink together, exchanged addresses, you know?”

  “Lucy, I’m six years older than Heiko and been married for nine years. I’m hardly the type of woman he is going to declare his undying love to.”

  “Uwe seemed to think he had a pash on you. We were surprised when we came indoors that you’d gone.”

  “He knows that I still have feelings for my husband and I never gave him any encouragement. He’s sure to find someone more suitable than me, once they get their plans up and running. Anyway, what about you, are you going to keep in contact with Uwe?”

  “I can hardly avoid it,” Lucy chuckled. “ As soon as he gets back to Hamburg, he’s promised to book a return flight. He’s going to find a girl who’s suitable to represent their company and I’m going to train her. Though what Kath and Periquito Travel are going to say about it, we’ll soon find out.”

  ***

  “We’ll have our showers, then go and look for Daddy,” said Cheryl to the children,when she found them in the living room watching Spanish cartoons. “He probably didn’t sleep well last night and went for an early morning walk. He’ll be there when we go down for our breakfast.”

  She kept her voice cheerful, but her stomach was beginning to slightly churn. What if he’d done something foolish after the hasty words she’d said? It was too bad of him to put the pressure of buying an apartment on her. He was the head of the household and should sort these kinds of things out himself. She wondered what she should do if he wasn’t there at breakfast? Call the Police or Mountain Rescue, or just ignore his petty attempt to give her a fright by absenting himself?

  ***

  “Where’s Mum?” asked Sonya, when she joined Greg and Evan at breakfast later.

  “Probably gone back to sleep. It didn’t help that a certain person banged the door in the middle of the night, you know she’s a li
ght sleeper.”

  “Sorry about that, Dad. I must have left the balcony door open slightly and the door banged shut with the wind.”

  “What do you want to do today?” Greg asked, when Sonya came back with a plate of pancakes, though she was surprised she’d chosen to eat them because she had a banging head.

  “Sleep in the sun? No, somewhere in my mind I have a vague feeling I promised Mikey to help with stretching. Susanne, the girl who usually does it, is catching a ‘plane to Denmark this morning and it’s left him in a bit of a hole.”

  “Well, you’re not one of the Animacion team. Tell him to cancel it, no one wants to do the blooming exercises anyway.”

  “I think I will. I’ve got a bit of a headache and I don’t think exercising will make it go away.”

  “The problem with you, Sonya, is that you’re burning the candle at both ends. An early night will probably do you good.”

  “Ah, but I thought you’d volunteered to look after Evan, so that you don’t have to put up with Mum.”

  “Don’t be cheeky, Sonya. Whatever problems your mother and I have will be sorted. I’ll thank you to keep your nose out.”

  ***

  “Have you seen Paul this morning?” Cheryl asked worriedly, as she came up to their table with Annabelle and Jack in tow.

  “No, said Greg, “ Evan and I have been down since about eight o’clock. I got a paper and the lad played on the swings.”

  “Why, has he gone walk about?” asked Sonya nosily.

  “I think he’s gone to Aqualand,” said Annabelle. “ He said he was going and when we looked in the car park, the Espace has gone.”

  “Don’t be silly, Annabelle, your Daddy wouldn’t have gone there without us. He’s probably taken the car back to the hire firm.”

  “Strange he didn’t mention it to you,” said Greg. “ It’s the kind of thing you’d remember if he had.”

  “Would you mind if we sit with you, Greg. Only if for some reason there’s a problem that will become clearer later, I think I would need a man around to give me some advice.”

  ***

  “Don’t forget to remind the rep’ that it’s your twenty fifth, Judith”, Anthea advised, as she and Brian sat with their friends near to Lucy’s table.

  “Oh, we don’t want to make a fuss. We only told you last night because we’re going out for a meal this evening, so we wouldn’t be joining you for drinks.”

  “But, she could announce it in the Sunlight Bar, maybe even give you a bottle of champagne. Go on, it’s an achievement in this day and age.”

  “You go to the rep’s desk later, Charles,” said Judith. “ I don’t want to disturb her while she’s eating breakfast, it seems a bit unfair.”

  ***

  Kate was awoken suddenly by the key turning in the lock. She pushed the pillow away and prepared to glare at Greg for interrupting her. It was the maid, who called out as she entered the room to see if anyone was in there.

  “Excuse me, Senora,” she said, when she noticed Kate lying in bed. “ I thought all at breakfast, I will come back again.”

  Kate sighed, she supposed she had better make the effort and have a shower, though another day of lying on the sun lounger beckoned and it must be playing havoc with her skin. Even the most diligent coating of suntan lotion didn’t seem to work somehow. She might have known that this holiday would be the same as any other. Greg wasn’t a sight-seer, he liked to rest, read his books, potter into the restaurant at meal times and watch a show at night. Those things might be wonderful, when staring out of the window at home at the indifferent weather, but the pity of it was, he expected his family to enjoy the rest and sunshine too. Probably that was why, out of boredom, she had scanned the windows of the property agents in Cyprus last time. All those places with balconies looking out to sea and swimming pools in landscaped gardens. The one she had wanted was modest in comparison, in that it had a communal pool.

