A/N: NOT perfect. NEVER perfect. PERFECTION is what gets past the publishers.
CHAPTER TWO
Cabaret
(Early Friday Evening)
Parking the ratcatcher a couple streets down, The Quiverwing Quack slipped through the shadows and into the alley behind the Blue Parrot.
The back door was locked so from the underside of her sleeve Quiverwing detached a bobby pin and jimmied it open.
She stepped in through the entrance and along a narrow corridor. "There's only one person crazy enough to pull this and that would be me."
The teenage crimefighter took a breath and snuck into one of the changing rooms, submerging quietly into the massive clothes rack the instant she saw it. She surveyed the two women chatting across the small room. The two doggettes were dressed in green and silvery sequinned dresses.
Quiverwing looked through the clothes on the rack in front of her. 'There's another one of those outfits like theirs.' She switched her purple uniform for the evening dress and tucked her gear between the crowd of colourful costumes on the rack.
She reviewed her new outfit. As luck would have it for Quiverwing the dress she'd picked actually fit fairly well so she didn't need any of the safety pins from her utility belt. 'These dresses don't leave much stashing room for necessities.' She noted as she considered what she was taking versus what equipment she was leaving behind.
'Right ... next?' Quiverwing turned as one of the girls came around the clothes stand.
"Oh, that simply does not match." The girls reviewed her presentation critically. "Here." The first girl hooked a set of silvery dominoes over Quiverwing's purple mask and hurriedly pulled her across the room to the mirrors. "Now, let's do something about that hair quickly. Jane, give me that hairbrush there."
"Here, Sarah. Gosh, we'd better hurry."
Quiverwing clenched her teeth and sat down in front of the mirrors. 'This had better pay up.' She picked up the makeup jars and changed the colour of her eye-shadow so it worked with the silver dominoes as the two women did her hair up into a dozen curls on her head.
"Well, now, what do you think?"
"I think that won't fit back under my hat, Jane." Quiverwing responded instantly. "But I guess we all look like Betty Boop now so I can't really complain. Thanks."
The two doggettes stared at her. "Y-you're not Celoonsa!"
"Gosh but you look so much like her!"
Quiverwing pursed her beak and looked for a few choice words. "Whoever you think I am, citizens, I appreciate your help regardless."
"She sure doesn't sound like Celoonsa!"
"Oh, my gosh! Are you her sister? Did Celoonsa send you in her place?"
Quiverwing stood up watching them. "I am 'The Girl's Quack'."
"Y'mean Audrey Wishbone?"
Quiverwing eyed them wearily. "There isn't time for a proper explanation. You guys do your thing and I'll just follow your lead."
"But - you ... you can't do our dance!"
Quiverwing rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Sarah, and you can't dodge bullets. Where's the fire on your end?"
"No, you don't understand. That's Celoonsa's dress."
'Great: exclusivity.' Quiverwing frowned as she considered their dresses. They were indeed greener than hers. "I thought it was a spare. My plan was to get into the club by tagging along with you guys."
"I'm confused" interrupted Jane.
"You're not the only one." Quiverwing empathised. "None of this makes a lick of sense to me either."
"Have you ever been on stage before, Audrey?"
"You have nothing to worry about." Quiverwing reassured her. "I do this all the time. Just tell me what you've got and I'll match you."
"Do you know the song Plaisir d'Amour?" Sarah asked.
"Sure, it was in Duckie III so I've got it embedded in my brain."
"Duckie? Isn't that a boys movie about underwater wrestling?"
"It's a biographical tale!" Quiverwing quacked. "The point is I know the song!"
"Good, because we need you to sing it."
Quiverwing took a breath. "It's easy; I'll just sing it in French. Go through your dance moves with me and we'll be set."
Quiverwing listened intently as Sarah and Jane outlined the number they did.
"Have you got it? We've only got two minutes now!"
"It's okay, Sarah, I've got it." Quiverwing assured her with her confidence and stepped towards the door.
"Let's get musical." Quiverwing rubbed her hands together in excitement, thinking about bagging a fistful of feathers from the criminal cockerel. 'Boy, this is going to be good!' She put her hand to the doorknob and glanced back at the others. They were staring at her like she'd said something peculiar. "What? What's the weird look for?"
"It's just funny the way you said that, Audrey."
"It's Celoonsa, remember?" She led them out of the room and up the corridor.
The three of them moved up into the stage wing and waited for their cue.
