I put the kids to bed and go down to have dinner. Dawn and Gary are dancing to some imaginary music they only can hear. “For God’s sake, have pity on me!”
They laugh. “I was waiting for you. I’m sorry I won’t be able to stay here with you lovely ladies, art is calling” and he leaves, I look at Dawn “Not a word. He had a sudden inspiration” she rolls her eyes “he called the others and they’re all heading back to the studio. Sometimes I wish he had a lover like everybody else. I guess it’s gonna be girls’ night!”
“Should we put our PJs on?”
“Absolutely”
We end up eating ice-cream out of the box while watching ‘The phantom of the Opera’ DVD.
“Why do we always fall in love with the tormented soul, and never ever with the good, responsible guy?”
“Christine chooses Roul in the end” she answers.
“Yep” I eat another spoon of ice-cream ‘but we know she’ll regret it”
“Fair enough. I don’t have an answer to your question Bea. But I have some more chocolate chip ice-cream”
“Hurray for the inventor of the chocolate chip!”
We laugh and chat. She takes a spoon full of ice-creams an says “Gary told me the way Howard was looking at you this morning”
“Well, hard not to notice. Not much of a talker but he looks like an all-you-can-eat-buffet and I have been on a diet for the longest time.” I’m trying to be funny, I’m not too comfortable talking about personal issues with someone I’ve known for 4 days.
“Howard is Gary’s best mate in the band. But I need to warn you”
“No need to. You know my rules. He’s in a very serious relationship, two daughters. Not my kind”
“He can be very persuasive; I’m telling you as a friend, stay away”
“He’s as far as he can be”
“Good, because according to your little cataloguing system he is a typical … what did you call it? Ah right. Type H, he's in a serious relationships but he feels she does not understand him the way she used to.”
“The worst kind”
“The worst of all”
Emily is sitting on my bed, trying some of my necklaces on, while I’m looking at myself in the mirror.
“Emily I want you to know there is no such thing as natural beauty. So what do you say, pink or red lipstick?”
She giggles “pink”
Daniel stops on the door “Bea come on! It’s taking you forever! We need to go!”
“Maybe we should hear what Daniel has to say about the lipstick” and I take Emily in my arms while we chase her brother around the house.
We all laugh “come here Daniel, let me smooch you”
“Nooooooooooo”
I stop and sit on a step, panting. Emily is holding on to my neck, she pulls my hair behind my ears “I like you very much”
“I like you very much too”
“And you’re not going away”
“No I’m not” and we hug until we hear Daniel saying “girls!” and does the finger-down-to-throat gesture. “Daniel Barlow, come here, where did you learn that?”
“At school”
“Next time you do you’ll have to make your sister’s bed for a week.”
“But Zach does it all the times!”
“You’re not Zach and you’re not doing it again, understood?”
“Understood, but it’s not fair”
“Poor unappreciated babe” I can see his eyes filling with tears, not too used to be scolded. I crawl to him, “in order to properly express sadness that’s what you have to do”, I take his hands into mine and start moving them up and down, from his hair, caressing his face, down to his neck “there you go, and while you do that you need to keep on repeating ‘desperation! True desperation!” He realized how ridiculous he is and laughs and Emily laughs, it works every time “Let’s go now. Your mom’s waiting for us”.
We get to the rehearsing studio. The big guy at the door gives a pass “to be used during the tour too Madam”.
We push the large door to the dance studio, and there they are. Jason is shaking his head, hands on his hips. Mark is sitting on the floor pissing his pants while Gary is pulling faces at Howard who’s pretending to sob!
I’m just looking at them, the kids let go of my hand and run towards some of the dancers and Dawn walk by me “look at them… and they call it work”
“Bea!” Gary calls “come here! Would you mind explaining Howard why we cannot include ‘Oops I did it again’ in the new tour? For some reason he’s not taking it too well”
“It’s such a good song” and falls on his knees, wrapping his arms around my legs “tell him it such a good song, and Britney deserves the best, she has been through so much already” the entire act is punctuated by desperate sobs and moans.
I burst out laughing, “who are you? What did you do to your grumpy twin brother?”
“No twins, one Doug is all the world can handle. The Starbuck fairy cast a caffeine spell on him” Jason says
“Whatever it is it worked, he can talk!” I tell him
Howard gives me a killer look.
“Keep your hands to yourself!” I mock him and I take his hands into mine to push him away, but the moment I touch him he tickles my palms with his fingers. I pretend not to notice and head toward Mark leaving him sitting on the floor.
“Bea, nice to meet you at last”
“Hi Mark, I’ve heard so much about you”
“Me too” he answers
“Mark don’t” Gary begs.
Too late. “Your boss told me about your little heartburn, so I was wondering; did you pay for your reception? Because if you did and there was no wedding I could step in. Emma and I would love to get married in Tuscany”
I look at him in disbelief “I don’t even know you and you’re already making fun of me. It’s going to be long tour… Not for you of course, because if you keep walking along this dangerous path you will be dead before the opening night”
“That was mean on my part, I’m sorry”
“If you would stop laughing I could maybe consider the option of believing you”
“Let me get you something to drink” and he takes me to a table with beverages and food. “Mark, do you know of any good restaurant I could take my friends to? I need somewhere special. It’s my best friend’s birthday tomorrow.”
