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  Later, as they all stood outside the entrance to the large function room annexed to Zoot’s, discussing, with the party planner, some last minute details preparatory to the arrival of the first guests, Lee was startled to hear a very familiar voice calling, “Hello, there.”

  Even as he spun on his heel to face this speaker, Lee was discomforted by the realization that it was Nadine’s voice. He had not expected to have to deal with her tonight.

  “I was just having a drink with a friend in the bar,” she announced, in an excessively bright voice, “when I saw you all come in, and I just wanted to come over and quickly wish you a happy birthday, Sasha, and tell you all how great you look.”

  “Thank you,” responded Sasha, rather perfunctorily, before quickly turning her back on Nadine to speak softly to David and Delia, who both seemed a little unsure how to react.

  Simone smiled sweetly at Nadine, and said a much warmer thank you, while Lee stood, dumbstruck, and fidgeting nervously, before mumbling, dismissively, “Ah, thank you, Nadine. I’ll –um– see you at work on Monday,” and then turning back to face the party planner.

  “I’d better get back to my friend, now. So, have a good night,” said Nadine to Simone, before turning to retrace her steps to the bar, where she had been impatiently waiting, with her friend, for just this moment to arrive.

  As she made her way back into the bar, she struggled to suppress the anger and jealousy she now felt, at having been confronted by such an apparently happy family group, including her lover, and his wife who, she had to grudgingly admit, looked stunningly beautiful in her scarlet frock. How dare he brush me off, like that, she fumed.

  “I need another stiff drink,” she announced, through clenched teeth, as she sat down, again, with a thud, at the table with her waiting friend, whose face wore a puzzled expression.

  Catching a passing waiter’s eye, Nadine ordered a double scotch, drumming her fingers impatiently on the table, and maintaining a silence full of pent up anger, as she awaited its arrival. Only after her drink arrived, and she had taken a generous mouthful of it, did she again speak to her companion.

  “I’m sorry, Pat, but when I saw my boss and his family arriving for his daughter’s 21st, I thought I’d go over to quickly wish them all a happy night. I could tell he was glad to see me,” she lied, “but his uppity wife and stuck-up daughters could hardly acknowledge me. The older daughter even turned her back on me! The cheek! Just because they have plenty of money and live in a fine house, they seem to think they’re better than everyone else!”

  “Yes. I hate people like that, too!” chimed in her friend, wrinkling her nose.

  Nadine had met Pat when she was visiting Mark, in gaol, where Pat was visiting her incarcerated husband, Jake. Nadine had found the process of visiting her man in prison, for the first time, incredibly upsetting and humiliating, and Pat, who was an old hand at it, had befriended her and helped her through the worst of it. She had since become something of a confidante for Nadine – someone to whom she could talk, relatively openly about her feelings and of her hopes and dreams for the future.

  “Mum always says I could have done better for myself than Mark, with my looks and education,” she mused. “But, she forgets that when I met Mark, and fell pregnant to him, he had a very good job in the bank, with a bright future. Unfortunately, his weakness for gambling led him to embezzle that money that he went to gaol for.”

  “Did he gamble it all away?” asked Pat.

  “Well, that’s what he told his lawyers and the Court,” replied Nadine, with a smirk and a lift of one eyebrow.

  “Does your boss know that Mark’s in gaol?” asked Pat, resisting the temptation to probe her companion further, at this time, about the fate of the money stolen by her former partner.

  “Oh, no, no, no! I’ve kept that very quiet. I got this job after Mark went inside, and I just let my boss think I’m a single mother deserted by my child’s father. I didn’t want to dim my job prospects by disclosing the real story.”

  “Is your boss good to work for?”

  “Oh, yes! He’s very appreciative of my good work. He even gives me nice presents, like this gold chain I’m wearing,” said Nadine, at the same time giving the chain a thoughtful twirl with her fingers.

  “Is he trying to crack onto you?”

  “Oh, no,” replied Nadine, conscious of Pat’s indirect link to Mark through her husband, Jake. “He’s just a generous boss.”

