Learning to Dance Again (31 page)

Julia fell
asleep on the sofa and only woke up when Tony came downstairs and turned on the light.

‘Oh sorry. I thought you were in your bedroom,’ he said, as Julia sat up and looked at him in surprise.

‘I didn’t feel sleepy at the time.’ She laughed and looked at her watch. ‘Oh dear; I had better go up and get ready.’

‘You do that. I’ll make us something to eat before we go. Pasta?’

‘Perfect!’ Julia hurried upstairs to her bedroom wondering what she could wear that would take her from watching the torchlight procession, the galley burning and fireworks, to the town hall for a night of dancing. She wanted to put on jeans, boots and a cosy sweater, but that wouldn’t do for dancing. She shivered as she got undressed. It may have been a sunny day but it was now dark and freezing cold outside.

She settled for a pair of
smart black trousers, a silver sequinned floaty top, and silver strappy sandals which she would put in her handbag and change into when they got to the Town Hall. For the procession she would wear her walking boots and parka.

The taxi dropped them off as close to the centre as possible. Many of the roads were now closed and the streetlights had been turned off in readiness. Thousands of people lined the route, and they jostled along the pavement in the moonlight. Julia took Tony’s arm and led him to her favourite viewing spot. She knew she would find Marianne there too.

‘Hello,’ she said,
finally spotting Marianne in the crowd, ‘where are the girls?’

‘Off with some boys,’ Marianne said,
shaking her head in despair, and then kissing Julia on the cheek. ‘You must be Tony,’ she added, turning to shake hands.

‘Lovely to meet you,’ he said, ‘what a great time to come and visit Shetland.’

‘It is indeed. Julia’s got us all reading your books now. I’m really enjoying them, although some of them are a little scary. I even locked my front door the other day, and I never usually think about doing that.’

‘Sorry!’ Tony said, grinning at her.

They chatted for a while, talking about Shetland, Sicily and Tony’s novels until they were startled by the loud boom of the maroon sounding out, accompanied by a red flare that rocketed up into the night sky above the Town Hall.

The crowd hushed for a moment, turning to look towards the Town Hall where the Up Helly Aa flag fluttered
in the light of the paraffin torches. The ghostly shadow of the Jarl’s winged helmet could be seen against the building as he took his place on board the galley that would soon be dragged through the streets.

Tony got
his camera ready, grinning like a child on Christmas Eve.

He was still grinning an hour later, when it was all over. The last firework had fizzled out and the crowds were starting to disperse. T
he galley ship was still alight but the Vikings and the other squads of guizers were leaving to get ready for the next phase of the night.

‘Wow. That’s all I have to say to that; wow!’

Julia and Marianne laughed.

‘But I don’t understand
why the Pope was there, or why some of the men were dressed up as women, or the cast of Star Trek for that matter. I expected them all to be dressed as Vikings.’

‘
Ah yes, it’s a bit strange for outsiders to comprehend. I’ll let Julia explain that to you. I need to get back to the hall to get ready for the party. I’ll see you two later,’ Marianne said.

Marianne left them watching the remains of the fire and Julia took advantage of the r
elative quiet to explain the history of Up Helly Aa and some of the more bizarre traditions which had precious little to do with the remnants of Viking culture after all.

‘So in reality
this is just one big excuse to dress up, drink all night and go crazy once a year?’

‘Pretty much. It’s kind of like celebrating that the worst of the winter is ov
er. The days are getting noticeably longer now.’

‘Well, I loved it, even if there is only a tenuous link to authentic culture.’

Julia nodded and smiled.

‘
I love it too. I wish my boys had been able to come back for it. But they’re both working today and couldn’t get away. So I’m glad you came for a visit.’

‘I shall come back again one day. I love it here. I can see why you wouldn’t think about leaving Shetland. Even in
the bitter cold of winter, it’s still delightful.’

Julia took hi
s arm and they headed up the hill towards the Town Hall. The streets were almost deserted again, as people had left to get ready for the next stage of the Up Helly Aa celebrations.

They were too early for the party, but Julia persuaded the
doorman to let them in, promising that they would go and do something useful in the kitchen while they waited. Julia found Marianne in the kitchen wearing her long white pinny, buttering bread for sandwiches.

‘Ah great, more helpers,’ she said.

Julia put down her rucksack that contained bottles of wine and whisky. There was no bar, so guests had to bring their own drinks, but there would be plenty of food available to keep everyone going all night.

Julia went over to the large
cauldrons of soup that were simmering on the hob. She stirred them, as she introduced Tony to the other hostesses, who seemed star struck and quiet in the presence of a celebrity. However, Tony soon put them at ease, making them laugh with his interpretation of Up Helly Aa.

Marianne sidled up to Julia.

‘He’s quite a catch; aren’t you tempted?’

‘Don’t be daft; we’re just friends.’

‘Well he seems like a very nice friend to have.’

‘He is, isn’t he.’

They
left the kitchen to go upstairs to the hall just before the doors were opened to the rest of the guests. Julia grabbed two seats in the centre and while Tony guarded them Julia took the drinks bag out to one of the ante-rooms and handed it over to a steward in return for a cloakroom ticket. She returned to her chair carrying two glasses of wine and handed one to Tony.

The room filled up quickly and there was a rush for the best seats close to the dance floor
. The band had taken their places on the stage and were tuning up. Tony was quiet as he watched the scene. Julia could see he was taking it all in, probably storing it all away for future use in a book; the laughter and the snippets of conversation in dialect or English. A party of young people occupied the seats immediately behind Julia and Tony. They spoke with a variety of accents, mostly Australian or New Zealand. Two young women were speaking in Italian and Tony turned round instantly and introduced himself.

