The Boy I Love (19 page)

By midnight on Saturday night
Oh, What a Lovely War!
was but a distant memory, and as the set of
A Man for All Seasons
sprang up around them, and the speakers
played a harmonious selection from the Franciscan Monks collection, the crew and cast seemed to become quieter and more serious. Well, they did for about half an hour, until Mrs Wong’s sweet
and sour chips arrived, and the carpenter opened the beer! Then it was all hands to the deck as usual, and a race to get through it all before dawn.

Sally and Dora and Janie finished the washing and then went back to Janie and Peter’s house for a quiet bottle of wine and a bit of a gossip.

‘So come on then, Janie, what’s with Gwendoline and Geoffrey?’ asked Sally, hunkering down in a comfy chair with her glass of red and a packet of crisps.

‘How did you find out, you wicked girl? It is supposed to be the secret of the century.’ Janie looked at Sally’s surprised face and groaned. ‘Oh God, you don’t
really know, do you? You guessed and I fell for it. I am such a klutz! Please don’t say anything to anybody as I could get the sack. Gwendoline has sworn me to secrecy, Sally.
Please—’

‘Oh blimey, Janie, stop panicking – of course we won’t say anything,’ Dora interrupted. ‘Calm down and enjoy your drink. Listen, it is just interesting though,
isn’t it, those two? I thought Geoffrey was happily married – or so you said, Sally.’

‘Well, I thought he was, wasn’t he, Janie?’ Sally and Dora turned and waited for their friend to fill in the gaps.

‘Yes, he was. Certainly, last season things seemed fine – but Gwendoline has been hanging around on the edge of his marriage for quite a while, I am beginning to suspect. She tells
me that she and Geoffrey were an item at college years ago and then, when he went off to be an actor, they lost touch for a couple of years. She had no idea he had even become an actor; she thought
he had gone to teach drama at some school up north. Anyway, they bumped into each other at a school reunion, and it was as if they had never parted, except he announced that he had a wife and three
small children – these daughters who are the apple of his eye. Gwendoline is completely obsessed with Geoffrey and decided to get him into the cast last year so she could “work on
him” – her words, by the way. I have no idea what went on last year, but this year, so far, there is no sign of the wife and kids, and Gwendoline is on a mission. Believe me, it is
embarrassing for me because they are always touching each other up and disappearing into the laundry room, and I dread going to his dressing room in case I catch them at it.’ Janie stopped
and looked at the other two girls, who were helpless with laughter.

‘What is so funny, may I ask? It is not funny if you are involved even if you don’t want to be. Stop laughing!’ she ordered.

‘Sorry, Janie, really but I have got this mental image of tight-arsed Gwendoline whipping off her glasses and her Alice band and grabbing Geoffrey in his Pierrot costume and breathing into
his ear “Take me, Geoffrey darling” and Geoffrey peering at her and saying those immortal words: “God but you are beautiful behind your glasses. Come to me,
Gwendoline!”’ This resulted in more squeals of laughter from Dora and Sally, while poor Janie looked on aghast.

‘Please stop it, guys. What am I going to do?’ she pleaded.

The two sisters finally calmed down and tried to offer helpful suggestions.

‘Just try and stay out of their way,’ advised Sally. ‘I was only talking about this the other day to Dora, explaining that it’s fatal to get involved with all the
goings-on. Why can’t we all just muddle along like the boys do? Go to the pub, have a few drinks and don’t ask any questions. Classic male behaviour. Sorry, didn’t mean to be
quite so sexist.’

‘Do we think Charmaine is gay?’ asked Dora, completely changing the subject.

‘Gay? No, why do you ask that?’ said Janie, pouring more wine for them all.

‘I don’t know really,’ replied Dora. ‘It’s just a feeling I have and she came on to me yesterday.’

Sally looked quite shocked. ‘Came on to you how? And anyway, how would you know what coming on from a woman was like, Dora?’

‘Oh please, Sally, give me a break! I am not a child. We had gay relationships at school. Didn’t you?’ retorted Dora.

There was silence while Sally took this all in. ‘Um, no actually, I wasn’t aware of anything like that at school. I just never noticed, I suppose.’

Dora sighed and said to Janie, ‘That is so typical of my sister. She lives in a little world of her own. I think that’s why she and Jeremy get on so well. They just never notice
anything except maybe their acting roles.’

Sally felt rather foolish. ‘Maybe Charmaine just likes to keep things close to her chest,’ she suggested, ‘as does Sarah. What do we think about Miss Kelly then?’ To her
relief this brought all manner of speculation from the other two girls.

‘She is quite hard, I think,’ said Janie. ‘And she uses people. I have noticed she is all over Percy Pig, helping him with his lines. Mind you, I am not sure Percy can pull any
strings for her.’

‘Except,’ said Sally, ‘Giles does listen to him quite a lot about casting, and they have worked together for many years. If Sarah can get to Giles through Percy and land
herself a good juicy role this season, she can get agents to come and see her. God, listen to us! The poor girl is probably just lonely and shy, and it is easier to make friends with Percy and
Peggy than us lot of witches.’

‘Actually, I think you were right the first time, Sally. You have always been a good judge of character and having come into all this after you and Janie, I think I can say I have noticed
things as a bystander. Sarah is not to be trusted and I suspect she is after taking parts away from you, Sal. She is always sidling up to Robert and asking about characters. She has learned all the
songs for
Lysistrata
and I wouldn’t be surprised if she angles for the part you are lined up for – and to understudy the lead. Just keep an eye on her, sister dear.’