“I know a great place” Howard says. He followed us. “Mark is the last person you want to ask about restaurants. He eats the same way he dresses”
“Out of a trash can you mean?”
He laughs so hard I feel my heart shrink. “Pink is a brilliant color” he tries to defend himself
“So my ex-fiancé used to say” I tell him.
“I cannot fight the both of you” Mark rolls his eyes and leave.
“It’s a new Greek restaurant on Primerose, very exclusive. Whose birthday it is?”
“Julie’s, my friend from the Tate”
“I can make the reservation for you if you want me to”
*you are too close* a take a little step to my right “Thanks, if you give me the number I’ll call them myself”
“It’s not the way it works, it’s a very exclusive place”
“Not that much if they let you in”
“Ah Ah Ah” looks straight into my eyes “should I make that call or not?”
I turn around and face him “stop this thing you’re doing’
“Why?”
“You’re making me uncomfortable”
He steps back “phone call?”
“Party of 6, 9 o’clock on Friday”
“names’
“what?”
“I need names, they write lists”
“You’re making it up”
“Whatever, have your party at McDonalds” and turns starting walking toward Gary
“Wait! Here’s a piece of paper and a pen” he takes it
“Julie Moore and Gordon Graves, Tricia Jones and Julian Foer, me and Antonio Martini”
“Who’s this Antonio guy?”
“What do you care?”
“MacDonald’s”
“He’s a dear friend of mine, big investment banker; he’ just moved back to London, got a job at RBS”
“Should I assume he had to leave Italy because he stole money from his clients?”
“He worked a year in china and RBS is paying him by the second to work for them”
“Enough information. Consider it done”
“Thanks”
“Oh you’ll thank me soon enough” he smirks “So, what are you doing here? You don’t look like a nanny to me”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t fit the Mary Poppins stereotype. I’m asking you again, what are you really doing here?”
“Besides trying to avoid answering inappropriate questions to an almost perfect stranger you mean?” Before he can say anything his mobile rings. He checks the display, he’s face drops and answers “yes … I told you I can’t …. No YOU need to understand … that’s not what we agreed …” he’s mad but manages to keep his voice low “… shit! Listen to me! I’m sick … I’m not finished … sick and tired of your mind games …don’t you dare hang up on me … shit!”
He puts his mobile back in his pocket and looks at me “trouble in paradise” he mumbles ironically.
* Type H, the worst kind*
They laugh. “I was waiting for you. I’m sorry I won’t be able to stay here with you lovely ladies, art is calling” and he leaves, I look at Dawn “Not a word. He had a sudden inspiration” she rolls her eyes “he called the others and they’re all heading back to the studio. Sometimes I wish he had a lover like everybody else. I guess it’s gonna be girls’ night!”
“Should we put our PJs on?”
“Absolutely”
We end up eating ice-cream out of the box while watching ‘The phantom of the Opera’ DVD.
“Why do we always fall in love with the tormented soul, and never ever with the good, responsible guy?”
“Christine chooses Roul in the end” she answers.
“Yep” I eat another spoon of ice-cream ‘but we know she’ll regret it”
“Fair enough. I don’t have an answer to your question Bea. But I have some more chocolate chip ice-cream”
“Hurray for the inventor of the chocolate chip!”
We laugh and chat. She takes a spoon full of ice-creams an says “Gary told me the way Howard was looking at you this morning”
“Well, hard not to notice. Not much of a talker but he looks like an all-you-can-eat-buffet and I have been on a diet for the longest time.” I’m trying to be funny, I’m not too comfortable talking about personal issues with someone I’ve known for 4 days.
“Howard is Gary’s best mate in the band. But I need to warn you”
“No need to. You know my rules. He’s in a very serious relationship, two daughters. Not my kind”
“He can be very persuasive; I’m telling you as a friend, stay away”
“He’s as far as he can be”
“Good, because according to your little cataloguing system he is a typical … what did you call it? Ah right. Type H, he's in a serious relationships but he feels she does not understand him the way she used to.”
“The worst kind”
“The worst of all”
Emily is sitting on my bed, trying some of my necklaces on, while I’m looking at myself in the mirror.
“Emily I want you to know there is no such thing as natural beauty. So what do you say, pink or red lipstick?”
She giggles “pink”
Daniel stops on the door “Bea come on! It’s taking you forever! We need to go!”
“Maybe we should hear what Daniel has to say about the lipstick” and I take Emily in my arms while we chase her brother around the house.
We all laugh “come here Daniel, let me smooch you”
“Nooooooooooo”
I stop and sit on a step, panting. Emily is holding on to my neck, she pulls my hair behind my ears “I like you very much”
“I like you very much too”
“And you’re not going away”
“No I’m not” and we hug until we hear Daniel saying “girls!” and does the finger-down-to-throat gesture. “Daniel Barlow, come here, where did you learn that?”
