The Wandering Minstrels were crowded around the stage. There was a feeling of confusion in the air as Connor and Laigh stood solemnly in the centre of the stage. They looked nervously at one another and then looked into the crowd. Neither of them knew how to break the news, it was the most difficult thing they’d had to do.
A voice called out “Well, come on, we haven’t got all day y’know!” followed by
“Yeah, some of us have better things to do with our time than stand around here!”
Connor took a deep breath and said loudly “OK, can I have everybody’s attention?” Most of the tribe quieted down, but some were still chatting away earnestly. “I said, everyone?” he shouted. Silence reigned. “That’s better” he said a little quieter “Now, you’re all obviously wondering why I’ve gathered you all here..” More talking. “Hello? Thank you. I have some very upsetting news that will affect all of us in one way or another.” He stopped and looked and Laigh, who gave him a look that clearly urged him on. “Right, I don’t know how to put this,” he continued. “So I’ll hand you over to Laigh.”
Laigh glared at him angrily for putting her on the spot. She sighed and took a little step forward. “Earlier today, you probably saw some of us run after Tammy,” she began slowly. “Well we finally caught her up, where we found Anton in the river.”
“So what? He was having a swim? Wow, shocking!” Cecily called out, not realising how wrong she was.
“I’m sorry to say, Cecily, but Anton couldn’t swim,” she sighed mournfully, a tear rolling down her cheek. The group then realised what Laigh was trying to tell them.
“No, Laigh are you saying...” Rochelle cried out.
“He’s dead, isn’t he? Anton’s dead,” Liam said with disbelief.
Laigh couldn’t continue, her words were stuck in her throat and tears were now streaming down her face, she just nodded and the uproar began. Wailing and sobbing over came the silence. Even cold-hearted Cecily couldn’t hold back the tears.
Connor finally found his voice. “He will be greatly missed by everyone, especially Tammy.” were the first words out of his mouth.
Meg looked tearfully at the leaders, “Where is she? Where’s Tammy?” she asked worriedly.
“She’s in her room with Sandy,” Connor told her.
She rushed off to be with them. Rochelle was about to follow when Dove put her hand on her shoulder. “Don’t, I think it would be best if we didn’t overcrowd her” she said gently.
Rochelle understood and then asked Connor, “Where have you buried him? I would like to say goodbye, if that’s OK.”
“He’s near the river, you’ll find his grave easily,” Connor notified her and with that she left.
Laigh cleared her throat. “We want everyone to come up with some ideas for a memorial show, this means not only performance but things to say about him as well,” she managed to croak.
“Yes and we would appreciate any suggestions for a suitable memorial for him” Connor added. The tribe separated, going their separate ways to mourn the loss of their dear friend.
Laigh was laying on her bed, exhausted from all of the crying she’d done. She felt a little numb, Anton had been a good friend. She thought of all the times they’d all sat around having a laugh, she also thought of the day Taylor had gone missing. Taylor, she thought to herself, I wonder if Rochelle’s managed to tell him yet, he really loved Anton, he was like a big brother to him. She got up and decided to find Rochelle. As she opened the door of her room she saw Dove and Connor holding each other. Connor looked shattered from everything.
“Con?” she said.
He looked at her, and smiled weakly. “Yeah?” he asked exhaustedly.
“You should go and lie down, you look terrible,” she said sympathetically.
“I can’t, too much to do,” he sighed.
“No there isn’t! There’s nothing else you can do!” she said with a tone of exasperation. “Dove, take him to his room, now! That’s an order!” she demanded. “But before, have you seen Rochelle?”
“She came back, but then left again with Taylor,” Dove told her.
Laigh smiled gratefully and Dove took Connor to his room. Laigh knew where she would find them.
Rochelle was crouched down next to Taylor, who was crying. Laigh crept up and whispered to Rochelle “You told him then.”
“Yeah, poor thing,” she sighed. “He didn’t understand at first, so I decided to bring him here to see the grave.”
Taylor looked up at Laigh. “Aunty Leia? Why did Anton go?” he asked woefully.
“I don’t know sweetie,” she sighed and hugged him. “I really wish I did, but I don’t.”
“Who’s going to give me dancing lessons?” he asked.
“I will, I promise,” she wept, seeing Taylor so upset was distressing her.
“It won’t be the same as Anton teaching me,” he moaned.
“I know,” she said softly. “I know.”
Rochelle stood watching them, trying to choke back her own tears, but it was too much seeing her little brother so confused. She threw her arms around both of them, and they all cried together.
Much later, Laigh looked at her candle on the bedside table. It danced and flickered as she sighed miserably. There was then a tap on her door. She sat up sharply and called out gently “Who is it?”