‘Well, you’re a dark horse, Dora,’ commented Janie, gathering up their glasses. ‘Did you know you had such an observant sibling, and with such a cynical heart, Sally? I
think you should go home and sleep on these things, girls. But please, can I remind you that these dark thoughts are a secret between us.’

Sally got her coat and bag and Dora said to Janie: ‘Thank you for the wine. I am really sleepy now and my little bed is calling. Come on, Sally, it is Sunday tomorrow – how cool is
that? A lie-in!’

As they walked home, arm-in-arm, the sisters did not speak, each deep in their own thoughts.

The next morning, Sally woke to a grey blustery November day, and decided that it was the perfect Sunday to stay in and watch telly and eat toast. Dora, however, had other ideas, and came
bouncing into the kitchen humming a song from
Lysistrata
.

‘Can we go through some songs for my audition today?’ she asked through a mouthful of cereal. ‘I thought I could sing the main one that old Charmaine sings to gather all you
ladies together. It is quite funky and I know I could sing it well.’ She proceeded to demonstrate her point.

‘Oh please, Dora, not just yet. Let me wake up first,’ shouted Sally, putting her hands over her ears.

‘Sorry,’ said Dora, looking rather forlorn. ‘Just want to get on with it.’

Sally looked at her sister across the table for a good few minutes, wondering where this sudden desire to act had come from. Dora had never shown any interest in acting while Sally was at
college, and certainly did not pursue it through school plays or anything as Sally had done. Why now?

‘I hope you don’t mind me asking, Dora, but why all this sudden wish to be an actress? I thought you had come up here to Crewe to help with the wardrobe department and learn a bit
about design? Now all of a sudden you want to perform.’

Dora didn’t reply immediately. She finished her cereal in silence, then got up and rinsed the bowl in the sink and left it on the draining board. Wiping her hands on the tea towel, she
turned round and leaned against the sink.

‘To be honest, I really don’t know. But watching you all these last two weeks has awoken something in me, sis. I just feel so alive and I want to join in. Listen, I may be hopeless,
and it will all come to nothing, but I need to have a go at least. Do you mind?’ she asked Sally, holding her gaze.

‘Why should I mind?’ her sister answered, a little too quickly. ‘You can do what you like, but don’t expect too much, will you? I mean, Giles is no pushover and he has
his cast already.’

‘Oh, I know that, of course. But there is this opportunity in
Lysistrata
, isn’t there? Why not go for it?’ Dora’s eyes were bright with excitement. ‘Can we
just run through the song a couple of times, please?
Please?
’

Sally laughed. ‘Come on then, let’s get it out of the way then I can relax for the rest of the afternoon.’

The girls worked on the song and Sally had to admit that her sister was pretty impressive. It was very strange to be in this situation, and she felt a niggle of uncertainty. After the
conversation last night about the other actresses and their ambitions, Sally wondered if she was taking things too much for granted. She just assumed she had her place in the company. Giles had
promised her some decent roles and he seemed pleased with her work so far. But maybe she should be more pushy. She decided to talk to Jeremy and find out what he knew about future casting from
Robert.

The sisters spent the rest of the day lying on the sofa and listening to the wind and the rain lashing against the windows. They had ham sandwiches for tea and were in bed by nine. Fast asleep
by five past . . .

The opening night of
A Man for All Seasons
was a great success. To give him his due Percy Hackett turned in a more than adequate Thomas More. Sally watched from the
wings for most of the performance as she did not have too many props to deal with, and Heather had wanted her to learn the book and be able to prompt and give cues to the actors and crew. It was a
scary job initially, as everyone relies on the prompt corner and basically the buck stops there. However, Sally soon managed to deal with six different things at once and actually enjoyed the power
she had in her hands during a show. Tonight had gone without a hitch, and Sally was smiling as the cast took their bows.

There had been great excitement at the opening of the play as Lord Graham had arrived with his son and daughter. They took their places in the Royal Box just as the lights were going down. Giles
was faffing around in the interval organizing champagne for the guests.

‘Lord Graham is a very dear friend,’ he explained to Sally. ‘He does so much for this theatre, and I don’t know what we would do without him.’

After the play, the cast were invited to meet His Lordship in the bar.

‘Is there a free pint in it?’ asked Simon as they came offstage.

‘Absolutely,’ said Sally, who was in charge of passing on the invitation. ‘Glad to see you have got your priorities right as usual, Simon.’ She grabbed Jeremy by the arm
as he was leaving and asked: ‘Are you going up to the bar?’

‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world, my dear. Nothing like a bit of landed gentry, is there?’ He winked at her. ‘I’ll see you in the bar.’

Jeremy was feeling terrific. He had nailed the role and knew he had given a good performance. As he was changing, Robert had come in and slapped him on the back, saying, ‘Congratulations!
You managed to make that character watchable for a change. He is written as such a prig but you made him human – even gave him some charisma, dare I say it?’

Jeremy glowed with pride. This was what he wanted. This was what he lived for. He was going to show the world what a great actor he could be. He arrived in the bar feeling fantastic and in
control of his destiny – and then he saw the boy, and everything fell away. There was only silence and the space between him and the young man standing at the bar smiling at him.

‘Hi, I loved your performance. Can I get you a drink?’ The young man shook Jeremy’s hand and then placed an arm round his shoulders and steered him towards the drinks. It
seemed the most natural gesture in the world, yet so intimate that Jeremy could hardly get his breath.