Quiverwing matched the tragically slow melody as it began playing out of the speakers. She did her best to stay clear of the other's dance moves while being the unique centre of attention with the microphone.
"Parlez moi d'amour
Redites-moi des choses tenders..."
Quiverwing was doing her very best to get the painfully slow words out of her crop.
"You know well that underneath it all
I don't believe any of it
But meanwhile I want to still hear those words
That I adore"
"Speak to me of love
Tell me those tender things again
Your beautiful speech
My heart is not tired of hearing it
Provided that you will always
Repeat these supreme words
I love you"
"Your voice with its caressing sounds
That murmurs in trembling
Rocks me with its beautiful story
And in spite of myself I want to believe it"
"Speak to me of love
Tell me those tender things again..."
The audience was a vague night-time beach out there with faces scattered like silent sea shells around the tables and she couldn't even see who she was looking for as she continued to sing.
"Sorrow is quickly quieted
And consoled from a kiss
From the heart
Wounds are healed by reassuring words"
"Parlez moi d'amour
Redites-moi des choses tenders
Votre beau discours
Mon coeur n'est pas las de l'entendre
Pourvu que toujours
Vous repetiez ces mots supremes
Je vous aime"
The song ended and the curtains closed.
'No way!' Quiverwing stepped out in front of the curtains. 'I've got to do something more interesting than that to get his attention!' She snatched the microphone from the man approaching her. With her free hand she toyed with his tie. "Help me out, here." She said quietly to him. "Can you get your boys to play Creedence's I put a spell on you?" She then stepped back, letting his tie slide slowly out from between her fingers.
"Celoonsa, this is a variety show. There-."
"Glad to hear it. You're a real sweetheart." She smiled, turning slowly to the audience.
"Le Mageek." Quiverwing stated, continuing to slant her words into a foreign accent. She snapped her fingers, letting loose a pinch of fairy dust she'd requisitioned from the last time she cleaned out her mother's Christmas fairy feeders.
The music started up behind her.
"I'll put a spell on you."
She pointed at the generality of the audience.
"And make you mi-ine.
You're gonna stop the things you do-oo,"
She took a measured breath.
"I ain't l-y-i-ng."
"I ain't gonna take no more
Fooling around
This witch is casting a spell
That's right
You're going down"
"I'll put a spell on you
And make you mine."
As the instrumental started Quiverwing stepped off the stage, mimicking after her mother's way of walking. She circled the audience slowly, playing conjurer with roses and playing cards, engaging her listeners as she continued to sing.
She found the F.O.W.L. operative sitting at table eight. Oh, boy was Quiverwing happy to finally see him! She smiled at him and leaned across the table towards Steelbeak. Casually she conjured a card from his collar before straightening up and dropping it on the table before continuing on.
"I put a spell on you
And now you're go-ne!
My whammy fell on you
And it was stro-ng."
She wended her way back to the stage.
"Yeah,
There will be no more
Fooling around
Now I've cast this spell
And taken you down."
"I've put a spell on you,
And now you're mine"
As Quiverwing finished the song she raised her hands. She cast a proper spell, throwing up a rainbow across the room and then she bowed.
Quiverwing walked off stage into the wing and handed the microphone to the guy holding his hand out for it. She watched him head out in front of the curtains and two more guys stepped past her. One of them sat down to the drum set sitting at the back of the stage and the other one plugged his guitar into the amplifier.
The curtains raised on the two duck band. Quiverwing felt a tap on her shoulder and turned as the music started belting out of the speakers.
"Sister."
Quiverwing frowned at the guy who'd just finished introducing the next act, "yeah I know; don't quit my day job."
"No, I-mean ... sure you're no prima-donna, but there's a gentleman in the audience that wants you to come round to his table." He swallowed, watching her nervously.
"I'm crossing my fingers; which guy would that be?"
"Table eight. Take the side stairs around there," he pointed.
'Oh, a whole table? What luck.' Quiverwing shrugged and walked back into the front section. 'The lesson on garters was good value, dad.'
References
Leading historical female actor with red hair reference: Audrey Hepburn
Betty Boop by Max Fleischer
Creedence Clearwater Revival: I put a spell on you & Disney: Hocus Pocus.
Duckie - As I write it: acclaimed movie series about a champion underwater wrestler. Parody on the title 'Rocky'.
Plaisir d'Amour is written by Jean Paul Egide Martini and depending on who is singing it, it can be very eerie and hypnotic indeed.