‘Please write your table number clearly on the top of each answer sheet, and hand them to the lovely Mary Reynolds at the end of each round.’ Mary gave a little wave to the crowd. ‘The best of luck to everyone,’ said Joe. ‘We’ll be starting shortly.’
Nick shuffled about in his seat, and for a split second his leg touched mine. It’s amazing how electrifying a touch can be when it comes from someone you really like.
Nick saw that Colin was holding a pen and had resumed his doodling, so he placed the bundle of paper in front of him.
‘You can write the answers,’ he said. ‘We’re table four.’
I watched as Colin began to print the number four clearly at the top of each sheet.
‘Right, round one,’ Joe’s voice hushed the crowd. We huddled together like a guerrilla group preparing to go into battle, each of us displaying that fiercely competitive streak that surfaces in even the most placid of people during the marvel that is the table quiz.
‘Question one.’
We leaned in closer together.
‘Who is the Roman goddess of love?’
During these huddles my head was dangerously close to Nick’s. I noticed how long his eyelashes were.
‘A haematologist specializes in the study of what?’
And how a freckle touched the centre of his top lip.
‘If you have myopia, what would you suffer from?’
And how there was hard skin on his fingertips from playing guitar.
‘Jacki… Jacki!’ Colin whispered loudly as he tugged at my arm.
‘Oh, sorry.’ I’d been entirely absorbed in my own thoughts and hadn’t heard the question.
‘Do you know what it is? Which spirit is used in a bloody Mary?’
I realized that I would have to stop thinking about how close I was to Nick and focus on Joe’s questions. After all, I did want to get at least a few questions right, or Nick would think I had no general knowledge.
‘It’s vodka,’ I whispered to Colin.
At the interval tea and biscuits were served. We seemed to have done moderately well in the first half, though not as well as I’d hoped. The questions were far more difficult than I’d anticipated. And of course I was distracted. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes off Nick for more than a few seconds.
‘I’m going to get tea. Does anyone want anything?’ I asked.
Nick shook his head.
‘I’ll have a cup of coffee,’ said Colin. ‘A caramel frappuccino if they have it,’ he added with a smile.
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ I said with a laugh.
The refreshment table was at the back of the hall, so I started to battle my way through the crowd.
‘Is Lily coming tonight?’ an old lady in front of me asked her grey-haired companion as they approached the table. They were walking slowly and the two kids behind me were pushing so much I came uncomfortably close to the old ladies’ perms. The smell of hairspray filled my nostrils.
‘No, she didn’t feel up to it. She misses Jim terrible, God rest him.’
‘He died very sudden, didn’t he, Molly?’
‘Oh yes, very sudden. It was quite a shock to us all… Can’t be easy for her, what with Beth’s birthday coming up and everything. Two teas, please, Angela.’
Beth. There was that name again.
‘What would you like, love?’ said the lady behind the table as I approached.
‘A tea and a coffee, please,’ I said.
She poured them into two paper cups.
‘How much is that?’
‘Nothing. It’s free,’ she said.
Pleasantly surprised, I thought I ought to take a few biscuits too.
I fought my way back through the crowd and arrived with the cups and a fistful of biscuits. Nick was gone, presumably to the bathroom. As I approached our table, Colin, not noticing me coming, pushed his seat back to stand up. It was one of those situations that I could see happening in slow motion, but I was powerless to stop it. I managed to save the tea but the coffee splashed on to my top, turning the white to a muddy brown.
‘Argh!’ I blurted as the warm liquid seeped down my front.
‘I’m so sorry!’ said Colin, jumping up. ‘Are you OK? Are you burnt?’
‘No, it’s fine. Thankfully it’s not too hot.’ I put the tea down on the table. ‘I think I’ll have to go home and change though. It’s soaking.’
‘But the second half is about to start,’ said Colin, clearly upset. ‘Here, you can wear my shirt. No one will even notice.’
Colin pulled off the check shirt he was wearing over the white T-shirt and gave it to me.
‘Oh… OK, thanks.’ Colin was being so nice… I didn’t want him to feel bad about what happened so I took him up on the shirt offer.
I followed the signs for the toilets and arrived at the single cubicle. I joined the queue of five ladies waiting by the lime-green door. In front of me stood a woman and a young girl, probably aged four, with her light blonde hair sectioned into two neat plaits. She was singing quietly to herself while her mother chatted to the woman in front.
‘Miss Jane had a bag
And a mouse was in it.
She opened the bag;
He was out in a minute.
The cat saw him jump
And run under the table
And the dog said -’
‘And, Lisa, how are you?’
The little girl looked up at the woman who was talking to her mother, and now to her.
‘Fine,’ she said sheepishly, and retreated behind her mother’s leg.
‘Ah, someone’s shy!’ said the woman. The girl resumed singing softly.
‘Miss Jane had a bag
And a mouse was in it…’
I was back in time for the second half, wearing the oversized shirt, and clutching my soaking wet top. So much for the perfectly planned outfit. I sat back down beside Nick.
‘I heard Colin didn’t like his frappuccino?’ he whispered.
I laughed but there was no time to respond as Joe tapped the microphone and the hall fell silent.
‘Round six, everyone, pencils ready.’
We huddled closer.
‘What famous song did the Hill Sisters write?’
The three of us looked baffled. Nick squinted his left eye when he was thinking.
‘Arsonphobia is a fear of what?’
And bit the nail on his right thumb.
‘A currier works with which material?’
And he smiled a little whenever he knew the answer.
The atmosphere in the hall was gradually tensing as the teams tried to make up for their mistakes in the first half. We picked up between us in the showbiz round and Nick knew all the answers in the sports round.
‘The final round is a bonus round, double points will be awarded for each question,’ said Joe. ‘Question one: in what year did work cease in the Avarna mines?’
Nick struggled to remember, his head now resting in his hand.
‘How many sheep are currently grazing in Maurice Kelly’s field?’
Colin rolled his eyes.
‘How many times has Avarna won the Tidiest Village title?’
Nick sighed.
‘What is the colour of the doormat in Mary Reynolds’s shop?’
‘Green,’ said Nick and I in unison.
‘Think we’re in with a chance?’ said Nick when Mary had collected the last of the answer sheets.
‘Doubt it,’ said Colin. ‘That Avarna round let us down. No one ever beats Father McCauley and the Eucharistic Ministers anyway.’ He pointed to a table on the other side of the hall where Avarna’s parish priest was looking particularly confident.
‘Sorry again. About the coffee,’ said Colin.
‘It’s OK, don’t worry about it.’ Secretly I hoped I’d be able to get the stain out. It was one of my favourite tops. I rolled up the shirt’s sleeves, trying to make it look a bit girlier.