“It’s me, Tammy,” she whispered hoarsely. Laigh got up and let her in. She sat down on Laigh’s bed and looked up at her, there were dark rings around her swollen red eyes and she looked like she hadn’t slept a wink for about a week, even though Anton had only been gone for a few hours. “I needed to talk to someone,” she sighed. “I knew you’d listen to me, I think I’ve worn Sandy’s ears out.”
Laigh smiled gently and sat down beside her. “You know you can always come to me.” she said reassuringly.
Tammy smiled back gratefully, “Thanks, sometimes I don’t know how this tribe managed to cope before you came along Laigh.”
Laigh smiled again, this time feeling a little bit embarrassed. “Oh come on, you had Connor to keep you together,” she said.
“Yes, but we couldn’t really go to him with problems, not like we can with you.” Tammy explained.
Suddenly she broke down again and Laigh put a supportive arm around her
“It’s OK Tam, I’m here.” she said soothingly.
“Oh Laigh, what am I going to do?” she sighed. “Everything’s gone totally wrong.”
“I know, but you’ll survive,” Laigh comforted her. “You’re strong enough to get through this.”
“No, I just act like I’m strong, but deep down inside I’m as vulnerable as anyone else” she confessed. “Oh Laigh, I don’t want to be a single parent! I won’t be able to cope with a baby on my own!” she sobbed as she broke down again.
“What?” Laigh asked her, not believing what she’s just heard Tammy say.
“That’s why I needed to find Anton so urgently,” she confided. “I’m going to have his child...”
Marco was sat watching the sun rise, he was thinking about the events of the day before. He hadn’t known Anton for very long however they had become good friends, Anton was always giving advice to him and he had been one of the first people to introduce themselves when he’d first arrived there.
Connor walked up and sat down next to him, he sat deep in thought when Marco said “Good morning.”
“What’s so good about it?” Connor muttered. “Everything seems to be going wrong recently.” He wasn’t in a very good mood as he hadn’t got much sleep the night before as he had been thinking too much about the memorial show for Anton.
“I’m sure everything will get back to normal soon,” Marco said with optimism.
“I’m not,” Connor replied. “Tammy going to be unhappy all of the time, Anton’s - well, Anton’s dead and I don’t know how much use anyone else’s going to be.”
“Well I’ll help as much as possible, and so will Dove, and Laigh.” Marco was trying hard to brighten Connor’s spirits but it was no use. He finally gave up and left him to sit brooding about everything.
What am I going to do? Connor thought to himself, this tribe’s gonna fall apart if someone doesn’t do something quickly and the way I’m feeling I don’t think I’m going to be the one to do that something. He sighed and just stared out into the distance, not knowing that Laigh was stood not too far away just watching him.
“How long’s he been like that?” she asked Marco.
“I don’t know, he’s really worried about the tribe,” he told her.
“He worries too much,” Laigh said with annoyance. “He should let me take more responsibility now I’m joint leader but it’s like he’s scared to.”
Marco put his hand on her shoulder and said “I’m sure that he will soon, you’re a great leader.”
“You think so?” she asked unsurely.
“Yes, I do” he smiled and they hugged.
Laigh turned to look at Connor again and sighed. “I think I’d better go and talk to him,” she decided and walked over to where he was sat. “Connor, we need to talk about this,” she said urgently to him.
“Laigh, look I don’t need you wearing yourself out,” he said to her.
“Well why did you make me joint leader?” she asked rather loudly.
“I thought it was for the best at the time,” he admitted. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her but he could guess that she would be glaring angrily at him.
“At the time?!? Connor, what’s going on? Am I a leader or not?” she asked.
“Yes, you are,” he said firmly.
“Right, then can we please discuss what we’re going to do?” she asked again.
“Yes,” he replied finally. “Have you spoken to Tammy?”
“She came to see me last night,” she told him. “Connor there’s something I’d better tell you...”
“Yes?” he asked, a little confused.
“Tammy’s pregnant,” she divulged. “She’s really scared about what you’ll say when she tells you.”
“She is?” Connor said in disbelief. “I wouldn’t be angry, things like this happen. Did Anton know?”
“That’s why she needed to talk to him so urgently yesterday,” she explained. “She’d only just found out herself.”
“Poor Anton, he didn’t even know he was going to be a dad,” Connor sighed. “He would have been good at it as well - did you see how he was with Taylor?”
“Yes, Taylor practically worshipped him,” Laigh smiled as she thought of the day she had been looking after Taylor and had taken him to have a lesson with Anton, the way he’d ran to greet him, shouting his name and the way Anton’s face had lit up. She felt tears in her eyes but she blinked them back. “There’s one thing that’s bothering me though,” she said.
