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.
‘ Remember I told you I would poison his tea after he tried to get me into a chicken suit to advertise Mother Goose ? Well I still have the medication,’ Felicity snarled, her arms still folded across her chest.
‘ Hey, coming to skate?’
The four women hadn’t noticed anyone approaching their group and now Jimmy was stood on the ice just in front of them.
‘ Unfortunately. Do you have a first aid kit?’ Felicity asked him.
Samantha suddenly felt very hot. She couldn’t understand it as she was stood just a few metres away from a whole rink’s worth of cold ice. It was the same feeling she’d had the night before while working the bar. She’d had two paracetamol before getting into bed to rid her of her headache and she now wished she’d packed some in her bag this morning. Although she wasn’t sure it was wise to take painkillers so often, particularly when your fever came and went so rapidly. Perhaps it was Gobby. He’d been in already this morning, pissed in the foyer and gnawed at a frozen cod fillet. He was most likely riddled with fleas and she didn’t react well to bites. Last time she’d been bitten she’d been on antihistamines for a fortnight.
Jane began to snivel and wiped her nose with the back of her hand while Karen attempted to console her. Samantha couldn’t help but notice that Jimmy was dressed in one of his costumes for the show. Very tight black trousers and a turquoise coloured vest, covered in diamantes. The vest was as snug as the trousers and showed off his impeccable
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.
‘ Remember I told you I would poison his tea after he tried to get me into a chicken suit to advertise Mother Goose ? Well I still have the medication,’ Felicity snarled, her arms still folded across her chest.
‘ Hey, coming to skate?’
The four women hadn’t noticed anyone approaching their group and now Jimmy was stood on the ice just in front of them.
‘ Unfortunately. Do you have a first aid kit?’ Felicity asked him.
Samantha suddenly felt very hot. She couldn’t understand it as she was stood just a few metres away from a whole rink’s worth of cold ice. It was the same feeling she’d had the night before while working the bar. She’d had two paracetamol before getting into bed to rid her of her headache and she now wished she’d packed some in her bag this morning. Although she wasn’t sure it was wise to take painkillers so often, particularly when your fever came and went so rapidly. Perhaps it was Gobby. He’d been in already this morning, pissed in the foyer and gnawed at a frozen cod fillet. He was most likely riddled with fleas and she didn’t react well to bites. Last time she’d been bitten she’d been on antihistamines for a fortnight.
Jane began to snivel and wiped her nose with the back of her hand while Karen attempted to console her. Samantha couldn’t help but notice that Jimmy was dressed in one of his costumes for the show. Very tight black trousers and a turquoise coloured vest, covered in diamantes. The vest was as snug as the trousers and showed off his impeccable
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