Chapter 50

We identified ourselves to the receptionist as part of the party using the main banqueting suite, she summoned a porter who led us to the suite, he opened the door and the girls gasped.

The room was huge, bigger than a school sports hall, a stage at one end and enough room for over a hundred tables around the dancefloor.

Belle squealed and ran into the room, “Flower!” she cried out as she jumped into her arms, “you’re here!”

“Yes, I’m here,” Flower replied as Belle dropped to the floor.

“How are you doing, Flower?” Poppy asked as we made our way to her through the tables.

“I’m so much better, thank you.”

She looked a lot better, the last time I’d seen her she looked really ill. She’d fallen into a bad situation and had been using drugs. Jeremy had found her a rehab clinic and she was clean, for now.

“You look beautiful,” Belle told her, “You’ve got your figure back too. I was so worried when we saw you at Nikki’s funeral.”

“Yeah, without Jeremy there was every chance it would have been mine next,” Flower sighed.

“Why are you here?” Poppy asked, “Not that I’m not over the moon to see you, but we had no idea where you were to send an invite.”

“I’m working, loads of us are, we’re helping to decorate, then we’re serving the meal.”

“Really, that’s amazing...”

“Yeah,” Lia replied as she wrapped her arm around Poppy’s waist, “it was Marina’s idea, so I phoned Jeremy, he rounded up about 50 kids, some are in the kitchen, but most will be out here. We’re paying them what the hotel would pay regular staff, which isn’t much, honestly, I was surprised how little a flash place like this pays their staff. I wanted to pay them more, but the hotel said we’d have problems with the regular staff who are still working tonight if they found out our girls were earning more.”

“I can see that would be a problem,” Poppy replied quietly, “could we, like, slip them a bonus at the end of the night, to all of them, not just our girls?”

“Already sorted,” Lia told her.

“Amazing, thank you. So, what can we do?”

“First, you tell me how it went with the bishop, then I need someone to put cloths on all the tables, and flowers. I would ask you to put the knives and forks and stuff out, but you need special training to do that job.”

“Really?” Belle asked.

“Yep, it’s all silver, you can’t touch it with your hands, and you need to use a ruler to make sure everything is positioned exactly right.”

“Oh wow, I barely know which hand to hold stuff in, I’d be screwed setting the tables,” Flower replied as she picked up a bag of ribbons, “now to find a ladder and hang these from the ceiling.”

“So, the bishop was lovely,” Poppy told Lia as they followed her to grab some tablecloths, “she was very understanding, and really annoyed about me being chucked out for flashing. She told me they had no right to punish me for displaying, and I quote ‘God’s glory’ in his house.”

“Wow,” Lia replied, “and let me tell you, God definitely did his best work with you Poppy.”

“He did pretty nicely with you, Lia,” Poppy laughed.

We spent a couple of hours hanging decorations, blowing up balloons, dressing the tables, and pinning the posters Frank had printed on the walls.

At 6 o’clock Jeremy returned with a DJ and lighting engineer, they set about their work turning a corner of the room into a DJ booth.

Marina arrived at 6:30, “oh wow, you’ve made the room so pretty. Listen, I’ve just been speaking to the kitchen guys, they’re running a little behind, so could you both speak for maybe another 15 minutes, just so there’s no lull before the food starts to come out.”

Poppy went pale, “I don’t really want to speak at all, never mind an extra quarter of an hour.”

“I’ll speak all night,” Belle told Marina, “I’ll talk about the auction, maybe get some early bids in, did you get anything else or are we just auctioning Katie’s dress.”

“Don’t you worry Belle, I’ve got a lot of stuff for you to auction.”

“Cool, oh, before I forget, I don’t know if there’s a guest list, but could you put Bishop Sophie’s name on the door.”

Marina raised her eyebrows, “you’ve invited a bishop? I need to know the story there.”

“Err, we met her this morning,” Poppy replied, “I was arrested for flashing my boobs at a policeman in St Paul’s last year, I found out about it this week. I was probably off my tits at the time and had completely forgotten about it. Mum told me about it when we went to tell her boss about some stuff.”

“Flashing a policeman, now that’s ballsy, but doing it in the most famous cathedral in the land, I am very impressed Poppy. Then you go and apologise to the bishop and invite her to your launch, you’re amazing, girl, fucking amazing.”