“What’s that?” Connor asked.
“Why does Tammy keep blaming herself for his death? And last night she told me she was going to leave because she didn’t want to us to find out the truth.”
“Truth?” he asked.
“That’s what I wondered, it kept me up most of the night,” she told him.
Connor frowned. “I wonder what that could be about?” he wondered.
“I have no idea, but I hope it’s not as bad as she seems to be making out” Laigh said.
“Thank you all for coming to this show.” Connor announced. It was the end of another show and Connor was stood on the stage, Laigh was stood in the wings watching him. “I would now like to announce a sad event which happened yesterday. Now there are some members of the audience who will probably notice that Anton, our emcee, is missing. Well I’m very sorry to have to tell you all this but yesterday Anton was involved in an accident which tragically took his life.” A few people in the audience gasped with horror. “As you can probably guess he was a huge asset to this tribe and will always live on in our hearts and minds, and I would like to tell you all that we will be holding a very special memorial show in dedication to him next week. So please tell as many people as you can about this event as it will be totally free-of-charge. Thank you very much for your time.” Connor walked off the stage amidst applause. He looked at Laigh, who hugged him.
“That was great Con,” she told him.
“Do you think so?” he asked.
“It was, Connor,” Tammy reassured him. “Anton would have been proud.”
“Not as proud as Anton would have been if he had known about his baby,” Connor replied.
She smiled and looked down. She had told him about her pregnancy after Laigh had finally persuaded her to. She was very glad she had, as he’d been very supportive as had the rest of the tribe when they had found out. Marco and Dove joined them.
“I think we’re going to have to find extra seats for the memorial show,” Dove grinned, holding up a piece of paper. People have been asking to reserve seats!”
“Really?” Tammy asked “I didn’t realise people cared so much! Or is it because it’s free to get in?”
“No, a lot of the people seemed genuinely upset,” Marco assured her. “Most of them told us to give you their sympathy.”
“That’s very thoughtful of them,” Laigh said. “I think this show’s going to be good.”
“Yeah, it’s just a shame it’s happening for such a bad reason,” Connor sighed and they stood in silence.
She turned and headed for the stage, where she found Tammy sat forlornly by herself. “Hey Tam, you look terrible.” Laigh said truthfully.
“Thanks a lot Laigh, you really know how to cheer someone up.” she replied sarcastically. She then closed her eyes and sighed “I’m sorry Laigh,” she said apologetically “It’s just I haven’t slept properly since Anton died and I’m feeling really ill today.”
“Baby problems?” Laigh asked and Tammy nodded in reply. “Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be better soon.”
“I’m not so optimistic...” Tammy muttered and Laigh put her arm around her. “Oh Tammy, don’t be like that. Go to your room and try and get some sleep, it will do you good.” Laigh ordered.
Tammy jumped off the edge of the stage and walked away slowly. Laigh stood up again and began to wander around, straightening chairs as she walked past them. Dove and Marco were sat together, he was strumming his guitar as she sang. Laigh stood and watched for a while. Dove had a beautiful voice which went perfectly with the guitar’s mellow sound. Marco looked up and realised that Laigh was watching. He grinned at her and she smiled back, her heart fluttering. She really did care about him, and she felt sure that he felt the same way about her.
She looked at her watch and gasped. “Hey everyone get moving! We’ve only got an hour and a half before the show begins!” she shouted and began to run back to the performing area to check everything was in order.
The final hour and a half flew by and pretty soon everyone was stood backstage and the ‘auditorium’ was packed.
“OK, are we all ready?” Connor asked as he handed out green armbands to everyone. They had decided to wear them as a mark of respect, green seemed more appropriate than black. Laigh was peering out through a crack in the curtain, the Mall Rats were all there, and also - much to the horror of Laigh - Max and Harley. They were sat next to each other, Harley was holding Maxine on her lap, she was smiling proudly. Laigh’s eyes narrowed when she saw this. However her heart felt a lot lighter when she saw Bray, Amber and baby Leia sat together.
Marco put his hand on Laigh’s shoulder and made her jump. She looked at him then beckoned him to have a look as well. “You see the couple at the back with the baby? That’s Max and Harley.” she whispered.
“Oh, so THAT’S who broke your heart, is it?” Marco said, with a rather nasty tone in his voice.
Laigh grabbed hold of his hand. “Forget it, OK? Look, there’s Bray and Amber!” she pointed them out.
“Is that the rest of their tribe with them?” he asked.
“Yeah, they’re the Mall Rats.” she smiled. Suddenly she heard someone clearing their throat behind them. They both turned around and found Connor looking at them. “Sorry.” they both said sheepishly.
“It’s OK,” he replied “Have you seen family out there?”
