Where Memories Are Made (24 page)

That evening Jackie and Ginger decided to spend the night catching up on washing, and on cleaning their chalet. Some of the other female off-duty staff had other ideas, though, and in a steady stream they descended on the two girls until there were eight of them crowded into their cramped accommodation, sharing bottles of cider and wine, the cleaning and washing forgotten about. At just after twelve Jackie and Ginger managed to get the others to leave and started clearing up the mess left behind so they could go to bed.

Jackie collected the empty bottles for disposal and the glasses for washing while Ginger gathered together discarded chip wrappers. She spread out a sheet of newspaper, meaning to wrap up the rest of the paper inside it. An article on the open page caught her eye and she began reading it with great interest.

Just wanting to get the place straightened up enough to go to bed, Jackie was annoyed to see that Ginger seemed not to be helping but was instead reading an article in the newspaper. She snapped at her, ‘Ginger, are you helping clear up or what?' When she made no response, Jackie stepped over to look at the newspaper, asking, ‘What's so interesting?'

‘This!' Ginger stabbed a finger on the part of the paper she was reading.

Jackie's eyes settled on the lead article and she quickly read it. It was a follow-up report about a bank robbery that had taken place in London the week before. The thieves had got away with nearly half a million pounds. Through their sources, the police were certain they knew the four vicious villains responsible, but they and their haul seemed to have vanished into thin air. Accompanying the article were mug shots of the four suspects along with a request from the police for the public to report to them any sightings, but certainly not to approach the men as they were highly dangerous individuals. One mug shot in particular grabbed Jackie's attention and she had to force her eyes away from it so as to look at Ginger and quizzically ask, ‘What's so interesting about a London robbery?'

Ginger tutted. ‘That's not the article I'm interested in. It's the one below. A clothes warehouse in Lincoln was robbed last week of designer clothes that were ready to be delivered to shops.'

Jackie shrugged. ‘So?'

‘Well, let's hope the police do as bad a job there as they are with the London bank robbers and don't find the culprits. Then we can bag ourselves some bargains we'd never otherwise be able to afford, because you can bet your bottom dollar some of the stuff will end up on Skeggy Market. We need to get ourselves down there before others beat us to it.'

Jackie's eyes lit up. ‘Yes, we do. Let's see if we can wangle a couple of hours off on Friday morning.'

Ginger pulled a face. ‘That's easy for you as you're practically your own boss at the moment, but I'll have to see if one of the other receptionists will swap our half-days off. Looks like I've a bit of sucking up to do.'

‘Well, I'm sure you'll manage it if a designer dress at a cut-price rate is at stake,' Jackie said dryly. Giving a loud, tired yawn, she gathered together the newspaper chip wrappings, screwed them up into a ball and threw them at the bin by the small chest of drawers, only she missed her target and the ball of newspaper rolled under her bed. She said to Ginger, ‘Oh, let's leave this tidying up until tomorrow. I need my sleep.'

She was just dozing off when, much to her annoyance, Ginger's voice jolted her awake.

‘Oh, by the way, Jackie, did you find out from Al why he changed his mind about going to Groovy's last night? It wasn't because he found a girl and took her out instead, was it?'

Testily Jackie responded, ‘He told me that the mate he was going with changed his mind and so he went home.'

‘Oh, that's all right then. At least I'm still in with a chance.'

Jackie herself was wondering if Ginger was reading the signs from Al all wrong; that his smiles were just polite and certainly not come ons. He'd been working at the camp for weeks now and had had plenty of opportunities to ask Ginger out, but so far had not. Jackie felt as Ginger's friend she should maybe point this out to her, but then she could be wrong. Maybe, like Harold Rose, Al was just lacking in confidence when it came to approaching girls. Maybe, just as she was trying to tackle Harold's shyness and lack of self-confidence, the time had come for her to give Al a nudge and find out once and for all how the land lay as far as her friend was concerned. If she got the opportunity she would do just that.

