Chapter 30: Cinderella at the Ball
Friday Night
When Louisa entered the ball it was like stepping into a fairy tale.
She had dug out her Cinderella dress from an attic trunk, and was thrilled to find the midnight blue velvet and gold trim were still in good shape, and even more thrilled to find the dress still fit. When she tried it on it brought her back to the nights when she had painstaking stitched the dress together on her grandmother's old foot-powered Singer sewing machine while memorizing her lines for the school musical. It wasn't Jago Powell she had played opposite, he and his mother had moved away the year before, but some forgettable boy from Wadebridge.
But now Jago was back and he was happy to be her Prince Charming. He had a costume designer whip up an outfit to match hers, and a pair of Venetian masks for both of them, and he had insisted on picking her up in his limousine for the ball, although she could have easily walked to the tent on the Platt from her cottage.
They arrived at the entrance fashionably late. They fixed their masks in place and together they entered the ball with a fanfare from the band as if a royal couple had arrived.
The inside was enormous, almost as if the tent was bigger on the inside than the outside, absurd as that seemed. There were colourful fairy lights around the edges, a mirror ball hanging over the dance floor. The music started out with a Cornish band and traditional dancing. Once the rock band took over strobe lights began intermittently flashing, lending drama to the dance floor.
The thumping rock bass line was amplified so she could feel it throughout her body. The night air felt sultry with so many people inside an enclosed space, and the mingled scents of perfumes and bouquets of flowers on the tables created an atmosphere that was almost intoxicating.
The inhabitants of Portwenn had transformed into fantasy versions of themselves. Louisa saw superheroes, pop stars, ninjas, hula girls, figures from history, myth, fantasy, and legend. She marvelled at their imagination and ingenuity. Costumed and masked, everyone was dancing and cavorting and having a marvellous time.
Jago made the rounds and greeted each guest, with her on his arm. In spite of their masks, everyone seemed to know who they were. Then they spent the evening dancing and chatting together. Louisa barely noticed as the hours wore on and the other couples were losing their inhibitions and getting more lascivious. She and her prince only had eyes for each other.
The night flew by and she was startled to hear "Thirty seconds to midnight!"
"Everyone kisses someone at midnight and then the masks come off so we see who ended up pairing off," Jago murmured in her ear. "Should be quite amusing to see what odd couples we've got here."
"Twenty seconds!"
"I don't care who else is here. I only care that I'm here with you," she replied.
"Fifteen seconds!" The music stopped but she and Jago kept moving together, as he hummed a tango. The dance floor was now clear right beneath the mirror ball, they had the magical space all to themselves with glittering flecks of light raining down on them.
The band struck up an electric guitar version of the Westminster chimes. The strobe light came on again, pulsing along with the crowd's chant: "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six!"
The chanting seemed far removed from their magic space beneath the mirror ball. Under the power of the flashing strobe they no longer moved smoothly or continuously but in dramatic illuminated still frames. He led her in an open embrace, but with each pulse they drew closer… closer.
"Five! Four!"
Louisa held her breath as Jago pulled her in close.
"Three! Two!"
Suddenly the crowd parted and a large figure came toward them, a man in a dark suit, red tie, and a black eye mask. Louisa was startled. She knew that stiff, determined demeanour anywhere, even across a vast, crowded, dark room. "Martin!" she shouted, right at the stroke of midnight, but the roar of a rocket drowned her out.
Jago looked confused. "Why are they setting off the fireworks? I told them to cancel due to the weather."
"That's not a firework, it's the Lifeboat signal. There must be an emergency," she told him. The signal boom was followed by a second, and then a third. She turned to Martin. "Come on, let's see what's going on."
All three of them pushed their masks up and ran outside, as the crowd spilled out onto the Platt along with them. The wind was picking up and a fine mist was coming down, making all the splendid costumes limp and bedraggled. The villagers who were members of the Lifeboat crew ran over to the lifeboat station, pulling their masks off as they went. Jago dismissed the string quartet that had been about to come on the stage to play waltzes after the midnight countdown, then he took out his mobile to summon his driver.
Martin looked helplessly at Louisa.
