Pas de Deux A novel by Bronwen Welsh A Sequel to 'Antonette's Story' Copyright 2021

Chapter 3   The Great Escape

The time passed and despite my best efforts, my eyelids began to droop and finally I fell asleep. Suddenly the sound of the telephone ringing jerked me into consciousness. I glanced at the wall clock, it was three hours after Kate should have arrived in Singapore. My hand shook as I reached for the telephone. Was I going to hear Bruce screaming abuse at me, or Kate crying and saying she couldn't get away? I picked up the receiver.

“Hello?” I said, trying to steady my voice.

“Antonette? It's Kate here, I'm in Singapore!”

“Thank God, Kate, I thought something had happened to you!” I exclaimed.

“Well, it sort of did. I'll tell you everything when I arrive there. You know I don't have a mobile phone any more and one of the ladies on the airline desk kindly allowed me to use their phone but I can't stay on long. The flight was delayed by three hours, so I've only just arrived here. That means I'll be arriving at Heathrow about midnight. Are you still able to meet me?”

“Of course, Kate,” I aid. “I've been having kittens here thinking that something had gone wrong.”

“It very nearly did,” she replied. “But I'll tell you all about it when I get there. Meanwhile, here's my flight number, and I look forward to seeing you both in about twelve hours.”

I was so relieved that tears started In my eyes and that's what Jack saw when he came out of the bedroom.

“What's wrong, couldn't she make the flight?” he asked.

“No, she's on it but it was delayed three hours; she's in Singapore now,” I replied, unable to stop the tears of relief coursing down my cheeks. Jack came up and hugged me.

“All's well that ends well, then,” he said.

“I guess so, but I was really worried when I stayed up so long and there was no word from her.”

“Well, I suggest you come to bed and get some sleep,” said Jack. “We'll hear all about it tomorrow, well today actually because it's well past midnight.”

I allowed him to take my hand and lead me to the bedroom. We snuggled up together and I'm sure it was only minutes before I was fast asleep.

--ooOoo--

The following morning which was Sunday, I felt refreshed and more relaxed, although the day really seemed to drag, waiting for the time when we could drive to Heathrow. I had set up the spare bedroom for Kate and even put Jemima on the pillows to welcome her. I wasn't too sure how I felt about giving Jemima back to her, but if she really wanted her, well Jemima had only really been on loan all these years. I checked the room over a dozen times, hoping that everything was perfectly set up for Kate.

At long last it was time to drive out to Heathrow which is a good hour from where we were living. The plane was due to arrive at midnight which was well past our bedtime, but in this case we had to make an exception. We detoured around the city because we lived in the north, and Heathrow is in the south-west. We parked in one of the gigantic car parks, as near to the overseas arrivals terminal as we could get, although the car park is well lit and there were plenty of other people around.

We arrived far too early of course, as people tend to do when picking up overseas arrivals. Really the arrival time of the aircraft is easily time enough because by the time the passengers have picked up their baggage and negotiated Customs, at least another hour will pass. Despite this everyone feels that they might be late if they are not there an hour before the plane lands.

The Arrivals' Hall is cleverly designed, with a coffee shop situated right across the hall from the doors through which arriving passengers appear, so we bought ourselves a cup of coffee and sat down to wait. We kept watch on the Arrivals Board, and eventually, Kate's flight landed. Then there was about another hour's wait. Eventually the First Class passengers appeared; you can tell that by the look and amount of their luggage. They were followed by Business Class and finally Economy, colloquially known as 'Cattle Class'. Why is it that the person you are waiting for always seems to be the last to appear? Finally, there was Kate, and much to our surprise, she was towing an enormous suitcase. We rushed across the hall to the end of the barrier and then she was in my arms and we were hugging each other and shedding floods of tears. Jack stood back until this display of female emotion subsided, and then came forward for his hug too.

“It's so lovely to see you, Kate. I thought something terrible had happened when you didn't ring at the time you said.”

Kate grimaced; “It very nearly did, but the main thing is that I'm here now.”

Jack said; “Why don't we walk to the car and you can tell us all about it while we drive home? I'm guessing you are feeling bright as a button, but it's getting a bit past our bedtime.”.

We picked up the car and I sat in the back with Kate while Jack played chauffeur. I was curious to know what the story was about the big suitcase. I had expected Kate to bring very little luggage owing to the way in which she was going to catch the plane, so Kate told us the story, and what a story it was.

