Outstripped (13 page)

Lucy and
the girls returned week after week for some time, alternating their evenings
between Wednesdays and Thursdays so as not to appear too obvious. She regularly
caught his eye and smiled alluringly but stopped short of actual conversation.
She needed
him
to come to her, as
Jody had instructed.

One Friday lunchtime
, the
call came in.
It wasn't Luke, though
,
it was his P.A
. She was very professional and proper and
requested to speak with Ms Drummond. Lucy responded in her best business voice
and secured her position at Banner products for two working weeks to start one
week from the following Monday.

"I'm
in," she screamed down the phone to Jody, "I've got my place at
B.P.L.
What
's the plan now?"

Jody
told her to calm down and they would catch up at the club over the weekend.
"There's nothing you can't do, it's just normal office work and all I need
is a few tiny bits and pieces. Like I've said all along, it'll be fun."

Jody was
'lunching' again with Bill, only this time his wife Sarah had joined them. Bill
had come back to Jody with positives and negatives once he'd had chance to go
over her plans and over the following few weeks they'd had numerous meetings to
iron things out. Jody's youthful exuberance and wish lists were a tad
unrealistic, to put it lightly, and Bill had a tough time, as he thought he
would, bringing her expectations down a little.

"Dreams
and aspirations are one thing," he'd said to her, "but reality and available
finances are another."

She
didn't want to hear it, but eventually had to bow to his wisdom and experience
with successful businesses. And it
was
the reason she went to him in the first place.

They
wouldn't be opening Britain's answer to Caesar's Palace on the first night,
after all, and
now,
here they were with 'Sarah', the
real brains, or rather 'reigns', behind Bill's successes. He too had a tendency
to shoot first and ask questions later, but as a trained accountant, she called
the shots. Bill was the front man to their operations and she ran the money,
so, as Bill had said many weeks ago, he would need to get her involved prior to
signing any dotted lines.

They
went through the motions over their 'Dim Sum' starters and round the
obligatorily polite houses for effect before the usual toilet break came. This
time it was Bill's turn.

"Good,
I can catch up with Jody on my own then whilst you're gone," said Sarah,
before leaning in, elbows heavily gouging the table and chin on fists. Her eyes
closed a little, her lips tightened and she started.

"Listen
missy, I know all about you and your plans and I know all about Bill and his
indiscretions abroad, organized by you. I even know what goes on behind closed
doors down at that club of yours. Don't think for one minute I couldn't put a
stop to any of it. You see the truth is, I've been there, where you are, that
is. I've had my fill of fucking about and sex on the side
an'
all that, but Bill hasn't. Not yet.
Typical testosterone
driven bloke.
Can't see past the end of his dick or the next shag. I
know he's only in it for the sex. Me, on the other hand, I'm just not that
bothered anymore, I've had my fill, but I turn a blind eye and let him get what
he needs. I know he won't run off, but someone just might think they can take
him away from me. Listen carefully, its not going to happen. I love him. And
you, you little jumped up tart, better not fuck with this old bird. It won't be
me who loses out. This bitch has been around the block more than a few times.
Do not mess with me, and don't even think about hurting Bill. Do we understand
each other?"

"Holy
shit!" Jody was truly shocked. She'd never met anyone quite so blunt and
forthright of the female persuasion. She didn't even use that kind of tact
herself.

"Er,
yes we do," said Jody, not wishing to challenge the self-proclaimed bitch.
"I've no intentions of hurting Bill, he's a very dear friend and I'm just
not like that, I...." And just as she was about to do some serious
groveling for the first time in her life, Bill re-appeared and sat back down
beside his wife.

"I
was just running over things with Jody," began Sarah, "whilst you
were gone, and I can't see any reason why you shouldn't open one of these
naughty clubs of your own dear. Jody seems like a wonderful girl, an obvious
stunner, and as you said yourself, she knows how to run these things, and the
girls, and the 'entertainment' (she gesticulated some inverted commas) as you
so tastefully put it."

"Great
stuff," he said, "Brilliant, eh, Jody? It’s always good to get her
ladyship onside." he winked at Jody.

"Watch
it, you." Snapped 'her ladyship' in a firm yet forgiving manner.

Jody did
the best she could to muster some gracious words for Bill's sake, even though
she was still reeling from his wife's unprovoked tirade. What she really wanted
to do was dance on the tables with Bill but the perplexed demeanor that had
just been forced upon her meant that low key gratitude’s and platitudes were a
little more appropriate.

"There'll
be time enough to celebrate on opening day," she said in her best 'grown
up' and 'business like' voice.

On
reflection, later in the day, she decided, Sarah did actually make a good case
for what really goes on in Bill's life, "but there was still no need to
take it out on me."

Jody met
up with Lucy that night. She'd forgotten it was Friday already, and until
their own
gig was finalized, 'the show must go on'.

Lucy was
bursting at the seams to bring Jody up to speed on her news and her employment
status. She wasn't just excited for the role, it was the notching up of 'brownie
points' with Jody that did it and the opportunity to play 'Jane Bond' and get
up to all sorts of naughtiness with the lead characters in their little game of
espionage, whatever it was for.

Jody,
for her part, was just as excited about her own news. She waited until they
were together with Rachael in the dressing room before finally blurting out
that "Approval had been given and the funds were secured". Bill was
to be her business partner in the new place and unfortunately the 'Wicked Witch
of the East Side' was coming along for the broom ride, whether they liked it or
not. She wasn't going to be hands on, at least that was the plan, but she would
be overseeing the books and may just make an appearance from time to time.
Luckily she was presentable and not some fat old bird that would put the
punters off their beer or the girls off their dancing even.

"She
must have been a stunner, herself, in her younger days," Jody said.