  As they continued to converse, earnestly, a casual observer would have thought these two women rather odd companions. Nadine was dressed in a much superior style to Pat, and her skin and hair bore the hallmarks of much careful pampering and grooming over many years, whilst Pat had a more weather-beaten and care-worn appearance. But, in addition to the secret bond between them arising from their shared status as partners of prisoners, there was something less tangible that helped to hold them together. In Nadine’s case, it was the feeling of social superiority that she felt in relation to Pat, that somehow compensated for the feelings of inferiority she experienced amongst others of her own more natural social class because of her partner’s imprisonment. In Pat’s case, it was the feeling that she had developed a close relationship with someone of a higher social class, and the belief that that relationship might someday be of some financial advantage to herself and Jake, when he was ultimately released from prison.

  The party was in full swing. While a three-piece band played subdued background music, the guests milled about in groups, chatting and laughing, and creating an escalating cacophony that was gradually overpowering the efforts of the band. Liveried waiters threaded their way through the thickening crowd, offering drinks and hors d’oeuvres that were quickly seized upon and devoured by the increasingly vociferous guests.

  Despite David’s attempts to slow Sasha’s consumption of the alcoholic beverages that were being constantly replenished by the industrious waiters, she was knocking back drink after drink like a sailor on shore leave. Eventually, when his latest exhortation to her to “Take it easy, Sash!” was greeted by her hissed, “Piss off, David, you’re boring me!”, he left her side and wandered off to mingle with the crowd. His eye was soon caught by a young woman, standing alone, who, from the back view, looked remarkably like Sasha had before she changed her hairstyle for the party. He approached her and introduced himself.

  “Hi, there. I’m David. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

  “Hello, David,” she replied, with a slightly shy smile that he found quite refreshing. “I’m Gai, Sasha’s next door neighbour. I don’t know many people here.”

  “Don’t worry,” said David, almost shouting to be heard over the noise. “Stick with me for a bit and I’ll introduce you to a few.”

  He proceeded to lead her through the milling throng, introducing her to various guests, with whom they stopped to chat briefly, before moving on to the next group.

  After a time, above the general hubbub of voices, there emerged a distinct burst of loud, sustained, female laughter, which emanated from a group of six or seven young women who were gathered around Sasha near the large table upon which guests had deposited their gifts for her. A closer inspection of this group revealed the cause of their great amusement.

  Sasha was holding, in her hand, and overtly fondling in an exaggerated manner, one of the gifts which, at the instigation of its donor (her workmate, Veronica), she had removed from its gift-wrapped box. The article was a very large, flesh coloured, penis-shaped vibrator which its box proudly proclaimed as ‘Wild Lover’.

  During a brief lull in the laughter, Veronica announced, loudly, “It even has a clitoral stimulator!” The statement evoked another round of loud guffaws amongst the group.

  “I want one of those!” said another member of the group, loudly, to the great amusement of her companions.

  On the opposite side of the large room, Simone heard the loud laughter without being aware of its genesis. She took it as a welcome sign that the guests
were really beginning to enjoy themselves, as too was she. She was attempting to have a conversation with David’s parents, Brian and Meg, in the course of which Brian had mentioned having had some trouble with his computer.

  “I’ll give you one of my cards from Pegasus ,” she said. “I’m sure we could help you sort it out.”

  As she said this, she suddenly realized that she had left her clutch bag in her car, so she excused herself to go out to retrieve it.

  Walking out of the function room on her way to the parking lot, she noticed that Nadine and her friend were still seated at a table just inside the bar area. She smiled an acknowledgement in Nadine’s direction as she passed.

  “Stuck up bitch!” whispered Nadine to Pat, as she flashed a ‘neon’ smile back at Simone.

  “She’s very attractive,” remarked Pat.

  “Oh, I don’t know. That’s a matter of opinion,” responded Nadine.

  On her way back from retrieving her bag, Simone noticed what appeared to be two people in a passionate embrace, in a darker section of the carpark. Just then, a car turned into the parking area, and its lights fell on the two lovers, fully illuminating them for a few seconds. This caused them to interrupt their kissing and to raise their heads. Simone stood stock still, then, stunned by the realization that one of the two figures was her daughter, Delia, and the other her ‘friend’ Anita.

