Emerald Magic_ Great Tales of Irish Fantasy - Andrew M. Greeley [104]
It was not until the following week that the first couple of clients were sent by Ronayne. Bríd showed them into my consulting room with a disapproving look.
They were young girls, fresh out of convent school, gawky yet trying to be sophisticated. They were not more than seventeen or eighteen years old.
I tried to put them at ease while I went through the medical checks.
“And what do you do in show business?”I asked gravely.
They giggled.
“Oh,”said one of the two, a broad-faced redhead with a fast West Cork accent, “we aren’t in showbiz yet.”
“We are too!”c orrected her blond companion in a snappish tone. She was a thin-faced girl with the harsh tones of south Dublin. She positively reeked with some cheap perfume. Her articulation was punctuated by a certain four-lettered Anglo-Saxon expletive, which she pronounced to rhyme with the word “book.”“We are going to be backing singers, and Mr. Ronayne has promised us a season in England. That’s why we need this insurance thing. He’s sending us to some seaside place—Whitby, I think he said.”
“It’s our first contract,”c onfessed the redhead.
I busied myself with the tests, wondering if their singing voices were any better than their speaking voices, for I could not honestly say that I picked up any discernible talent there. The stench of the blonde’s cheap perfume lingered for two days.
I was able to let Ronayne have my typed reports on the following day.
He was on the telephone after lunch.
“Excellent reports,”h e breezed. “I just wanted to check that you did carry out all the specified blood tests. Right?”
I felt irritated.
“I would have thought the reports were specific,”I replied coldly.
He was conciliatory.
“Right. But these are your first reports. I thought I would just check, right? It’s all very important for the insurance and so on.”
“Right!”I returned. “But it’s down in black and white. All the required tests have been made. You have two healthy girls on your hands. Though I can’t vouch for their singing voices.”
“Oh?”H e seemed sharply interested.
“To be honest, I thought that their voices were pretty unmusical. But, of course, you don’t pay me for that opinion. You obviously know your own business.”
“Right!”H e sounded vaguely amused.
I began to think that I had little appreciation of modern music as, over the next several weeks, a succession of people came through the consulting rooms for examination. They were mainly young girls, though a few androgynous youths paraded before me. Most of them were healthy enough, although I found some with various ailments. Drugs have become a problem in Dublin in recent years. A couple of youths tested HIV positive while another girl confessed that she was a diabetic. Ronayne always seemed pleased when I was able to give a clean bill of health for his potential performers.
Thanks to Bríd’s management I even began to squeeze in some private patients, and life was looking decidedly good.
When I went back to Chapelizod in the evenings I would talk things over with Étain. I could see that she was a little envious of the stage-struck youths who, thanks to Averty Enterprises, were setting off on various world tours.
“Aren’t you meeting any real stars yet?”Sh e mentioned the names of some well-known singers who were reputedly handled by Averty Enterprises. I shook my head. The would-be talents I described were of no interest to her except to stir her envy.
“From what you say,”sh e sniffed coldly, “I could easily get Averty Enterprises to represent me.”
I had to admit that she was right. Judging by the so-called talent I had seen, Étain could have been one of their more professional singers. As I have already mentioned, she had been quite a hit on the pub-and-club circuit. Since she had been on her own, after her husband left, her singing was the only thing that really interested her. She was still in her late twenties, still young enough to make the grade in the music