The first thing Susan noticed was the over-powering and choking smell of cigarette smoke. Her eyes were almost blinded by it as it hung like a fog throughout the club. She hastily put her hand up over her nose and mouth.
“Something wrong, Luv?” asked a rather scruffy looking young man who had sidled up to the table where she was sitting. He was wearing a leather jacket and pants and had a cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth.
She drew back and shook her head.
“Why no, I’m fine,” she responded. “Just a little smoky in here, that’s all.”
“Always smoky in here, Luv,” he said, moving his hand up to take a drag on the cigarette, then tilting his head back to blow it up into the air.
“Oh, that’s just fabulous,” she remarked. “I never considered that.”
“Eh?” her companion said.
“Nothing.”
“Not from here are you?”
“No. America, actually.”
“Thought so. Accent, you know.”
“Yeah, well…I can’t help that. You’re the one with the accent from my point of view.”
He smiled. “Cheeky one, ain’t you? Where did you come from, by the by? When I looked over here a minute ago, I swore Judy was sitting here, and now you are.”
Susan blinked at him. “Actually, I’ve been here for about a half hour. You must be mistaken.”
“Too much ale, perhaps,” he responded, running his eyes over her from head to toe. “Want to join me in an ale? On me, of course.”
“Um, no thanks. I probably won’t stay too much longer.” She thought fast. “The bus I took to get here was late, and I’m kind of tired after the airplane flight and all. Why don’t you go find Judy; she must be around here somewhere.”
“Right then; maybe I’ll see you later.” He winked at her and walked away.
Suddenly, she froze and squeezed her eyes shut. What had happened? Where was she? She was certainly on the cruise ship, probably in the piano bar, the usual hangout for her and Lynn. But, the smoke...“They don’t smoke this much in the piano bar on the cruise ship!” she thought. “And that scruffy looking guy with the accent doesn’t look like he belongs on a cruise ship.”
Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around the room.
Dingy. Smoky. Smelled like stale beer. The walls looked like they were made of brick or stone or a combination of both. They looked dank and dark, kind of like a dungeon. She didn’t see any windows at all in the room. There were tall tables with stools sitting up against the walls. She was at one of them. Smaller tables were scattered in-between. They were all full of people, mostly girls.
She looked down at her lap and then her chest and arms to see what she was wearing. Holy crap! It looked like something out of the fifties...something like June Cleaver would wear on the old t.v. show “Leave It to Beaver.” It was a light pink, cotton seersucker dress, with a defined, belted waist and a scoop neckline. It had short sleeves with small bows at the ends. On her feet were dainty little sandals in a color to match the dress. Oh my God! She wondered what her hair looked like or if she had make-up on with silly pink lipstick to match the dress or a headband or bows in her hair. It would have made her laugh if she hadn’t been so appalled.
She pulled her purse onto her lap and fished around for a compact or something that had a mirror in it. Impatiently, she pushed aside a pair of short, white gloves. Gloves!? What in the hell were gloves doing in her purse? When would she wear gloves here? Ah! There was a compact at the bottom of the purse. She took it out. Tentatively, she flipped it open and looked at herself. Thank goodness; no makeup or pink lipstick! She snapped it shut and tossed it back in the purse. She reached up and touched her hair. Thank goodness, no bows, headbands or hairspray. She wiggled her toes and looked down at them. Yes, they were her toes all right. She looked at her hands; yes, they were definitely her hands and thank God, no pink nail polish to match the dorky dress.
Then she felt a shudder go through her and looked toward the front of the room...
And there he was.
Live and in person.
Scruffy, with greasy hair and sweating under the lights.
In leather and a scruffy black t-shirt?
Really?
This was James!? Derek was singing.
“Life is treating me saaaaad...agony...
I’m the type of bloke, who always used to joke...
Now life is treating me saaaaad, agony...
She’s run away for sure; she even slammed the door...
It’s certainly a drag, agony...”
Her eyes became giant orbs on her face as her mouth formed into an “O.” James was so close! Only about fifteen feet away from her, standing between Ian and Derek.
As the song ended, James wasn’t looking her way, but Ian was. She saw him nudge James, who then turned his head to look in her direction, squinting his eyes in the bright lights above the stage area to get a better look through all the smoke.
“New girl in town to check out,” she thought, shivering and pressing her back into the wall behind her, thinking to make herself smaller...or maybe even invisible. The roughness of the bricks and stone pressed into the back of her dress. The wall felt cool and somewhat damp.
“Either that or I stand out like some kind of quirky oddball in this dress. Geez...”
