Breaking the Ice (6 page)

‘
Herbal tea! God, perhaps the deep breathing and exploration of his inner self worked this time. So what else did he say?’ Cleo asked her.

‘
Oh, you know, nothing much,’ Samantha responded with a shrug.

Suddenly she didn’t feel like talking anymore.

‘
Are you OK? You look a bit pale. Are you coming down with something?’ Cleo asked, staring into Samantha’s eyes and scrutinising her pallor.

‘
I think I’m going to go to bed now. Sorry I interrupted humping the brogue wearer. Which one is it? The hot one? Jeremy wasn’t it?’ Samantha said hurriedly and she turned away from Cleo and headed towards her bedroom.

‘
Hey, wait a minute, Sam! You didn’t say what he was wearing! Sam! Was it something cool from GAP?’ Cleo called as Samantha retreated.

Samantha went into her room and shut the door behind her. She leaned heavily against it, her head throbbing. Jimmy Lloyd had been to rehab and she felt disappointed. Someone who skated so beautifully and had such perfect white teeth took drugs. That just wasn’t right.

Four

They were white and a size five. Some of the laces were fraying and the blades had seen better days. Samantha picked up the ice skates that were lying on the front desk and was just about to study them in more detail when Dave arrived through the front door, half a Cornish pasty in his hand and the remainder close to spilling out of his mouth.

‘
Ah, good, you’re here Duck. Like the footwear?’ Dave enquired, leaning on the desk and breathing out meat and potato fumes in Samantha’s direction.

‘
Are these for lost property? Or do they belong to one of the skaters from the show?’ Samantha enquired, holding the skates up by their laces and letting them dangle dangerously close to Dave’s face.

‘
Non, ma cherie
, those are yours - well, for the duration of the ice show anyway,’ Dave responded, poking the remaining pasty into his mouth and grinning widely.

‘
I don’t understand,’ Samantha answered, looking again at the boots as if she expected them to contain a hidden message she had overlooked.

‘
Well, I thought as sales for
Skating on Broadway
have proved so popular, the least we could do for our audience is provide them with the full, unadulterated skating experience - from the grass roots up so to speak,’ Dave replied.

‘
What are the boots for Dave?’ Samantha asked him bluntly.

‘
They’re for you, size five. And there’s a pair for Felicity, Jane and Karen too, you are going to be my Ice Maidens. Just picture the scene - the interval arrives and there you are, an armful of programmes, gliding round the edge of the ice to some well chosen intermission music, exchanging pleasantries and selling brochures,’ Dave spoke, his eyes glazing over as he imagined.

‘
Oh my goodness, you’re not serious!’ Samantha exclaimed, immediately filled with horror at Dave’s suggestion.

‘
Tres bon
, of course I’m serious. What could be better than coming to watch an ice dancing show and having the programme and refreshment sellers coordinating with the theme of the evening? Is Jane really a size ten shoe? I found it quite hard to get ladies skates that big,’ Dave spoke, putting his greasy hands onto some paperwork on the desk and picking it up to read.

‘
Dave, it’s a great idea and I’m sure it would enhance the ambiance of the evening, but I haven’t skated for ages and I can’t skate well enough to be able to hold programmes and ice creams and not break my neck. And what about Felicity’s ankle? She was off work for three weeks last year. Ice skating won’t be conducive to a joint injury,’ Samantha said, looking at the skates and then pleadingly at Dave.

‘
Ah, now that’s where I’ve done my homework. Felicity’s been given the all clear by the doc, Jane used to do roller-skating, Karen’s brother used to work at an ice rink and as for you Duck, you put ice skating as one of your hobbies on your CV,’ Dave spoke triumphantly.

‘
Dave I did that CV when I was fifteen and it was a vague hobby then at best,’ Samantha exclaimed.

‘
I’m sure it’s like riding a bike - once learnt, never forgotten. Anyway, you and the girls have some ice time around eleven to get accustomed to it,’ Dave announced, looking at his watch.