Jackie said to her now, ‘If you don't go to sleep you won't be in with a chance with anyone … I'll have battered you to death!'

Ginger giggled.

G
inger's prophecy was correct. To both girls' delight they returned from their trip to Skegness Market with two top designer dresses each along with a crocheted top for Ginger and a skirt for Jackie, at only a pound or so each garment more than they would have paid for off-the-peg items from their usual stores. It was quite apparent to them that the stallholders they bought the clothes from were well aware where the merchandise originated as during the sales process they continually kept an eye out for any signs of the law approaching. Tongue-in-cheek, Ginger asked Jackie if she was going to wear one of her new dresses on the date with Terry next Monday. A look from her left Ginger in no doubt that none of the treasured new clothes were going to be wasted on the likes of him.

All the staff at Jolly's awoke the next Saturday morning to open their chalet curtains at just after the crack of dawn, and all of them heaved groans of despair. The hot sunny weather, it seemed, had temporarily departed, to be replaced by dark clouds and torrential rain. It meant they were not only going to have to cope with the already busy changeover day, but also be running around like headless chickens organising an assortment of indoor activities to entertain the campers until the weather improved enough for outside programmes to commence again.

Jackie's personal opinion of Terry Jones might be that he was a conceited weasel of a man but she could not deny that he was excellent at his job. This morning he had rallied his staff, firing off instructions to them on which events to organise and in which different facilities, so that none of them clashed.

Terry might be good at his job but, regardless, he was no miracle worker. That day he was also having to cope with a seriously depleted complement of staff as over a dozen of them had woken that morning with terrible sore throats and raging headaches and were unfit to work. Terry was finding himself without a bingo caller in the hastily organised event in the Paradise hall as all the rest of his staff were otherwise occupied.

Usually in situations like this he would have called on a receptionist to help out or one of the general office staff, but as they were already up to their eyes as it was transfer day, poaching one of them to help out was not an option. It seemed there was no alternative but to do it himself. He didn't want to, though, preferring to go around acting the part of the boss, not undertaking a job that one of his minions should be doing. Then an idea struck him. Yesterday he had purposely helped set up a situation to aid Jackie in her aim to prod Harold Rose into tackling his shyness – though why the likes of the vivacious Jackie felt the need to waste her time on a middle-aged man she couldn't possibly have any romantic interest in was beyond Terry when he himself was on offer to her. But then, it had won him a date with her, something he'd been trying for a long time by now. Now he saw another chance to make her grateful to him. Hopefully she would show the proper level of gratitude to him on their date on Monday night.

Terry sprinted through the belting rain over to reception. He pushed his way through the soaked crowd outside forming a disorderly queue, there being no spare Stripeys to keep them in order, then through the door leading up to the offices. Without pausing to tap on the manager's door and wait for a response, Terry barged straight inside and announced, ‘Mr Rose, we're in a right pickle and need your help urgently.'

Shocked at having his sanctuary invaded, Harold Rose looked up stupefied.

He finally found his voice. ‘Well … er … as you can see, I am very busy. Jackie will assist you, I'm sure.'

Terry stared at him blankly. He'd understood from what Jackie had told him that their temporary boss was reclusive, but did Harold not realise it was changeover day? Had he not also observed the adverse weather conditions, which always caused them added problems? Surely this was a time when personal issues must be shoved aside, for the sake of the camp's good name. Terry announced, ‘You obviously don't remember that Jackie and Al are already up to their eyes helping on reception as it's changeover day. Due to the weather I have had to organise some extra inside events to keep the campers happy, but as several of my staff are ill and so unable to work today I've been left short of a bingo caller. The ballroom is full of women waiting for the session to start and I fear if I don't find a caller soon I'll have a riot on my hands. I can't do it myself as I'm already judging a hastily organised kids', talent show in one of the Paradise lounges. I'll walk you across to the ballroom now and introduce you to Kim, who will be your assistant.'

