Filling in the Gaps by Peter Keogh Read Free Book Online Page B

just stood there looking at each other for a few minutes and then slowly we walked towards each other and fell into each other’s arms. I stayed in New York for a week and I was with Andrew almost every second of every day. We walked for miles arm in arm in the snow, laughed until we ached, shared our deepest hopes and fears. By the second day we said to each other almost in unison, ‘ I love you! ’ Anyone who knows me will know that those words are the hardest for me to say. However, only with Andrew and then with Sacha did I feel it so deeply that I was freely able to express it. Our final night arrived and we knew that the next day I was back off to the other side of the world. We did not make love but just held each other so tightly that we were almost one. I cried on the bus to the airport, as I was checking in and all of the way back to Australia. We stayed in touch for many years and Andrew even met Su and they sort of clicked. We had a few fun nights together but it was hard for all three of us. I only found a photo of Andrew few days ago together with exquisite cards and letters which are why have been able write this so descriptively. I wonder where he is. I miss him.
    Back in Sydney I was offered a job with World Book Encyclopaedia in North Sydney, which turned out to be quite an experience. The manager at the time told me that he and I had to do a quick business tour of some of the country branches, he was married with children and it was to be a five day trip! On the first night I was told that we had to share a room - danger bells started to ring - so we checked in to what I think was a motel. We had a nice dinner, planned our strategy for the following day’s meetings, had a few drinks and then decided it was bed time. All good until after lights out and at about 2am I felt his presence beside me in my bed - an aroused presence! He suggested that my future could be rosy if I agreed to his requests. I was not totally shocked and I don’t know why but I was very firm and told him to return to his bed. He did so but he was furious! Next day, he totally ignored me so I resigned - not that I could afford to! I had to make my own way back to Sydney, sad but pleased with myself for being so strong.
    In those days there was a very famous nightclub in Sydney called Chequers , where my partner Sacha had danced at one stage of his career and where I was taken to see a performer called Frances Faye. I didn’t know much about her but thought it unkind not to attend. When she started her act I was shocked to the core and really appalled. One of the songs was called Johnny Has a Yo Yo or something similar and it was extremely saucy, as was the rest of her act. Being the good Catholic lad I was, it shocked me deeply. Friends today will find that a totally foreign concept - me being shocked by vulgarity! The Hilton Chevron Spade Room was at that time in competition with Chequers and hosted some other big stars including Jerry Lewis, Jane Powell and Connie Stevens. I was unable to afford the cost of seeing them but I did write to Connie Stevens who was appearing over Christmas and suggested she spend Christmas Day with our family, which of course she did not do, but she wrote a lovely note with a signed photo expressing her gratitude! Connie later married Debbie Reynolds’ ex-husband, Eddie Fisher, after Elizabeth Taylor had divorced him, and she had two daughters by him.
    I then obtained a job as stage manager at The Chevron Silver Spade Room where a musical sketch show called Is Your Doctor Really Necessary was playing . It starred actor Robert Hughes, who now resides in prison for interfering with young female cast members of the comedy series Hey Dad.! We worked together for about three months and years later Sach toured with him and our pal, actress Amanda Muggleton, in a play called Don’t Dress For D i nner . Amanda played the role that my ex, Su Pollard, initiated in the West End. Not once