‘
Dave, this isn’t going to work. Perhaps if we’d had more time then…’ Samantha started, as the telephone began to ring.

‘
Don’t be defeatist Samantha, remember Dave’s motto? “Negativity will always cost ya…’ Dave began, a smug grin appearing on his face.

Samantha just looked at him, cringing as she recalled the slogan. She knew he wouldn’t need any encouragement from her to finish his own sentence.

‘“
Persevere and you will prosper!”’ he announced and then let out a loud belly laugh which reverberated around the foyer.

She had learnt there was no point trying to have a discussion with Dave when he was in this sort of mood. Once his mind was made up there was nothing you could say to change it. It wasn’t that he was stubborn, just blinkered, with complete tunnel vision. Once he was set on an idea, any other suggestion or challenge to it just flew over his head.

Samantha looked at the skates again. The blades were very blunt, they were probably one of the actual pairs she had hired at the ice discos. She wasn’t relishing putting them on and getting on the rink. She hadn’t skated since she was a teenager and she had serious concerns about her colleagues’ abilities to skate and sell merchandise at the same time. It was all shaping up to be an unmitigated disaster. But Dave was the manager, and it was his call. Although Samantha noted he hadn’t mentioned any skating intentions for himself.

Her attention was drawn away from the boots by the arrival of dozens of people through the main doors.

‘
Oh here they are, our skating stars. I’ll show them to their dressing rooms. Don’t forget to distribute the skates Duck and all on the ice at eleven. You have a twenty minute slot while I man the desk - hello one and all! Dave Gordon, manager, let me lead the way.
Allez!
’ Dave boomed, bounding across to the group as they entered the foyer area.

As she watched Dave sharing his greasy hand with as many of the skaters as he could, Samantha dropped the skates to the floor, hurriedly put on her headset and answered the ringing telephone.

‘
Good morning, Woolston Civic Hall, Samantha speaking.’

It was another person wanting tickets for the performance that evening. She’d had one after another the previous day even though there were now ‘sold out’ stickers across the date on all the posters in town and she knew it had been announced on local radio.

As she attempted to sell the caller tickets for an alternative night, she saw Jimmy and a woman with long red hair appear in the foyer. Jimmy was carrying two boot bags and something in a plastic cover over his shoulder. She recognised the woman immediately as being Dana Williams, the principal female skater in the show. In the flyers for
Skating on Broadway
she was dressed in a black cat suit that showed off her amazing figure to perfection. Samantha was sure some of the city’s male population had bought tickets for the show on that visual recommendation alone. It was like using Cheryl Cole in a leotard as advertisement. Now she was wearing tight jeans, an emerald green, sleeveless crop top and very high shoes. There was no denying her beauty. In fact she looked like she had just stepped off the pages of
Star Life
magazine. At nine in the morning it was almost criminal to look that perfect.

‘
Yes, we have tickets for next week but there’s definitely more choice on week days. Weekends are almost sold out,’ Samantha spoke to her caller, as she watched the skaters’ entrance.

Jimmy and Dana were talking together. He with the perfect teeth and well styled hair, her with the cat walk model body and tight clothes. It was like watching a scene from an American drama full of attractive people with beautiful accessories.

But then the mood suddenly changed and Samantha watched as Dana snatched one of the boot bags from Jimmy’s hands and began to raise the volume of her voice. It was a loud voice, a voice that didn’t fit the beautiful face or the petite frame. In fact she sounded a lot like Ruby Wax at full throttle. Samantha strained to hear what Jimmy was saying in reply, but he was quieter and more controlled. Despite her best efforts all that was audible was Mrs George’s voice in her headset trying to work out which row she and her husband would be best suited to, given his arthritic hip.

Then Jimmy was raising his voice too and some of the other skaters had stopped their entrance and were joining the couple and interjecting into the conversation as if to bring it to an end. Dana was screeching and throwing her arms about, like a gesticulating football manager - all hair flying and red lips mashing, and one of the other female skaters began to pat her shoulder and tried to draw her away from Jimmy.