Harold gulped as sheer panic swamped him. He couldn't just walk out on-stage to face a ballroom full of women all looking back at him, expecting him to take charge of the proceedings and keep his nerves in check for at least a couple of hours. What he had faced yesterday seemed like nothing in comparison. But Terry Jones was giving him no choice, waiting at Harold's open office door to escort him. Taking several deep breaths in an effort to force down a surge of panic and stop his legs from quaking, he rose from behind his desk and followed Terry over to the ballroom, wishing that a miracle would happen and the ground would open and swallow him up.

It wasn't until later that afternoon that Jackie found out about Harold's courageous efforts. Terry made sure to let her know what he had done to aid her cause. He collared her as she was on her rounds of the camp much later on. Through pressure of work Jackie had not eaten since breakfast that morning. Feeling hungry and tired, she was not very receptive when Terry approached her and neither was she at all happy with what he had done.

Sheltering under an umbrella to help ward off the still battering rain, she snapped, ‘Oh, for God's sake, Terry, did you not listen to me yesterday when I took you into my confidence over Mr Rose? That man has been scared of his own shadow all his life. He needs to be helped to build up his confidence slowly and surely, one step at a time … not be plunged straight into situations that would scare the living daylights out of me, let alone him. Oh, you really are the limit! Anyway, I haven't time to stand here arguing with you now. I have a tour of the camp to make and then I must head back to the office and see for myself that Mr Rose has not suffered a heart attack or worse after what you just thoughtlessly put him through.'

Terry responded defensively, ‘Well, I thought you'd be pleased. I saw the opportunity to help you and …'

She cut in, ‘… and hoped I'd show you my gratitude on Monday night? Go to bed with you, is that what you were after?' She saw by his expression that it was exactly how grateful he'd hoped she would be. Jackie shot him a look of contempt and, as she hurried off, called over her shoulder, ‘I appreciate that you tried to help my cause with Mr Rose, but I would think a lot more of you if you'd done it to help Mr Rose himself and not thought about what
you
could get out of it.'

Her round of the camp would go down in the record books as the quickest Jackie had ever done. Due to the rain most of the outdoor areas were deserted so it was only the indoor sites she needed to visit The staff were doing an exemplary job of keeping all the campers entertained during the atrocious weather and she was gratified not to uncover any pressing problems that needed dealing with, for a change. Back under cover in the office, after quickly confirming with Al that nothing he couldn't handle had transpired while she was out, Jackie went to check on Harold to see what state he was in after what she knew would have been a terrifying ordeal for him.

In her need to find out she forgot to wait courteously for him to call out that she could enter after she'd tapped on his door and went straight in.

Harold himself had only returned a few minutes before. Jackie found him seated behind his desk with his head cradled in his hands, his whole body shaking.

Her heart went out to him. Her first instinct was to rush over and offer him comfort; tell him how sorry she was that he'd been given no choice but to put himself in such a nerve-wracking situation, and promise to do her utmost to make sure it never happened again. But she managed to stop herself, because otherwise she would be doing exactly what his mother had done: not helping him to face his fears and overcome them, but sheltering him from ever making the effort. Jackie needed to do the opposite.

She went over to the desk and sat in the visitor's chair. The noise she made set him starting nervously as he had not heard her come in. Before Harold could say anything Jackie told him, ‘Mr Rose, I've just been told by Terry Jones how you came to his rescue today. I bet you're very proud of yourself? If not, then you should be.'

He wiped the sweat from his face with a handkerchief and blustered, ‘Proud! I hardly think so, Miss Sims. I daren't think what all those women must think of me. I only went on-stage in the first place because the young girl who was checking the numbers and handing out prizes gave me a push. But as I did they all stamped their feet … it sounded like thunder, believe me … then they all jeered and that made me trip over my own feet and crash into the ball machine which toppled over, broke open, and the balls scattered all over the ballroom. The whole room erupted into laughter. They were still laughing while everyone helped pick up the balls. If I hadn't been so terrified they'd form a lynch mob and do goodness knows what to me, I'd have made a run for it then and there.