Julia
watched with amusement as he turned on the charm with the young women who were surprised to meet someone who spoke their language.

‘They’re all on a coach trip – haggis tours, or something like that. Sounds like a blast. They visited a whisky distillery in Orkney yesterday. They have Up Helly Aa t
oday and then on Thursday they’re flying over to Edinburgh to tour the castle and go drinking in the city,’ Tony explained to Julia when he turned back to speak to her.

‘Sounds exhausting!’

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the first squad. They watched in bemusement when the cast of Star Trek marched into the room and did battle with an evil alien, which turned out to be the Chief Executive of the council.

Tony laughed along with the audience, but seemed mystified all the same.

‘What was that about?’

Julia shook her head, smiling with amusement at him.

‘The council always comes in for a lot of ribbing at these occasions. I can only guess that someone saw the latest Star Trek film and took their inspiration from that.’

The band started to play and the cast of Star Trek, who on closer inspe
ction looked a little less glamorous than the Hollywood originals, circulated around the room looking for dance partners. Lieutenant Uhura, in real life a butcher with a bit of a paunch, approached Julia and asked her to dance.

Julia grinned at Tony and then stood up to dance with the man.

‘I’ve never danced with a man who had bigger boobs than me.’ Julia said, tapping the man’s plastic décolleté.

‘I’m not sure I should wear such a short skirt with my legs,’ he replied
in a camp voice, ‘but I do like the wig.’

Julia danced a Boston Two-Step with the man and then made her excuses after the dance and returned to Tony.

‘That’s made my day already,’ he said, as Julia sat down beside him, ‘a short fat white man, dressed up as a black woman in a Star Trek uniform. Madness!’

Julia managed to avoid being asked to dance again and instead talked Tony through the etiquette of Up Helly Aa and the dancing. He said
he would watch a few more dances before he gave it a try.

They
watched a few more squads come and go. They watched a sketch about the Pope’s resignation, with a comedy Prince Charles trying to persuade his mother to abdicate too, only for him to die of old age, immediately after.  One act produced some fine juggling skills, the humour provided by the fact that the men were dressed as old women.

‘You’ll have noticed that dressing up as women is a bit of a recurring theme,’ Julia said, ‘which is why today is sometimes referred to as Transvestite Tuesday.’

Tony nodded and then turned round to the two Italian girls and translated that for them. They both roared with laughter. Julia turned and smiled at them. They had only just sat down after being dragged around the dance floor by two young men who were dressed as women. The women looked flushed and happy and Julia was delighted they were enjoying themselves. She turned and looked at an older couple of tourists who sat watching in stone faced silence, clearly bemused by the whole event, but possibly not really enjoying it.

Julia noticed one of the ushers open
the door to the hall and glance out. He shut the door again and motioned to the band leader. The Jarl Squad had arrived. When the dance finished, the music stopped and the floor cleared. There was a ripple of excitement around the room, even from the tourists who weren’t really sure what was happening, but had gleaned that something special was imminent.

The doors opened aga
in and this time the Jarl strode triumphantly into the hall, followed by the rest of the squad. The audience all rose to their feet and clapped, as if Royalty had just arrived.

Julia pursed her
lips together as she watched the Jarl Squad do their customary march around the room as they sang their anthem. She scanned the faces looking for Cameron, but in truth, what she really wanted to see was her husband. She brushed aside the rising panic that accompanied her feelings of grief and concentrated on finding a friendly face. She was rewarded a moment later by the wide grin on Cameron’s face as he marched past.

‘Is that the man?’ Tony said, nudging her.

‘Yes.’

‘He has the look of a protagonist.’

‘A what?’ Julia replied, turning to look at Tony.

‘The main character of a novel; the hero.’

Julia laughed and pushed him gently.

‘
Don’t be silly.’

When the singing and grandstanding by the Jarl Squad had finished, the Vikings began to mingle with the crowd. Julia watched as Cameron was ambushed by a group of tourists who wanted his photograph. He gamely posed with the young women, and then he made his way through the crowd to Julia. She hugged him before introducing him to Tony, who in turn introduced Cameron to the two Italian women who had pushed forward in order to get a closer look at his amazing outfit.

Julia smiled at Cameron as he passed his axe and shield to the women who exclaimed excitedly over it, and
giggled as they posed for photos with the weapons. Julia noticed that Tony had sat down and looked a little tired; either that or he wanted to give Julia some space with Cameron.

The music started up for the
St Bernard’s Waltz and Cameron took off his helmet and set it down next to Tony, then took Julia’s hand for a dance. As they headed for the centre of the dance floor Julia noticed that one of the Italian women had asked Tony to dance. He smiled and stood up hesitantly; as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to try out his Scottish dancing skills with someone who probably didn’t know the steps either.

Julia soon forgot about Tony as she was whisked into the arms of Cameron who expertly steered her around the crowded dance floor.

‘Did you know that you’re the first woman I ever danced with?’

‘Tonight?’

‘No, I meant ever.’

‘Really?’ Julia caught her breath as they whirled around at the edge of the floor,
conscious of Cameron’s hand firmly on her back, holding her close.

‘Don’t you remember those awful dancing classes at school, where we were forced to dance with each ot
her? We would have been about thirteen. I was the one with the hideous acne.’

Julia laughed. ‘Oh God, I remember now. All the boys tried to get out of the classes, using any excuse possible.’