“Some time ago I made up my mind that I should separate from Bruce at least for a while,” she began. “I started to sort out the clothes I would take with me and put them in one corner of the wardrobe, the same with underwear and shoes. The big problem was that I didn't have access to any money. Bruce has transferred all the money in our joint account into one in his name only and the little I had wouldn't get me far.”

“Did you talk to him about separating?” I asked.

“Good heavens, no! He wouldn't react well to that at all. Anyway then came your generous offer of paying for my flight to England. I still had access to my passport. Bruce obviously thought that with no money I wouldn't be travelling anywhere overseas. On the day that I was to fly out, I know the original plan was for me to go straight from the hospital to the airport, but then I realised that if I arrived here without any clothes, in addition to your generous payment of my airfare, I would have to ask you to loan me more money to buy clothes, despite having my own clothes in Australia. I decided it was worth taking a risk.

“After Bruce dropped me off at the hospital, I went to Human Resources and told them that I had to travel to England urgently to a relative who was very ill and requested leave of absence which they kindly gave me. After dropping me off, Bruce had gone to the garage where he works, so now I took a taxi back to the flat and asked him to come back in twenty minutes, thank goodness I didn't ask him to wait for me. I pulled out the suitcase and started to load up my clothes, shoes and makeup. Fortunately the bedroom is at the front of the flat facing the road because I heard a car door slam, and peeping out through the curtain, I saw that it was Bruce! I don't know what he was doing back at the flat but I can tell you I nearly fainted at the sight of him. I shut the suitcase and hid it in the wardrobe behind some clothes and then I locked myself in the toilet. If he realised I was there, I would say I had gastro and had to come home.

“Pressing my ear to the door I could hear him moving around downstairs. He must have been looking for something. Time was passing and I was terrified that the taxi would come back .Maybe he found whatever it was or else gave up because after about ten minutes I heard the front door slam, so I came out of the toilet and saw him drive away. I pulled the suitcase out of the wardrobe and crammed in all the other things I wanted to take, and rushed downstairs, just as the taxi drew up. He was apologetic about not being on time because he took another job which took longer than he thought and I said that was alright. I didn't tell him I've never been so pleased that a taxi was late!

“I had just enough money to get him to take me right to the airport and once I collected my ticket from the desk and was on the plane I heaved a sigh of relief, but it wasn't over yet. We pulled back on time and taxied to the runway and then we stopped for about ten minutes and everybody wondered what was going on. Finally the captain made an announcement that there was a mechanical problem and the plane taxied to the engineers' workshop for repairs. We sat there for about three hours and the cabin crew served us drinks and finally lunch to keep us occupied. I didn't mind as the last thing I wanted to do was go back to the terminal and be offloaded just in case Bruce had caught up with where I was and come after me. I forgot to tell you that I left him a note at the flat saying that I thought we needed a break from one another, and please to not try and find me, although I doubted he would do that. We finally took off after about three hours and when we got to Singapore I phoned you as you know.”

“What a drama,” I said. “You could just about make a film about that.”

“I can almost laugh about it now, but believe me, it was terrifying at the time,” said Kate.

“I'm thinking that Bruce might phone your parents to see if you are there, and they'll be worried about you; do you want to ring them?” I asked.

“He won't do it for a few days at least. With me having next to no money he'll probably think that I'll return with my tail between my legs after a few days. You are right though, he'll probably ring them eventually, so I should let them know. I might ring my brother Gary and tell him where I am, but ask him to ring Mum and Dad and just tell them I'm safe and well, but not where I am, so that if Bruce rings them they can honestly say they don't know.”

“Well, you are welcome to use our phone. Just remember that we are nine hours behind Melbourne at present,” I said.

It was only a few minutes later that we arrived at our flat. Jack lifted Kate's suitcase out of the boot and wheeled it into the flat. I showed her to her room, and the first thing she saw was Jemima propped up against the pillows on the bed.

“Goodness me! You've still got Jemima!” she cried.

“Of course I have; you left her in my care and I have looked after her as well as I could since then,” I replied.

“Oh Antonette!” Kate burst into floods of tears. I think she had tried to hold back her emotions while Jack was there but now she couldn't any longer. I just held her as her sobs racked her body. Eventually she settled down.

“Kate, I think the best thing might be for you to go to bed now. You've had a really traumatic experience and we're all feeling tired. Things will seem better in the morning.”

The following morning, Jack and I were up early despite our very late night. It was Jack's turn to make breakfast. We always had a substantial one when we were rehearsing as we burnt up plenty of calories. After porridge, bacon and eggs, I was feeling comfortably full when Kate appeared.in a fluffy white dressing gown.