‘
Sorry Madam what did you say?’ Samantha asked Mrs George, as her concentration was interrupted by the scene being played out.

Jimmy then said something loudly to Dana and suddenly she lashed out and struck him across the face with a manicured hand. Samantha gasped out loud before she could stop herself, prompting her telephone customer to query whether she was actually listening to her.

‘
Oh, Mrs George, I do apologise, of course I’m listening to you. Yes I can do tickets near the exits on the first row for that date,’ Samantha spoke, her eyes still on the commotion in front of her.

Jimmy had his hand to his face and Dana was being dragged, kicking and screaming away from him, across the foyer towards the entrance to the dressing rooms.

Mrs George finally managed to purchase two tickets to one of the ice shows and Samantha was still watching as Jimmy was left alone by his skating comrades. He picked the boot bag up from the floor and turned in her direction.

Embarrassed that she had been staring, Samantha immediately turned her head towards her computer screen and began frantically tapping at the keyboard, any button would do, trying to mask the fact she’d been paying attention to what had occurred. Although it was her job to be concerned, particularly if there had been an altercation in the middle of a public area. And it was only natural to be curious, especially when Dana Williams had seemed so furious. Perhaps she was on drugs too.

She let a few more seconds elapse before she felt brave enough to shift her gaze back to the foyer, putting a biro to paper for effect. Another group of people carrying bags and costumes were entering and she saw that Jimmy had gone.

It was almost 10.30am before Samantha plucked up the courage to mention Dave’s ice skating plans to her colleagues. It came as a complete shock to all of them that firstly, Dave somehow knew their shoe size and secondly that he expected them to sell programmes, refreshments and souvenirs from the ice, on thin metal blades, like kitchen knives attached to shoes. On hearing the plan Karen had merely nodded, but Jane had burst into tears and fled to the toilets. Felicity, well aware of Dave’s hair brained ideas, had just given Samantha a look of despair mixed with begrudging acceptance and folded her arms across her chest. It had taken all three of them to get Jane out of a cubicle and into her boots, but they’d been unable to stop her from shaking like a leaf.

Now, all four of them were at the edge of the temporary rink in the large arena, wondering what to do next. There were groups of people dotted around in the seats, talking, bending, stretching, some rooting through rucksacks. Some were eating and drinking, others were tending to their skates. Samantha felt self-conscious and stupid. Were they really expected to skate around this rink in front of everyone without any assistance?

Next to her, Jane began to whimper like a small dog that’d had his paw caught in a heavy door. Jane wasn’t the most capable of people. Life had dealt her a bit of a raw deal in so far as she lived with her infirm, chain-smoking mother. Hence her inability to cope with anything that strayed from her basic routine of answering phones. Samantha remembered her weeping hysterically when Dave had asked her to help in the restaurant one particularly busy day. She had been signed off for a week with stress after that episode. He hadn’t asked her again.

Felicity was more normal. She was efficient, organised and reasonable. Her only downfall was that she picked unsuitable men and moaned to Samantha about them constantly. The last one had been called Tariq. He had remained interested for six months and then proposed. Before she had time to consider her answer, she found airline tickets from Delhi to London Heathrow for his mother, father and eight brothers. There was only one option left to her then, turn him down flat and move on, or say yes and have his family getting cosy in her two bedroomed apartment, drafting their applications for citizenship and fattening up her house rabbit for their giant
karahi
.

Felicity was looking less and less impressed with the whole skating situation now and Karen had already sat down. The whole scenario was starting to become depressing. But it had to be done and she was second in command.

‘
Look, I don’t like the idea of this any more than any of you do but it’s Dave’s decision. The least we can do is humour him. He is the boss. Besides, if we all fall on our arses on the first night and trash the entire stock of ice creams I’m sure he won’t be asking us to skate again,’ Samantha spoke bravely and she smiled encouragingly at Jane who was beginning to cry again. They’d be doing well to trash the entire stock of ice creams as things stood at the moment, but they didn’t know that.