Hidden Intent Part 4

As we moved from town to town I settled into my life as a girl. My injuries had healed and Jenny had been teaching me the finer points of girl-dom. The tigers had become very friendly with everyone and their previous minder was happy to leave me to look after them.

Hidden Intent Part 2

Next morning I was up and dressed in the nightie and robe while I got breakfast for us. My father came down with a hold-all that he used when he was sent further away on a road job. He told me that he did not expect to be back until Friday and I pretended to be upset at being left alone.

Hidden Intent Part 1

I did not have what they call a happy childhood. My father was a drunkard and a bully and I grew up spending a lot of time hiding in, or sometimes under, my bed. He was a road-worker and played as hard as he worked, leaving my mother and me to scrape along as best we could.

Positively Patsy Part 41

My first priority was to get the whole cast up to speed with a three week stint in New York. I was surprised that all of my stars were happy with it as they had all had dreams of appearing on stage as genuine actresses when they were young, rather than being pop stars. Greg was more than happy and said that it was the idea of change that kept him alive.

Positively Patsy Part 37

Kevins’ list of ports had been very sparse. It seems that Drake never bothered to describe the odd places he stopped at to replenish. All of his exploits seemed to happen ‘off the coast of’ and the only certain landings were in the San Francisco Bay, which he claimed for the Queen and called ‘New Albion’, and the Molucca Islands (otherwise known as the Spice Islands).

Positively Patsy Part 33

When everyone gathered for lunch I found Simon and just said “Damn you and your crazy ideas, you have just made me lose another year of my life!” He laughed and asked me what I had thought of and I just said “The life and times of Richard Reece with Drake.”

Positively Patsy Part 31

After we had all gone down to the dressing rooms and change back into normal clothes, Lucy took charge of the stage gear for cleaning and transporting to New York. I went to see each of our stars and told them that we would get together in a week Friday at their hotel in New York and to enjoy their break. I told them to watch the Seattle show on the weekend as it was a bit different.

Positively Patsy Part 29

The next day we got the full band back in, staying in the studio. We set it up as it would be on stage and worked on the six solo acts, with the choir now standing back beside the band, half on each side. I must say that our stars were very good and looked good as well in their stage gear.

Positively Patsy Part 27

I now had time to sit down and write ‘One Night in June’ for the band, Greg, five stars and two choirs. This would be the biggest hurdle to overcome. After about a week at getting a basic idea sorted, I rang Sarah and asked if she knew of a local composer who could help me with it and she gave me a name to contact.

Positively Patsy Part 25

In New York we had a conference with Simon and his CEO about the TV show. One of the networks was interested and we made an appointment to go and see them. When we got to their office it was almost filled with suited types with lots of gold jewellery. I immediately asked how many TV executives it needs to change a light bulb.

Chapter Two

When I woke up again I took several minutes to get used to my surroundings as all I could hear was the morning chorus. I also had a rush of memories of growing up as a girl in Phoenix and the people I knew. I now remembered my father, a building consultant, and my mother and her accountancy business.

Chapter One

When I think back to how I got to be where, and what, I am now I find it difficult to believe, even though I lived through every minute of it.

Part 5

The nurse took me back to my room where I was put back into bed and given a shot to allow me to sleep. The next day Francesca came to see me and she told me that I was no longer her maid but would now be classed as family, as will Mario when he recovers.

Part 4

I was being held by Mario as I blubbed and then felt the weight of Francesca against my back. There I was, being sandwiched between two people who both had the opportunity to kill me but had refrained. As I sobbed I felt a sense of being someone who meant something to these people.

Part 3

The next day was much less eventful for Francesca. It was me that was the brunt of a salon work-over, coming out with long nails, a new look and earrings. I must say that when I looked at myself in the mirror I thought I made a good looking girl. My height, or lack of it, was certainly a factor in my favour.

Part 2

I woke up in the morning to the sound of a womans’ voice telling me to get out of bed and into the shower. I thought that I had been in the shower last night but obviously I was not clean enough. She told me to make sure I sat when I went to the toilet and to make sure I shaved my face twice while I was in the shower.

Positively Patsy Part 11

Talk about coincidence! That will be something to speak to Ruby about. When I hung up I said “Joanne, how about we go and visit the nursing home then go and see Peter about getting a car?” We freshened up and took the sports car to the nursing home.

Positively Patsy Part 9

When she hung up I stopped to think for a moment. She had rattled off a figure of twenty five million as if it was chump change. I picked up my phone again and rang Sarah. After telling her where I was and the task that Grog had set me, I asked her about the payouts from the tour and queried the number that Riordan had quoted. She told me that the tour was sold out for every show; so we had grossed one billion, two hundred and seventy five thousand dollars.

Positively Patsy Part 7

On the Wednesday evening there was a party, hosted by Annette and Maxine L’Estrange so, of course, all the girls had to look their best. We all were taken to the new building which was now fully equipped for the production of high fashion and cosmetics. The group now included Peggy, Marion, Libby and Janet as well as Angela and Mary. We were all stripped, provided with underwear, new make-up, shoes and evening dresses to die for.

Positively Patsy Part 5

When we went to get dressed for the first show on the Friday evening we found that Maxine had supplied us with outfits with a Japanese flavour. All the girls were in variations of the ‘Lolita’ fashion so loved by young Japanese girls, while the boys had button-to-the-shoulder tunics with dragons front and back. On any other day I would have thought it over the top but, having walked around Tokyo and seen what was being worn in the street, I was interested to see what the audience, and the media, thought of our gear.

Positively Patsy Part 3

We went back to the hotel and had dinner. In the evening we were sitting in the lounge when Grog came in with Peggy. He came over to me and asked if we could have a private conversation so we moved to a side room and sat around a table. He said that he had told Peggy about his plans for the final show and that she would support him afterwards.

Positively Patsy Part 1

I sat there at a table in a nightclub in Hanoi and the lass in front of me had just told me she may be Grogs daughter without knowing just what this may mean. Not wanting to alert Pietro to the ramifications of the situation I just laughed and said that I had heard about loving drink but that was a good one.