Clouds among the Stars. Victoria Clayton
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to Rupert. But perhaps this isn’t the right moment –’
‘I do love Woopert. Tho much! But he never taketh me theriouthly.’ Her eyes swum a bit more.
‘I’d probably better go – another time –’
‘Don’t be bashful, darling. Woopert’th over there, being nithe to evwybody.’ She pointed to the corner of the room. ‘Exthept me.’ She hiccuped sadly and turned away.
A fair young man of epicene beauty who wore a dinner jacket and tiger-skin shorts, winked at me and blew me a kiss. An equally gynandrous figure with long red hair and a stubbly chin offered me the cigarette he or she was smoking. I did not like to refuse, though the butt was uninvitingly soggy. I was careful not to inhale.
Peering between the heads of the crowd gathered around him, I had a chance to observe Rupert. He was dressed in a striped blazer with a bow tie and his black hair was slicked back from his forehead with glistening pomade. His face was covered with white makeup. His eyebrows were upside-down Vs, pencilled starkly in black, and his lips were cherry red. He was recounting a story that was drowned by explosions of laughter from his audience. His was an interesting face, expressive, mocking, almost wicked. I wondered which of us had changed most during the intervening years. It ought to have been me, since I had grown from a child to a young woman. Trying to get a better view of Rupert, the man next to me trod hard on my foot without noticing. As soon as I could I limped away to the other end of the room where it was less crowded.
A pair of French windows revealed a garden of wavering beauty. I cupped my hands round my face and pressed my nose to the glass to see it better. Lanterns in jewel colours were strung from dark masses of trees. A helmeted statue, perhaps Hermes, stood on one leg in the centre of a long rectangular pond. As my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness I saw stone fish – dolphins, probably – on each corner, spewing water.
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