Nathan laughed, happy to see a friendly face.
“You look very colourful tonight, dressed in your finest. What’s the occasion?”
“Does there have to be one? I had a tiring day in the shop.” Although Nathan wouldn’t dare tell her, Doris did look fatigued. “I felt like cheering myself up, so I threw on this old thing.”
“You look fantastic, Doris.”
The comment appeared to brighten her spirits.
“Thank you, dear. And how are you?”
“After the messy calendar launch that you were lucky enough to miss, do you mean?”
“Didn’t sound like a shambles to me. According to Arby, we’re already expecting over two thousand at the fête. More probably, now the television station wants to make a documentary.”
One of the upturns of the night, now dubbed by the press as ‘The Shocking Fête of Clifton O’Keefe’, was that Channel P4 had been in touch with Arlene about making a documentary about the Crumbington Fête, including the local football team, the making of the calendar and the residents. They had also discussed being present on the day to produce a fly-on-the-wall type of documentary.
“Anyway, never mind about all that noise,” said Doris. “I was asking howyouare these days?”
Doris had a strange way of observing him when she asked the question, her gaze travelling around his head as though someone stood behind him.
“Me? Oh, mustn’t complain.”
“No. Something’s changed. And not just how you’re wearing the ring. There’s a purity to your aura tonight, like a ship that has weathered a terrible storm and come out beaten but intact, sailing on a flat, open sea in the morning sunshine. With all the crew that much stronger and wiser because they’ve faced the worst the sea can dish out and know that things can only get better.”
“Heavens. You can see all that? Should I change my name to Hornblower?”
“I came by the shop yesterday, but you were busy with another customer, so Halina served me. She’s such a dear, sweet thing, isn’t she? Always chirpy and good-natured. You’ve always managed to attract such lovely people to work alongside you. Ooh, who’s this?”
Nathan turned to where Doris was staring and noticed someone standing just inside the door, looking a little bemused.
“Gupta Mahtani,” said Nathan, getting up from this seat. “Better go and get him. I invited him tonight. I thought he could explain the public liability insurance to everyone rather than leaving me to—”
“No need to explain, Nathan, dear,” said Doris, with a knowing smile and a wink. “I trust you to do whatever you think is best.”
As with all the meetings, Father Mulligan turned up next, followed by a rather stern Arlene and finally, Mikey and Polly. For a change, they were both quiet, taking their seats without comment and waiting for Arlene to call the meeting to order.
After dishing out agendas and pulling her phone from her handbag, Arlene began with a fleeting reference to the unqualified success of the calendar launch, however contentious. Deftly, she avoided any mention of the incident that had filled the newspapers the next day and relayed more positive news about television crews attending the fête and, of course, the documentary. Even then, she covered those briefly, moving on to the many critical items regarding logistics, including roles, responsibilities and timings on the day of the fête. Everyone listened carefully, adding their clarifications where necessary.
Polly took over, updating them about how the stalls were shaping up, including excellent news about the dunking stall. Apparently, the Headmaster had agreed to take a stint in the chair. Before he could back down, Polly had cajoled the Deputy Head into announcing the pledge during a school assembly attended by both kids and their parents. Even so, Polly was still disappointed that there weren’t more ‘less popular’ people in the seat, but she had done as much as she could.
After everyone had reported on progress, Nathan introduced Gupta, who, he explained, had been invited to give a quick five-minute update on the event insurance. Gupta, who had handled this aspect of the fête behind the scenes in the past, explained in unnecessary depth how public liability insurance was required to cover any unforeseen circumstances that might cause an individual to consider suing the organiser.
Twenty minutes later, Nathan smiled when he noticed Doris had dropped off. In truth, he felt like doing the same and cursed the fact that someone had fixed the clock. From now on, he would know exactly how much time a person had overrun. When Gupta stopped to dig out the policy document, Arlene intervened.
“Thank you so much for that, Mr Mahtani. Very insightful and reassuring to know you have everything in hand. Well, as anticipated, this final meeting has gone on far longer than planned, so I think we should wind things up. I know we’ve all got plenty to do before the big day.”
“Unless anyone has any other business,” added Father Mulligan.
“Yes, of course,” said Arlene, talking to the floor as she packed her phone away in her bag.
“I have something,” said Polly, “if it’s okay with everyone. I just thought it might be useful to get an update on committee finances. Where we stand financially. Can you provide an update, Father Mulligan?”
“My pleasure,” said Father Mulligan. “Naturally, we won’t know the final tally until a few days after the event. But with the plot rental, local sponsors and calendar sales, we already have positive income. Just over two thousand pounds after expenses.”
“That’s excellent,” said Arlene, grinning broadly.
“Just to be clear, Father Mulligan,” said Polly, nodding and smiling with Arlene. “What is the exact income and expenditure to date? I’m just trying to get an idea of how much effort is needed on the day.”