Derek sat down on a stool in front of the microphone, guitar resting on his knees. He also had the greasy hair look and was wearing leather, as they all were. “One last song before a break,” he said. “This one’s called “I Love My Baby,” and he began singing.
“Well, I love my baby, all day long...
She’s sweet to me...
Oh, yes, she is...”
She was starting to feel a bit faint, thinking James might look over at her and their eyes might connect at any second when there was a tap on her shoulder.
“Whatcha drinkin’, dearie?” said a small girl with curly red hair and a dimple in her cheek. She was looking Susan up and down as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Susan squirmed on the bar stool. “Oh!” was all she could say. This must be a waitress.
“Need to have a drink if you’re sittin’ at a table, ya know,” she said.
“Um,” Susan replied. “What’s good to drink here? I haven’t been here before.”
“On holiday then? American?”
Susan nodded, feeling as if James and Ian were now looking at the oddly dressed “new bird,” their eyes boring into the back of her head.
“I’m Susan,” she said, extending her hand. “From California...the southern part...So if I need to have a drink, can you just bring me something like a glass of chardonnay?”
The redhead raised her eyebrows. “Shar...doe...what?” she asked.
“Oh, um...wine...You know, it’s a white wine.”
“We got port, and a stout and ale, small beer, and I think Frank might have some kind of wine in an old dusty bottle under the bar, but we don’t get much call for wine here, ya know.”
Susan stared at her dumbly.
“I’m Sandra, by the way,” said the redhead, feeling sorry for her. “You seem a little lost. Let me just get you a small beer, and if you don’t like it, I’ll see if that old bottle of wine is still under the bar...By the way, two of the guys in the band are giving you the look-over, if you haven’t noticed. I’ll be back in a flash.”
As Sandra sauntered off, she thought that this American girl sure was dressed funny. Add a pair of gloves and a hat, and she’d be ready to go to church. She stuck out like a sore thumb. No wonder the boys in the band and some of the other guys in the club were all gawking at her. She wondered if Susan noticed.
Susan turned her head back toward the stage area.
Ian and James were on their guitars, Ian playing a solo tune, with James on bass. They were both looking at Derek.
Derek was singing.
“Well, I love my baby, all night long,
She’s a sweet treat to me. Oh yeah, she is...
Well, she’s my honey because she knows I’m a needin’ man…
Day and night…night and day…
I’m a needin’ man…
Oh yeah, I am…”
James looked towards her as the song finished, but then girls on the other side of the room started yelling, “One more! One more!!”
James turned to look at them. Derek looked at Ian and said into the microphone. “Go, Ian...How about “Sigh in the Shadows?”
The girls yelled their approval, and Ian stepped up to the microphone, lowering it to guitar-level, and started to play the instrumental song. James moved over to Derek and said something to him. Derek looked in Susan’s direction then turned back to James and laughed as he said something back to him. Then he winked at James.
Susan was observing this with amused interest, wondering if Derek had been told to check out the new girl in the silly pink dress, when Sandra came back with a mug of beer that looked like it was all foam.
“There ya go, love. See whatcha think.”
Susan took a sip, wiping the foam from her upper lip. It was pretty much all foam.
“Not bad,” she lied. “Not bad at all. Hey, I don’t know you money system very well; can you figure out what I owe you from what I have here?”
She opened her purse and pulled a bill out of one of the inside pockets.
“Lor!” exclaimed Sandra. “That ‘ud be enough for six or seven beers!”
“Well, then, why don’t you bring me the dusty wine bottle, if it’s enough to cover it, and keep the change for yourself?”
“Sure, and that’s awful good of you, love...I’ll be back with the bottle in a bit...By the way,” she added, just as “Sigh in the Shadows” ended, “I think you’re gonna have some company.”
She gave a big grin and turned to walk away.
***
“Ciggy?” said a voice over her shoulder.
Susan froze, the color draining from her face. Hairs stood up on the back of her neck. She knew that voice as well as she knew her own. She’d heard it thousands of times over the past fifty years, talking and singing. She held her breath as she slowly swiveled around on the bar stool.
And there he was, just a couple of feet away, leaning towards her over the tall table, one hand extended with a cigarette in it. He also had one dangling from the side of his mouth that was lit.
His dark hair looked greasy, but it might have just been sweat. His face was certainly shiny with it. He had on a black leather jacket over a ratty-looking black t-shirt. He put the hand without the cigarette in it up to his forehead and brushed his hair away, a gesture that drew her eyes to his. They were brown with amber flecks in them, and they were smiling; his mouth also quirked in a grin.
“Cat got your tongue, Luv?” he asked.
Thanks to the smoky room and dim lighting away from the stage area, James didn’t see Susan’s face turn crimson as she stuttered, “No, of course not. You just startled me is all.”