"Maybe
she could show us a few moves?" added Rachael.

"Yeah,
right!"

The two-minute
call came through for Rachael. She was up next. Checking the finishing touches
to her outfit, helmet and makeup in the mirror she readied herself. She had on
a tight white t-shirt at belly button length and the tightest, hottest,
shortest pink pants you could imagine. Marginally bigger than knickers but they
hugged closer.

"A camel toe hunter's Eldorado," as she called them.

She
sneaked on stage in the dark and took up a commanding position aboard some
strange apparatus then her music started.

Queen, “Fat Bottom Girls,” momentous.

Rachael
was spot lit, sitting astride a racing bicycle, which was propped up, on a
training stand for her. As she pedaled to nowhere, in her own time, on and off
the seat, the bike was rotated slowly on a carousel. Everyone got a good view.
In fact the audience was treated to a particularly dirty saddle show behind the
best bike shed in town. The voyeurs in the audience, that is everyone,
especially liked the rear view, up and out of the seat. She looked over her
shoulder at her jaw dropped audience for added effect. Clearly Rachael had
developed into a star performer.
The right music, the right
outfit and the right routine.

Jody
couldn't wait for Monday morning to come round so she could get down to the
Commercial Estate Agents. The Sunday papers are okay, but you can't beat
insider knowledge. The trouble she found, though, was that she couldn't get
any.
Insider knowledge that is.
Just
sales pitches.
None of her clients were in leasing and renting and she
didn't know any agents well enough for trustworthy advice. Bill wasn't much use
either, other than to point her in Sarah's direction. Apparently she had
contacts from her accountancy practice and had previously dabbled in commercial
property investment advice. Jody wasn't exactly over the moon about the offer
but in the end she gave in and succumbed as, in her eyes, it just had to better
than conversing with the unknown and the untrustworthy.

Appointments
were booked and cozy taxi trips made necessary with
Sarah
to meet up with two supposedly reputable agents. They
'allegedly' had access, and the insider track, to a number of unlisted and
unadvertised potential venues. Jody refused to believe anything until she saw
them.

Sarah
was, once again, a frosty character of mixed messages. One minute she was cold,
snappy, miserable, impatient and a nightmare to be with. The next minute, her
dry and vicious, acid tongue was actually straight to the point, no-nonsense,
insightful and often hilarious at someone else's expense, deserved or
otherwise.

Luckily
none of Sarah's spit and wit was aimed in Jody's direction. "That would
have just killed it," thought Jody. Sarah was turning out to be a pretty
dark horse, and maybe there was a human in there after all, under that hard,
almost impenetrable outer shell.

By the
time they had exhausted agent number one's 'pile of crap' listings and were
half way through number two's (every pun intended) they were on their way to deepest,
darkest Kings Cross. Apparently there was an old hotel there that had been used
as a 'doss house' and more recently, 'storage facilities' for an architectural
antiques dealer or 'hoarder' depending on your point of view.

There
were no visible signs as to which property was their intended target, when the
taxi pulled over, so they weren't quite sure which door they were supposed to
be hovering outside. The whole row of Victorian buildings looked pretty grotty
and it could have been any one of them. Within a few minutes their agent
appeared, on foot, and signaled for them to come closer under a small and dirty
wooden entrance canopy. As usual the sighs of despair and derision poured from
Sarah's poisonous pavement pointing lips as she trudged behind Jody's upbeat
but fading skips of intrigue.

Jody was
trying her best to put an excited and positive spin on every property on the
off chance that they may just uncover their 'gold mine' beneath the uninviting
outward facade and the seemingly hundred year old grime within. She picked up
pace and spun, hands on hips, to consider the splendour of the entrance as
their doorman of the day unlocked the tall, heavy ornate oak on her behalf.

At least
that's what would have happened in a nineteen sixties, black and white, pop
culture musical.

What
actually happened was a little
less
dramatic, and a little
more
mellow
. They stepped inside and studied the entrance hall from floor to
ceiling and back again. It was, like all the others, in need of a great deal of
work and Jody's happy face was initially replaced with her disappointed one.

But
wait, what was this? On second glance, it had presence, it had purpose, and it
was at least intact. Parquet floors, brass fittings and a long, long reception
desk. It also had a fantastic stairway with wrought iron bannister and the
oldest open lift in town.
One of those with folding
concertina doors.
For once Jody could see through the dust, the dirt,
and the broken bits. And this time she saw seating, a stage, dancing podiums
and cages, a bar, lights, mirrors, people, punters, dancers and yes! This was
it! This was the place!

It
wasn't big. It wasn't normal. It wasn't in a salubrious part of town and it
needed work.
A lot of work.
But it was preserved. It
was unique. And luckily, she did have the whole cast of Cliff Richard's 'The
Young Ones' at her disposal for when the time comes to make this theatre her
own. And they're now all in full colour.

"Best
of all," Jody raised her elated voice. "It will be awesome."

This
time, Sarah allowed Jody her moment of discovery. "Youthful enthusiasm,
blood, sweat and ignorance would get them through," she thought, "and
maybe, just maybe, this place could actually work. Assuming this chick is as
good as Bill says she is."

Wheels
were set in motion and Sarah took over the haggling and negotiations for
leasing the place. The owners were difficult, but a sales pitch based on 'lost
earnings from empty premises' versus 'lower initial rates and an annual
increase', eventually won them over. Some money is always better than none,
after all.

The
processes and paperwork and to-ing and fro-ing took less time than anticipated.
They agreed on a settlement and key handover date for when the big clean up
could start and the refurbishment work could begin. Unfortunately, Jody would
have to dream and plan from afar, since they were not granted any access to the
building until then.