“At school”
“Next time you do you’ll have to make your sister’s bed for a week.”
“But Zach does it all the times!”
“You’re not Zach and you’re not doing it again, understood?”
“Understood, but it’s not fair”
“Poor unappreciated babe” I can see his eyes filling with tears, not too used to be scolded. I crawl to him, “in order to properly express sadness that’s what you have to do”, I take his hands into mine and start moving them up and down, from his hair, caressing his face, down to his neck “there you go, and while you do that you need to keep on repeating ‘desperation! True desperation!” He realized how ridiculous he is and laughs and Emily laughs, it works every time “Let’s go now. Your mom’s waiting for us”.
We get to the rehearsing studio. The big guy at the door gives a pass “to be used during the tour too Madam”.
We push the large door to the dance studio, and there they are. Jason is shaking his head, hands on his hips. Mark is sitting on the floor pissing his pants while Gary is pulling faces at Howard who’s pretending to sob!
I’m just looking at them, the kids let go of my hand and run towards some of the dancers and Dawn walk by me “look at them… and they call it work”
“Bea!” Gary calls “come here! Would you mind explaining Howard why we cannot include ‘Oops I did it again’ in the new tour? For some reason he’s not taking it too well”
“It’s such a good song” and falls on his knees, wrapping his arms around my legs “tell him it such a good song, and Britney deserves the best, she has been through so much already” the entire act is punctuated by desperate sobs and moans.
I burst out laughing, “who are you? What did you do to your grumpy twin brother?”
“No twins, one Doug is all the world can handle. The Starbuck fairy cast a caffeine spell on him” Jason says
“Whatever it is it worked, he can talk!” I tell him
Howard gives me a killer look.
“Keep your hands to yourself!” I mock him and I take his hands into mine to push him away, but the moment I touch him he tickles my palms with his fingers. I pretend not to notice and head toward Mark leaving him sitting on the floor.
“Bea, nice to meet you at last”
“Hi Mark, I’ve heard so much about you”
“Me too” he answers
“Mark don’t” Gary begs.
Too late. “Your boss told me about your little heartburn, so I was wondering; did you pay for your reception? Because if you did and there was no wedding I could step in. Emma and I would love to get married in Tuscany”
I look at him in disbelief “I don’t even know you and you’re already making fun of me. It’s going to be long tour… Not for you of course, because if you keep walking along this dangerous path you will be dead before the opening night”
“That was mean on my part, I’m sorry”
“If you would stop laughing I could maybe consider the option of believing you”
“Let me get you something to drink” and he takes me to a table with beverages and food. “Mark, do you know of any good restaurant I could take my friends to? I need somewhere special. It’s my best friend’s birthday tomorrow.”
“I know a great place” Howard says. He followed us. “Mark is the last person you want to ask about restaurants. He eats the same way he dresses”
“Out of a trash can you mean?”
He laughs so hard I feel my heart shrink. “Pink is a brilliant color” he tries to defend himself
“So my ex-fiancé used to say” I tell him.
“I cannot fight the both of you” Mark rolls his eyes and leave.
“It’s a new Greek restaurant on Primerose, very exclusive. Whose birthday it is?”
“Julie’s, my friend from the Tate”
“I can make the reservation for you if you want me to”
*you are too close* a take a little step to my right “Thanks, if you give me the number I’ll call them myself”
“It’s not the way it works, it’s a very exclusive place”
“Not that much if they let you in”
“Ah Ah Ah” looks straight into my eyes “should I make that call or not?”
I turn around and face him “stop this thing you’re doing’
“Why?”
“You’re making me uncomfortable”
He steps back “phone call?”
“Party of 6, 9 o’clock on Friday”
“names’
“what?”
“I need names, they write lists”
“You’re making it up”
“Whatever, have your party at McDonalds” and turns starting walking toward Gary
“Wait! Here’s a piece of paper and a pen” he takes it
“Julie Moore and Gordon Graves, Tricia Jones and Julian Foer, me and Antonio Martini”
“Who’s this Antonio guy?”
“What do you care?”
“MacDonald’s”
“He’s a dear friend of mine, big investment banker; he’ just moved back to London, got a job at RBS”
“Should I assume he had to leave Italy because he stole money from his clients?”
“He worked a year in china and RBS is paying him by the second to work for them”
“Enough information. Consider it done”
“Thanks”
“Oh you’ll thank me soon enough” he smirks “So, what are you doing here? You don’t look like a nanny to me”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t fit the Mary Poppins stereotype. I’m asking you again, what are you really doing here?”
“Besides trying to avoid answering inappropriate questions to an almost perfect stranger you mean?” Before he can say anything his mobile rings. He checks the display, he’s face drops and answers “yes … I told you I can’t …. No YOU need to understand … that’s not what we agreed …” he’s mad but manages to keep his voice low “… shit! Listen to me! I’m sick … I’m not finished … sick and tired of your mind games …don’t you dare hang up on me … shit!”
He puts his mobile back in his pocket and looks at me “trouble in paradise” he mumbles ironically.
* Type H, the worst kind*
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento