Chapter 8

          Bobby spent the afternoon working through Lilly’s proposal pulling together all the latest figures and growth expectations. He did not know why he did it but it was something he enjoyed doing and something he was good at. Later he got everything set for the evening and pulled on nearly new jeans and meticulously ironed his best shirt and went out the door.

 

Just after seven and Bobby pulled up outside Gloria's place, got out of the car and knocked on the front door. The straight cut denims with the turn ups taking out the length made him look slim and taller than he was. The hour he had spent ironing the long sleeved white shirt left it smooth and crisp and he wore it casual style with the top button undone and the cuffs turned over. The quiff in his hair was slightly ruffled just to take out that sometimes manufactured look.

If you asked him later what he felt when the door opened he would say just one word, stunned. He would then say the pale blue cotton dress was the best, just above knee length and made of that light cotton fabric that kind of shimmered in the light breeze with a hint of see-through up against the fading sunlight. He just loved that absolute display of sexiness and he loved her hair all tasselled and hanging loose. And he loved the smell of her perfume that lingered so casually in the air.

“Hi,” she said, her voice with a kind of husky feel like she might have been talking too much and gone a bit dry. Bobby did not move. “We going or do you plan on just standing there all night?”

“Sorry, I’m a bit glued,” he said, “I could tell you how fabulous you look but I’d be lying, you're way beyond that. Just give me a moment to recover.”

“You know you have a great knack of saying all the right things in a way that just makes me want to smile.”

He was laughing when he said, “Ok, that’s it, I’ve recovered enough to drive but I’m not going more than twenty or they’ll suspect a heart attack at the crash scene. Let me get the door,” and he watched her get in sitting on the seat first then swinging in her legs and he noticed the tall heels and her dress riding up and her doing one of those little sexy wiggles to move it down as she settled in.”

She looked up and saw him watching, “what?” she said.

“Nothing,” he replied smiling and slammed the door.

About twenty minutes later they were in the next village and took a sharp right turn into his road past a few shops. “This is mine,” he said, pulling up in front of a neat looking three bedroomed semi with flowers in the front garden.”

“That sold sign for your house?” Gloria asked.

“Yup. I’ve had to sell to clear the mortgage. Lost my job six months ago and struggling to get another.”

“Where’re you going to live then?”

“Moving in with Donny for a while until something comes up.”

“Or you kill each other.”

“There’s always that of course but we get on fine.”

“So far.”

“Yup, so far.”

Inside Bobby said, “take a seat. Drink?” as he walked through into the kitchen.

She sat on the wide low back sofa with those squishy cushions, the sort that just sucked you down and a large flat screen opposite hanging on the wall. “Sure why not.” she said.

“Bubbles ok?”

“Perfect.”

There were boxes everywhere and not much else in the room other than the TV and sofa and a beaten up old trunk for a coffee table. “You look like you’re all packed up and ready to go,” Gloria said. “Place has that used to live here look.”

“Yeah, nearly all done, just the essentials left and they’ll be last minute.”

“So when’s the great day then?”

“Not too sure. About two to three weeks I expect. Just waiting for confirmation from the solicitor and that will happen when he’s sucked as much cash out of me as he thinks he’s going to get.”

“What then?”

“Donny’s, new job and start over. In that order.”

“Sounds good. Staying in the financial world?”

“If I can. I’m putting the popcorn on now. Real stuff done in a saucepan with a sprinkle of salt and dusting of sugar all mixed up. How’s that sound?”

“I know I can smell the corn and hear the pop clanging about. It sounds and smells great.”

Bobby, rattling about in the saucepan then putting the lid on, said with a bit of a raised voice, “We can’t watch films without popcorn, can we?”

“Certainly not,” she replied.

“And Bobby’s special popcorn at that. While I make it leaf through that pile and see what there is. If there’s anything you fancy. We gotta watch Sunset Boulevard but there’s a few others. Look at that set, ‘The Swanson Collection,’ they're all silent and quite early. The thing with silent films is they’re usually short.”

“Don’t know anything about these,” she said, pushing her hair back a bit and looking at the collection on the flat topped old trunk with the ring stains, “silent films are a mystery to me. Don’t really know if I’ll get on with them.”

“Fair enough but give them a chance they’re actually great to watch. There’s something about having to convey a story silently. There’s a proper craft there. All those expressions and actions become so important. They’re the story and can be quite amusing. We’ll watch one and you’ll see what I mean.”

“I might get bored.”

“Those in that collection are only about twenty to twenty five minutes so not enough time to get bored but we can always stop it.”

 “Ok, then I’ll give it my fullest attention.”

 “Have a look at The Sultan's Wife and read the blurb. We should watch that at least. You see what’s said about it?”

There was a few minutes of silence then, “hey, this is great. Are the characters really called Gloria and Bobby?”