Marina pulled Poppy into a hug, she was a few inches taller, so Poppy ended up being squished into Marina’s chest, Belle was very jealous.

With the room dressed we went to find our rooms.

Marina had secured us a pair of rooms on the 5^th floor, a family suite and a King Suite, Lia and Katie had the King Suite, which had one king size bed and a small sitting room, Jenny, myself, Poppy and Belle had the family suite, which had a king size bed in one room, two doubles in another room and a small sitting room.

All our cases had been taken to our room, the Poppy and Belle’s dress carriers were placed carefully on the beds.

After we’d showered, Poppy unzipped Belle’s dress carrier and Belle got her first look at her dress.

“Oh my God!!” Belle squealed, “are you fucking kidding me! I get to wear this tonight!”

“Do you like it?” Poppy asked, unsure about Belle’s reaction.

“It’s amazing, I love it. It’s totally me isn’t it.”

“That’s what I thought the minute I saw it.”

“And Maisie Williams wore this?”

“Yep,” Poppy replied, pulling a magazine page out of the carrier, “here she is wearing it at a film premiere.”

“Do you think it’s been washed since she wore it?”

“I hope so,” Poppy laughed.

“Ahh, I’ll just have to pretend they haven’t,” Belle sighed as she gave it a sniff.

“OK, drop your towel sweetie, let’s get you fastened into your dress.”

Belle dropped her towel and stepped into her dress.

“Where are your panties, Belle?”

“I’m not wearing them.”

“Have you seen how short this dress is?”

“Yeah, but my panties are white, and the dress is black. If you’d wanted me to wear pants you should have told me what colour dress I was wearing.”

Poppy looked at us, we shrugged.

“OK, but you cannot bend down near anyone with a camera Belle, I don’t want to be looking at your lady garden in the papers on Monday.”

“I promise to try to behave,” Belle replied, smirking.

“That’s not the same as promising to behave, and you know it.”

“You know me Poppy, I do try,” Belle pleaded as she pulled the dress up her body.

“I know you Belle, and that’s why I love you.”

“Mmm, maybe my boobs are a little bigger than Maisie’s, and my bum,” Belle gasped as Poppy worked hard to fasten the zip on her dress.

“OK, you’re secured,” Poppy laughed, “can you breathe?”

Belle clambered off the bed and walked around the room, parading in front of the spotless mirrored wardrobe doors.

“I can breathe, and I can move, and I look fucking amazing. Thanks Poppy, this dress is fantastic. What are you wearing?”

Poppy opened her dress carrier, lifting out an elegant, but simple black dress.

“Ohh, it’s a Ralph Lauren, you like his shirts.”

“Yeah, they’re so comfy. Lia and I got our dresses from a charity shop in Kensington, Lia’s is a Moschino, it’s quite bright, because she’s a bright person. I wanted this because look what it does when I put it on...”

Poppy dropped her towel and slipped into a pair of black panties before stepping into the dress. Belle zipped it up, then Poppy adjusted herself before turning so Belle could enjoy the view.

“Oh my god Poppy, I’ve never seen you with such an amazing cleavage.”

“It’s nice isn’t it,” Poppy replied, gifting us with her first genuine smile in days. “There’s these little pads like they put in bikinis, so everything is pushed together. I love it.”

“So do I, you’re making me feel all funny inside,” Belle replied as she fastened Poppy’s pink heart pendant around her girlfriend’s neck.

I have to say, I’ve never seen anyone look more beautiful than Poppy did just then, her smile made her whole face glow.

“I don’t know about Belle, but you’re making me weak at the knees,” Jenny told her.

“Is that one of Helen’s dresses?” Poppy asked.

“It is, took us a while to find one that fit my boobs and my bum, I’ll have to be very careful when I sit down.”

“It’s definitely worth the effort, you look amazing.”

I was the last to get dressed, Poppy helped me with my tie as Jenny took many photos of Belle as she posed in every part of the suite.

“You know, if you want to be with Marina tonight don’t worry about breaking your promise to me. I’ll be fine with Belle and mum.”

“It’s nice of you to say that, Poppy, but tonight is your night, and I want to spend it with you.”

“But how often do you get to sleep with a princess?”

“Every night, Jenny’s a princess in my eyes.”

“Don’t be silly, Marina is a real princess, and she’s so hot, and I’m pretty sure she wants you.”