  Her memory was cloudy now, as she tried to remember what had inspired her about the house in Polis? Perhaps the view of the sea in the distance, if she craned her neck from the bedroom balcony, the panorama of the hills behind that were clothed in autumnal vegetation, or the wraparound patio where she could have grown exotic plants in pots and fixed an overhead trellis for a grape vine to trail across? All that would be somebody else’s now and her dream would fade away in the mist of time.

  ***

  “Why don’t we go on that little train we saw when we were out walking?” said Denise, as she and Vicky pushed Chantelle in her buggy through the foyer. “ It would be something different and those clouds have lifted from the mountain, so I don’t think we’d be caught in the rain.

  “Okay then,” Vicky replied. “Then we’ll visit that shopping mall after, where they’ve got an outside cafe and a shop that sells duty free.

  “It’s gone quickly, hasn’t it?” Denise said. “Here we are, already thinking of stuff to take home and before we know it we’ll be back at work again. Anyway, it’s got us a week away from our problems and I have to say, love, that your skin is looking better with the sun.”

  “We’re both looking better, Mum and when we get home we should have a look for another holiday. We need to have something to look forward to and to get us through each day.”

  “Eh, Vicky, you need to look forward to things at home. Girly nights, disco’s, the pictures. Isn’t there someone at the call centre you could pal up with, you’re only seventeen?”

  “No Mum, I’ve told you, I’m happy with just you and Chantelle. Nights out mean me meeting boys and I can do without them like a hole in the head.”

  ***

  “You were rat legged last night, Sonya,” said Mikey, as the pair met up by the tennis courts after Sonya had put Evan into Kid’s club. “Did you sleep in your clothes last night or did you manage to get into your nightdress?”

  “What do you think?” she giggled. “I was still in yesterday’s clothes when I woke up, so you obviously didn’t put me to bed.”

  “I might tonight though,” he joked wickedly. “So lay off the booze will yer and then I won’t be making love to a rag doll.”

  “You should be so lucky,” she taunted. “ I don’t know what you’re going to do for a shag when I go home.”

  “Find another bird who’ll accommodate me. There’s probably one in England now packing as we speak. Anyway, about this stretching, do you fancy giving it a go?”

  “Sorry, no chance, I’m not up to any exercise. Anyway, look around you. Do you think there’ll be loads of disappointed women, ‘cos I don’t see a queue?”

  “Okay then,” he shrugged. “ I’ll get on with the archery, I’ll see you later on.”

  “Oh, by the way Mikey, before you go, what’s the act tonight? Is it that Meggie woman again?”

  “No, she’s on tomorrer night, she’s back home on Tuesday. But you’re never going to believe what Sanchez’s gone and booked us, a Spanish bint who plays classical music. Me and Damion have to dust off the piano and push it on the stage and I bet she doesn’t go down that well with the punters.”

  ***

  “Will he have his mobile with him?” asked Greg, as he and Cheryl sat out by the pool bar once the children had been taken to Kid’s club. Annabelle had protested vigorously that she needed to be around when her Daddy got back, but her mother ignored her whining and had pushed her gently into the play room.

  “He has a work’s one but I don’t know the number,” Cheryl replied. “ I have the number on my calendar at home.”

  “No good it being there then,” said Greg looking thoughtful. “Then do you think he’s taken the hire car back and you’ve forgotten that he told you?”

  “That’s probably what it is,” she replied. “ But we had a bit of a row last night and I was worried that he might do something silly.”

  “Why should Paul do that, anyone can tell he thinks the world of you and the children? You’re blowing things out of proportion for a silly little spat.”<
br />
  “Wasn’t that silly,” said Cheryl defensively. “ He virtually accused me of being a nag!”

  “And were you nagging him, women tend to harp on a bit? I know, I’ve got two women living in my house.”

  “I suppose I have gone on a little about a buying property,” she said in a small voice. “ But now he’s gone and put a deposit down, I’ve gone off the idea.”

  “What is it with you women? I had the same problem with Kate in Cyprus last year. I knew if I’d gone ahead and let her buy the property she wanted, she’d be off the idea as soon as the plane landed in Manchester!”

  “Oh well, thanks for that Greg,” cried Cheryl standing up looking huffy. “ I wasn’t looking for your opinion I was just looking for a bit of moral support, you know.”

  She stalked off in the direction of the Ladies, while Greg sighed and opened his book.

  ***

  Lucy ran across the courtyard to her apartment, leaving Lesley in charge while she went to wash her clothes at the launderette. She supposed she should be walking on air at the moment, as Uwe had just phoned from the airport, whilst sitting with Heiko in the departure lounge waiting for his plane. He had said the same again, what he had said to her last night… “ You know how I feel about you, Lucy?”… Somehow it didn’t sound quite right. Why couldn’t he have said “ I love you?” It would have made her feel special, really believed that she would see him again.

  ***

  “I didn’t do so bad, seeing as I’ve never held a bow and arrow before,” Nobby said to Mikey, handing him the cross bow as a group of men stood waiting for their turn.

  “No by golly, a bull’s eye, old chap,” Mikey replied, smiling at the older man’s enthusiasm.“ Next.”

  Phil took the cross bow off him, set the arrow and fired. It hit the fence at the side of the target, all the other men sarcastically cheered.

  “You have a go then,” said Phil feeling annoyed, as he was an ace at darts in the local pub’ that he drank in. He handed the cross bow to a jeering Brian. Brian hit the outer ring and there was a subdued applause as the other men watched him.