“Sure they are. It stars Gloria Swanson of course and Bobby Vernon. They made a lot of films together, romantic comedies. One of the things he did was all the stunts and that really scared Gloria. She always thought he would get hurt. He was spotted on a news stand in San Francisco when he was a kid, Bobby Vernon was, where he was known as Buttons the Singing Newsboy and that’s what got him started, the singing, which he was good at, so he started as a singer then he got into films. In The Sultan’s wife they play themselves. Gloria the heroine is captured by a Sultan to add to his harem and Bobby, her sailor boyfriend hero saves her. You have to see it. You can’t even imagine the facial expressions, especially from the Sultan.”

“Would you save me from a wicked Sultan?”

“Of course, that’ll be no problem. Sultans go down real easy when thumped. They’re all soft and flabby and sweaty like a damp sponge. The problem is they have a load of big strong scary bodyguards so when I’ve thumped him and he’s gone down and the muscle men are onto us, we’d have to leg it with a good pair of running shoes. None of those high heel numbers you’ve got on.”

“Not sure I’m that quick a runner.”

“I’ve heard bodyguards of Sultans are all muscle and strength and slow over the ground. So we’d be alright. If not, we'd steal a horse anyway. A big white one, the sort all the goodies have with a golden saddle.”

“You ride a horse?”

“Nope, never been on one but I’m sure you do.”

“I can a bit.”

“A bit would be fine. Eastern horses can be frisky but they’re sure fond of a good looking lady.”

“What’s first then?” he said, mumbling through a mouth full of popcorn.

“Let’s do the long one, The Sunset one and see how we get on. I would like to see how you rescue me though. That can be last.”

 

They eat the popcorn, drink a bottle of bubbly and the film ends and Bobby says, “well what d’you think? Great isn’t it?”

“I thought it was fabulous. She was so good I can see why she got Oscar nominated. You’re right there’s something about old films, they all have to act to make it work. There’s none of the computer generated stuff we see today. I loved Max. He was brilliant.”

“The ever faithful butler.”

“I like it that he wrote all her fan mail. He spent his time protecting her, didn't he? feeding her illusion of fame.”

“Yeah right up to the end when the newsmen with the newsreel cameras are there and she thinks they’re filming her script and Max sets up that final scene by shouting, ‘action,’ so she thinks she’s acting but she’s just lost all reality and she imagines Cecil B Demille’s there, who played himself earlier in the film and he’s the director but he’s not there in that last bit she just imagines he’s there and says,  ‘I’m ready for my close up now,’  but she’d just gone nuts.”

“And that chimp at the beginning when Joe drives up her drive and she thinks he’s brought a coffin but of course he’s just that failing script writer. That’s good and sets up Joe’s part very cleverly.”

“It’s a great film all right and one of my favourites.”

“So let’s see how you rescue me from that Sultan then and whether we have to steal a horse.”

 

They are on the sofa with Gloria curled up leaning against him and he’s got his arm around her watching Bobby be a hero and saving the day. She said, “you always have heroine girl friends?”

“Heroines are best. It’s the Mata Hari ones I avoid. Had a few of those and they’re a nightmare. Deceptive and deceitful is the best way to describe them and they have a devious knack of always making sure it’s your fault. That’s why I like you. You’re the heroine type and that’s for sure. Not a scrap of a Mata Hari in you.”

“So, at the end of the film Gloria and Bobby stroll off into the sunset hand in hand. Is that right?” Gloria said with one of her cute sexy smiles.

“Absolutely, an essential part of any script.” Bobby replied as he twiddled with some strands of her hair, those strands that get all mixed up from leaning against a comfy shoulder.

“And then they kiss.”

“Sure, that’s essential as well but one of those sort of lips together type of kisses movie actors do. A bit like this,” and he kissed her with tight lips.

“And then she might say something like you’ve just saved me from that horrible Sultan, you’re my hero.”

“That would be a fair thing to say and she would kiss him more seriously in a non movie star way. Maybe something like this,” and he held her head in his hands kind of movie style and kissed her with quite a bit of passion and kissed her again but definitely not in the old movie star way.

Then with her voice sort of lowered and getting sexy she said, “And then she would say something like, ‘it’s late,’ and then, ‘I can cook a great breakfast for my hero.’ Yup that’s just how she would say it. Just like that and getting all husky.”

“And he would sweep her into his arms and kiss her passionately then take her by the hand and lead her up the winding staircase to the place where all that wickedness happens.”

She went to sleep that night thinking how her luck might be changing thinking how Bobby was the sort of guy she could be with. She was smiling as she drifted off and for the first time in two years felt a genuinely happy contentment.

A driving wind rattling rain on the bedroom window woke her when it was just getting light. There was a stirring beside her and Bobby swung his legs out the bed and sat flicking his hands through his hair.

“Where are you going?” she said

“Getting a drink. You want some tea?”

She put her hand on his shoulder and moved her arm around his chest and pulled him back down and kissed him. Bobby’s face was grinning at her so she kissed him again and silently thanked him for a great time. Then they did it all again. It was not hectic like last night but no less passionate they had the time so they could take it slow. He had not a lot to do until lunchtime and she did not need to be at work until eleven.

After she cooked him a full English with strong black coffee then he took her to work and headed to the food shop with a long list full of all the stuff he needed to feed a well off lady.