“Not as much as she wants Lia. Anyway, you’re a goddess Poppy, so you easily trump a princess.”

Poppy pressed her lips to mine, she kissed me hard for the longest time, “oh wow,” she gasped as we parted, “it’s a while since we’ve kissed properly, I’d forgotten how hot you make me. Ahh, you’ll need to wash your face,” she apologised after looking at the lipstick stains on my lips, “sorry about that.”

After I’d removed Poppy’s lipstick traces, I phoned Lia to see if they were ready.

“Marina is just sewing Katie into her dress, we didn’t feel confident about the tape.”

“Isn’t sewing the dress a bit drastic? What if she needs the loo?”

“She can’t go for a wee until after the auction.”

“Feel free to pop in our room when you’re ready, Belle is dying to show everyone her dress.”

A few minutes later Belle dashed to let her sisters in the room, “Oh wow!” she cried, “you all look gorgeous.”

She wasn’t wrong, we’d already seen Katie in her dress, but we didn’t get the full effect as she was nervous about it falling down. Now, however, the dress was secure, and she moved with grace and confidence. As she moved, the dress shimmered like fish scales. It was an amazing dress.

Lia was wearing a sheer red dress that stopped mid-calf, with a split up one side that went dangerously high, Belle would not be able to wear this dress without panties. Coupled with a good bra the dress showed Lia in a new light, and I was a bit jealous of Katie and Marina.

Then I shook my head, tonight I had Poppy, Jenny and Belle; there was no need for me to be jealous of anyone.

Marina was wearing a floor length blue gown, it was very elegant and probably cost a fortune, yet she still didn’t look as good as Poppy and Lia in their charity shop dresses. Given the choice between an actual princess and any of my girls, I’d take any and all my girls every single time.

Poppy checked her watch, “it’s almost 7:30, I think we need to be downstairs.”

“Yep,” Marina replied, “you, Belle and Katie need to be on the stage, Lia and I will greet people at the door. Jenny and Alex, if you could mingle with Jeremy, that would be great. I know Jeremy is a lovely guy, but he looks terrifying, so you can help stop people running away when they see him.”

Back downstairs we entered the function room from the staff entrance at the rear. The room was empty apart from a dozen serving staff holding trays of champagne, Poppy and Belle smiled at their friends as we passed on our way through the room.

Jeremy appeared from the kitchen and nodded to his DJ, who took this as the signal to start the music and drop the light level a little.

Poppy, Belle and Katie climbed the steps up to the stage as Lia and Marina opened the doors. I saw maybe 50 people waiting and recognised a few quite famous people.

“Bloody hell,” Jenny whispered, “Marina wasn’t kidding about filling the room with the rich and famous.”

Jenny and I mingled for the next hour as a parade of famous and beautiful people arrived, along with Jenny’s boss, DCS Williamson, and Bishop Sophie.

As the arrivals slowed Belle stood and picked up the microphone.

“Hey everybody! So many people here, thank you all for coming to our little charity launch...” she paused as everyone stood and clapped.

‘Thank you so much!” she continued as the applause subsided, “so, I’m Belle, do you like my dress? It used to belong to Maisie Williams, who knew she’s exactly the same size as me, so first off, I want to thank Erma, who provided my dress and the amazing dress my sister Katie is wearing, later tonight we’re auctioning Katie’s dress, along with some other stuff. If you like these dresses and you don’t win the auction, check out Erma’s shop in Mayfair, the address is on the back of the programme cards.

“OK, so you’re all here to learn about the work our charity is going to do, and then you’re going to give us loads of money so we can do that work, then we feed you, then you dance off the calories, does that sound like a plan?”

Belle’s next words were drowned out by laughter and applause, Poppy had so much love in her eyes as she watched Belle work the crowd.

“So yeah, let me introduce everyone involved with the charity; first we have Poppy, the most beautiful person in the world, she saved my life a couple of years ago, and that’s just one tiny reason why she’s a goddess in my eyes. Next to Poppy is Katie, one of my best friends in the whole world. Over by the doors in the red dress is my fourth sister, Lia, can you all just stop for a moment and marvel at how beautiful she looks in that dress, and OK, now her face is the same colour as her dress, lovely. Next to Lia is an actual princess, I never imagined two years ago when I was sleeping in squats and under bridges that one day I’d have a member of the royal family in my phone contacts, but these are strange days...”