“Oh my God!” she thought. “Those are the same words we said to each other in the Sleeping Beauty Castle, but…but that’s in the future still!” She shook her head to clear it.
“Your accent...are you American?” he asked.
“Yes, California...the southern part...”
“Here on holiday then?”
“You could say that.”
She was thinking, “What can I say? What story can I make up? Think quick, Susan, think quick!”
“I’m here to meet some friends. We’re...um...students...my Uncle back in the states is a history professor...we’re um...on a history tour. I’m staying at a hotel just down the street. I was out walking around and heard music coming from here. I thought I’d check it out.”
She was mumbling like an idiot, words tumbling out of her mouth at random. And, she was also starting to feel faint. Looking into his gorgeous eyes made her feel weak in the knees. She was glad she was sitting down.
“And where are the other students?”
“Well, they’re not here yet...they were, um, delayed...they should be here in a week...by next Friday...then we’re off to Bath and...and Devon before heading to London.”
Bath and Devon were the only other English cities she could think of on the spur of the moment, recalling the names from the English Regency romances she frequently read. How lame was that?!
“Ah, here for a week on your own then?”
“Yes, but I’m sure I’ll find plenty to do. I plan on buying a guidebook tomorrow.” Oh geez! What made her say something so stupid?
“A guidebook of Brighton?”
“And the surrounding area...yes.”
He started to laugh. “Not much to see around here,” he said. “Other than the Prince Regent’s palace, I wouldn’t say there’s enough to take up a whole week or even a whole guidebook.”
“But, I’m very resourceful!” she quipped, again wanting to kick herself for all the stupid words spouting out of her mouth.
“Are you?” he asked, his eyes filled with amusement. “Oh, yes!”
“So, you want the ciggy? I can light it for you.”
“No thanks; don’t you know that stuff can kill you?”
“Is that so? No, I haven’t heard that. The commercials on telly say smoking is good for you. They make it glamorous like.”
“Well, they’re wrong, you know. They’ll find out someday that it causes cancer. And it’s also habit-forming, and it makes your clothes and breath stink and...”
“Stop...stop...I’m thinking you don’t approve of my smoking.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You did in so many words. You said it makes me smell bad.”
She could see his lips quiver as if he was about to laugh out loud. It was hard for her to keep a straight face and she gave a sudden burst of laughter.
“Okay, okay...so I insinuated that it might make you smell bad...and well, have you ever kissed a person that’s been smoking? Gross! Ick! And, quite frankly this whole place smells bad because of all the smoke...it’s hard to breathe in here, and my eyes are burning.”
He dropped the unlit cigarette into the ashtray on the table and stubbed his own out.
“There, how’s that?” he asked. “Wouldn’t want to be kissing anybody with smoke breath.”
She blanched, regretting the comment about kissing. What was wrong with her? There was nothing but nonsense coming out of her mouth! She was so nervous that she started playing with the silver chain of her necklace, fingering the silver ballet shoes that hung on the end of it.
She swallowed. “Much better, thank you,” she replied, ignoring his comment about smoke breath.
He stared at her intently. From a distance, she’d stood out from the crowd because of her pink dress up against the dark wall of the club. Up close, however, she stood out even more, despite the dim lighting. The dress was totally out of place, of course, but he looked beyond that. She was slender and looked to have some very nice curves outlined by the form-fitting dress. Her skin was clear and flawless and tanned by the sun. Her long blonde hair fell down her back almost to her waist; some of it spilled over her shoulders and arms. Her eyes were green in color, under thick lashes and nicely arched eyebrows. Her comment about kissing had drawn his eyes to her lips. Hmmm...they looked very kissable.
“Hey, James! Time to get back up here and quit flirting with the new bird!” Derek yelled from the stage area.
“See you after the next set?” he asked, arching his eyebrows.
“I suppose so,” she replied, her heart pounding so loud in her chest she could almost hear it.
“And may I know your name?”
“Oh, um, sure...it’s Susan.”
“Would you like to know mine?”
She almost choked. “Of course I would.”
“It’s James.” He winked at her as he walked away, wondering if he’d be able to win a wager regarding her. Too soon to tell. He’d need to stop by and talk to her some more after the next set.
“What’s with guys winking here?” she wondered. She remembered the scruffy guy who tried to buy her an ale when she had first popped onto the bar stool a half hour earlier, then Derek winking at James after they’d looked over at her.
“Here’s the wine, Luv!” Sandra said as she set an empty drinking glass on the table with a dark colored bottle of wine. It was uncorked. “Go on and see whatcha think. Sorry, we’ve no wine glasses here.”