“Family, friends and enemies,” Laigh replied.
“Oh are Max and Harley here? You’ll have to point them out to me.” he said and then gestured to them to move to their positions.
The memorial show was running smoothly. The performances were now over and Connor was stood on the stage delivering a eulogy. “Anton was a good friend to us all, and - as I have said before - an asset to the Wandering Minstrels. We will all miss him in our own way, and for different reasons. My condolences go out especially to Tammy, his beloved girlfriend who always stood by him. I would now like to hand you over to some of his closest friends.” he left the stage and Rochelle and Taylor stepped on. Laigh was stood in the wings with Marco watching. He took hold of her hand as Rochelle began to speak.
“Anton was always good to talk to and also a good laugh.” she smiled.
“Anton was like my big brother,” Taylor said miserably. “I miss him.” He burst into tears and ran off the stage, followed by Rochelle.
People in the audience had begun to cry. Even Max had tears in his eyes, but not for Anton. He was thinking about his lost love Laigh. If only I hadn’t been so gullible, he thought to himself, perhaps she would still be here. If only he had known that Laigh was only a few metres away, things would have been so different.
However, she wasn’t thinking about him, her head was full of thoughts of Anton and of Marco, who was now stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her tightly. She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. He looked fondly at her and kissed her on the cheek. Laigh closed her eyes but soon opened them again when she realised that Tammy had stepped out onto the stage. Her eyes were swollen and red, but she had to say something. “Anton saved me.” she sighed. “If it weren’t for him, who knows what could have happened to me. He helped me through the bad times when the virus struck and supported me through everything. Anton, if you can hear me, I love you and I’m truly sorry about what happened. I hope the fact that you’re going to be a father will make up for everything.” some of the audience gasped in surprise. She looked out at them and smiled. “Yes, as you’ve now probably guessed, I’m pregnant.” applause rang through the air as she made the announcement. “Now, I would like to thank all of my friends for their support, they’ve all been so good to me. And also, I would like to thank all of you for coming to this show and for all of your support and messages.” she stepped off of the stage and the audience clapped again.
Laigh pulled herself out of Marco’s embrace and hugged Tammy, who was crying again. “Well done Tam.” she whispered. “I can’t imagine how hard that must’ve been.”
“It was too hard.” Tammy sobbed. “I don’t EVER want to do that again!”
Most of the tribes had left. Only a few hung around, chatting to friends from the Wandering Minstrels. Bray, Amber and Leia had also hung around, they were sat quite a distance away from the others with Laigh, Marco, Connor and Dove (who had found out about Laigh’s story by now). Laigh was holding the baby and they were all talking earnestly. “Hey where are Luce and Scott?” Laigh asked, suddenly realising that they hadn’t been there.
“They decided to move on.” Amber told her. “They send their love, by the way.”
“What do you mean?” Laigh asked, bewilderedly.
“Well, we sort of... told them.” Bray admitted “They overheard us talking and so we had to. No one else knows though.”
“Really?” Laigh asked “So they’re OK with everything?”
“Yeah, they were really happy for you, when we told them where you were they knew you were alright!” Amber reassured her. She then got up. “I think we’d better get back Bray, the others will be worried.”
Bray nodded and picked up his baby. “See you soon, guys!” he called out over his shoulder as they left.
“They are really sweet!” Dove exclaimed “I can’t believe that you didn’t want us to know about them!”
“I thought it would be best.” Laigh admitted and then yawned. Look, I’m gonna hit the hay. I’ll see you in the morning.
Connor and Dove nodded and Marco got up. “I’ll walk you to your room.” he told her.
“Thanks.” Laigh felt sure that she was blushing at that moment.
They walked in silence for a few minutes then Marco stopped and looked at Laigh. She stopped and looked back at him. Their eyes immediately met.
“Laigh, can I ask you something?” he asked.
“Go ahead.” she replied.
“Do you believe in...” his voice faltered.
“In what?” she asked him cautiously.
“In love at first sight?” he blurted out. Laigh’s eyes widened in surprise.
“I... I don’t know.” she finally answered “What about you?”
“I didn’t,” he replied, taking her hand in his.
“Didn’t?” Laigh repeated.
“Until I met you.” he said so softly that it barely audible.
Laigh smiled. Finally! She thought, at long last, no disturbances, no dramas - it’s perfect! She knew EXACTLY what was coming next as his arms slipped around her and they fell into a long, passionate kiss at long last. Laigh felt like she was floating on air, but was suddenly brought crashing back to Earth when she heard a voice cry out in shock - “Laigh! What’s going on?!?”
Episodes 16-20
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Last updated 05/02/01© 2000 scaramouche@tribeworld.com