She paused again to let the laughter die down and for Lia to stop giving her daggers for making people look at her, then she ploughed on with the introductions, pointing out Jenny and myself, Helen, Nita, JoJo, Jeremy, then named every one of the street kids amongst the serving staff, “and if someone will give me a list of the hotel staff working tonight, I’ll name you all as well, because everyone here tonight deserves a mention for the great work you’re all doing.”

Poppy finally stood and nervously took the microphone from Belle.

“Err, hello everybody, thanks for coming ... ahh, I’m afraid I’m not a natural performer like Belle, so I’ll keep this brief then Belle can bring the fun back.

“So, as Belle mentioned, we were both homeless, as was Lia and all the people she mentioned from the serving team. Without going into detail, life on the streets is unbelievably grim, and for a lot of reasons it’s incredibly difficult to escape from that life. I was lucky, Alex found me before I died and took me home, where his kindness and central heating brought me back to life, then his sister Helen and her girlfriend Nita helped to heal all the wounds a few evil men inflicted on me.

“Not everyone is lucky enough to have someone pluck them to safety, so this is where we come in. We will help to feed street people, we have food, we have kitchens, we have people ready to cook and distribute the food. We’ll start this work on Monday, and we have enough cash to keep doing it for a few weeks. This means we’ll need more cash to carry on beyond then.

“We also have supplies of clothes, personal care products and contraceptives ... yes, contraceptives,” she repeated after a few people started giggling, “because street kids have a lot of sex, most of it with people of dubious sexual health, so condoms come in handy.

“We’re also hoping to start some workshops to help people gain job and life skills, and we’re hoping to set up counselling sessions, because believe me, there’s a lot of damaged people out there, I was one of them.

“I know a few people are wondering about how we plan to lift people off the streets. That’s a huge task, and not our priority at first. We want to feed people, keep them warm and well.

“In the future we have a plan to erect temporary accommodation units on vacant land, we have a partner ready to build the housing pods ... give everyone a wave JoJo ... but we need an absolute shitload of cash before we can even think about that project, so in the meantime we plan to help people gain skills to get jobs, then we’ll give them some nice clothes and try to hook them up with a room somewhere.”

As everyone applauded Poppy, Katie stood and took the microphone, an extremely grateful Poppy smiled and resumed her seat.

“OK, so Poppy outlined what we want to do, the most important job is to get hot food into kids’ bellies. I wasn’t homeless myself, thankfully, but living with Poppy, Belle and Lia has brought me a lot of first-hand knowledge, and I’ve been out to the streets with them, talking to their friends. Some of the kids out there are so young, they need all the help we can give them. So, food first, then clean clothes, soap and shampoo, period products and a good hug.

“To do this we need money, the food we’re getting from supermarkets and wholesalers and bakers, it’ll mostly be free, but we need money to run the kitchens, to put fuel in the bikes and vans to get the food to the people, to rent storage units, to run the office, oh yeah, the office...” Katie paused as she picked up a remote, pushing a button the backdrop changed to a projected image of the office, “how cute is our office? It’s in our back garden, this is where Lia will work to coordinate everything, she’s done so much already from the kitchen table, now she’s got a cute office with pinboards and a big table and everything, all thanks to JoJo, give everyone a wave again!

“So yeah, money, I know we keep mentioning it, but we need lots of it. Poppy and Belle are writing a book about their time on the streets, we’ve given cameras to loads of kids out there to take photos of their experiences of life, they’ll go in the book with Poppy’s and Belle’s words. Thanks to Alex’s brilliant publishers, that book will be out by Christmas and all the money will go to the charity. That’s one way we’ll get some cash, and we’ve got a lot already tonight from ticket money...” Katie paused as Lia waved, “oh yeah, and we’ve got a bucket of cash from donations on the door, so that’s great, thank you to everyone for that. It almost seems ungrateful to ask for more money, but I guess you knew what to expect when you arrived, so I’ll move onto the auction portion of the night.

“The main prize is this,” she paused as she waved her hand up and down her body, “ahh, not me, the dress, as worn by Cara Delavigne at the Met Gala I believe, and kindly donated by Erma, details in the programme. We also have,” she paused again as Belle handed her a sheet of paper, “fuck me, really!” she whispered, Belle nodded, “it seems we have a long list of things you can fight to buy, and this dress is no longer the main prize, I hope you’ve all brought your gold cards, you’re going to need them.