“Good morning; you should have woken me,” she said. She looked a lot better than she had the previous night.

“I looked in on you and you were fast asleep so I thought I had better leave you,” I replied. “We have a rehearsal today, starting at nine o'clock, so we will have to leave you. What would you like to do, rest and get over your jetlag?”

“I need to get a job as soon as I can,” replied Kate. “When I worked at St Thomas's, they told me that if I ever returned to England they would love me to work there again, so I thought I would ring them as soon as H.R., opens at nine o'clock and see if they have any vacancies. If not them, I'll try some other London hospitals.”

“I'm sure they'll find a place for you, but in the meantime, Jack and thought we should loan you fifty pounds to be going on with. Let us know if you need some more.”

“Oh you are too kind, both of you, and after loaning me the money for the airfare too!” rxclaimed Kate.

“You can pay us off after you get a job, but take your time,” replied Jack.

“Would you mind very much if I use your landline phone to call Gary and tell him what's happened?” Kate asked.

“Of course not,” said Jack, so off she went to make the call. She wasn't gone very long.

“He said he wasn't totally surprised,” said Kate. “It seems everyone saw the real Bruce except me.”

We gave Kate the money, a key to the flat and also loaned her my phone in case she went out and needed to contact us. Then we headed to the rehearsal rooms for the first day of the next production “Sleeping Beauty”. I was very excited as I had been made understudy for the rôle of 'Carabosse' , and Jack was understudy for the Prince in Act 3.. I had better briefly explain the story of the ballet which is as follows:

There is a christening ceremony for Princess Aurora, the daughter of the King and Queen, and six fairies are invited to bestow gifts; but one other, Carabosse is not invited and furious at the slight she turns up surrounded by her minions, in this case rats who scare the guests. She humiliates the courtier who neglected to invite her and puts a curse of the princess that on her sixteenth birthday she will prick her finger on a spindle and die. Fortunately the Lilac Fairy is able to change the curse so that Aurora will fall into a deep sleep for a hundred years along with the whole court.and will only awake if a handsome prince finds her and kisses her.

In the next scene, it is Aurora's sixteenth birthday and despite all spindles being banned in the kingdom, Carabosse in disguise enters the palace and presents one to Aurora, who fascinated, dances with it but pricks herself and falls into the deep sleep as promised by the Lilac Fairy. The whole court then falls asleep too.

In the final act, it is one hundred years later, and with the whole court in a deep sleep and the palace now hidden by a forest along comes Prince Désiré (what a strange name for a prince!) with a hunting party, which seems to be the favourite occupation for princes in ballets. However the Prince is not in the mood for hunting and asks his companions to leave him. The Lilac Fairy appears, and shows him a vision of Aurora and he falls instantly in love and begs the fairy to take him to her. He awakens her with a kiss and with that the rest of the court awakens, On the final scene there is a grand celebration as Aurora and Désiré marry and blessed by the Lilac Fairy, they live happily ever after, the perfect conclusion, except I suspect that Prince Désiré wasn't allowed to go hunting again!

In some productions, Carabosse is played by a man, mainly in order to make her look as ugly as possible. I have two objections to this, firstly because, while you can say that ballet is a mime, it's not a 'pantomime' as we understand the term, and a male Carabosse reminds everyone of a pantomime 'dame'. The second reason is that it deprives a female dancer of a great solo rôle. Fortunately, the IBC has always cast a female dancer in the part.

Understudies are actually very important people and essential for major parts just in case the regular performer cannot take part for some reason. Despite that I know that a lot of people think that it is a thankless task which confines you to sitting in a dressing room at every performance 'just in case'. However it is a recognised path to performing major rôles and Jack and I were given some small parts as a village girl and youth and also guests at the celebrations to occupy us.if we weren't needed for the major rôles. The company also had a tradition of using understudies during matinées if there was an evening performance, to give the principal a break, so I knew that both Jack and I would have some chances to perform the major rôles.

The company also had a tradition of allowing the principal and her or his understudy to rehearse together with the choreographer. In my case, the principal playing Carabosse was Mariette de Chasseur (a French rendition of her real name which was Mary Hunter). She was very friendly to me and we worked together well. I felt sure that I was gaining more from the experience than her as she was a superb dancer and rehearsing with her improved my technique I'm sure. The last thing I wanted was for members of the audience to be disappointed that an understudy had performed in place of the principal.

To be continued.

Next time: A new beginning?