"What, Martin?" she said. "I thought you were above these sorts of events and yet here you are, determined to ruin it for me anyway."
His pale blue-grey eyes opened wide. "I… I… just wanted to be sure you were all right, with the punch being adulterated and all. I was concerned about you."
"I don't know anything about the punch. Jago's on the wagon so I didn't have anything to drink tonight." She paused, still annoyed with him, wondering if he was going to say something caustic about Jago, but overall she was touched about his concern for her. She looked at him tenderly and was about to reply.
Then Batman burst out of the tent, pulling a protesting mermaid along with him. Louisa recognized them as Joe Penhale and Sandra Mylow.
"Doc, what's going on?" Penhale said.
Martin looked at Louisa. "I'm afraid I've got my hands full at the moment with a criminal matter and now there's a Lifeboat emergency." As he went over to Penhale the rain began to fall in earnest. Louisa spotted Jago's limo across the Platt, with the passenger door open and Jago gesturing for her to get in.
Once inside, Jago put a soft blanket around her shoulders as they drove away. The rain pattered against the moon roof, making Louisa feel cosy and safe in the luxury vehicle.
"Now I really feel like Cinderella, and I didn't even have to lose my shoe," she said. On an impulse, she leaned over and gave him a lingering kiss. He responded eagerly, without, she noted to herself, any reservations about her breath.
"We were interrupted at midnight, so I thought I would just get that out of the way," she said, sighing with contentment as she leaned back against the seat. "And I was so looking forward to dancing The Blue Danube Waltz with you." She looked out the window. "It's such a beautiful night, isn't it."
"Well, except that it's raining," he replied, smiling. "Not exactly a night of romantic moonlight. And the Lifeboat emergency rather put a damper on things too. Let's go for a ride on the moor anyway."
He directed his driver, then he flicked a switch and the partition slide into place giving them privacy. Subtle recessed lighting and soft piano music filled the back seat. Louisa snuggled into his shoulder as they enjoyed the ride together.
"It's really wonderful of you to do this for the village," she said, after a moment.
"Yeah, well, people seemed to have a good time. And it was worth it just to see Dennis Dodds kissing up to me after all these years," he said.
Louisa was surprised at his cynical tone. She sat upright and looked at him. "Did you talk to Dennis there? What was his costume?"
"He came as Henry VIII. I knew it was him all right. He was dressed as a king but he was fawning all over Prince Charming, saying he's been my biggest fan, he always knew I would make it big, blah, blah, blah. Him and all those tossers back in school used to talk shit about me and call my mum a drug addict and worse."
"So did you really organize the ball as a thank you to the village or did you do it show off how rich you are now?"
"What do you think?" Jago scowled and drummed his fingers against the armrest. "This village is full of nasty, small-minded busybodies, and they probably said things about you and your mum and dad back then too."
She was furious. "Who's being small-minded now? Portwenn has been good to me ever since I was a girl. I can't believe you let the gossipers get to you. Most people change and mature after they leave school but I guess you haven't done."
"You saw how they acted when they had some free drinks in them back there. The place practically turned into an orgy. So much for changing and maturing. It's a wonder they even made it to midnight. What a quirky bunch these villagers are. Never seen anything quite like it, even in LA."
Louisa had to admit things had gotten out of hand back in the marquis tent. "Well, Martin did say something about the punch being adulterated. Someone must have put some hard alcohol in there and people got a bit more, um, unsteady than they bargained on."
"More than a bit, downright pissed and legless I'd say. And that Martin fellow, he's quirkier than all of 'em put together. He seemed pretty intent on getting between you and me at the stroke of midnight."
"Don't tell me you're jealous of Martin!"
"Don't know what you see in Doctor Strange anyway." Jago was positively sulking by now.
The mood was spoilt. "Take me home," she said in a tight voice. Jago gave the driver the order. They barely spoke to one another on the ride back.
As the limo dropped her off at her cottage and she unlocked the front door, Louisa wondered how it was, on what had been such a magical night, she had managed to alienate herself from both the men in her life.
To be continued…
Note: "Pissed" and "legless" are British slang for drunk.