Susan poured a small amount from the bottle into the glass. It was a dark burgundy color.
“Red?” she remarked. “Hmmm...I usually only drink white, but I appreciate your getting this for me. Want the beer? It really isn’t my kind of stuff.”
“Can’t drink on the job, Luv, but thanks all the same...Hey, are you here on holiday with anyone?”
“No, like I just told James, the band guy, I’m waiting for some friends to arrive before we head off on a, um… history tour. I have a whole week to kill here. I’m planning on being my own tour guide.”
“Well, if you want someone to maybe show you around tomorrow, like some shops and stuff, I have tomorrow morning free. It’s Saturday, ya know. A lot of people come in from the countryside to shop, so there’s a lot open.”
“Hey, that’s so nice of you. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll take you up on it. You show me around, and I’ll treat you to lunch. You name the place, okay?”
“Yeah, that sounds fine. I need to go and get more drinks, but I’ll pop by later, and we can set up a time to meet...By the way, see those girls on the other side of the room? No! Don’t look right at them. Just listen to me...a little warning...they’re all mad as hell at your being here...one of them, Hilary...used to be James’s girlfriend at one time; at least she thought she was... has had her sights on him for weeks now since she lost some other band guy at another club. She’d planned on being back in James’s bed tonight, but he’s been paying attention to you instead of her.”
“Oh, my God! You must be kidding! Why would she see me as a threat? I didn’t ask him to come over to my table! And I most certainly have no intentions of being in his bed!”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re a real looker, all innocent looking and everything, and she’s pretty used-up in appearance if you know what I mean, plus one of her arms is shorter than the other, lost part of it in a roller skating accident. She’s probably envious.”
“Well, she has nothing to worry about. You can tell her if you want. And tell all of them I’m only going to be here for a week, so I’m no threat to her or any of them. Geez!”
Sandra nodded and hustled away as Frank yelled her name.
Ian stepped up to the microphone and said, “Ready for more?”
The girls on the other side of the room screamed “Yes!”
While their attention was on the stage, Susan took a quick glance at them, trying to figure out which one was Hilary but couldn’t see clearly through the thick haze that permeated the room.
“Hilary,” she thought. “And with one arm shorter than the other. Was this a coincidence or was there another one-armed whore in James’s life from an earlier time?”
She almost choked on her wine at the thought, recalling how James’s second marriage in the future had ended in disaster after a woman named Hilary had taken him to the cleaners in a bitter divorce. But, that was still far, far into the future.
“Maybe I should go over and introduce myself.”
The wine was making her brave, even though she hadn’t drunk very much of it yet.
“Potent stuff,” she thought. Or, maybe she was still a little tipsy from all the wine she and Lynn had drunk on the ship.
Not likely.
She was simply intoxicated at the mere thought of being here and having James talk to her. This was totally crazy. And, he said he was going to come back and talk to her some more after the next set! No wonder she felt half drunk.
Derek started to sing.
“We’ve known each other for a real long time...
I shared a lot of things with you...
But when you try and take away the girl that’s mine...
Well, that’s when we’re through...
Stay away from my baby now...
I ain’t gonna tell you again...
Yeah, I mean just what I say now…
Stay away from my baby doll now...”
“Holy crap!” she thought. “...Stay away from my baby now? Did that jealous chick over there request that song?!”
She glanced across the room again. All the girls’ attention was riveted on the stage, most of them with their eyes on Derek and Ian, but one very obviously staring at James.
“Must be her,” Susan thought, feeling a tiny twang of jealousy herself. “In his bed, huh...well, if she’s his choice, he must not be very damn picky. Looks like she just climbed out of some gutter.”
“God, I’m catty!” she scolded herself. And what was all this about being in someone’s bed? This was the early sixties. Wasn’t everybody all prim and proper in the sixties? She stole another look at the people in the club. Wow! The couple in the front corner looked like they were making out. What kind of place was this anyway?!
James looked in her direction and smiled. She smiled back and took a sip of wine, not glancing at Hilary to see if she noticed.
Derek continued singing, and Susan tapped her feet on the rungs of her barstool, enjoying the music.
They finished the song and immediately went into another.
“Ropes...My honey’s got me tied up in ropes...
And they’re not the type so easy to see...
Yeah, oh yeah, these ropes of love got a grip on me...
Yeah, they do...Ropes, tight ropes…
I just can’t seem to escape from these ropes...
Can’t find another girl... to cut me free...
Yeah, and oh, these tight ropes of love got such a grip on me, yeah, oh yeah...”
Susan poured herself another glass of wine and started to sing along, not noticing that James was looking