“So, we have a cruise around the Norwegian Fjords in a first-class cabin. I’ve always wanted to see the Fjords, I’m jealous of whoever gets that one. We also have, and this is the one I can’t believe, we have a Bugatti Chiron, a real one, for a weekend, and that’s my jealousy level knocked up a step or two. We have a pair of business class flights to New York, a week in Naples, a set of Louis Vuitton luggage, a few spa days, a week in the Cotswolds, a case of champagne, mmm a share of a cask of whisky, I’m not sure what you’d do with that, maybe whoever wins it can let me know. What else, let’s see, oh, 6 laps of Silverstone in a McLaren Senna, that one sounds like fun, oh there’s loads here, Belle assures me we have pictures of everything to project on the screen, so I’ll hand her the microphone and let the shopping begin ... Oh, before I go, whoever buys this dress, I’m a size 12 and it’s a teeny bit tight, so you probably need to be a 10 unless you’re as handy with a needle as Lady Marina, who sewed me into it earlier.”

Belle took the microphone and waited for the laughter to die down.

“That was so nerve-wracking,” Katie whispered to Poppy.

“You did so well, look at them laughing at your speech.”

Belle tapped her microphone politely and the room fell quiet, “OK, so shall we start with lot 1, which is...” she waited for the first image, “a nice blue Bugatti Chiron for a weekend, courtesy of our friend Sally at Wimbledon Prestige Rentals, I hope she’s checked this with her boss, or she’ll be in a whole heap of trouble...”

For an hour Belle held the room in the palm of her hand as she extracted ludicrous sums of money, the Bugatti raised £30k alone, which I thought was insane, but Sally, who was in the room and had cleared the rental with her boss, said that’s pretty much what it would have cost anyway.

The last lot was the dress, and bidding rapidly headed towards 6 figures, as Belle dropped the hammer at £125,000, Marina stepped behind Katie and cut the stiches holding the dress closed.

The room gasped, and more than a couple of women put a hand in front of her partner’s eyes as the beautiful dress tumbled off her shoulders, revealing not a naked Katie, but a t-shirt emblazoned with the charity logo and Thank You!

Poppy was trying to add everything up, but her fingers were trembling, Jeremy stepped up and whispered the total.

“Oh my god!” Belle cried into the microphone, “I have to echo Katie’s t-shirt, and by the way, don’t I look cute in the logo? So yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you all so much. I can’t believe the number Jeremy just told us, it’s going to keep the charity running well into next year ready for when the book money starts to flow in.

“We will be running more fund raising events, and Lia has hinted at entering the London Marathon on our behalf, so if anyone wants to join her, there’s entry details in the booklet.

“Anyway, now you’re all broke, I guess it’s our job to feed you ... Oh, and I’m not sure what the policy is in posh places like this, but please feel free to tip your waiter. Half of the serving staff are homeless, and you won’t know which half, so please be generous to all of them.”

The DJ started some quiet music and the serving staff brought out the starter, lightly spiced pumpkin soup with a swirl of creme fraiche. Belle, Poppy, and Katie left the stage and joined the family table.

Marina took her seat between Jenny and Lia as the starter arrived, “well, I don’t think I’ve ever attended a charity event quite like this. We’d normally need to book an expensive comedian to provide that level of entertainment.”

“Did we do OK then,” Belle asked.

“OK? You were amazing, all of you.”

“Dropping Katie’s dress was genius,” Poppy told her.

“Did you see the women cover their men’s eyes; it was so funny.”

“Did you see the press taking photos?” Lia laughed, “Like we’d have a 15-year-old flashing her boobs to the room.”

“I kind of am,” Poppy replied.

“You’re a lot more modestly dressed than some people in here,” Helen told her, “Although I’ve got no room to talk, if I eat much of the main course I’m definitely going to have to nip to our room to change into something more comfortable.”

The starter was followed by a palate cleanser, a minted pea sorbet designed by Belle and her teacher Mr Newbold, who sadly couldn’t attend as he was away for the weekend.

“Did you make this?” JoJo asked Belle.

“Well, I didn’t make it tonight. I invented it at school with my food tech teacher. I say invented, we took a recipe he already had and made it loads better.”

“It’s amazing, I love it.”

