The Silent Appeal #2
Morning yoga with Emma
So, grab your sleeping bags, pillows, and woolly hats and sign up via the form below (giving details of your allergies and access needs). The cost is ￡10 per person. Please send your sponsors the following link for their donations—it goes straight to Crisis via JustGiving.
Sarah-Jane MacDonald
Producer & cochair, The Fairway Players
Message exchange between Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald on February 5, 2025:
11:43 a.m. Kevin wrote:
I’d better check with Father Josh whether we can have the hall on that night. Seeing as you’ve sent the email already.
11:43 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
You haven’t booked it?
11:46 a.m. Kevin wrote:
No. And I’m assuming you can get hold of board games, Ping-Pong and foosball tables, crafting material, a virtual fire, a chocolate fountain, and provisions for a feast and breakfast for all dietary needs. Because I can’t.
11:47 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
For your dreams to come true, first you must have a dream.
11:48 a.m. Kevin wrote:
Another inspirational quote from the AI app?
11:48 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Yes. Build it and they will come.
11:49 a.m. Kevin wrote:
To knock it down.
To: Sarah-Jane MacDonald
From: Isabel Beck
Date: February 5, 2025
Subject: Re: The Big Sleep (Out)
Hiya SJ!
OMG! This is so exciting! Are crafting materials provided?
I’ve been trying to keep a daily bullet journal ever since I won one in the raffle at the Fowey Christmas Fete.
In all honesty it gets a bit dull because I’m the same person with the same goals every day.
Also, what I have to say won’t fit into bullet points.
I’d LOVE to decorate the pages to make them all different, but the bits and pieces are so expensive and my wages at Specsavers just about cover rent and food, boo.
I’d better not venture near the chocolate fountain because my New Year’s resolution was to eat healthily, and although I haven’t so far, now I’ve got a part in the play I really should start.
I want to look my best when I play Gerda.
Ping-Pong sounds like good exercise if I can find someone to play with.
Even though I’ve only been to one rehearsal, I can see the others have their special friends already.
I thought Fran might take me under her wing again, as we were so close before. At rehearsal on Monday, she barely stood still long enough for me to speak to her. She seems very close to Amelia and Lucas.
Georgia is as quiet as me. It’s only because Fran and Amelia talk to her that she’s not on her own, like I am.
I wonder if she regrets giving up the part of Gerda?
It might be one of those situations where you stop doing something because you don’t enjoy it, then suddenly you realize what you liked about it and wish you hadn’t, only it’s too late to go back.
I expect she realizes now just how dull being prompt is!
I was listening to Joyce and Denise chatting during tea break and Joyce said your sister has come back from Jamaica, that her name is Nicky-Rose, and that she was “a dance prodigy” as a teenager.
I would love a sister (and had no idea you had one). It must be like having a guaranteed friend. You can swap clothes and talk to each other when there’s no one else to talk to. Did you stay with her in Jamaica? I bet it was hot!
Anyway, you can count me in for the sponsored sleep out. I’ve filled out the registration form but can’t promise much in the way of sponsorship. I might mention it to some of my patients, but most of them come to Specsavers because they don’t have money to spare.
How’s Harley? He must be so grown-up now. Love Issy xxx
To: Isabel Beck
From: Sarah-Jane MacDonald
Date: February 5, 2025
Subject: Re: The Big Sleep (Out)
Thank you. Nicky-Rose lived in Barbados.
Sarah-Jane MacDonald
Independent Retail Marketing Consultant
Messages posted to Chez MacDonald WhatsApp group on February 10, 2025:
1:01 p.m. Harley wrote:
Out.
1:02 p.m. Mum wrote:
Where?
1:18 p.m. Harley wrote:
Out.
1:20 p.m. Mum wrote:
But WHERE?
1:22 p.m. Dad wrote:
Dude, are you saying you won’t be able to babysit tonight?
1:34 p.m. Harley wrote:
YES thanks Dad FINALLY
1:35 p.m. Mum wrote:
But you promised.
1:35 p.m. Dad wrote:
No sweat, enjoy yourself bro, we’ll find a solution.
1:36 p.m. Mum wrote:
Is your solution that I stay home tonight?
1:36 p.m. Dad wrote:
The Fairways won’t crumble if you miss a rehearsal.
1:37 p.m. Mum wrote:
I said I’d pick Nicky-Rose up. She won’t make it to the hall if I don’t.
1:38 p.m. Dad wrote:
I’ll pick her up. Then I can casually mention the accounting software, the sleep out, etc. Bingo!
1:39 p.m. Mum wrote:
We’re not playing bingo at the sleep out, Kevin. It’s not 1976.
Messages posted to Fran’s Hollow Play WhatsApp group on February 10, 2025:
3:16 p.m. Fran wrote:
Everyone ready for rehearsal tonight?
3:18 p.m. Amelia wrote:
I am.
3:19 p.m. Lucas wrote:
Yep.
3:47 p.m. Georgia wrote:
Guess so.
3:58 p.m. Fran wrote:
Did we all get an email about the sleep out on April 26th?