  Delia and Anita, having been so unexpectedly sprung in their steamy tryst by Delia’s mother, quickly broke their embrace and looked guiltily from her to each other, and back again, in stunned silence.

  After a few embarrassed moments, Simone spoke up, through clenched teeth. “You two better get back inside!”

  Too stunned and embarrassed to argue, the two girls meekly joined Simone and headed back towards the function room. As they walked, Anita hung her head, and quickly brushed away a tear. Delia’s face took on a more defiant look, but she did not think it wise to try to confront her mother at this stage. Simone’s face revealed a mixture of shock and bewilderment.

  As this trio trooped back into the function room past the entrance to the bar, Nadine noticed their appearance.

  “Cop the body language on those three,” she commented to Pat. “It looks as if something has unsettled our happy little family!” she added, with deep sarcasm. “I was planning to leave soon, but I think I’ll stick around for a while. There may be some more entertainment tonight.”

  “You may be right,” responded Pat. “I’ll hang around with you. There’s nothing waiting for me at home but a cold TV set!”

  Simone, Delia and Anita re-entered the function room just as the MC was announcing, over the public address system, that the staff were ready to serve dinner, and exhorting guests to take their seats at their designated tables as quickly as possible. Without a word, they each made their way to the head table which they were to share with Lee, Sasha, David, and Judge and Mrs. Braithwaite.

  CHAPTER 6

  As Simone took her seat next to Lee, who was already standing in his designated place awaiting the arrival of his family, he whispered to her, “Where have you been? I was looking for you.”

  “I just went out to the car to get my bag. I forgot it, in the rush earlier,” she replied, with a forced smile that did not betray the turmoil going on in her head.

  Delia and Anita slunk into their seats, with their eyes lowered, sheepishly, while Sasha reefed out her chair and collapsed into it, spilling over the table cloth a large dollop of wine from the half-full glass that she brought with her. Simone greeted her clumsy arrival with a silent, withering stare.

  Sitting down beside her, David, too, gave Sasha a disapproving look, which caused her to snarl at him, “What’s that look for? Lighten up, and have a drink!”, as she held up her glass to a passing waiter for a top-up.

  A few moments later, Judge Harold Braithwaite, and his wife, Emily, took their seats, to fill the table’s complement for the evening. The Judge had been Lee’s legal adviser, and neighbour, for a number of years before his elevation to the Bench, and the two had maintained a friendship ever since. He was a man in his late fifties, grossly overweight, with a sharp nose, and very thin grey hair, which was plastered across his almost bald pate. Whenever he spoke, his ample jowl wobbled, a movement that was greatly exaggerated when he laughed, as he often did, heartily.

  The Judge’s wife, Emily, was a spare, owl-like woman, with large, round spectacles, and short, straight, obviously dyed, black hair. The artificial blackness of her hair served only to accentuate her facial wrinkles, particularly those fine lines that radiated out from her pinched, disapproving mouth. Within the privacy of the family circle, Sasha had dubbed her ‘Miss Prissy’.

  As the group settled down and awaited the arrival of their first dinner course, Lee and the Judge renewed a conversation they had begun earlier about Lee’s involvement in Brodie’s humanitarian project, while Simone engaged in small talk with Emily. Delia and Anita began to converse earnestly together, in whispers, while David and Sasha sat staring away from each other as Sasha continued to drink without respite. David appeared to be looking, principally, in the direction of a table at which Gai sat with a group of other young singles. His eyes also wandered in the direction of his parents’ table where, even at that distance, he could tell that George Twidale was bombarding them with one of his interminable stories. As he saw that, David rankled, somewhat, at the fact that, at Sasha’s insistence, his parents had been relegated to the far side of the room in the company of such as George, rather than to share the head table with Sasha’s family.

  During a brief lull in her conversation with Emily, Simone turned to Sasha, seated next to her, and whispered, with some feeling, “Watch the drink, Sash!”, to which her daughter cheekily replied, “I am watching it. I have to watch it to drink it!” She then laughed uproariously, at her own perceived wit.

