Feel the Fear. Lauren Child
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applause. A tight smile from Betsy Blume.
‘Sadly, Margo Bardem can’t be here tonight. . .’
A groan from the audience.
‘. . .but she will of course be joining us for the film festival finale on Friday 15th!’
Applause.
‘Thank you, thank you,’ said Ray, trying to be heard above the clapping. ‘This, folks, will be a very special occasion, because on that night at this very theatre will be the world premiere of Feel the Fear, a movie that also features the Scarlet Pagoda in some scenes. A movie shot in 1954 but for some reason never shown, so you lucky people will have the chance to be its first audience!’
Wild applause now.
‘Jeepers,’ whispered Elliot, ‘I wish this guy would move it along a little.’
‘Talking of this wonderful actress, one of the highlights of this particular evening will be the fabulous costumes worn by Ms Bardem in the thrillers: The Truth Will Out, The Last Wish, Catch Your Death and of course The Cat that Got the Canary.
Yes, tonight you will all be fortunate enough to see those awe-inspiring outfits worn by Ms Bardem that made those particular pictures such a movie sensation. . .’ He paused for suspense.
‘The feather dress. . .’ Applause.
‘The white fur trim gown. . .’ Applause.
‘And yes, those legendary US size 3s, the Little Yellow Shoes.’ Applause.
‘The list goes on,’ said Ray, who was going on a little too much as far as Ruby was concerned.
‘You will also be dazzled by costumes from films such as Fingers from Outer Space, It’s Behind You and The Claw at the Window.
There was a loud whistling – there were obviously a lot of The Claw at the Window appreciators in the audience.
‘And folks, let’s not forget the other of this evening’s highlights – the raffle!’
More frenzy, Ruby suspected most of it generated by her own mother.
After a bit more build-up, the show finally began. Music started up, Ray Conner thankfully slipped stage right, and a succession of models started strutting across the stage in a variety of outfits, each one more outlandish than the last. Ruby was engrossed – her favourite movies were coming to life.
Red too leaned forward in her seat. ‘Isn’t that the dress from Two’s Company, Three’s a Shroud?’
‘I believe so,’ said Ruby.
‘It looks like it’s made from actual cobwebs and look at that. . .’ As Red stretched her arm out to point towards another costume classic, she knocked her drink right into her lap.
‘Oh cripes, not again!’ said Red, violently wiping at her dress.
‘If that’s a blue slushy Red, you better go pour water on it,’ said Elliot. ‘That stuff stains, man – talk about radioactive.’
Red had an accident of this nature most hours of the week, and she was well practised at dashing to restrooms or water fountains.
While Red made her way to the bathroom to deal with the slushy, Ruby and Elliot continued to enjoy the show – there was so much more to the outfits than one ever saw when just viewing on a screen. It was fair to say, some of the costumes were a whole lot better than the movies they had appeared in.
Fifteen minutes later, Ruby looked up to see Red making her way back to her seat. By the looks on people’s faces she was stepping on an awful lot of toes. As she got closer, Ruby saw that the blood seemed to have drained from her face, which gave her a strange almost ghostly appearance.
‘What’s up with you?’ Ruby asked, as Red finally sat down beside her. ‘You look like you just ran into the Scorpion Spectre.’
‘Yeah, well maybe I did – I got lost and ended up backstage, and there is something weird back there. It may not be the scorpion but it sure to goodness put the wind up me.’
‘Seriously?’ said Elliot.
‘I tell you, I think this place is haunted, just like they say,’ said Red.
Ruby gave her the once-over. ‘Look, maybe you should ease up on the slushies Red – you know they put a lot of chemicals in those things. I think some of them mighta gone to your head.’
‘I’m not kidding around you guys. I know I tend to walk into a lot of things but this time I swear I tripped over something that wasn’t there – I mean there was something there, nothing I could see, but there was something – I mean, I couldn’t have tripped over nothing, right? And I swear I heard footsteps.’
‘Red, you are always tripping over nothing,’ said Ruby.
Red stared back at them both. ‘Well this time I didn’t,’ she said firmly. ‘This time it wasn’t down to me.’
And the weirdest thing was. . . Ruby believed her.
IT WAS SHORTLY AFTER THE INTERVAL, just ten minutes into the second half of the show, that something seemed to go wrong.
The organiser came onto the catwalk to apologise for the hitch in proceedings, blaming it on a technical problem.
Then Ray the host came back on and made some so-so jokes suggesting it might be something to do with the Claw at the Window or the Ecto Grabber and everyone laughed good-naturedly.
The organiser returned to announce that unfortunately one of the star pieces had been mislaid but the show would go on.
Ruby and Red looked at each other.
‘Told you,’ said Red. ‘Something is back there.’
‘I’ll go check it out,’ said Ruby nonchalantly. By now her curiosity had really got a grip, and even if it meant coming face to pincers with the Scorpion Spectre she needed to know just what was going down. Happily, she didn’t believe in scorpion spectres so there wasn’t a whole lot to fear, besides, she had come through a forest fire almost unscathed, she had survived two encounters with the evil Count von Viscount, she had escaped the clutches of a sea monster. She was beginning to think she might be invincible.
Ruby slipped out of her seat and made her way backstage. She did it with such confidence that no one accosted her, at least not until she reached the area where the show director was issuing orders.
‘You can’t come back here!’ said an intimidating-looking woman in an asymmetric dress and asymmetric haircut.
‘I’m just. . .’
‘Scram,’ said the woman, slamming the door an inch in front of Ruby’s nose.
‘Darn it,’ hissed Ruby. As she turned to leave, she spotted a whole stack of fish heads, giant ones. The fish heads were made from papier-mâché. Ruby recognised them; she knew the movie they came from, she had watched it over and over again squished in next to Mrs Digby on her settee. She had been just three when she first saw The Sea of Fish Devils.
Ruby picked up one of the heads and examined it. Worth a try, I guess. She pulled it down over her head so her face was totally hidden – she could see out all right but no one could see in. It was uncomfortable but it was bearable. She checked the rack of costumes and found what she was looking for. Pulling it from its hanger she wriggled into one of the fish tails. There was no telling who she actually was now. She was just a short Fish Devil. She opened the door and this time the woman ushered her in.
‘About time!