“What we’ve tried to do with tonight’s menu is take the kind of food we’ll make for the streets and give it a Michelin Star twist.” Belle told us, “That pumpkin soup you had can be made really cheaply, especially around Halloween when small pumpkins are basically left to rot as nobody wants them, but we added orange and saffron and some tiny gold flakes, it’s decadent but not hugely different to the food we’ll be serving next week.”

“The soup was awesome,” Marina replied, “I can’t wait for the main course.”

The music dropped down a few notches, “ahh shit, that’s my cue,” Belle whispered, “back in a sec,” she added as she dashed back to the stage.

“OK folks, I hope the starter and amuse bouche went down well. So, anyone who’s read the programme from front to back will know what to do now, but for anyone who forgot their reading glasses, or have been having too much fun to be doing homework, I’ll give you a helping hand.

“In case you haven’t realised, the theme for tonight’s menu is Michelin Star Street Food, I’ve pimped the food we’ll be serving from the street canteens, although I doubt we’ll be doing many amuse bouches.

“I didn’t know which main course to make, so we’ve done two, they’re both twists on the simplest meals you can make. On the tables are some red and green cards, if you want veggie casserole with vegan dumplings hold up the red card, if you want mushroom, pea and parmesan risotto hold up the green card. If you want to try both feel free to hold up both cards, we have some plates made up with both meals.”

Helen hugged Belle as she returned, “This is such a great menu, how did you come up with the idea?”

“I was really concerned about the thought of launching a charity for homeless kids with a grand banquet at the Savoy. So I thought about how much fun it would be to serve simple food in such a grand hotel. So once that idea was floated, Lia thought it would be good if we got some of our street friends in to serve the food.”

“I wanted all the servers to be street kids,” Lia added, “but Marina quite rightly pointed out it would be chaos if we did that, we needed some experienced staff to show our people what to do.”

“On that note,” Marina joined in, “chef is very happy with some of your friends, he’s pretty sure he can give them regular work.”

“Seriously!” Poppy replied, “that’s amazing news. Oh man, this is just the perfect start.”

“I’m going to bring the chef out at the end,” Belle continued, “he deserves so much praise for taking such a lowly menu and dialling it up to 11.”

After the dessert course - which was the most delicious chocolate brownie I have ever eaten, served with an amazingly rich custard that Belle told us was made with duck eggs and Jersey milk with more of the very expensive saffron the hotel had gifted her - Belle returned to the stage, where she was treated to a tremendous round of applause.

“Ahh, thank you so much, but you shouldn’t be clapping me. Flower, honey, could you fetch Mark please.”

A few moments later Flower returned with the chef, he stared resolutely at the floor as she led him up the steps to the stage.

“I’m really sorry Mark, I know you don’t follow the usual trend for chefs to crave attention, but I feel you deserve it tonight for using your fancy kitchen and all your highly trained staff to make what is essentially pimped street food.”

Mark kept his eyes to the floor as Belle held out her microphone, “err, thanks Belle, it was a fun challenge. Let’s not be snobs though, we might have used very basic ingredients tonight, but they’re all organic, and they’re all easy to turn into simple, delicious meals. I’ve been working with a few of the guys who’ll be staffing your kitchens this week, and let me tell you, I learnt a few tricks off them I’ll be using in future menus in this hotel.”

“The custard was heavenly tonight, I guess we won’t be able to recreate that in the street kitchens.”

“Not unless you can get a steady supply of duck eggs and saffron, but even without them, if you use good free-range eggs you should be fine. Cooking isn’t all about using the finest ingredients, it’s about getting the best out of what you’ve got. What I’ve been teaching your guys this week is about thinking on your feet. When you’re running a food project you can’t have fixed menus, because you can’t guarantee you’ll have the same ingredients every day, so you need to be creative with recipes. Something like a soup or a casserole, providing you have onions, potatoes and carrots you’re laughing, the magic happens with the stuff you add. I recommend you keep a lot of mixed herbs and gallons of Worcestershire sauce handy.”

“Thanks Mark, and thank you so, so much for your help with the team.”

“And thank you Belle, I had a ball working with the ingredients list you gave me.”

As Mark left the stage the DJ started the music, “OK folks,” Belle announced, “if you’d all like to move to the bar area for a few minutes we’ll get these tables cleared and we can get this party started.”