  Sometime later, after the meal had been served and cleared away, Lee made a brief speech of congratulations, and proposed a toast to Sasha. She made a garbled response, which, although lacking many of the niceties, at least included an expression of her thanks to her parents, and to the guests for their gifts. She concluded by announcing that the party was about to really get started; that there was plenty more ‘grog’ to drink; that the band was ‘ready to rock’; and, that those who were, like her, bored by the company at their tables, should ‘get up and find someone more interesting.’

  Taking its cue from her, the band struck up again, but this time playing loud rock music, as the younger guests began to scramble onto the dance floor.

  Giving Sasha a cold stare, as she began to move unsteadily away from the table, David said to her, through clenched teeth, “I won’t take any more of this!”, before heading off to join Gai, who remained seated at her table.

  Lee and Simone took all this in, with growing anxiety about where their elder daughter’s behaviour was leading, while struggling to maintain an outward appearance of calm enjoyment, as they continued to try to chat with the Braithwaites. This was a task rendered progressively more difficult by the escalating level of noise generated by the band and the increasingly exuberant dancers.

  Delia and Anita, pleased that all Simone’s attention was directed away from them, quietly slipped onto the dance floor together, as Sasha disappeared into the milling crowd moving about between tables.

  Whilst pretending to be engrossed in the now shouted conversation with the Braithwaites, Simone scanned the mass of moving bodies for a glimpse of Sasha, who, she realized, was heading quickly towards a dangerous state of intoxication. After a time, she spotted her near the band’s dais having what appeared to be a heated discussion with Brodie. He then turned away from her, and moved off in the direction of a drink waiter. She then beckoned to the band leader, and said something in his ear as he bent to hear her. Following that, he signaled to his fellow musicians to stop playing. As the band fell silent, Brodie returned to Sasha’s side and handed her a drink. She tossed it off in a couple of
gulps, followed by a grimace of distaste, before clambering, awkwardly, onto the dais, and grabbing the hand-held microphone from its stand. Then, holding something up above her head, which Simone soon realized, to her horror, was a penis-shaped vibrator (the same that her daughter had brandished earlier, unbeknown to her mother) Sasha shouted, into the microphone, “Shut the fuck up!!”

  As the startled audience began to fall silent, Sasha continued, “It’s time for the floor show!”

  Then, waving the vibrator in the direction of the head table, she added, “I bet you wish the old Judge had one like this, Miss Prissy Braithwaite!”

  That brought a momentary silence over the entire crowd, followed quickly by a burst of laughter and applause from the younger members.

  Emily Braithwaite’s face turned a bright crimson, and the Judge began to cough loudly, and repeatedly, as he appeared to choke on the mouthful of drink he had just taken. Lee and Simone sat in stunned silence, staring at the faces of their friends opposite.

  Emily quickly recovered her composure, pushed back her chair and, turning to her still spluttering husband, announced, in a voice as cold as ice, “Come, Harold. We’re leaving.”

  Reluctantly, the Judge rose to accompany his wife, at the same time giving Lee and Simone a sympathetic look, and a shrug of resignation. Having overcome his coughing fit, he said, in a friendly and understanding tone, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Lee.”

  As this couple made their way towards the exit door, Simone noticed that they were closely followed by David’s parents, Brian and Meg Rafter. Brian’s face, in particular, wore a stony expression.

  While all of this was happening, the crowd on the dance floor was becoming more restive, with several young men shouting, “Take it off! Take it off!” repeatedly.

  At a sign from Sasha, the band broke into the opening bars of the famous Gipsy Rose Lee’s signature tune, ‘Let Me Entertain You’, and, after replacing the microphone on its stand, Sasha began to sway to the rhythm of the music. Then, with her one free hand (the other still holding aloft the vibrator) she reached behind herself to unzip her frock. With a wiggle or two, that garment slipped down to her ankles, exposing her near naked breasts, supported by only a lacey black uplift bra, and her curvy lower body clad only in a flimsy black thong. But, before she could step out of her dress completely, Brodie jumped onto the dais, lifted her dress back up to cover her almost naked body, and put one arm around her to steady her.