3:59 p.m. Georgia wrote:
Don’t fancy it.
4:00 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Go on, it’ll be a laugh.
4:00 p.m. Fran wrote:
It’s for a good cause.
4:01 p.m. Lucas wrote:
Only a tenner with food. I’m working, but you two might as well. Cheaper than going out on Saturday night.
4:27 p.m. Georgia wrote:
Why wouldn’t you speak to Issy last Monday?
4:28 p.m. Amelia wrote:
She never spoke to me.
4:28 p.m. Georgia wrote:
Not you, Ams. Fran kept avoiding the girl who’s now Gerda. Should we avoid her too?
4:30 p.m. Fran wrote:
No! Please don’t do that. I nodded hello, but we met through a charity and it’s a bit awkward.
4:30 p.m. Georgia wrote:
Which charity?
4:31 p.m. Fran wrote:
I won’t say, because Issy may wish to keep her association with that charity to herself.
4:31 p.m. Georgia wrote:
Like Lucas?
4:31 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Don’t mention it to anyone, G. It’s in the past.
4:32 p.m. Georgia wrote:
I know
4:36 p.m. Fran wrote:
I’m signing everyone up and will pay the registration fees for you all. Lucas, you might be able to pop in early in the evening, no? Put it in your diaries.
4:37 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Thanks, Fran
4:52 p.m. Lucas wrote:
Cheers
Message exchange between Kevin MacDonald and Nicky-Rose Dearing on February 10, 2025:
4:59 p.m. Kevin wrote:
Hello to my prodigal sister-in-law.
5:01 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Hey, Kev.
5:03 p.m. Kevin wrote:
I’ll pick you up at 7:15 p.m. for rehearsal. The Hollow has no musical numbers or Busby Berkeley routines, but will appreciate your professional opinion on stagecraft, etc.
5:05 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Not professional anymore. Spent the last few years managing the company. It’s been a long time since I was hands-on with a production.
5:06 p.m. Kevin wrote:
Exactly! Time you reconnected with what you loved about the biz! See you 7:15 p.m.
Message exchange between Amelia Stibson and Fran Elroy-Jones on February 10, 2025:
5:12 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Just feeling a bit down. Georgia’s things are EVERYWHERE. The fact she’s in our space ALL the time means Lucas and I can’t talk or sort our own shit out.
5:13 p.m. Fran wrote:
No sign of her getting a job, or going back home?
5:14 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Nope. She’s online all the time and says she’s sending out her CV, but hasn’t had a single interview. Lucas said he’d get her some bar work, but that hasn’t happened.
5:15 p.m. Fran wrote:
It’s nice of you to take her in.
5:16 p.m. Amelia wrote:
I thought it would only be for a couple of weeks. It’s been seven. Yesterday I told Lucas how I felt and he said he’d sort it. Don’t know how though. She’s family, after all.
5:17 p.m. Fran wrote:
Must be hard, but it won’t be forever.
5:20 p.m. Amelia wrote:
It’s not just that she’s in my face all day. She started off nice and friendly. Now I catch her giving me the side-eye when she thinks I can’t see her. Like right now.
5:21 p.m. Fran wrote:
She’s young though, isn’t she. Does she talk to Lucas?
5:24 p.m. Amelia wrote:
She’s twenty. She looks up to him so maybe, but he’s so busy with the club. Lucky for us Fairways meet on Monday, it’s his only night off.
5:25 p.m. Fran wrote:
A shame she didn’t enjoy acting. The cast bond together during rehearsals and you’re not “in the gang” if you don’t have a part.
5:28 p.m. Amelia wrote:
I’m really embarrassed she thought you were calling her a cow when it was in the script. She took it super personally.
5:29 p.m. Fran wrote:
Don’t feel bad. It was funny! Not everyone gets what acting is. She’ll see how Issy enjoys playing that part and perhaps she’ll be in the next play.
5:30 p.m. Amelia wrote:
You’re always so nice, Fran. Do you ever lose your temper? Tell people where to go?
5:32 p.m. Fran wrote:
Training as a counselor helps. If you can see the world through someone else’s eyes, you realize why they do what they do.
5:32 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Knowing where their shit comes from doesn’t stop it being shit.
5:33 p.m. Fran wrote:
Maybe not, but you can empathize.
5:34 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Go on then, why’s Georgia so miserable and lazy?
5:40 p.m. Fran wrote:
She’s stuck. Doesn’t know where her life’s going. She’s dependent on you and Lucas, which might even make her resent you. I think her reaction to playing an unpopular character reveals just how insecure she is.
5:42 p.m. Amelia wrote:
You are SO right! And she may be his cousin, but Lucas is oblivious to what’s going on with her and how it’s affecting us.
5:43 p.m. Fran wrote:
He’s still coming to terms with everything. Trying to turn things round. He’s working so hard to make the club a success.
5:45 p.m. Amelia wrote:
God, yes. Thank you for getting us into this play, it’s really helping us focus on something positive together. See you later!
To: Amelia Stibson
From: June Taccuso
Date: February 10, 2025
Subject: Georgia
Dear Amelia,