Thank you from the Ca’ Specchio


The Direttore stood on the podium with Sarina and Parthenope.

The Direttore . . .

Occasionally he would dab his white silk kerchief at the base of his nose and under his eyes and it was obvious to the two women that he took the wounding and subsequent disappearance of his dear friend Lucia very much to heart.  He had mentioned to his lady companions that his one hope was that by Niccolo removing Lucia to the Other world, she would have a chance to survive the deathly wound she had received in the mortal world.  ‘Leastways dearest ladies, we shall never know.  She will never come home to us.  Mortals are forbidden to return.  Ah, it is beyond cruel!’

‘Direttore, we have no time for expressions of sentiment.  We have a shocked audience staring at us.  We must make the best of a bad situation.’  Parthenope pulled her torn gown straight and indicated to Sarina that she do the same as their hems were ragged from being ripped to make wadding for Lucia’s wound.  She then gave the Direttore a little push and whispered as if she held a sword to his back.  ‘Improvise, man!’

He cleared his throat and smiled as he had never smiled before: broadly, his face creasing.  ‘Excellent guests!  Well, what did you think of that?’  He swung up on his toes and back down again, the epitome of joviality.  ‘That was our piece of theatre for the night, enacted by our lady board-members and their escorts and friends as a thank you for your attendance.  I can see by your faces and by the stunned silence that you believed every little piece, but trust me when I tell you it was just an exceptionally well performed play.  So be heartened, my friends, be happy.  All is well.  Now!  I shall announce some winners of the night’s festivities, with the rest tomorrow.  Vvb32  of the USA has won the RSVP point score competition.  Nikalee Richardson of Western Australia has won the best backstory.  I have initiated extra awards as well and they are for the most innovative RSVP, which was actually a decline.  That is Clare Sager of Nottingham, UK, she went to a joust! Then the Direttore’s Award for the Most Literary Backstory goes to Michael Keane of Hobart, Australia and the Most (the dear man cleared his throat and blushed) Audacious RSVP, goes to Scribbler 59 from Vienna. If those winners would contact www.pruebatten.com with their postal addresses, I should be grateful. Oh, and please feel free to have a peremptory peak in our Museo Shop.’  He paused for a breath, still dabbing at his eyes.  ‘Now my friends . . . shall we dance our way to the end of the night? ‘  He bowed at the orchestra and waved his hand.  ‘Maestro, please!’

***

As we close the ball, Pat, Rebecca and myself must leave our alter-egos behind and become ourselves again.  It feels as though we are Cinderellas and as the clock strikes so we must run down the steps as our clothes change.

We have had the experience of a lifetime with you tonight and thank you so much for attending.  And we would like to ask you to attend Mesmered once more tomorrow, when the rest of the competitions will have been judged and the prizewinners will be announced.

In closing I would also like to thank the REAL men of the Masked Ball novella: Richard Armitage (Ser Niccolo de Fleury), Alex O’Loughlin (Hugh), Allan Cumming (Bacigalupo), Richard E Grant (Sir Percy Blakeney) and the inimitable David Suchet (The Direttore).  If they had any idea of the adventures we intended putting them through, they may very well have run screaming from the room as their parts were read.  The advantage of writing a fantasy is that we can pretend they were our characters, our men and our escorts and they unknowingly gave the dimension to the story that we needed.

We thank them from the bottom of our hearts!